National Unity Day, which has become a national holiday this year, is timed to the anniversary of the Red Army’s campaign in Poland, launched on September 17, 1939. That’s when Soviet troops crossed the Polish border and entered World War II. As a result of the campaign, Western Belarus was annexed to the Belarusian SSR.
But there are still many controversial points about this date. At the time, the Soviet Union broke the Polish-Soviet non-aggression pact, and Soviet aggression against Poland was one of the agreements that were spelled out in the secret protocol of the German-Soviet Ribbentrop-Molotov pact.
Proposals to make September 17 the Day of National Unity were voiced at the VI All-Belarusian People’s Assembly in February this year. Then Alyaksandr Lukashenka supported the initiative, and in early June, he signed a corresponding decree on the establishment of a new state holiday.
During the “Big Talk” on August 9, member of the House of Representatives Aleg Haidukevich suggested declaring September 17 a day off, but Lukashenka disagreed on the grounds that “we have the biggest number of days off,” and decided to keep it a working day.
On the eve of National Unity Day, Lukashenka signed a decree to pardon 13 people. However, some of those pardoned were not given a full amnesty but were sent to open prisons instead.
