How Our Borders Changed in the 20th Century

Ethnographic Belarus and the territory of the BNR and BSSR in 1918—1921

At the beginning of the 20th century, the ethnographic territory of Belarus was finally established, as recorded in the 1897 census. There were also certain geographical and historical centers of the Belarusian territory, which were places where the national elite was raised and operated. First and foremost, these are Vilnius and Minsk. They can also include Polotsk, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Smolensk, as well as some other cities, especially in the west of Belarus. These are Grodno, Bialystok, Slonim, and Brest.

However, in the 20th century, the most disputes arose around Vilnius, Smolensk, and Bialystok — cities that played a significant role in shaping the Belarusian mentality during the turning points of our convoluted history.

All Belarusian philologists, historians, and writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially after the 1897 census, considered Vilnius, Smolensk, and Bialystok to be Belarusian cities. This was recorded by Adam Kirkor in “Picturesque Russia” (Volume 3, 1882) and Yefim Karsky on the corresponding maps. Before and during World War I, the Germans also classified these cities as part of Belarus and considered them Belarusian.

In the 20th century, their historical fate alternated between including them in Belarusian political formations (BNR, BSSR, or Lit-Bel) and excluding them from there. Moreover, when the Bolsheviks transferred them to the composition of other countries or republics, they were guided not by the desires of their population or any data from referendums or plebiscites (for a long time, referendums in the USSR were simply banned), but by pressing political benefits.

After the German occupation of Belarus, especially after the “Brest Peace,” at the end of 1918, Smolensk emerged as a focal point in the political history of Belarus, where many members of the Belarusian intelligentsia, including Yanko Kupala, found themselves.

It was here, on July 30, 1918, that the Western Commune — a region of the Russian Republic — proclaimed itself the BSSR. This occurred at the IV North-Western Conference of the RCP(b), which declared itself the first congress of the CP(b) of Belarus. The borders of the country were defined on the same day. And on December 31, the first congress of the CP(b) proclaimed the Socialist Soviet Belarusian Republic in Smolensk. A government was formed there in Smolensk.

On January 3, the new government moved to Minsk. On January 4, an article by Maxim Gorky titled “Long Live Communist Belarus!” was published in the Smolensk newspaper “Izvestia.”

However, already on January 16, A. Yofe was sent from Moscow to Minsk with the aim of dividing the SSRB and forming Lit-Bel. As a buffer, he proposed to create Lithuanian and Belarusian republics. To reduce nationalism in the BSSR, it was decided to take away the Vitebsk, Mogilev, and Smolensk provinces from it. On January 23, the Smolensk provincial committee announced its exit from the BSSR.

On February 2-3, 1919, the First Congress of Soviets of the BSSR agreed to the exit of the three eastern provinces from the republic and consented to unite with the Lithuanian Soviet Republic. From February 17-21, 1919, the first congress of the councils of Lithuania took place.

On February 27, 1919, a workers’ and peasants’ government was formed, and a new Soviet Socialist Lithuanian-Belarusian Republic (Minsk, Vilnius, Grodno, and part of the Kaunas province) was established with its capital in Vilnius.

Thus, Vilnius replaced Smolensk and Minsk as the capital. The capital was located there from February 27 to April 28, 1919. On April 28, the Lit-Bel government moved to Minsk, and Vilnius was captured by the Poles. The next time Vilnius became Soviet was in September 1939, and for the second time — in July 1940.

In 1920, the Bolsheviks ceded part of Belarus to Lithuania and Latvia, which they wanted to use as allies in the struggle against Poland. Initially, on July 12, 1920, a treaty was signed with Lithuania, according to which Vilnius and a significant part of the former Vilnius province, populated mainly by Belarusians, were transferred to Lithuania. From other major cities, Grodno was also transferred to the Lithuanians. In September, Lithuanian troops were already in Vilnius, but on October 9, they were expelled by the troops of General Zhaligovsky, one of the Polish commanders, who had 52,000 soldiers. The Lithuanian government retreated to Shavli, and Zhaligovsky announced the creation of a puppet state called the “Republic of Central Lithuania” and held elections for a local Sejm. In February 1922, Central Lithuania joined Poland.

On August 11, 1920, the Bolsheviks recognized Latvia and transferred three counties to it: Dvinsk, Rezhitsky, and Lyutsinsky, mainly populated by Belarusians. In return, they received the right to use the Latvian ports of Liepaja and Ventspils and the opportunity to trade profitably with the West. In May-June 1921, Latvia transferred the cities of Mažeikiai and Palanga to Lithuania, with a total area of 200 sq.km. In response, Lithuania transferred to Latvia a piece of territory near Dvinsk with a total area of 299 sq.km, predominantly populated by Belarusians. The number of Belarusians who had historically lived in these lands and found themselves in Latvia increased.

In 1920, the restored BSSR consisted of only six counties of the former Minsk province. Therefore, the leadership of the republic began to fight for the return of the seized cities and territories. Already in the autumn of 1920, this issue was raised by the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, Knorin. In September 1922, the leadership of the BSSR officially raised this issue and justified the enlargement by the interests of defense. A large republic would better defend the western borders of the USSR. Moscow agreed, but local bureaucrats, as a rule, non-Belarusians, opposed it. The village was in favor of reunification. There were volost meetings where this was voted on.

On March 7, 1924, the BSSR received 15 counties. The cities of Polotsk, Vitebsk, and Mogilev were returned. However, far from all lands populated by Belarusians were returned. For example, the former Mstsislaw county was cut in half, and such Mstsislaw towns as Khislavichi and Pachynak remained in Russia.

In August 1926, the Belarusians asked Moscow to return the Gomel province and three southern counties of the Pskov province with the cities of Nevel, Velizh, and Sebezh.

In December 1926, only Rechitsa and Gomel were returned. In the late 1920s, negotiations were underway to return the aforementioned counties along with some counties of the Smolensk province, and even a corresponding map was printed in “Zvyazda.” However, soon Stalin’s repressions began, and everything stopped.

1939. Enlargement of the BSSR, transfer of the Vilnius region to Lithuania

In 1937, the idea arose to move the capital of the BSSR from Minsk to Mogilev. A new Government House had already been built in Mogilev, but 1939 arrived, and the situation changed drastically. On September 17 of that year, the annexation of Western Belarus to the BSSR and the USSR began, which the Bolsheviks had ceded to Poland in March 1921.

Vilnius again became Belarusian, but not for long. October 10 arrived. The Red Army had already been in Vilnius for several weeks. Belarusian newspapers began to be published. At night, Belarusian nationalists who had recently welcomed the arrival of Soviet troops and dreamed of joining Belarus were arrested. Polish soldiers and officials, as well as the Jewish bourgeoisie, were fleeing as best they could. And in the morning, Vilnius woke up in a new country — the Lithuanian Republic. On the streets were Lithuanian soldiers and police. The uniform of the Lithuanian policemen and their language, which no one understood, particularly struck the residents of Vilnius.

In Soviet newspapers, an explanation by Molotov was published, acknowledging that in Vilnius and the Vilnius region, the majority of the population was not Lithuanian, but it was transferred to Lithuania for political benefits for the USSR. Vilnius no longer appeared on maps of Europe. But Vilnius appeared.

Let us imagine for a moment that the Russian capital, St. Petersburg, was captured by the Germans and handed over to neighboring Finland, and the new masters gave the city a new name, completely unfamiliar to the Slavic ear. This is roughly what the Germans feel when they hear Kaliningrad instead of Königsberg.

Here is how one of the Belarusian intellectuals, a resident of Vilnius at that time, recalls those October days in 1939: “On October 22, 1939, the Lithuanian police arrived in Vilnius, looking like roosters, and those who survived the arrests remained alive. The NKVD, before its departure, was ransacking everything it could and taking it east…”

“On October 28, the Lithuanian police completely besieged the city. They wore blue overcoats, red insignia, with red trim on their hats, and spoke exclusively in Samogitian. Due to their comical appearance and incomprehensible language, the residents of Vilnius wittily nicknamed them ‘kalakutas’ — turkeys. The next day, a brigade of the Lithuanian army entered Vilnius, and behind them rushed hundreds of ‘šauliai’ to take warm positions.”

“The Samogitian armed units entered Vilnius as strangers in a foreign city. At that time, there were less than 2% of the Lithuanian population in the city, and it was lost in a sea of Slavs. Because of this, no one greeted their army.”

“Soon new orders began. Old residents, Poles and Belarusians, were thrown out of city administration, railways, enterprises and institutions, schools, and administration. Their places were taken by semi-literate newcomers. Soon they hung their signs, changed the names of the streets to their liking. Immediately, the Samogitian language was introduced into all governments and institutions. Now Vilnius became mute: everywhere a translator was needed. People complained, cursed, and rebelled because they could not communicate in their native place in their most urgent life matters.” (Yazep Maletski. Under the Sign of the Pahonia. Toronto, 1976.)

Bialystok temporarily returned to the composition of Belarus, becoming Soviet in September 1939. It was here that a popular assembly of representatives of Western Belarus took place, which made the decision to join the USSR and the BSSR. Bialystok was the center of the BSSR region until the summer of 1944 when Stalin transferred it to communist Poland along with part of the Białowieża Forest, so there would be wood for the reconstruction of Warsaw. By the way, in the summer of 1944, we almost lost Polotsk and the Polotsk region, but more on that later.

In 1939, territorial disputes arose with Ukraine in the south of Western Belarus. In November of that year, Khrushchev wanted to annex the cities of Brest, Pruzhany, Stolin, Pinsk, Kobryn, and Luninets to Ukraine. On November 22, Panamarenko and Khrushchev discussed this issue with Stalin. Khrushchev referred to Nalivayko and Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who claimed southern Belarus in the 16th-17th centuries. However, Stalin listened to Panamarenko and said that he considered Brest (Lithuanian) and Białowieża to be Ukrainian, but not seriously.

A new threat arose in August 1944 when Malenkov and Khrushchev planned to annex Polotsk to Russia. On August 14, a meeting took place with Stalin, at which Panamarenko proved that Polotsk, along with the region, was Belarusian. “Comrade Panamarenko had three arguments that won in the dispute with Stalin. The first was that Polotsk had long been part of Soviet Belarus for more than 20 years. The second, which is very interesting, is that Polotsk is the homeland of the great Belarusian first printer Francysk Skaryna. But the most significant was that Belarus had already suffered territorially: several regions were given to Lithuania, and now they were going to give Bialystok to Poland, and if they also gave Polotsk, the Belarusians would not understand this and would be very offended. Stalin thought and agreed.” (According to the book by Mikola Zhyankevich “Whose Belarus? Borders. Disputes. Offenses.” — Moscow, 2000.)

It should be noted that in August 1940, when independent Lithuania was transformed into the LSSR, Stalin transferred another piece of Western Belarus with the cities of Svencionys, Salcininkai, and Druskininkai to it. For the possession of Druskininkai, Lithuanian and Belarusian Bolsheviks argued for several months, but the Lithuanians won. Thus, another two thousand square kilometers of Belarusian territory entered the composition of the Lithuanian SSR.

On August 10, 1945, a law on the Soviet-Polish border was adopted. According to it, Poland received almost the entire former Bialystok region and two districts of the Brest region with the cities of Bialystok, Augustów, Bielsk, Łomża, Hajnówka, and others. In 1950, Poland received several more Belarusian villages. Thus, Belarus became the only founding country of the UN and a victor in the war against fascism that lost part of its ethnic territory.

During Nikita Khrushchev’s rule, who graciously transferred Crimea from Russia to Ukraine in 1954, there were plans to transfer the BSSR to the Kaliningrad region of the RSFSR. Maps depicted a “corridor” for Belarusians to the Baltic Sea through Lithuania and Poland. At the same time, Grodno was to be given to Lithuania. But these plans did not materialize, and as a result, the BSSR received eight villages in the east in 1964, which were annexed to the Mstsislaw district.

The Creation of an Independent Republic of Belarus within the Administrative Borders of the BSSR

In December 1991, an independent Republic of Belarus appeared on the map of Europe within the borders of 1964. However, at the end of the existence of the USSR, the question of Belarusian borders arose again. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR raised the issue of the fate of Vilnius. A corresponding statement was adopted. It was stated that if Lithuania leaves the USSR, Belarus will claim the Vilnius region. Moscow strategists also frightened Lithuanian independents with plans to create a Polish autonomy in the Vilnius region similar to the Transnistrian republic. There was an attempt to organize an armed conflict on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border when unknown individuals shot at Lithuanian customs officers. However, it was not possible to pit Lithuanians and Belarusians against each other (following the example of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict).

At the same time, there were attempts to create some “Yatvyazh” autonomy with its capital in Pinsk. In this city, even a newspaper was published in an unknown language (based on the West Polesian dialect of the Belarusian language). However, this venture also failed miserably. In August-September 1991, some Moscow politicians suggested that Belarus cede Vitebsk and part of Mogilev to Russia.

After the declaration of independence, the question of precisely defining the borders of Belarus arose. During the Soviet era, only one border was defined — with Poland. This was the former border of the USSR with barbed wire. Later, borders with Latvia and Lithuania were defined. However, disputes arose with Lithuania over the ownership of the Gadutishki railway station, which was supposedly located on Lithuanian territory but had been part of the Belarusian railway during Soviet times. Only in the autumn of 1994 did the Belarusian side, which had previously demanded financial compensation from Lithuania for the use of the station, transfer it to Lithuania free of charge. On October 26, 1996, Belarus ratified the treaty on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border. The treaty legally defined and established the state border based on the “Soviet” line of 1940.

With Ukraine, the delimitation of the border is mostly done, but the corresponding treaty has not yet been signed. The most uncertain borders of Belarus are with Russia. I believe that problems will arise in this matter in the near future, especially when private land ownership is introduced. As an example, I will cite information that appeared in the media at the end of July 2007. Foresters of the “Sebezh” national park in the Pskov region of Russia stated that their Belarusian colleagues from the Upper Dvina forestry were cutting down trees on Russian territory. As it turned out, the Belarusian side also had papers for this territory. Moreover, both sides identified five forest plots that did not belong to anyone at all. It was decided that no one would cut down trees in these areas (“Narodnaya Volya” No. 119-120 from July 26, 2007).

It is clear that today borders in Europe are inviolable. This is the political aspect of the problem. But what about the various interpretations of borders and territories in textbooks, scientific research, and numerous maps published in different countries?

This is why historical thought exists, to have disputes, conferences, and debates. One should not hide a needle in a sack, for it may prick someone. History shows that nothing is unchangeable. Including borders. No matter how we wish, borders have changed, are changing, and will continue to change. The question is how this will happen. Yes, in Europe, there was a completely unique case of the division of Czechoslovakia. The Czechs and Slovaks sat at the table and shared everything brotherly. There are currently no territorial claims between them, and the border is open. Another case is the disintegration of Yugoslavia. We saw how much blood was shed there. In this regard, it is very important to have historical justification and to respect the opinion of the other side.

If we set ourselves the goal of rejoining our lost culture and historical heritage, then the most civilized perspective for Belarus is to join the European Union. Then we will be able to travel to Vilnius or Bialystok without visas. The most important thing is that we know our history and its monuments, and can visit our historical cities without visas and obstacles.

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