Byelorussia in World War II

When the Second World War in Europe began, the territory which now forms the country of Belarus was divided between the Soviet Union (specifically the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic) and the Second Polish Republic. The borders of Soviet Belarus were greatly expanded in the Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939. In 1941, the country was occupied by Nazi Germany. Following the German military disasters at Stalingrad and Kursk, the collaborationist Belarusian Central Council (BCC) was formed by the Germans in order to raise local support for their anti-Soviet operations.