From War Ruins to Peaceful Prosperity: How Belarus Recovered After the Great Patriotic War 

National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, July 1944 and July 2024 Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus , July 1944 and July 2024 National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, July 1944 and July 2024 Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus, July 1944 and July 2024 National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, July 1944 and July 2024

• 1
• 2

The victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War marked the beginning of a new era for all the republics of the USSR, including Belarus. Despite the colossal destruction, our country managed to recover and achieve impressive results in various areas. We continue the glorious work of our fathers and grandfathers. On the eve of the 80th anniversary of our common Victory over the fascist plague, let us recall the efforts that the wounded peoples of the Soviet Union made to restore what had been destroyed.

it often happens that if a statement is repeated too often, there is reason to doubt it. It would seem, how much can we talk about the fact that during the war Belarus turned into a scorched desert, and then, thanks to the heroic work of Belarusians and all those who came to the rescue, was rebuilt more beautifully than before?.. But it is not only possible to repeat this, it is also necessary. This is the truth, the harsh and sublime truth, which turns 80 this year, it must be repeated.

During the Great Patriotic War, Nazi Germany and its allies completely occupied six republics of the Soviet Union - Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine and Belarus. The BSSR suffered monstrous economic and human losses. More than 10 thousand enterprises and almost all power plants, 209 out of 270 cities and regional centers were destroyed, during the occupation, more than 11.7 thousand Belarusian villages and hamlets were completely or partially destroyed. About 3 million civilians and prisoners of war died on the territory of the BSSR, at least 380 thousand people were driven into forced labor in Germany. Those who remained had no housing, and this concerned both large cities and villages. Thus, MINSK , Gomel and Vitebsk , Polotsk, Orsha, Molodechno, Zhlobin, Borisov and other cities were destroyed by 80-90%, and in 38 districts of the BSSR, housing was almost completely destroyed.
This is what Sovetskaya Street in Minsk looked like on April 1, 1945. Minsk liberated and destroyed, July 3, 1944. The destroyed railway station in Gomel, April 1, 1945. The building of school No. 18 in Bobruisk, destroyed during the war, July 1, 1947.
The building of secondary school No. 9 in Minsk, burned down in 1941, October 1, 1944. Traces of war in post-war Minsk. Corner of Leninsky Prospekt and Dolgobrodskaya Street, July 1, 1946 The destroyed and burning building of the Belarusian State Polytechnical Academy (now the Belarusian National Technical University (BNTU), July 3, 1944 Burnt residential buildings on Engels Street, July 3, 1944 The building of the power plant in Gomel, blown up by the invaders, July 1, 1944
It would seem that it would be incredibly difficult to resurrect the land scorched by the war from the ashes. There were discussions about what post-war Belarus should be like: an agrarian-industrial one, like in the 1920s and 1930s, or a “diversified” one.
The choice was made in favor of the second option - and it is thanks to that bet made in 1945 that today we have a strong and independent country whose voice is heard and respected in the international community.

The restoration of the BSSR began during the war, long before the complete liberation of its territory. Minsk was occupied by the Nazis from June 28, 1941 to July 3, 1944. After the liberation, ruins and debris could be seen on the streets of the city, and large intact buildings were mined. After numerous bombings, 80% of the city's infrastructure was destroyed, the population decreased from 250-300 thousand to 40-50 thousand.
The railway station building, destroyed by the Nazi invaders. Minsk residents restoring railway tracks, July 10, 1944 Minsk students cleaning the school yard, August 1, 1944
Minsk workers at a citywide clean-up day to restore their hometown, May 31, 1952 Restoration of the first tram in Minsk liberated from the Nazi occupiers, July 10, 1944 In September 1942, architect Georgy Zaborsky, who was in hospital, was included in the "friendly competition" to draw up a sketch of the idea for a project for a monument to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War! Back in 1942, the country's leadership had clearly set a task: to glorify the courage of the defenders of the Motherland. And on July 4, 1954, the front-line architect Georgy Zaborsky will stand at the opening ceremony of the Victory Monument in Minsk. Isn't this an example of how the Spirit wins? During 1943, even before the liberation of the territory, 37 million rubles were allocated from the Union budget for the purposes of restoration, in 1944 - 490 million, in 1945 - 1.2 billion rubles. At the same time, it should be taken into account that, experiencing an acute shortage of not only material but also human resources, it was necessary to start not from the pre-war levels, but from a significantly lower level. For example, in December 1944, the level of industrial production was 10% of December 1940.

And this burden fell mainly on the shoulders of women and children, the war took away and made disabled many men.
A team of Komsomol girls and foreman M. Sokolova at the construction of the Minsk Automobile Plant, June 1, 1947 Minsk women at the restoration of Lenin Square, October 1, 1944
According to the census of January 15, 1959, 3.58 million men and 4.47 million women lived in Belarus. An imbalance of almost a million arose (44.5% to 55.5%). Even despite the 15 post-war years and active internal migration from other republics of the USSR.
In the republic, in the shortest possible time, the following industries were created: mechanical engineering, machine tool building, automobile, tractor, electrical engineering, radio engineering, instrument making, petrochemical and other industries. Large power plants, light and food industry facilities, and others were built.

The Union republics, primarily the RSFSR, sent various types of aid to Belarus: 37 wagons with equipment, construction tools, steel, reinforcement and non-ferrous metals were received from the Udmurt ASSR; workers from Siberia, the Urals, Gorky and Yaroslavl regions sent a total of 487 wagons with various goods during 1944. In 1944-1945, the BSSR received 38.2 thousand units of technological equipment, 20 thousand tons of cement, 450 thousand cubic meters of timber, 30 thousand square meters of glass, over 18 thousand agricultural machinery, 420 tractors, spare parts worth 2.5 million rubles, varietal seeds, fertilizers, feed... Residents of Kirov helped restore the factories of Gomel, residents of Ulyanovsk - Mozyr (the residents of Mozyr received 800 thousand rubles from Ulyanovsk), the Belarusian Railway was supported by Perm. The bosses equipped 36 regional industrial plants in Belarus, the Gomel Foundry and Mechanical Plant, and the Krichev Cement Plant. MAZ was helped by GAZ, thanks to which the first Studebakers assembled in Minsk left for the front in November 1944. Motor transport, thousands of heads of cattle, millions of tons of grain, and thousands of specialists were coming to the republic. And this was the case everywhere, in all regions and all spheres.

And, of course, the Belarusians themselves worked tirelessly. During just one October Sunday of 1944, 15.5 thousand square meters of area were cleared in Minsk, 1.3 million bricks were dismantled, and 2.5 thousand cubic meters of craters were filled. The workers spared no effort to revive their native enterprises. Thus, at Gomselmash, welder Lishchuk and foreman Domanikov assembled a conveyor in 35 days, which according to standards was supposed to take three months to assemble.
Minsk Machine-Tool Plant named after Kirov. Restoration and reconstruction of the mechanical shop, September 1, 1944. The turning point in the revival of the BSSR can be considered the date of May 26, 1945. Then the State Defense Committee issued a decree "On measures to restructure industry in connection with the reduction of weapons production". And if in the pre-war BSSR the emphasis was on processing agricultural products and light industry, then from 1945 the republic began to actively develop mechanical engineering.

The MAZ truck plant was the first in the USSR to master the production of heavy diesel vehicles, tractors with MTZ made the Belarus brand famous throughout the world, the motorcycle and bicycle plant completely covered the needs of Belarusians for motorcycles and bicycles. The first post-war five-year plan (1946-1950) rightfully became "industrial" for Belarus. The energy sector was actively revived - by 1949, the power plants of the BSSR produced 116.3% of the pre-war capacity.
The construction of the Minsk Automobile Plant continues, 1946-1948 The construction of the Minsk Tractor Plant, 1947 In 2023, the second power unit of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (BelNPP), a high-tech project of the country, was switched on. Two power units of the BelNPP will be able to meet more than 40% of the country's electricity needs.As of March 17, 2025, the station had generated a total of more than 41 billion kWh of electricity.
Members of the youth brigade assemble and repair equipment at the city power station, December 1, 1944 The second turbogenerator at the Berezovskaya State District Power Plant goes into operation. Its current will flow through wires to the cities and villages of the republic, October 2, 1962 Each decade became significant for the industry of the BSSR. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Belarusian Automobile Plant, which manufactured world-famous quarry dump trucks, the Minsk Motor Plant, the Novopolotsk Oil Refinery, the First Soligorsk Potash Plant, and the Svetlogorsk Artificial Fiber Plant appeared. The 1970s and 1980s were marked by the construction of the Belarusian Tire Plant, the Mozyr Oil Refinery, the Belarusian Metallurgical Plant, and the Grodno Synthetic Fiber Plant. The world-famous brands MAZ, BELAZ, MTZ were joined by watches and televisions, high-precision machine tools, and computers. On December 4, 1948, Minsk resident Isaac Brook received the first author's certificate in the USSR for the invention of a digital computer. In 1951, Isaac Brook created the first digital computer in the USSR, the M-1 (the second in the world). In 1956, the Ordzhonikidze Calculating Machine Plant was founded in Minsk, and in 1958 a special design bureau (SKB) was added to it "for the maintenance and modernization of computers manufactured by the plant." Since 1972, this has been the Scientific Research Institute of Electronic Computers (NIIEVM). In 1963, the F.E. Dzerzhinsky Semiconductor Devices Plant, now INTEGRAL OJSC, was put into operation in Minsk. 1964 - Minsk Radiotechnical Institute, now Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics (BSUIR), was opened. It is the country's leading university for training IT specialists.
The situation with agriculture in the first post-war years was more complicated - even by 1950, many indicators had not reached the pre-war level (for example, the sown area of ​​1948 was 91.6% of the 1940 level). This was explained by the fact that hundreds of thousands of hectares were "killed" by military operations during the war, and the number of collective farmers was half as much as in 1940; in fact, the village after the war was revived by women, teenagers, old people and disabled people who came back from the front. There was a shortage of draft animals and equipment. The RSFSR provided great assistance in restoring agriculture to the Belarusians; captured horses and cattle were also sent to Belarus . However, the creation of a fully modern agricultural complex in the BSSR fell on the 1960-1970s.
The first bread on the liberated territory, August 10, 1944 Mass delivery of bread, September 1, 1949 Seven districts of Belarus in 2024 exceeded the bar of 9 tons of MILK yield per cow per year (Berestovitsky, Ivanovo, Nesvizhsky, Smolevichi, Mozyr and Brest districts, and Grodno exceeded the 10-ton mark (10,399 kg).
In 2024, agricultural organizations of the country produced 8.5 million tons of milk, which is 105.2% of the 2023 level.
In production and productivity, we are drawn to regions with a high level of technological discipline and production culture in all key parameters in agriculture. One of the main issues in the destroyed republic was housing. First of all, they sought to provide housing for the population in rural areas: in 1945 alone, 200 thousand families moved from dugouts to houses, and by 1949, about 400 thousand new houses for villagers were built. Since the mid-1950s, Belarusian architects have been working on projects for mass residential buildings, and foundations made of precast concrete blocks and walls made of large silicate blocks were used for the first time in the USSR. Minsk became one of the first large cities in the Union where mass housing construction was launched. And if in 1940 the capital of the BSSR had 1.07 million square meters of living space, then by the beginning of 1966 there were already 4.774 million square meters. In 1959-1965 alone, 2.4 million square meters of living space were built in Minsk, which is 2.3 times more housing than there was in the entire pre-war city. And by the mid-1960s, Belarusian cities were unrecognizable: they acquired a fresh, modern look, and in many ways became a "showcase" for foreign tourists entering the USSR from the West. At the construction of residential buildings in the workers' settlement of the Minsk Automobile Plant, December 1, 1947 In 1940, there were 7.6 square meters of total housing per capita in Minsk, by the beginning of 1959 - 6.8 square meters, in 1995 - 16.8 square meters, in 2023 - 24.5 square meters. In 2023, there were 33.2 square meters of housing per capita in the Minsk region. This is the highest figure in Belarus. On average, there are 29.9 square meters of total housing space per Belarusian in the country. The housing stock of Belarus increased from 138.9 million square meters in 1980 to 273.6 million square meters in 2023. At the cost of incredible efforts of the Belarusian people and fraternal assistance from the republics of the Soviet Union, Belarus had generally recovered from the monstrous wounds inflicted by the war by the 1970s. By that time, the BSSR was a modern, diverse, rapidly developing republic whose appearance was incomparable with Belarus in the 1930s. High-quality products in various industries - from automobiles to food, widely known works of Belarusian writers and musicians, extensive ties with neighbors in the USSR and distant countries, an active international position (the BSSR is a founding state of the UN) - all this created a solid reputation for Belarus, which turned out to be incredibly strong and was strengthened during the years of independence. Resurrected by common efforts, like a Phoenix from the ashes, Belarus has fully preserved the memory of the years of terrible trials and gratitude to those who did not abandon it in trouble.

Since the 1949/50 school year, compulsory universal 7-year education was gradually introduced. In the late 1950s - early 1960s, illiteracy and low literacy of the adult population were eliminated in the BSSR. Since 1958, 8-year compulsory education was introduced in the republic. Since 1977, secondary education has become universal and compulsory.

Higher education institutions were resuming their activities. The needs of the national economy led to the opening of a number of specialized higher education institutions in the regions of the BSSR: by the mid-1980s, there were 33 universities in the republic, with 188.6 thousand students studying there. The quality of training in Belarusian universities was considered one of the highest in the Soviet Union. The number of students in higher education institutions was fairly balanced throughout the Soviet Union; they thought about the country as a whole.

Back in 2011, our educational institution, the Republican Institute of Vocational Education (RIPO), received the status of a basic organization of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States for professional training, retraining and advanced training of personnel in the vocational education system. Unlike many countries of the former USSR, we have preserved the vocational school. After the terrible trials experienced during the war, there was a rapid development of culture and science. The works of such Belarusian writers and poets as Yakub Kolas, Kondrat Krapiva, Petrus Brovka, Mikhas Lynkov, Pyotr Glebka, Arkady Kuleshov, Ivan Shamyakin, Vasil Bykov, Vladimir Korotkevich and others sounded and developed differently. The glorious traditions of scientists and cultural figures, whose names thundered in the USSR, are continued by many scientific schools and creative teams in the sovereign Republic of Belarus. Vyacheslav BONDARENKO, Sergei MUSIENKO.

The authors express their gratitude to the Presidential Library of Belarus for the materials provided