Belarusian Democratic Republic

TheBelarusian People's Republic(BNR;Belarusian:Беларуская Народная Рэспубліка,romanized:Biełaruskaja Narodnaja Respublika,БНР), also known as theBelarusian Democratic Republic, was a state proclaimed by the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in itsSecond Constituent Charteron 9 March 1918 duringWorld War I. The Council proclaimed the Belarusian Democratic Republic independent in itsThird Constituent Charteron 25 March 1918 during the occupation of contemporary Belarus by theImperial German Army.
The government of the Belarusian Democratic Republic never had power over the whole territory of Belarus. In 1919, it co-existed with an alternativeSoviet Russia-controlledSocialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia(which later became part of theLithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic), moving its seat of government toVilniusandHrodna,but ceased to exist due to the partition of the whole Belarusian territory between the BolshevikRed Armyand thePolish Armed Forcesas a result of thePolish–Soviet Warof 1919–1921.
Currently, its government in exile, theRada (Council) of the Belarusian Democratic Republicis the oldest stillfunctioning government in exile.
In some historical documents, theWhite Ruthenian Democratic Republicphrase was used initially.In the current scholarship,Belarusian Democratic RepublicandBelarusian National Republicnames dominate.TheRada BNRuses theBelarusian Democratic Republicname.It also appears in the publications originating in Belarus.TheBelarusian People's Republicappears in publications,however, its use is comparatively limited, e.g. it does not appear in the titles of scholarly publications.
After the 1917February Revolutionin Russia, active discussions started in Belarus about either gaining autonomy within the newRussian Republicor declaring independence. Deputies of most Belarusian regions and of different political powers, including theBelarusian Socialist Assembly, theChristian democratic movementand theGeneral Jewish Labour Bund, formed a Belarusian National Council in late 1917. The Council started working on establishing Belarusian governmental institutions. Both the Bolsheviks and Germans refused to recognize it and interfered in its activity. However, the Germans saw an independent Belarus as part of the implementation of their plan forbuffer stateswithinMitteleuropa. The Bolsheviks had negotiations with the Belarusian Democratic Republic regarding eventual recognition, but later decided instead to establish a pro-Soviet government of Belarus – theSoviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia.
Parallel with negotiations that started between the Germans andBolsheviks, the Belarusian Council started actively demanding recognition of autonomous status forBelarus, with continuing internal discussions on whether it should become an autonomous region within Russia or declare national independence.
On 21 February 1918, the German army capturedMinsk. On the same day, the Belarusian Council passed theFirst Constituent Charterdeclaring the council the only legitimate power on the territory of Belarus. Neither the occupying authorities, nor its government in Berlin, however, were interested in the idea of an independent Belarusian state.
On 3 March, Germans and Bolsheviks signed theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk. On 6 March, the Belarusian Council passed the Second Charter declared the establishment of the Belarusian People's Republic. The Council became the provisional government of Belarus and was renamed theCouncil of the Belarusian People's Republic.
On March 25, 1918, the All-Belarusian Congress proclaimed the independence of the Belarusian People's Republic (Bielaruskaja Narodnaja Respublika, abbreviated as BNR). As the German army retreated, the Government of the BNR left Minsk in December 1918 for the Lithuanian Republic, and in the spring of 1919 went into exile.
In its Third Constituent Charter, the following territories were claimed for BNR:Mogilev Governorate(province), as well as Belarusian parts ofMinsk Governorate,Grodno Governorate(includingBelastok),Vilna Governorate,Vitebsk Governorate, andSmolensk Governorate, and parts of bordering governorates populated by Belarusians, rejecting the then split of the Belarusian lands between Germany and Russia.The areas were claimed because of a Belarusian majority or large minority (as inGrodnoandVilna Governorate), although there were also numbers ofLithuanians,Polesand people speaking mixed varieties ofBelarusian,LithuanianandPolish, as well as manyJews, mostly in towns and cities (in some towns they made up a majority). Some of the Jews spoke Russian as their native tongue; others spokeYiddish.
There were attempts to create anarmed forcesof the newly established Belarusian People's Republic.Belarusian military units started to form within the disorganizedImperial Russian Armyalready in 1917.
According to the historianOleg Latyszonek, about 11,000 people, mostly volunteers, served in the Army of the Belarusian People's Republic.
GeneralStanisław Bułak-Bałachowiczsupported theGovernment of the People's Republicand openly positioned his army as a Belarusian national army. In 1920, his units became a part of theRussian People's Volunteer Army[ru]led by the Russian SR revolutionaryBoris Savinkovwhich established the short-livedBelarusian State[ru]during its actions against the Red Army.
The major military action of the Army of the People's Republic was the failedSlutsk defence actionin late 1920. The Council of the BNR, based at that time inLithuania, sent officers to help organize armedanti-Bolshevikresistance in the town ofSlutsk. These events formed the basis ofVasil Bykau's story and the film based on it "On Black Slash-and-Burn Fields".
During its short existence, the government of Belarus established close ties with theUkrainian People's Republic, organized food supplies to Belarus from Ukraine and thereby prevented hunger in the country.
Beginning in 1918,Anton Łuckievič, theprime ministerof Belarus, met withVladimir Leninhoping to gain recognition for the independence of Belarus by Soviet Russia. The Belarusian delegation even proposed the creation of a federation with the RSFSR and the adoption of the Soviet Constitution in Belarus in exchange for Russia recognizing the independent status of Belarus, but Lenin did not agree to these proposals.
In 1919, a delegation of the Belarusian People's Republic under Prime MinisterAnton Łuckievičparticipated in theParis Peace Conference, attempting to gain international recognition of the independence of Belarus. On the way to the conference, the delegation was received byCzechoslovakpresidentTomáš MasarykinPrague. During the conference, Łuckievič had meetings with the exiled foreign minister ofAdmiral Kolchak'sRussian governmentSergey Sazonovand the prime minister of PolandIgnacy Jan Paderewski.
In October 1919 the Belarusian People's Republic was officially recognized byEstoniaand in December 1919 byFinland.On November 11, 1920, the Belarusian People's Republic signed a treaty with the government ofLithuaniain which both states declared to recognize each other and to cooperate together.
The government also managed to create between 150 and 350 schools and preparations for the creation of a university in Minsk were initiated.
In December 1918, the German army retreated from the territory of Belarus and theRed Armymoved in to establish theSocialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia. TheRada(Council) of the BNR moved to Hrodna, the center of a semi-autonomous Belarusian region within theRepublic of Lithuania.During the subsequent1919–1920 Soviet-Polish War, the Rada went into exile and facilitated an anti-Communist struggle within the country during the 1920s.
In 1925, the exiled Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (Rada BDR) discussed relinquishing its authority in favor of theByelorussian Soviet Socialist Republiccontrolling theeastern part of Belarus. Despite many members of thedemocratic governmentadvocating this idea, the proposal was not approved.
DuringWorld War II, the Belarusian government-in-exile, based inPrague, refused to cooperate withNazi Germanyor with theBelarusian Central Rada, the pro-German puppet government and issued statements in support of the WesternAllies.
The advance of the Red Army in 1945 forced the BNR's Rada to relocate to the western part ofGermany, occupied byBritishandAmericantroops. In February 1948, the Rada passed a special manifesto, by which it declared its return to activity. In April 1948, the Rada, together with deputies of the Belarusian post-war refugees, held a conference inOsterhofen,Bavaria.
After thedissolution of the Soviet Unionin the 1990s, similar governments-in-exile of the neighboring countries (Lithuania, Poland and others) handed back their mandates to the corresponding independent governments.
Upon declaration of independence of theByelorussian Soviet Socialist Republicin 1990, it was stated then that the Rada was ready to hand its status to a democratically elected parliament of Belarus. The parliament of Belarus of that time had been elected under Soviet rule. However, these plans were dropped after presidentAlexander Lukashenko, elected in the1994 presidential election, established anauthoritarian regimeaccompanied by a return toSoviet policies in regards to Belarusian language and culture.
The Rada BNR still exists as agovernment in exileand attempts to lobby for interests of the Belarusian diaspora in countries where it has its deputies.
Since the late 1980s, March 25, the Independence Day of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, is widely celebrated by the Belarusian national democratic opposition asFreedom Day(Belarusian:Дзень волі). It is usually accompanied by mass opposition rallies inMinskand by celebration events of the Belarusian diaspora organizations supporting the Belarusian government in exile.
A national flag of three stripes –white-red-white– was adopted, as well as a state seal (Pahonia) based on an emblem of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania.
Chairpersons of theCouncil of the Belarusian People's Republic:
In 1998, Belarusian linguist and translatorSiarhiej Šupa[be]published a two-volume collection of BNR archives (Архівы Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі. Менск-Вільня-Прага-Нью-Ёрк). The total size of the two volumes is more than 1700 pages. Essentially these are the processed and re-organized documents from the Lithuanian archival fund #582 inVilniusand they constitute roughly 60% of all the BNR official documents from 1918. Another 20% of BNR official documentation is located in the Minsk archives, and the fate of the remaining 20% is unknown.