page_title: German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II
section_title: War crimes
hierarchical_section_title: German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II / War crimes
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Weißrussland, Minsk ADN-Bildarchiv II. Weltkrieg 1939-45 In den von faschistischen deutschen Truppen besetzten Gebieten der Sowjetunion; Juni 1944 Auf dem Weg zum Bahnhof marschieren in Minsk Jugendliche aus Belorussland unter einer Fahne in den Landesfarben weiß-rot-weiß am Präsidenten des Weißruthenischen Zentralrates, Prof. Astrovsky, vorbei. Sie sollen in Deutschland für den Kriegseinsatz ausgebildet werden. Aufnahme: Sachert Information added by Wikimedia users.Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎: Па дарозе на вакзал маршыруюць маладзёны зь Беларусі. Чэрвень 1944 году.
context_page_description: The occupation of Byelorussia by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 and ended in August 1944 with the Soviet Operation Bagration. The western parts of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic became part of the Reichskommissariat Ostland in 1941, but in 1943 the German authorities allowed local collaborators to set up a client state, the Belarusian Central Rada, that lasted until the Soviets liberated the region.
context_section_description: Germany imposed a brutal regime, deporting some 380,000 people for slave labour, and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians more. The population was to be exterminated for German colonization. At least 5,295 Belarusian settlements were destroyed by the Nazis and some or all their inhabitants killed (out of 9,200 settlements that were burned or otherwise destroyed in Belarus during World War II). More than 600 villages like Khatyn were annihilated with their entire population. Altogether, over 1 million  were killed in Belarus during the three years of German occupation.
  A 2017 study found "that Soviet partisan attacks against German personnel provoked reprisals against civilians but that attacks against railroads had the opposite effect. Where partisans focused on disrupting German supply lines rather than killing Germans, occupying forces conducted fewer reprisals, burned fewer houses, and killed fewer people."
caption: On the way to the railway station in Minsk young people from Belarus march past the chairman of the Belarusian Central Council, Professor Radasłaŭ Astroŭski. They are going to be trained in Germany for military action, Minsk, June 1944.
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