A few days before the evacuation, the BCR held a congress in Minsk, titled the Second All-Byelorussian Congress. The meeting gathered 1039 delegates from various regions of Belarus and from Byelorussian emigre organizations. The congress confirmed the declaration of independence of Belarus and declared the Belarusian Central Council as the supreme Belarusian representative body. The aim of the meeting was for the BCR to gain legitimacy basing on a decision by representatives of the Belarusian society rather than on a decision by the German administration. The organizers feared provocations from both Soviet partisans and the Germans.