The year 1918 gave birth to the first independent modern national state of Belarusians -the Belarusian People’s Republic (BNR). For the first time the Belarusian nation was given the opportunity to develop own structures, language and enrich own culture almost unhindered. Later, with Bolshevik Russia’s occupation, Stalinist Terror and the USSR hostile national policies Belarus statehood could be only reestablished in the time of the Soviet Union collapse, with the founding of the Republic of Belarus in 1991. By this essay, basing on the interviews of Belarus witnesses of rise of the Republic of Belarus as well as research of historical materials such as newspapers, documents and historian’s works, I want to examine how BNR’s state heritage and its cultural policies influenced the establishing of the Republic of Belarus and development of its idea of statehood. What my essay concludes is that BNR, existing for a very short period of time, could only affect symbols and borders of new Belarusian state, which neither de jure nor de facto was by all means “BNR the second.” However the traditions of BNR were the factor that under the USSR reign contributed utmost significantly to the idea of regaining independent state and played important role in the development of the Belarusian national identity.