Carriages to the West

During the war years, the occupiers tried to take literally everything from our people — from cultural treasures to natural resources

Even before the attack on the Soviet Union, the German Nazi invaders had clearly planned what and how they would seize in the new territories for the benefit of the Third Reich: from farmers — food, from museums and libraries — cultural valuables, from factories and plants — equipment. What of the stolen goods did we manage to recover, and why are we still unaware of the true scale of the material damage during the occupation? This is the subject of our conversation with Pavel Trubchik, Deputy Director for Research at the Institute of History under Belarus’ National Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor.

This is what Academy of Sciences building looked like at end of war

At someone else’s expense

— What was the ‘new economic order’ like in the territories occupied by the Nazi invaders?

— The Second World War, unleashed by Hitler, presupposed from the very beginning the use of the economic potential of the captured lands. Even before the invasion, on June 16th, 1941, the directives for the management of the economy in the newly occupied Eastern territories were adopted — a plan known as Goering’s Green Folder. The document explicitly indicated the importance of the economic potential of Belarus. The military-economic services expected to receive supplies of cattle, barley, horses, timber and other resources from its territory, as well as to use labour, prisoners of war and involve the local population in work.
In the summer of 1941, the Wehrmacht’s Army Group Centre advanced on our republic. In terms of personnel, it significantly outnumbered Army Groups North and South — over 1.2 million men. It was anticipated that already by autumn, they would be entirely supported by the occupied territories. To this end, an entire system of services, teams and departments of the German occupation authorities was established, tasked with collecting agricultural produce. Naturally, the interests of local residents were completely disregarded: the plan was set to be fulfilled. If you did not want to, you would be forced, including through imprisonment, fines, execution.
Thus, in the 1943–1944 fiscal year, peasants in the Belarusian territories were required to provide 400 kilogrammes of grain per hectare of land, 1.5 tonnes of potatoes, as well as 80 kilogrammes of meat and 400 litres of milk per household. The figures varied depending on the locality, but were often completely unachievable for the population — people were starving.

— Given the suddenness of the attack, large-scale evacuation was not carried out in Belarus. What ended up in the hands of the occupiers in 1941?

— It is easier to say what they did manage to evacuate — 1.5 million people and 124 industrial enterprises. On a republic-wide scale, this is indeed a small amount: there were thousands of factories and plants, and the population exceeded nine million people. Everything that fell under occupation either resumed work for the needs of the Third Reich, or was exported to Germany. Around 400,000 people were deported for forced labour. Machines, metals, timber — everything of any value was taken away.
It is a fact that absolutely all equipment for providing electricity was either stolen or destroyed by the time Belarus was liberated. Not a single working power station remained in the country. The forest cover of the country decreased to 19.7 percent (today it is 40.3 percent).

Gentlemen robbers

— While the interest in resources and food is understandable, why did the occupiers carry off our works of art?
— The Nazi ideology boiled down to the idea that Slavs were only fit to be a labour force, and therefore had no need for science, culture, or art. These people should not write, read, or count. Hitler himself stated that Slavs only needed geography to know where the capital of the Reich was located.
Museums, libraries, scientific institutions — everything was looted clean. For example, in the palace in Zhilichi, even the antique parquet flooring was removed. Thus, 25 carriages of cultural treasures were sent from Vitebsk to Germany, 13 from Mogilev, and 2 from Gorki. The holdings of the State Picture Gallery (now the National Art Museum) were almost entirely removed, including the priceless collection of Slutsk sashes.

— Did the German-fascist invaders act like this in all the occupied territories? Or was the tactic different in other countries?

— It is important to understand that the course of the war itself was different on the Soviet territory. Denmark, for example, was captured in five hours, the Netherlands — in a few days. Here, in contrast, defenders of the Brest Fortress held out for a month. The intensity of military action was on a completely different level. In Belarus, 374,000 partisans and 85,000 underground fighters were active; the struggle against the enemy took on a truly national character. Furthermore, from the very first days, the occupiers launched a policy of genocide against the population in our lands. You could say that cultural treasures and resources were just the tip of the iceberg in the terrible misfortune that came to our home.
Not long ago, I happened to see an interview with a French woman who remembers the occupation. Speaking about how difficult it was for her in those years, she emphasised that it was impossible to buy chocolate spread in the shops…

— ‘What they could not carry off, they destroyed’ — how true is this statement regarding what happened during the war years?

— Yes, that is indeed the case. When the Belarusian territories were liberated, about three million people were homeless. People literally lived on the streets, in tents and barracks. Retreating from Minsk, the Germans mined the buildings of the House of Government and the House of Officers. If it were not for the sappers, we would have been deprived of these architectural monuments as well. Many enterprises were mined and blown up. Overall, after the war, there was not a single untouched settlement left in Belarus.

Sending population of Mogilev to Germany, July 1943

Not losing hope

— How did the process of returning lost treasures proceed?

— It has not stopped to this day. A commission for the identification, return, joint use and introduction into scientific and cultural circulation of cultural valuables located outside Belarus has been established under the Council of Ministers. Of course, 80 years later, it is extremely difficult to return what was taken away during the war to its homeland. Even if these items surface somewhere, they simply are not returned to us, based on the national legislation of the country where they are located.
On the other hand, the very fact of finding something is already a great success for both scientists and the entire nation. Modern technologies allow us to make high-quality copies of objects, photos and videos. Sometimes it is possible to agree on the temporary storage of valuables and their display in Belarusian museums.
In 2023, 318 original cultural treasures (paintings, books, manuscripts) and 40 electronic copies were returned to Belarus from abroad; last year — already over 400. On a national scale, this is not much, but the work is ongoing, and there are no plans to stop it. The Cross of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk, the collection of Slutsk sashes, the original books of Francysk Skaryna — there is hope that they are not irretrievably lost.

PIECING TOGETHER THE PUZZLE 

In 1944, the occupying forces carried off all pre-war archaeological collections of the Institute of History under the National Academy of Sciences from Minsk.
“In the 1920s and 1930s, domestic archaeology developed quite actively: expeditions took place to significant sites that were rich in valuable finds. However, a significant portion of the items were not properly documented in time: they were simply stored without paperwork. Yet, this did not bother the Germans at all — they took literally everything from the institute, even what is considered waste in archaeological circles and has no value,” noted Elona Lyashkevich, a research fellow in the Department of Archaeological Heritage Preservation and Use at the Institute of History under the National Academy of Sciences. “They transported it by train, and a lot was damaged en route. For example, ceramics were broken. In Germany, valuables from different Soviet republics were stored together, as a result of which a lot got mixed up, lost, and stolen.”
Nevertheless, some of what had been taken away was returned in the immediate aftermath in the 1940s. Some of the stolen valuables were discovered decades later in the collections of other museums.
“For the last ten years, we have been closely studying the history of pre-war archaeological collections. We are gathering information bit by bit in order to fully understand exactly what valuables were stolen, what has been returned, and what we still have to find,” the researcher pointed out. “For example, we know for certain that items from the famous Zaslavl burial ground, excavated in 1928, were taken to Germany. Iron axes from the Bronze Age, valuable from a scientific point of view, were lost.”

By Anna Kurak