Belarusian Central Rada
| Weißruthenischer Zentralrat Беларуская Цэнтральная Рада |
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| Council overview | |
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| Formed | March 1, 1943 |
| Dissolved | July 2, 1944 |
| Jurisdiction | Generalbezirk Weißruthenien (Belarus) |
| Headquarters | Minsk |
| Council executives |
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| Parent Council | Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories (Reichsminister fur die besetzten Ostgebiete), Nazi Germany |
The Belarusian Central Council or the Belarusian Central Rada (Belarusian: Беларуская Цэнтральная Рада, Biełaruskaja Centralnaja Rada; German: Weißruthenischer Zentralrat) was a Belarusian representative body with limited governmental functions during World War II in the Nazi-occupied Belarusian SSR. It was established by Nazi Germany within Reichskommissariat Ostland in 1943–44, following a requests by the collaborationist Belarusian politicians hoping to create an independent Belarusian state with support of Nazi Germany.
Immediately after the 1941 attack on the Soviet positions in Operation Barbarossa, the mass persecution of Jews by the SS forward units of Einsatzgruppe B began, under the command of SS-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe. Jews were massacred and ghettos were formed in dozens of towns with the participation of Belarusian collaborators who were given various prominent roles. The Belarusian Auxiliary Police was established and deployed to murder operations particularly in February–March 1942.
Following the Germany's rapid conquest, the Generalbezirk Weißruthenien district of RKO was formed which included the western and central parts of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in its 1941 borders (which included the towns of Hlybokaye, Vileyka, Navahrudak and other territories earlier annexed by the USSR from Poland). In 1942, the German civil authority was extended to Minsk, Slutsk and Barysaw. The area was to be made part of the Nazis' project of Lebensraum ("living space"), in which those deemed non-Aryan would be exterminated or expelled to make way for German colonists, while the remaining locals would be subject to forced Germanization. All attempts by the Belarusian representatives to request self-governance for the occupied Belarus led to German repressions against those who voiced such requests.
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