West Belarus - Annexation of West Belarus By The USSR

Annexation of West Belarus By The USSR

Under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was divided between the Soviet Union and Germany and was invaded by these countries in September 1939 (see German invasion of Poland and Soviet invasion of Poland).

On October 22, 1939, less than two weeks after the invasion, the Soviet occupational administration organized elections into a National assembly of West Belarus (Belarusian: Народны сход Заходняй Беларусі). The Elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus took place under control of NKVD and the Communist Party. On October 30 the National Assembly session held in Belastok passed the decision of West Belarus joining the USSR and its unification with the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. These petitions were officially accepted by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on November 2 and by the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR on November 12.

West Belarus in its entirety was incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR (BSSR). It was initially planned to move the capital of the Byelorussian SSR to Vilnius. However, the same year Joseph Stalin ordered that the city and surrounding region be transferred to Lithuania, which some months later was annexed by the Soviet Union and became a new Soviet Republic. Minsk therefore was proclaimed the capital of the enlarged BSSR. The borders of the BSSR were again altered somewhat after the war (notably the area around the city of Białystok (Belastok Voblast was returned to Poland) but in general they coincide with the borders of the modern Republic of Belarus.

After entering the Soviet Union, Western Belarusian population, particularly the Poles faced a filtration procedure by the NKVD, which resulted in over 100,000 people deported to eastern parts of the USSR. Presently, Belarus annually celebrates September 17 as a public holiday: reunification of Belarus.