ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH PRINCIPLES OF BELARUSIAN FOREIGN POLICY ON EMIGRATION FROM 1945 TO 1956 (Proby wypracowania zasad bialoruskiej polityki zagranicznej na emigracji w latach 1945-1956)

After the end of World War II, a large Belarusian intelligence community appeared in the West. From the political point of view, political emigration could be divided into followers of the Council of Belarusian People-s Republic (president Mikolaj Abramczyk) and the Belarusian Central Council (president Radoslaw Ostrowski). In the first decade after the war, Belarusian political emigration hoped for a military conflict between western democracy and the communist block. In the future global conflict emigrants were to opt for the West and strived for support of Western powers, which, after the fall of the USRR , would decide on the shape of Eastern Europe. Accordingly, efforts were made to establish principles of foreign policy. Belarussians were the ones intent to strengthen the relations with countries neighbouring Byelorussia. For this purpose, attempts were made to enter talks with, among others, the Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Ukrainian, Caucasian or, even, the Russian emigration. Among the most discussed subjects was the issue of settling the arguments related to borders. Belarusian emigrants actively participated in the forming of various integration ideas on the territory of the East-Central Europe. For instance, the Belarussians worked in federation clubs 'Miedzymorze' and in Antibolshevik Nations-Block. The Council of Belarusian People-s Republic and the Belarusian Central Council held differing positions towards Poland. The factor connecting both political fractions of the Belarusian emigration was the striving towards suppression and elimination of Russian influence in the region.