Belarussia

   Belarussia, now called Belarus, is a landlocked country bordered by Russia to the north and the east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. In 1939, Belarussia encompassed a substantial Polish and Jewish population that was annexed by the Soviet Union and was subsequently transformed into the Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Following Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Nazis commenced to starve Soviet prisoners of war, shoot and gas Jews, and kill civilians in antipartisan actions. Half of the population of Soviet Belarussia was either killed or displaced by the Nazis, thus making it one of the deadliest centers of genocide in Europe. According to historian Tim Snyder, “Nothing of the kind can be said of any other European country.”