Sovietization of Western Byelorussia (1939-1941)

Sovietization of Western Byelorussia (1939–1941) was the initial period of establishing Soviet rule in Western Belorussia. It lasted from late September 1939 to 22 June 1941. In the economy, Sovietization was expressed in the nationalization of the few industrial enterprises in Western Byelorussia. The authorities did not carry out complete collectivization, but gave the peasants (mostly Belarusians) land taken from the Polish "osadniks". The wealthy strata of the population of Western Byelorussia were ruined in the first months of Soviet power due to the confiscation of surplus cash and bank deposits, as well as high inflation and the emergence of the "black market". Over 22 months, a network of Soviet cultural institutions was created in Western Byelorussia. Also, in 1940-1941, a Soviet atheistic educational system was created in the region, including universities. Local cultural figures (including many Jews who were discriminated against in Poland) were included by the Soviet authorities in the new institutions, receiving certain privileges, the obligation to participate in propaganda events and create in the style of socialist realism. At the same time, local cultural figures found themselves financially dependent on the Soviet authorities.

The Sovietization of Western Byelorussia met with much less resistance from the local (mostly Polish) population than similar events carried out during the same period in Western Ukraine. By arresting and mass deporting the disloyal population, the resistance in Western Byelorussia was almost completely suppressed by 1941. Sovietization was interrupted at the end of June 1941, when almost all of Western Byelorussia was occupied by German troops in two weeks. Sovietization was resumed in 1944 and did not cover the entire territory of the region, since on July 27, 1944, the “Agreement between the Polish Committee of National Liberation and the Government of the Soviet Union on the Polish-Soviet border” was signed in Moscow, according to which the Belastok Region of Western Byelorussia was transferred to Poland.