Polish-Belarusian ethnic conflict

During the Russian Civil War, the Second Polish Republic, the Belarusian People's Republic, and the Soviet states fought for control of the Belarusian territory. In 1921, Western Belarus became part of Poland.

Following the secession of Western Belarus into the Second Polish Republic, the local Belarusian population suffered from the state's policy towards national minorities. Polonization was carried out.[5] The situation worsened after the death of Jozef Pilsudski in 1935. The Polish authorities suppressed Belarusian national and cultural organizations, and increased the process of forced assimilation.[6][7]

In September 1939, the Third Reich and the USSR invaded and divided the territory of Poland. Western Belarus became part of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The local Belarusian population positively welcomed the accession to the Soviet Union. Poles were outraged by the destruction of their country. According to Markelov, they began to perceive Belarusians as allies of the USSR. Anti-Soviet sentiments eventually became anti-Belarusian.[4]

During the annexation of Western Belarus, attacks on ethnic Poles began. Murders, mostly of osadniks, occurred throughout Western Belarus, but the most brutal took place in the Bialystok Voivodeship.[8] An armed uprising against the Polish authorities took place in Skidel under the leadership of former members of the Communist Party of Western Belarus.[9][10]

With the beginning of the German occupation in 1941, the Nazi administration exploited the interethnic tensions existing in the region. During the war, two groups that formed part of a broad anti-fascist movement - the pro-communist partisans and the Polish group Home Army - began to operate. Despite different political backgrounds, they occasionally collaborated in the fight against the Germans. However, the Home Army actively fought against Belarusian collaborators.[11] There were cases when ethnic Belarusians who supported the Nazis directed their activities against the Polish underground.[1]

The main conflict during this period was between the nationalist elites of Belarusians and the Poles.[11]

After the expulsion of the Wehrmacht from the area around the Belarusian-Polish border, the Polish anti-Soviet underground sought to return the region to Poland. The goal of the nationalist partisans was to evict the Belarusians beyond the Curzon line, the newly proposed border between Poland and the Soviets. The period from 1944 to 1950 saw multiple attacks from Polish nationalists on the Belarusians. To do this, they sent threats and committed attacks and murders. The attacks took place both on the territory of the BSSR and the Polish People's Republic.[11]

One of the infamous events was the murders of ethnic Belarusians by Poles in January and February 1946 when a detachment of nationalists led by Romuald Rajs killed 79 peasants.

The last detachments of Polish partisans remained in the Belarusian forests until 1954.[11]

The post-war terror of the anti-Soviet underground created and strengthened in the minds of Belarusians a negative image of Poles who kill peaceful peasants for their religion and nationality. The negative stereotype of Belarusians as allies of the Soviets, in turn, was fixed in the minds of Poles. According to some commentators, such mutual distrust has hindered the development of interethnic relations for a long time.[11] However, other historians have seen the relationship differently, casting in a broader historical light: "Seen against Poland's relationships against other neighbours, Polish-Belarusian relations have involved the last conflict, and are virtually free of historically rooted mutual resentment and hatred."[12]

• Belarus–Poland relations
• List of wars involving Belarus
• List of wars involving Poland

• Грыбоўскі Ю. Польска-беларускі канфлікт у Генеральнай акрузе «Беларусь» (1941—1944 гг.) // Białoruskie Zeszyty Historyczne, nr 25, 2006, s. 116–167.
• Великий А.Ф., Ставропольский альманах Российского общества интеллектуальной истории: вып. 6 (специальный): материалы международного научного семинара «Своё» и «Чужое» в исследовательском поле «истории пограничных областей», Пятигорск, 16-18 апреля 2004 г. – Ставрополь: Изд-во СГУ, 2004 – С.146-154.
  • Межнациональная напряженность в белорусско-польском пограничье. 1944-1946 гг.
• Маркелов Н. И. К вопросу о межэтнических отношениях поляков и белорусов на Белосточчине в условиях немецко-фашистской оккупации (1941—1944 гг.) // Вестник АГУ : журнал. — Выпуск 2 (199). — 2017.
• Маркелов Н. И. Межэтнический конфликт белорусов и поляков в 1944-1950 гг. : политический и националистический аспекты // Исторический журнал: научные исследования. — 2017.
• Wierzbicki A. Polish-Belarusian Relations : Between a Common Past and the Future. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft; 2018.

pl

• Białorusini i stosunki polsko-białoruskie na Białostocczyźnie 1944-1956: Wybór dokumentów / Oprac. S. Iwaniuk. - Bialystok: T-wo Hist., 1988.
• Stosunki polsko-bialoruskie w wojewodztwie bialostockim w latach 1939–1956, Warszawa 2005.

be

• Весялкоўскі Ю. Што прывяло Армію Краёву на Беларусь. — Лондан, 1995.
• Крывашэй Дз. Беларуска-польскія адносіны ў гады нямецкай акупацыі// Białorunruskie zeszyty historyczne, nr 24, 2005. — s. 153–165.
• Крывашэй Дз. Польская супольнасць Беларусі пад час акупацыі // Беларусь у выпрабаваннях Вялікай Айчыннай вайны: масавыя забойствы нацыстаў, Мн., 2005, с. 139–148.
• Туронак Ю. Беларусь пад нямецкай акупацыяй. — Мн., 1993.