Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic

In April 1919, the Polish army seized Hrodna and Vilnius. Jozef Pilsudski issued the Proclamation to the inhabitants of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania stating that the new Polish administration would grant them cultural and political autonomy. The proclamation was welcomed by the Belarusian leadership, especially considering Soviet plans for the Sovietization of Belarus.[5] However, in later negotiations with the Belarusian leaders Pilsudski proposed to limit the Belarusian government's functions to purely cultural issues, which was rejected by the Belarusian prime minister Anton Luckievic. The government of Belarus managed to include a statement for minorities' rights in Poland in the resolutions of the Paris Peace Conference.[5]

The government of the Belarusian Democratic Republic protested the Polish military mobilization in the area of Vilnius, the Polish elections held there, and the annexation of the Augustów area to Poland. They also appealed to the League of Nations, Great Britain, France, the United States and other countries to recognize the independence of Belarus.[6]

In late 1920, the Belarusian government began negotiations anew with the Bolsheviks in Moscow and tried to persuade them to recognize the independence of Belarus and to release Belarusian political prisoners being held in Russian jails.[7] The negotiations were unsuccessful.

Celebration of an anniversary of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in the Belarusian Gymnasium of Vilnia, 1935.

On 11 November 1920, the Belarusian Democratic Republic signed a partnership treaty with the Republic of Lithuania to cooperate in liberating Belarusian and Lithuanian lands from Polish occupation.

After the establishment of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (Belarusian SSR) as part of the USSR, several members of the Rada laid down their mandates in 1925 and returned to Belarus. Officially the Rada BNR never recognized the Belarusian SSR. Most of the members of the Rada who returned to Belarus, including former Prime Minister Vaclau Lastouski, were later killed in the Soviet terror in Belarus in the 1930s.

During the Second World War and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia the Rada refused to cooperate with the Nazis or recognize the collaborationist government of Belarus, the Belarusian Central Rada.

The advance of the Red Army in 1945 forced the Rada of the BNR to relocate to the Western part of Germany, occupied by British and American troops.

In February 1948, the Rada passed a special manifesto, by which it declared its return to activity. In April 1948 the Rada, together with representatives of the Belarusian post-war refugees, held a conference in Osterhofen, Bavaria.[8]

The primary activities of the Rada BNR in the West were lobbying and contacts with Western governments to ensure recognition of Belarus as a separate country. Together with other anti-Soviet organisations in the West, including governments in exile of Ukraine and the Baltic countries, the Rada protested against human rights violations in the Soviet Union. In the 1950s the Rada BNR enabled the creation of the Belarusian edition of Radio Free Europe. Members of the Rada organized support to Belarus following the Chernobyl accident of 1986.[9]

Ivonka Survilla, current president of the Rada BNR

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, similar governments-in-exile of the neighboring countries (Lithuania, Poland and others) handed back their mandates to the corresponding independent governments.

Upon declaration of independence of the Republic of Belarus in 1990, interest in the Belarusian Democratic Republic has increased in Belarusian society. The Belarusian Popular Front, which was the main pro-Perestroika anti-Communist opposition party, has in many aspects appealed to the restoration of an independent Belarus as the Belarusian Democratic Republic since the late 1980s. In 1991, the Belarusian parliament adopted the state symbols of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, the Pahonia and the White-red-white flag, as state symbols of the Republic of Belarus.

In 1993, the government of the Republic of Belarus held official celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in Minsk. Members of the Rada BNR took part in the celebrations along with the senior political leaders of the Republic of Belarus. It was stated then that the Rada was not ready to return its mandate to the Supreme Council of Belarus, which had originally been elected under Soviet rule. However, the Rada was prepared to hand its mandate to a freely elected Belarusian parliament.[9] However, these plans were cancelled after president Alexander Lukashenko, elected in 1994, established a return to Soviet policies in regards to Belarusian language and culture.[10]

Today the Rada BNR attempts to promote democracy and independence for Belarus using contacts and lobbyism in countries where it has its representatives: USA, Canada, The United Kingdom, Estonia and others. The President of the Rada regularly holds meetings with western policymakers and makes official statements criticizing the human rights violations and continuing Russification in Belarus.[11][12] The Rada became a consolidating center for several exiled Belarusian opposition politicians.

"Freedom Day" celebration rally held by the Belarusian opposition in 2007.

Since the late 1980s, 25 March, the Independence Day of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, is widely celebrated by the Belarusian national democratic opposition as Freedom Day (Belarusian: Дзень волі). It is usually accompanied by mass opposition rallies in Minsk and by celebration events of the Belarusian diaspora organizations supporting the Belarusian government in exile.