Documentary exhibition «Soviet and Western Belarus: divided, but united»
National Unity Day, which is celebrated annually on September 17, is a national holiday of the Republic of Belarus, approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus A.G. Lukashenko No. 206 of June 7, 2021. The introduction of September 17 into the calendar of memorable and significant events in the history of the Republic of Belarus is a tribute to the memory of hundreds and thousands of Belarusians who did not come to terms with the injustice of the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921, which divided the country, and fought for its reunification.
On September 17, 2024, the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as NARB) opened a documentary exhibition «Saint Petersburg and Western Belarus: divided, but united» in the Council of the Republic, dedicated to the Day of National Unity and the 85th anniversary of the reunification of Western Belarus with the BSSR.
NARB presented unique documentary material at the exhibition: the Declaration of the Belarusian People’s Assembly on the issue of Western Belarus joining the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic; the Declaration of the Belarusian People’s Assembly on the nationalization of banks and large-scale industry, on the confiscation of landowners’ lands, on state power; resolutions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Council of People’s Commissars of the BSSR on the transition to the Soviet currency in the western regions of the BSSR; telegrams of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) P. Ponomarenko sent to I. Stalin; resolutions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Council of People’s Commissars of the BSSR on the division of the western regions of the BSSR into districts; lists and information on newspapers published in the regions of Western Belarus and their circulations.
The documents presented at the exhibition reflect the most important events of the autumn of 1939.
On October 28-30, 1939, the People’s Assembly of Western Belarus was held in Bialystok – in fact, a people’s referendum on the future of the Western Belarusian region. The documents adopted at it played an important role in the further development of Belarusian statehood, economy, culture and education.
The head of the Department for the Use of Documents and Information M.A. Starostenko acquainted the participants of the event with the unique documents of the archive.
As part of the exhibition, a presentation of the collection of documents «Savetskaya and Zakhodnyaya Belarus: raz’ednanyya, ale azinyya» took place. The collection tells about the difficult situation of the Western Belarusian lands as part of Poland, about the struggle of Belarusians for their unity.
The book was presented by the Deputy Director of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus S.V.Kulinok. The first gift copies of the book were presented to the participants of the event.
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| 1. Documentary exhibition in the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus |
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| 2. Head of Department M.A. Starostenko presents archival documents |
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| 3. Head of Department M.A. Starostenko presents archival documents |
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| 4. The Youth Parliament under the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus got acquainted with the documents of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus |
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| 5. Head of Department M.A. Starostenko introduces the participants of the meeting to the archival documents |
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| 6. Head of Department M.A. Starostenko introduces the participants of the meeting to the archival documents |
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| 7. Archival documents at the exhibition |
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| 8. Archival documents at the exhibition |