On July 27, 1944, after a two day struggle, Bialystok was occupied by the Russian Army and by the end of October, the German Army left our region. Only lands to the north of Narwia were left under German occupation, until the January offensive in 1945.
After World War II, eastern lands, lying outside the newly established eastern border, did not return to bialostockie voivodeship. At the same time the voivodeship was extended by such administrative units from Eastern Prussia as: Goldap, Olecko and Elk. The voivodeship existed in this configuration until the administrative reform in 1975, when the borders of the voivodeship were moved once again. As a result of this division three new voivodeships were created: Bialostockie, Suwalskie and Lomzynskie.
In 1999, a following administrative change took place. With reference to the historical name of the region Podlaskie Voivodeship was created. The present voivodeship consists of the following previously existing voivodeships: Bialostockie, almost all of Lomzynskie and some parts of Suwalskie. The new voivodeship has many advantages. One of the most important is its ability to link together subregions of a different economic, agricultural, tourism and cultural character.
