LITHUANIA, UKRAINE AND BELARUS GAINED THE MOST FROM THE MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT (August 23, 1939)
In ancient times, the Belarusian lands were referred to as Lithuania (the name of Brest-Litovsk city is an example), the Ukrainian lands—Rus, and the territory of modern Lithuania—Samogitia (Žemaitija). Therefore, the united Grand Duchy was called Lithuanian (Belarusian), Samogitian (Lithuanian) and Russian (Ukrainian). The Duchy’s capital was the city of Vilnya (Вiльня)—former Krivich-Horad of the Polatsk Principality, its coat of arms was the Pahonia (“Pursuit”; the coat of arms of Polatsk princes). Belarusians got their current name in the 19th century within the Russian Empire. After its collapse in 1918, the Samogitians appropriated the prominent historical name “Lithuania,” the capital city of Vilnya (Vilnius) and the Polotsk coat of arms Pahonia.
In October 1920, the Poles captured the Vilnya region along with Vilnius. Lithuania’s attempts to regain its capital by appealing to the League of Nations ended in failure. The League of Nations recognized the inclusion of the Vilnya region in Poland, since 95% of its population were Belarusians, Poles, and Jews. This is how Lithuania found itself in its ethnic (Samogitian) borders, Kaunas becoming its capital.
On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland. Just as Hitler expected, the UK and France didn’t aid the Poles. The Polish government left the country on September 16. On September 17, the Red Army crossed the Polish border and by September 22 occupied the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands attached to Poland. The fate of Ukraine and Belarus reached a historic moment—their lands were united under their own republics.
Thanks to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, even the Ukrainian lands that were never part of the Russian Empire—the Lviv region—became part of Soviet Ukraine. In 1940, Stalin separated Romania’s Northern Bukovina with Chernivtsi and Izmail region and passed it to Ukraine, and in 1945 did the same with Hungary’s Carpathian Rus with Uzhgorod.
Ukraine's territorial expansion in 1939-1945
Soviet Belarus incorporated the lands of Western Belarus, with Trakai castle and the ancient Belarusian capital—the city of Vilnya. The Belarusian administration arrived in the city. From September 24 to October 18, the Belarusian-language newspaper Vilenskaya Prauda was published.
Unification of the Belarusian lands in September 1939
On September 28, 1939, the USSR and Germany signed a new secret Protocol; according to it, Lithuania was passed into the Soviet sphere of influence, and Germany got the Lithuanian territory from Vilkaviškis to Lazdijai. After that, Stalin decided to fulfill the dream of the Lithuanian people, transferring the Vilnya region with the Trakai castle and the city of Vilnya (now Vilnius) from the BSSR to Lithuania. On October 10, 1939, Lithuania and the USSR signed a mutual assistance agreement in Moscow. Under that agreement, the Red Army units were stationed in Lithuania, and it got the Vilnya region. This transfer took place on October 24, 1939. On October 27, 1939, Lithuanian military units entered Vilnya, and two days later the flag of the Lithuanian Republic was solemnly raised on the Gediminas tower. Lithuania rejoiced, but the Vilnya residents—this “Lithuanian Jerusalem” with Jews comprising 55% and Poles and Belarusians comprising 40% of the population, weren’t particularly happy. The Lithuanian soldiers who entered the city also felt this. One of them, Antanas Kvasauskas, later recalled: “The ubiquitous Polish language did ruin our mood.”
The Lithuanian army entering Vilnya
However, Lithuania was acceded to the USSR in August 1940, and Stalin gave it the BSSR’s territories in the area of Druskeniki (presently Druskininkai), Svyantsyany (Švenčionys) and Salechniki (Šalčininkai). On January 10, 1941, the USSR paid the Nazi Reich a compensation of $7.5 million to keep the territory from Vilkaviškis to Lazdijai claimed by Germany according to the Secret Protocol dated September 28, 1939.
Lithuania's territorial expansion in 1923-1945
So the Lithuania’s joy in 1939 wasn’t in vain. During the war, Hitler exterminated all the Jews in Vilnius, and Stalin evicted the Poles from the city. In February 1945, Stalin returned the Memel (Klaipeda) region to Lithuania from Germany, evicting all Germans from it. This is how Vilnya and Memel ended up purely Lithuanian cities of Vilnius and Klaipėda. In a nutshell: “Glory to the great Stalin!” and “Long live Lietuva!”
Belarusian territory in 1945
