Soviet annexation of Western Belorussia

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1940 USSR postage stamp celebrating the "liberation" of Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia

On the basis of a secret clause of the

Western Belarus.[1][2]

The annexation of the Polish territories, which were added to

Soviet Byelorussia, and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
alone, resulted in the Soviet state gaining 131,000 square kilometres (50,600 sq mi), and increasing its population by over seven million people.

Annexation of eastern half of interwar Poland

Further information: Soviet invasion of Poland and Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union

On September 17, 1939 the Red Army entered Polish territory, acting on the basis of a secret clause of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Soviet Union later denied the existence of this secret protocol, claiming that it was never allied with the German Reich, and acted independently to "protect" the Ukrainian and Belarusian minorities in the disintegrating Polish state.[3]

Support demonstrations were staged by pro-Soviet militias.

Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic.[6] The People's Assembly of Western Belarus voted unanimously to thank Stalin for liberation and sent a delegation to Moscow to ask for formal inclusion of the territories into the Belarusian SSR. The BSSR Supreme Council voted to approve this on November 1, 1939.[citation needed] On November 14 the law on the admission of Western Belarus to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was signed at an extraordinary session of the Supreme Council.[7]

The Soviet invasion of Poland was portrayed by the Soviet propaganda as the "liberation of Western Belorussia and Ukraine". Many ethnic Belarusians welcomed unification with the BSSR.[8]

Deportations and arrests

The Soviets quickly began confiscating, nationalizing, and redistributing all private and state-owned Polish property.

Polish Institute of National Remembrance announced that its researchers reduced the estimate of the number of people deported to Siberia to 320,000 in total. Some 150,000 Polish citizens perished under the Soviet rule.[12]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-521-63037-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  2. ^ Norman Davies, God's Playground (Polish edition), second tome, p.512-513.
  3. ^ Anna M. Cienciala (2004). The Coming of the War and Eastern Europe in World War II (lecture notes, University of Kansas). Retrieved 15 March 2006.
  4. ^ (in Polish) Marek Wierzbicki, Stosunki polsko-białoruskie pod okupacją sowiecką (1939–1941) Archived 2008-06-23 at the Wayback Machine. "Białoruskie Zeszyty Historyczne", Biełaruski histaryczny zbornik, 20 (2003), p. 186–188. Retrieved 16 July 2007.
  5. ISBN 0-7146-5132-X
    ., pp. 29–30.
  6. ^ (in Belarusian)Уладзімір Снапкоўскі. Беларусь у геапалітыцы і дыпламатыі перыяду Другой Сусветнай вайны
  7. Belsat
  8. ^ (in Polish) Stosunki polsko-białoruskie pod okupacją sowiecką (1939-1941)
  9. ^ Piotrowski 1998, p. 11
  10. ^ Karta 2006
  11. ^ Rieber 2000, pp. 14, 32–37
  12. ^ Expatica 2009
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