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During World War II, some Belarusians collaborated with the invading Axis powers. Until the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the territory of Belarus was under control of the Soviet Union, as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. However, memories of the Soviet repressions in Belarus and collectivization, as well as of the polonization and discrimination of Belarusians in the Second Polish Republic were still fresh, and many people in Belarus wanted an independent Belarus. Many Belarusians chose to cooperate with the invaders in order to achieve that goal, assuming that Nazi Germany might allow them to have their own independent state after the war ended.
Contents
- Administration
- Belarusian military and paramilitary units in the German army
- German Commanders and officers associated with Belarus
- Political leaders
- Military commanders
- Political organizations
- Media
- References
The Belarusian organizations never received any administrative control over the territory of Belarus, the real power was in the hands of the German civil and military administrations. The collaborationist Belarusian Central Rada, presenting itself as a Belarusian governmental body, was formed in Minsk few months before Belarus was taken over by the Soviet Army.
Before the war, a Belarusian National Socialist Party was formed by a small group of Belarusian nationalists in Poland-controlled West Belarus in 1933. The group was far less influential than other Belarusian political parties in interwar Poland, such as the Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union and the Belarusian Christian Democracy. BNSP was banned by the Polish authorities in 1937. Its leaders left for Berlin and became one of the first advisers to the Germans at the onset of Operation Barbarossa.