Poles closed churches, tortured people, and planned to conquer the whole of Belarus. Five fakes from ‘On the Other Shore’ film exposed by ‘Zerkalo.io’

The film ‘On the Other Shore’ takes place in 1925. The Belarusian People's Republic (BPR)  independence was proclaimed after the Russian Empire's dissolution in 1918.

However, both Poland and Soviet Russia claimed Belarusian territory. As a result of the war between them, the Treaty of Riga, (1921) gave Poland the western part of Belarus, and the eastern part went to Moscow.

Then Belarusian territory had been existing precisely within these borders for 18 years. And in 1939, when Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler took turns attacking Poland, unleashing World War II, Western Belarus was annexed to the BSSR. These events became the context of the new film made by the propaganda of the Lukashenko regime.  

The 'Zerkalo.io' team has analyzed its historical accuracy.

In the movie 'On the Other Shore' they showed a scene where Polish border guards close an Orthodox church. The military said it's temporary. They allegedly were going to make a food warehouse there.

Defending the church, the women have formed a solidarity chain. Border guards used whips. A woman of the chain suffered greatly at the head of the outpost's hands.  Soon she died.

This is a historical mistake. In Poland, churches had been not closed but handed over to Catholics. But not all. By the way, in the Russian Empire, they had done the same thing — only in reverse. 

By the time Belarus had been united, there were 542 Orthodox churches and 606 priests in the western regions 

Whereas in the eastern part of the country, according to ​Ph.D. Alexander Tsymbal, “all churches were closed, not a single diocese existed and there was not a single bishop”.

In addition, not a single case is known when a person would die during the handing over of a church in Western Belarus.

At the beginning of the movie ‘On the Other Shore’ they show a map of divided Belarus. On the right, where the territory of the BSSR is, the names of Belarusian cities are in Russian. On the left, place names change from Russian to Polish before our eyes. There is no Belarusian language anywhere.

This is not at all typical for the period shown in the film. The process of Belarusization was underway, the Belarusian language was introduced everywhere. Recall, that we are talking about 1925.

In the film ‘On the Other Shore’ the authors accuse Poland of not providing the sovereignty of Western Belarus after its joining in 1921.

“Poland, which pledged to maintain the sovereignty of the annexed part of Belarus and equal rights for the population living there, in fact immediately began to impose a Polonization,” says the voiceover in the film. 

Warsaw did not provide equal rights for Belarusians and quickly moved to a policy of Polonization. We should mention, that sovereignty is the independence of the state in external affairs. Belarus, being annexed to Poland, could not have sovereignty at all.

Also, the part of the country annexed by the USSR in 1921, did not have it either. However, the filmmakers do not say a word about this.

Poland wanted to seize the entire territory of Belarus — such a statement appears several times in the film ‘On the Other Shore’, which allegedly shows the events of 1925.

“The main goal of the Polish leadership was to destroy the fragile peace between Poland and the USSR to continue its aggressive policy. They wanted the entire territory of Belarus. They raved about the “Kresy Wschodnie”, about the revival of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, the provocation of the invaders was thwarted thanks to the professional and precise actions of counterintelligence officers and underground members from among locals. The world has survived this time. But there still were years of struggle ahead, long and bloody. The struggle for the unity of the people, for the unity of Belarus,” says the voiceover in the film.

In fact, Warsaw did not intend to capture eastern Belarus. The Polish elite actually discussed such an idea. But only until the Treaty of Riga, concluded in 1921. Ultimately, the Poles agreed they could only “digest” half of our country.

The partisan struggle against its neighbors was carried out by the USSR, which until 1925 had been sending sabotage groups to the territory of Western Belarus. As a result, the filmmakers accused the Poles of what the USSR had done.

Life in the USSR was good, and in Poland — bad. The viewer may get this impression after watching the film ‘On the Other Shore’ thanks to the manipulations that its authors allow.

The movie shows that the Polish security forces do nothing but beat people and come up with provocations. Instead, Soviet security forces are polite and cultured, acting exclusively based on the law.

At the end of the film, a high-ranking Soviet security officer worries that as a result of the actions of the ideological Soviet intelligence officer Lesya Rubtsova, Belarusian civilians and the head of the Polish outpost died. Like, this could cause a conflict with Poland. However, the historical fact, that the USSR had been regularly sending saboteurs across the river to Poland, stayed behind the scenes.

One of the movie characters ends up in an overcrowded Polish prison. There is not a word about Soviet prisons in the film. Meanwhile, the Communist Party of Western Belarus would be dissolved, its activists would be repressed.

For example, the famous Vera Khoruzhaya, Belarusian communist writer, and posthumous hero of the USSR, who obviously became the prototype for Rubtsova, the main character of the film — had spent two years in Soviet dungeons on charges of working for Poland.