In the biography of each country there are dramatic episodes to which the public consciousness turns throughout its history. To rethink, draw the right conclusions and, based on them, move on.
The main theme of the film “On the Other Shore” is the occupation of part of Western Belarus by Poland. However, the authors of the film tried to build a narrative thread, remaining in line with history, but focusing, first of all, on the viewer’s emotional and ethical perception of what is happening on the screen.
The events of the film take place in the time frame from 1921 to 1939, when, as a result of the Soviet-Polish war and the signing of the Peace of Riga, part of the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania became part of the Polish Republic. In the Belarusian lands occupied by Poland, a policy was pursued that was called “sanitation,” that is, “recovery.” Recovery here meant a set of measures aimed at combating everything anti-Polish. The anti-Polish category included: Orthodoxy, the Belarusian and Russian languages, the system of Belarusian national education and culture.
Since the 1920s, the Polish leadership has taken a decisive course towards the militarization of the economy, and in the 1930s Poland was considered a serious geopolitical player. The policy of the Polish government was based, among other things, on an alliance with Nazi Germany. At the same time, diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union had an exclusively formal status and were under threat of breakdown and a new war.
Flirting with fascism and Poland’s attempts to “sit on two chairs” led to an aggravation of the foreign policy situation in Europe, which resulted in the invasion of German troops into Polish territory. The Nazis were able to break the Polish army in two weeks and confidently moved towards the USSR border, which at that time ended not far from Minsk. In order to prevent German troops from occupying the territory of Western Belarus, the Red Army began its liberation campaign on September 17, 1939.
This campaign was preceded by a secret protocol signed in August 1939 by the foreign ministers of Germany and the Soviet Union on the “division of spheres of influence in Europe,” and an appeal from the Polish government to the USSR for military assistance.
The full version is in “NE” No. 8-9, 2023.
