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Białystok in the war

5 articles · 1939–1944

In October 1939 the People's Assembly of Western Belorussia, which was to “request” admission to the USSR, met in Białystok. The Germans entered on 27 June 1941; that day German police and Wehrmacht soldiers drove hundreds of Jews into the Great Synagogue and set it on fire. On 16 August 1943, when the Germans began liquidating the ghetto, several hundred fighters took up the struggle. The Red Army captured the city on 27 July 1944.

1939

  1. 1 November 1939EventThe USSR annexes eastern PolandOn 1–2 November 1939 the Supreme Soviet annexed eastern Poland to the Ukrainian and Byelorussian SSRs, citing rigged “elections” of 22 October.

1941

  1. 22 June – 9 July 1941BattleBattle of Białystok–MinskFrom 22 June to 9 July 1941 Army Group Centre encircled the Western Front's main forces at Białystok and Minsk. The Germans claimed over 320,000 prisoners.
  2. 28 June 1941EventThe Białystok–Minsk pocketOn 28 June 1941 the Germans took Minsk, closing the ring around the Western Front. In the Białystok and Minsk pockets they took some 300,000 prisoners.

1943

  1. 16 August 1943EventThe Białystok Ghetto UprisingOn 16 August 1943 the Germans began liquidating the Białystok ghetto. Several hundred poorly armed fighters resisted; their leaders died in the ghetto.

1944

  1. 22 June – 29 August 1944BattleOperation BagrationFrom 22 June to 29 August 1944 four Soviet fronts destroyed Army Group Centre in Belarus and reached the Vistula, the Narew and East Prussia.

People

Born or died here

  • Maxim LitvinovDeputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs (1921–1930), People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR (1930–1939), Soviet Ambassador to the United States (1941–1943)