| Weißruthenischer Zentralrat Беларуская цэнтральная рада | |
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.svg) Flag of local administration[1] | |
| Council overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 March 1943 (82 years ago) (1 March 1943) |
| Dissolved | 2 July 1944 (80 years ago) (1944-07-02) |
| Superseding Council | |
| Jurisdiction | Generalbezirk Weißruthenien |
| Headquarters | Minsk, Belarus |
| Council executives |
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| Parent Council | Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories |
| Map | |
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TheBelarusian Central Council (Belarusian:Беларуская цэнтральная рада,romanized: Biełaruskaja centralnaja rada;German:Weißruthenischer Zentralrat) was apuppet administrative body inGerman-occupied Belarus during World War II.[2] It was established byNazi Germany withinReichskommissariat Ostland in 1943–44,[3] following requests bycollaborationist Belarusian politicians hoping to create a Belarusian state with German support.[3]
Immediately after the 1941German invasion of the Soviet Union,[4] the mass persecution of Jews by the forward units ofEinsatzgruppe B began under the command of theSS functionaryArthur Nebe.[5] Jews were massacred and ghettos were formed in dozens of towns with the participation ofBelarusian collaborators who were given various prominent roles.[6] TheBelarusian Auxiliary Police was established and deployed to murder operations particularly in February–March 1942.[7]
TheGeneralbezirk Weißruthenien district ofRKO was soon formed. The district included the western and central parts of theBelarusian Soviet Socialist Republic in its 1941 borders (which included the towns ofHlybokaye,Vileyka,Navahrudak and other territories earlier annexed by the USSR from Poland). In 1942, the German civil authority was extended to Minsk,Slutsk andBarysaw. The area was to be made part of the Nazis' project ofLebensraum ("living space"), in which those deemed non-Aryan would be exterminated or expelled to make way for German colonists, while the remaining locals would be subject to forcedGermanization. All attempts by the Belarusian representatives to request self-governance for the occupied Belarus led to German repressions against those who voiced such requests.[8]
A Nazi politicianWilhelm Kube was appointed the German administrator of the area (Generalkommissar). He had his command center established inMinsk with a secondKommissar inBaranovichi. In September 1943, Kube was killed by his Belarusian mistress, who planted a bomb in his bed coerced by the Soviet agents who knew where her son was.[9]
In order to drum up fresh troops for the front insideReichskommissariat Ostland and to stimulate support from the Belarusian population and elites,[8] GeneralReinhard Gehlen suggested to the German High Command that some concessions be made to the Belarusian collaborators in the form of apuppet state.[9] The "semi-autonomous" local government was established by Nazi Germany in December 1943, and named the Belarusian Central Council.Radasłaŭ Astroŭski, the mayor of Smolensk at that time, was appointed its president.[3] SS-GruppenführerKurt von Gottberg who replaced Kube named the Belarusian politicianIvan Yermachenka, arriving from Prague, the "Advisor on Belarusian affairs".[9]
The Belarusian Central Council only had a limited role in governing, with the key decisions being taken by the German administration of theGeneralbezirk Weißruthenien. The Council mostly managed social affairs as well as culture and education.[8] The Council had twelve departments including: Education, science and culture; Propaganda and press; Social security; Finance; Youth affairs; Religion; Control; Administrative issues; Economy; National minorities; andHome Defence.[8]
The Belarusian Central Council oversaw the activities of Belarusian civic organisations established earlier with German permission including:Union of Belarusian Youth; Belarusian Scientific Society; Belarusian Cultural Association; Belarusian Self-Help; and labour unions.[8] The Council managed to widen the usage of the Belarusian language in schools and in public life, worked on the opening of a university.[8]
The Germans authorised the reformation of theBelarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, independent from thePatriarch of Moscow which, similarly, was used by the Soviet atheists to rally Russians against the Germans. The priests had considerable influence with the peasantry and actively supported the defeat of Soviet Russia, which had terrorized Christians inWest Belarus after the jointSoviet invasion of Poland of September 17, 1939.[10]
In March 1944, the Belarusian Central Council organized a universal military conscription among the young Belarusians. TheBelarusian Home Defence (Bielaruskaja Krajovaja Abarona, BKA) was formed, with 28,000 troops ready for training, aided by a few thousand members of theBelarusian Auxiliary Police battalions.[11]
After the retreat of Germans from Belarus, the Belarusian Home Defence was absorbed into the30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. This infantry division formed from the remnants of the29th Waffen-SS Division, included both Belarusian and Ukrainian units. The Germans had set up an officers' school and issued uniforms with aWaffen-SS Storm-brigade Belarus designation. Orders were issued for Belarusian forces to be absorbed byAndrey Vlasov'sRussian Liberation Army (ROA); but Astroŭski opposed this. He also sabotaged the idea of the "Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia", since he did not wanted to align himself with Russians.
Other members of BKA and the Belarusian Auxiliary Police were recruited by SS-ObersturmbannführerOtto Skorzeny for training in Dahlwitz nearBerlin, to make special undercover strikes behind the enemy lines. These units were part of a clandestine operation known asLiebes Kätzchen stretched from the Baltics to the Black Sea. The Belarusian "Black Cat" guerrilla group was led byMichas' Vitushka. They operated inBelavezha Forest (Białowieża) against the Soviet forces in anti-communist operations throughout 1945 but with little success.[12][13][14][15] Infiltrated by theNKVD, they were destroyed in 1945.[16]
In 1944, with the advance of theRed Army towards the west, the Belarusian Central Council evacuated with the retreating Germans toEast Prussian and Polish lands still under the control of Nazi Germany.
On June 27, 1944, a few days before the evacuation, the BCR held a congress in Minsk, titled the Second All-Belarusian Congress, sanctioned by Gottberg. The meeting gathered 1,039 delegates from various regions of Belarus and from Belarusian emigre organizations, with German officials among them. Representatives of the SS observed the proceedings from a balcony.[17][18] The congress confirmed the declaration of independence of Belarus (as theBelarusian People's Republic) and declared the Belarusian Central Council as the only legitimate representative body of the Belarusian people and the successor of theRada of the BNR. Members of the Council reaffirmed their commitment to theThird Reich and personally toAdolf Hitler.[19] The aim of the meeting was for the BCR to gain legitimacy based on a decision by representatives of Belarusian society rather than by the German administration.[18] The organizers feared provocations from both Soviet partisans and the Germans.[18]
After evacuation, the leadership of the BCR formed the base for Belarusian self-organization in the post-war camps fordisplaced persons.[8] Even after the evacuation, the BCR continued to receive orders from theReich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.[20] After the end of the war, the BCR entered theAnti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations. At the end of 1945, Astroŭski held a special meeting of the "Belarusian Central Committee" which decided to temporarily suspend (but not to dissolve) the government-in-exile in order to avoid accusation of collaboration with the Nazis.[21][8]
On March 25, 1948, the Belarusian Central Council renewed its activity in exile.[22] It was one of the main umbrella organizations of the Belarusian emigre community in the West until its dissolution in April 1995 with the death of its last members.
Black Cat.
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