ABSTRACT
The fate of Western Bielorussia had been determined by the non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany on 23 August 1939; – the so-called “Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. The territories annexed to the Soviet Union included an area of 108,000 square kilometers in Western Bielorussia, with a population of 4.8 million inhabitants; 88,000 square kilometers in Western Ukraine, with a population of eight million; making a total of 196,000 square kilometers with 13 million inhabitants. On 29 October 1939, the Western Bielorussian National Assembly convened in Bialystok and voted to unite Western Bielorussia with the Soviet Socialist Republic of Bielorussia. The National Assembly also voted to nationalize the large estates, industry and the banks. According to the Polish population census of 1931 and the real natural increase until 1939, the number of Jews in Western Bielorussia on the eve of World War II came to approximately 485,000. The Jewish population in Western Bielorussia received the Red Army with great joy.
