Belarusian Central Council

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Seal of the Belarusian Central Council

The White Ruthenian Central ( whiteR. Беларуская Цэнтральная Рада; Belaruskaja Centralnya Rada BCR) was a puppet government and an auxiliary organ of the German occupation in General District Ruthenia .

history

The Beloruthenian Central Council (BZR) was founded on December 21, 1943 in Minsk by the Schutzstaffel (SS). This organ should serve as a mouthpiece for German propaganda and facilitate the mobilization of Belarusian war volunteers. President was Radaslau Astrouski appointed, who in the 1920s as a member of the Belarusian Socialist Hramada worked. Mikalaj Schkjaljonak and Jury Sabaleuski were appointed as vice-presidents . The members, including the chairman, were not elected but appointed by the responsible general commissioner Curt von Gottberg . In addition, the Beloruthenian Central Council had no legislative or executive powers, but only served to enforce the policy set by Gottberg and to spread propaganda . The White Ruthenian Central Council temporarily consisted of 14 people and oversaw other civil society organizations that were founded under German occupation, including the White Ruthenian Self-Help Organization and the White Ruthenian Youth Organization .

On January 22nd, 1944, the Belarusian Central Council held a public meeting attended by Belarusian citizens, Orthodox clergy and German officials. At this meeting, Astrouski openly called for the establishment of a Belarusian military unit to support the Wehrmacht in the fight against the Red Army . The White Ruthenian Central Council carried out Gottberg's order to find recruits for the White Ruthenian Home Guard .

The BZR tried to promote the Belarusian national consciousness. So he used the symbolism of the Belarusian People's Republic (BNR) from 1918. However, the government in exile of the BNR refused to recognize the Belarusian Central Council.

II. Belarusian People's Congress

The Janka Kupala Theater in Minsk , where the Second Belarusian People's Congress took place.

On June 27, 1944 , the Second Belarusian People's Congress, organized by the Belarusian Central Council, took place in today's Janka-Kupala-Theater in Minsk , to which thousands of delegates from Belarus, Poland, the Baltic States and the German Empire traveled. The delegates were selected by members of the Belarusian Central Council and approved by the German authorities. At the congress, the delegates declared their support for the Beloruthenian Central Council and reaffirmed their commitment to the Third Reich. The hall was decorated with pennants and nationalist orchestral music was played. Speeches were given about the great progress made by Belarusian nationalism and about the benevolent support of the German occupation. Astrouski surprised the German officials present by stating that he felt that the Belarusian Central Council had successfully carried out its mission and that the future fate of Belarus was now in our hands . At the Congress, Astrouski was reappointed President of the Beloruthenian Central Council. The Congress also stated that the Beloruthenian Central Council was now the only legal representative of the Belarusian people. Overall, the congress served more of symbolic politics, as the decisions of the delegates could no longer be implemented due to the late date.

post war period

After Belarus was liberated by the Red Army , some of the members of the Central Council fled abroad and the Beloruthenian Central Council was de facto dissolved. On March 25, 1948, Radaslau Astrouski in Germany decided to re-establish the Belarusian Central Council. Astrouski saw his government in exile as the only representation of the Belarusian nation and came into conflict with the Rada BNR , which also made this claim. Many members of the Beloruthenian Central Council switched to the Rada BNR after it became known that it would be better funded by the CIA . The Belarusian Central Council was a member of the Anti-Bolshevik Block of Nations (ABN) and was represented by Radaslau Astrouski and the war criminal Stanislau Stankewitsch . In June 1950 Stankewitsch represented the Belorussian Central Council at a meeting of the ABN in Edinburgh and was elected to the Central Committee of the ABN. Since 1995, the Beloruthenian Central Council has de facto no longer been active.

composition

At the time of the Second Belarusian People's Congress, the Belarusian Central Council consisted of the following people:

literature

  • Mark Alexander: Nazi Collaborators, American Intelligence, and the Cold War. The Case of the Byelorussian Central Council. University of Vermont Graduate College Dissertations and Theses, No. 424, 2015

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mark Alexander: Nazi Collaborators, American Intelligence, and the Cold War. The Case of the Byelorussian Central Council. University of Vermont Graduate College Dissertations and Theses, No. 424, 2015, p. 1
  2. ↑ Mark Alexander: Nazi Collaborators, American Intelligence, and the Cold War. The Case of the Byelorussian Central Council. University of Vermont Graduate College Dissertations and Theses, No. 424, 2015, p. 56
  3. ↑ Alexander Brakel: Under Red Star and Swastika. Baranowicze 1939 to 1944. Western Belarus under Soviet and German occupation . (= Age of World Wars. Volume 5). Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76784-4 , p. 219.
  4. ↑ Vitali Silitski, Jan Zaprudnik: The A to Z of Belarus. Scarecrow Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0810872004 . P. 39.
  5. ↑ Mark Alexander: Nazi Collaborators, American Intelligence, and the Cold War. The Case of the Byelorussian Central Council. University of Vermont Graduate College Dissertations and Theses, No. 424, 2015, p. 61
  6. ↑ Mark Alexander: Nazi Collaborators, American Intelligence, and the Cold War. The Case of the Byelorussian Central Council. University of Vermont Graduate College Dissertations and Theses, No. 424, 2015, p. 65
  7. ↑ Mark Alexander: Nazi Collaborators, American Intelligence, and the Cold War. The Case of the Byelorussian Central Council. University of Vermont Graduate College Dissertations and Theses, No. 424, 2015, pp. 66–68.
  8. ↑ Alexander Brakel: Under Red Star and Swastika. Baranowicze 1939 to 1944. Western Belarus under Soviet and German occupation . (= Age of World Wars. Volume 5). Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76784-4 , pp. 219-220.
  9. ^ Wojciech Roszkowski , Jan Kofman (Ed.): Biographical Dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century. Routledge, Abingdon et al. 2015, ISBN 978-0-7656-1027-0 , p. 40.
  10. ↑ Mark Alexander: Nazi Collaborators, American Intelligence, and the Cold War. The Case of the Byelorussian Central Council. University of Vermont Graduate College Dissertations and Theses, No. 424, 2015, p. 92.
  11. ↑ Stephen Dorrill: MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service. Simon and Schuster, 2002. p. 222
  12. ↑ Mark Alexander: Nazi Collaborators, American Intelligence, and the Cold War. The Case of the Byelorussian Central Council. University of Vermont Graduate College Dissertations and Theses, No. 424, 2015, p. 86.
  13. ↑ The official roster of the leadership of the Belarusian Central Council at the time of the Second Belarusian People's Congress, quoted in: John Loftus : America's Nazi Secret. TrineDay LCC 2010, ISBN 978-1936296040 , p. 307