In Białystok alone, 33,000 refugees were registered in November 1939.33 It was from this group that the majority of supposed volunteers were recruited, and were willing to go to work deep into Russia. Estimates by Krzysztof Jasiewicz indicate that Jews constituted at least 11 per cent of all those arrested in Western Belarus.34 This group consisted mostly of young men caught while crossing the border (62 per cent). Among those arrested were a few members of the underground resistance movement (about 1 per cent). After the “bor-der people” the second-largest group consisted of individuals considered to be a social threat, sotsyalno-opasnyy element (SOE), political activists, tene-ment house owners, and entrepreneurs.
Western Belarus was occupied by German troops of the Army Group “Centre” within a week. By order of the commander of the land forces dated 3 April 1941, the commander of the Group, General Max von Schenkendorff, was tasked with organising a provisional military government and administration for the occupied territories. Cooperating with his headquarters, stationed first in Baranowicze, and then in Smoleńsk, was SS-Gruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, Senior SS and Police Commander of the occupied Belarusian territory. He coordinated the Einsatzgruppe B (up to 11 July 1941 under the name EG C), commanded by SS-Brigadeführer Arthur Nebe.
The new status of the occupied territories was established by Hitler’sorder of 17 July 1941, setting up the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, headed by Alfred Rosenberg. The first area to be included was the Reichskommissariat Ostland based in Riga, led by Heinrich Lohse. It consisted of four General Commissariats – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Belarus. Wilhelm Kube was appointed the Generalkommissar for Weissruthenien. Compared to the respective administration unit in the Soviet era, the General Commissariat of Belarus had a much smaller territory and population (44,000 square kilometres with a population of more than two million were
