Belarusian Central Rada
Encyclopedia
The Belarusian Central Rada was nominally the government of Belarus
from 1943–44. It was a collaborationist government established by Nazi Germany
within the occupation and colonial administration of Reichskommissariat Ostland
.
. The German administrator in the Belarus area, Generalreichskommissar Wilhelm Kube
, had his command center in Minsk
, along with subordinated Kommissars in Minsk and Baranovichi
. Ivan Jermačenka, a Belarusian collaborator who was the leader of Belarusian groups that supported the Nazi regime. Kube announced that Jermačenka had been named the "Advisor on Belarusian affairs".
When Belarusian territory originally came under Nazi German control, the "Generalbezirke of Belarus" was established, including Navahrudak, Polesia
Voivodas, Hlybokaye
and Vileyka
districts at north of the Koch's Ukraine
, Smolensk
and all of Belarus. In 1942, the German civil authority was extended to Minsk, Slutsk
and Barysaw. The rest of Belarus remained under military control.
The purpose of this political organization was to encourage local support for German forces in the short-term to help defeat the Soviet Union. In the long-term, Belarus was to be made part of the Nazis' project of Lebensraum
("living space"), in which those deemed non-Aryan would be exterminated or expelled to make way for German colonists, while the citizens who remained would be subject to forced Germanization.
In June 1943, the Nazi Germans organized a local Vertrauensausschuss (Committee of confidence), composed of native Kreisältester (district elder chief) of districts and others six notable locals under presidency of Vatslau Ivanouski, the "Alderman
" of Belarus. In 1943, Kube was killed by his Belarusian mistress, who planted a bomb in his bed.
General Reinhard Gehlen
suggested in his memorandum to the German High Command that steps be taken to appeal to the Russian people to join Germans in the fight against partisans. So General Kurt von Gottberg, who was assigned Kube's post, decided to offer Belarusian collaborators a limited form of national autonomy. Radasłaŭ Astroŭski, who was at that time a mayor of Smolensk, was selected by the SS to head the new regime. Astroŭski became the head of the local government "cabinet" Rada
.
Sometime in spring of 1940, Dr. Franz Six
, a former professor of political science and head of the Vorkommando (SS forward unit) for Einsatzgruppe B, made contact with the local branch of the Belarusian "self-help" organization in Warsaw
and put together a task force of some thirty to forty trusted Belarusians to serve as guides, administrators and informers. Among them were Stanislau Stankevich, who later ran the city of Borisov
, Emmanuel Jasiuk, who was assigned to the city of Klecak, and Jury Sabaleuski, who administered Baranovichi
. Astroŭski was to organize the counties around Minsk
and then follow the invasion forces to Russia
. In a moment of optimism, the SS had designated Dr. Six's unit Vorkommando Moskau.
Six nominated two of his Belarusian collaborators to organize each city and town under military occupation. In Minsk, Astroŭski formed a municipal government subservient to Nazis, while Franz Kushel put together police forces. The SS equipped police wore black uniforms and red armbands labeled "Polizei".
Borisov
was under control of Stanislau Stankevich. He ruled Borisov, a town of some 15,000, more than half of them Jews, through Belarusian police force garbed in black SS-type uniforms with the white-red-white of Belarus on their armbands. Emanuel Jasiuk, was the wartime mayor of Kletsk
In December 1940, German authority was confirmed in this political organization by the ordinance of Zentralrat (Central Council), and named "Weissruthenischer Zentralrat". The principal function was to recruit from the local population the Belarusian "Interior Guard" (BKA) as a native collaborationist police service, the origin of next Belarusian volunteer units in Wehrmacht
and the Waffen SS.
Astroŭski organized the Belarusian home defense corps (BKA) from 20,000 men in police battalions. he present a list of ministers for a Belarusian Central Council (Rada), to the Germans, and petitioned for authorization to organize collaborators in each province and districts. Dmitry Kasmovich, the police chief of Smolensk
area, established an expanding ring of fortified villages around Smolensk.
One of the most powerful weapons in the collaborationist arsenal was religion. The SS established an Autocephalous Belarusian Orthodox Church
independent from the Patriarch of Moscow who, similarly, was used by the Soviet atheists to rally Russians against the Germans. The church's priests had considerable influence with the peasantry, and they actively supported the defeat of Soviet Russia, which had invaded Western Belarus, then under Polish rule, on September 17, 1939 under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany and under the pretext of protecting the former citizens of a collapsed Poland conquered by Nazi Germany. In late June 1944, Minsk Opera House was filled with 1,039 delegates from all Belarusian provinces. Joachim Kipel was the president of the Second All-Belarusian Rada Congress.
In 1944, the withdrawal of authorities, local supporters and last Axis units from these territories to East Prussia
n and Polish
lands under German control began. The SS assigned a special train that carried 800 collaborators and their families to Germany on June 28, 1944. Astrouski left two days later since he was organizing evacuation.
These ancient Belarusian BKA security police forces was were absorbed into "30.Waffen-Grenadier-division der SS-Russiche No 2. This infantry division was formed from the remnants of the 29th Waffen-SS Division, which included Belarusian and Ukrainian units. The Germans had set up an officers' school and issued uniforms with Waffen Sturm-brigade Belarus designation.
Orders were issued for Belarusian forces to be absorbed by Vlasov
's Russian Army of Liberation; 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.
Others members of the Belarusian police were recruited by SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny
for training in Dahlwitz, near Berlin
, to make special undercover strikes and operate behind enemy lines. These units were known as "Black Cat", and led by Michas' Vitushka. They operated in Belavezha Forest against Soviet forces in anti-communist guerrilla operations in 1945.
The state ended its existence in 1944 when the Red Army
drove the retreating Nazi German forces from Belarus.
At the end of 1945, Astroŭski held a special meeting of the "Belarusian Central Committee" which decided to dissolve the government in order to avoid being sent back to Belarus as war criminals.
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
from 1943–44. It was a collaborationist government established by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
within the occupation and colonial administration of Reichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland, literally "Reich Commissariat Eastland", was the civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany in the Baltic states and much of Belarus during World War II. It was also known as Reichskommissariat Baltenland initially...
.
Timeline
The autonomous government had its origins on July 3, 1941, within Reichskommissariat OstlandReichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland, literally "Reich Commissariat Eastland", was the civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany in the Baltic states and much of Belarus during World War II. It was also known as Reichskommissariat Baltenland initially...
. The German administrator in the Belarus area, Generalreichskommissar Wilhelm Kube
Wilhelm Kube
Wilhelm Kube was a German politician and Nazi official. He was an important figure in the German Christian movement during the early years of Nazi rule. During the war he became a senior official in the occupying government of the Soviet Union, achieving the rank of Generalkommissar for...
, had his command center in Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
, along with subordinated Kommissars in Minsk and Baranovichi
Baranovichi
Baranovichi , is a city in the Brest Province of western Belarus with a population of 173,000. It is a significant railway junction and home to a state university.-Overview:...
. Ivan Jermačenka, a Belarusian collaborator who was the leader of Belarusian groups that supported the Nazi regime. Kube announced that Jermačenka had been named the "Advisor on Belarusian affairs".
When Belarusian territory originally came under Nazi German control, the "Generalbezirke of Belarus" was established, including Navahrudak, Polesia
Polesia
Polesia is one of the largest European swampy areas, located in the south-western part of the Eastern-European Lowland, mainly within Belarus and Ukraine but also partly within Poland and Russia...
Voivodas, Hlybokaye
Hlybokaye
Hlybokaye is a town in Vitebsk Oblast, Belarus, the capital of the Hlybokaye Raion . The first records about the settlement are dated 1514....
and Vileyka
Vileyka
Vileyka – town in Republic of Belarus, the capital of the Vileyka Raion in the Minsk Voblast. It is located on the river Viliya, 100 km to northwest from Minsk. First documental record: 16 November 1460....
districts at north of the Koch's Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
and all of Belarus. In 1942, the German civil authority was extended to Minsk, Slutsk
Slutsk
Slutsk is a town in Belarus, located on the Sluch River south of Minsk. As of 2010 its population is of 61,400).-Geography:The town is situated in the south-west of its Voblast, not too far from from the city of Soligorsk.-History:...
and Barysaw. The rest of Belarus remained under military control.
The purpose of this political organization was to encourage local support for German forces in the short-term to help defeat the Soviet Union. In the long-term, Belarus was to be made part of the Nazis' project of Lebensraum
Lebensraum
was one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany...
("living space"), in which those deemed non-Aryan would be exterminated or expelled to make way for German colonists, while the citizens who remained would be subject to forced Germanization.
In June 1943, the Nazi Germans organized a local Vertrauensausschuss (Committee of confidence), composed of native Kreisältester (district elder chief) of districts and others six notable locals under presidency of Vatslau Ivanouski, the "Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
" of Belarus. In 1943, Kube was killed by his Belarusian mistress, who planted a bomb in his bed.
General Reinhard Gehlen
Reinhard Gehlen
Reinhard Gehlen was a General in the German Army during World War II, who served as chief of intelligence-gathering on the Eastern Front. After the war, he was recruited by the United States military to set up a spy ring directed against the Soviet Union , and eventually became head of the West...
suggested in his memorandum to the German High Command that steps be taken to appeal to the Russian people to join Germans in the fight against partisans. So General Kurt von Gottberg, who was assigned Kube's post, decided to offer Belarusian collaborators a limited form of national autonomy. Radasłaŭ Astroŭski, who was at that time a mayor of Smolensk, was selected by the SS to head the new regime. Astroŭski became the head of the local government "cabinet" Rada
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
.
Sometime in spring of 1940, Dr. Franz Six
Franz Six
Dr. Franz Alfred Six was a Nazi official who rose to the rank of SS-Brigadeführer. He was appointed by Reinhard Heydrich to head department Amt VII, Written Records of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt...
, a former professor of political science and head of the Vorkommando (SS forward unit) for Einsatzgruppe B, made contact with the local branch of the Belarusian "self-help" organization in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
and put together a task force of some thirty to forty trusted Belarusians to serve as guides, administrators and informers. Among them were Stanislau Stankevich, who later ran the city of Borisov
Barysau
Barysaw , also transliterated Barysau, is a city in Belarus situated near the Berezina River in the Minsk Voblast.-History:...
, Emmanuel Jasiuk, who was assigned to the city of Klecak, and Jury Sabaleuski, who administered Baranovichi
Baranovichi
Baranovichi , is a city in the Brest Province of western Belarus with a population of 173,000. It is a significant railway junction and home to a state university.-Overview:...
. Astroŭski was to organize the counties around Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
and then follow the invasion forces to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. In a moment of optimism, the SS had designated Dr. Six's unit Vorkommando Moskau.
Six nominated two of his Belarusian collaborators to organize each city and town under military occupation. In Minsk, Astroŭski formed a municipal government subservient to Nazis, while Franz Kushel put together police forces. The SS equipped police wore black uniforms and red armbands labeled "Polizei".
Borisov
Barysau
Barysaw , also transliterated Barysau, is a city in Belarus situated near the Berezina River in the Minsk Voblast.-History:...
was under control of Stanislau Stankevich. He ruled Borisov, a town of some 15,000, more than half of them Jews, through Belarusian police force garbed in black SS-type uniforms with the white-red-white of Belarus on their armbands. Emanuel Jasiuk, was the wartime mayor of Kletsk
Kletsk
Kletsk is a city in the Minsk voblast of Belarus, located on the Lan river. , it had ca. 10,000 inhabitants.- History :The town was founded in 11th century by the Dregovichs, who erected a large fort and a tribal centre there...
In December 1940, German authority was confirmed in this political organization by the ordinance of Zentralrat (Central Council), and named "Weissruthenischer Zentralrat". The principal function was to recruit from the local population the Belarusian "Interior Guard" (BKA) as a native collaborationist police service, the origin of next Belarusian volunteer units in Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and the Waffen SS.
Astroŭski organized the Belarusian home defense corps (BKA) from 20,000 men in police battalions. he present a list of ministers for a Belarusian Central Council (Rada), to the Germans, and petitioned for authorization to organize collaborators in each province and districts. Dmitry Kasmovich, the police chief of Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
area, established an expanding ring of fortified villages around Smolensk.
One of the most powerful weapons in the collaborationist arsenal was religion. The SS established an Autocephalous Belarusian Orthodox Church
Belarusian Orthodox Church
Belarusian Orthodox Church is the official name of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus. It represents the union of Russian orthodox eparchies on the territory of Belarus and is the largest religious organization in the country, uniting the predominant majority of...
independent from the Patriarch of Moscow who, similarly, was used by the Soviet atheists to rally Russians against the Germans. The church's priests had considerable influence with the peasantry, and they actively supported the defeat of Soviet Russia, which had invaded Western Belarus, then under Polish rule, on September 17, 1939 under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany and under the pretext of protecting the former citizens of a collapsed Poland conquered by Nazi Germany. In late June 1944, Minsk Opera House was filled with 1,039 delegates from all Belarusian provinces. Joachim Kipel was the president of the Second All-Belarusian Rada Congress.
In 1944, the withdrawal of authorities, local supporters and last Axis units from these territories to East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
n and Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
lands under German control began. The SS assigned a special train that carried 800 collaborators and their families to Germany on June 28, 1944. Astrouski left two days later since he was organizing evacuation.
These ancient Belarusian BKA security police forces was were absorbed into "30.Waffen-Grenadier-division der SS-Russiche No 2. This infantry division was formed from the remnants of the 29th Waffen-SS Division, which included Belarusian and Ukrainian units. The Germans had set up an officers' school and issued uniforms with Waffen Sturm-brigade Belarus designation.
Orders were issued for Belarusian forces to be absorbed by Vlasov
Vlasov
Vlasov or Vlasoff is a common Russian surname formed from the first name Vlas or from the Slavonic vlas meaning hair. The feminine form of the surname is Vlasova...
's Russian Army of Liberation; 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.
Others members of the Belarusian police were recruited by SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny was an SS-Obersturmbannführer in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he was chosen as the field commander to carry out the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity...
for training in Dahlwitz, near Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, to make special undercover strikes and operate behind enemy lines. These units were known as "Black Cat", and led by Michas' Vitushka. They operated in Belavezha Forest against Soviet forces in anti-communist guerrilla operations in 1945.
The state ended its existence in 1944 when the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
drove the retreating Nazi German forces from Belarus.
At the end of 1945, Astroŭski held a special meeting of the "Belarusian Central Committee" which decided to dissolve the government in order to avoid being sent back to Belarus as war criminals.
See also
- Occupation of Belarus by Nazi GermanyOccupation of Belarus by Nazi GermanyThe occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany occurred as part of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 and ended in August 1944 with the Soviet Operation Bagration.- Background :...
- Belarusian collaborationism with the Axis powersBelarusian collaborationism with the Axis powers- Belarusian volunteers in the German army :*Belarusian Abwehr/Brandenburg Sabouteur agents*Vorkommando Einsatzgruppe B, also Vorkommando Moskau*Belarusian Interior Guard *29th Waffen-SS Division/...
- Military history of Belarus during World War IIMilitary history of Belarus during World War II-September 1939 – June 1941:The Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact of August 1939 had established a non-aggression agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and a secret protocol described how Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania would be divided between...
- Reichskommissariat OstlandReichskommissariat OstlandReichskommissariat Ostland, literally "Reich Commissariat Eastland", was the civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany in the Baltic states and much of Belarus during World War II. It was also known as Reichskommissariat Baltenland initially...
- Lokot RepublicLokot RepublicThe Lokot Autonomy was a semi-autonomous region in Nazi German-occupied Central Russia led by Bronislav Kaminski's administration from July 1942 to August 1943. The name is derived from the region's administrative center, the urban-type settlement of Lokot in Oryol Oblast...
- native Russian state under indirect German control - Belarusian National RepublicBelarusian National RepublicThe Belarusian People's Republic was a self-declared independent Belarusian state, which declared independence in 1918. It is also called the Belarusian Democratic Republic or the Belarusian National Republic, in order to distinguish it from Communist People's Republics...
- World War I-era Belarusian state - Byelorussian SSRByelorussian SSRThe Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union. It was one of the four original founding members of the Soviet Union in 1922, together with the Ukrainian SSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...