Polish population transfers (1944–46)

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The Curzon Line and territorial changes of Poland, 1939 to 1945. The pink and yellow areas represent the pre-war Polish territory (Kresy) and pre-war German territory (Recovered Territories), respectively.
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The Polish population transfers in 1944–46 from the eastern half of prewar Poland (also known as the expulsions of Poles from the Kresy macroregion),[1] refer to the forced migrations of Poles towards the end – and in the aftermath – of World War II. Similar policy, enforced by the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1941, targeted ethnic Poles residing in the Soviet zone of occupation in the aftermath of the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland. The second wave of transfers resulted from the re-occupation of Poland by the Red Army during the Soviet counter-offensive against Nazi Germany. The population transfers targeting Polish nationals was an official Soviet policy which affected over a million Polish citizens. They were removed from the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union during World War II. After the war, following Soviet demands laid out during the Tehran Conference of 1943, these territories were incorporated into the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Lithuanian Republics of the Soviet Union.

The ethnic displacement of Poles was agreed to by the Allied leaders – Franklin D. Roosevelt of the U.S., Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Joseph Stalin of the USSR – during the conferences at both Tehran and Yalta. In effect, it became one of the largest of several post-war expulsions in Central and Eastern Europe which displaced a total of about twenty million people.[2] According to official data, during the state-controlled expulsion between 1945 and 1946, roughly 1,167,000 Poles were allowed to leave the westernmost republics of the Soviet Union, less than 50% of those who registered for population transfer.[3] The next transfer took place after Stalin's death in 1955–59.

The process is variously known as expulsion,[1] deportation,[4][5] depatriation,[6][7][8] or repatriation,[9] depending on the context and the source. The term repatriation, used officially in both communist-controlled Poland and the USSR, was a deliberate manipulation,[10][11] as deported people were leaving their homeland rather than returning to it.[6] It is also sometimes referred to as the 'first repatriation' action, in contrast with the 'second repatriation' of 1955–59. In a wider context, it is sometimes described as a culmination of a process of "de-Polonization" of the areas during and after the world war.[12] The process was planned and carried out by the communist regimes of the USSR and that of post-war Poland. Many of the repatriated Poles were settled in formerly German eastern provinces, after 1945, the so-called "Recovered Territories" of the People's Republic of Poland.

Background[edit]

On 22 June and 16 August 1944 the Supreme Soviet signed two decries to facilitate the release of Polish nationals from captivity. It was the first time that they formally acknowledged that the Polish nationals rounded up in the follow up of the Soviet invasion were not the Soviet citizens legally but rather foreign subjects.[13]

The residents of he Western Ukraine and Byelorussia, as well as those of the Wilno district which had been annexed to the Soviet Union under the Ribentrop-Molotov pact of 23 August and 28 September 1939, had all been under German occupation for between two and and hald to three years, and were finally annexed to the Soviet Union in 1944. The speedy exodus of Poles from these regions was meant to erase their Polish past and to confirm the fact that the regions were indeed part of the Soviet Union.[13]

The history of Polish settlement in what is now Ukraine dates back to 1030–31. It intensified after the Union of Lublin in 1569, when most of the territory became part of the newly established Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1657 to 1793 some 80 Roman Catholic Churches and monasteries were built in Volhynia alone. The expansion of Catholicism in Lemkivshchyna, Chełm Land, Podlaskie, Brześć land, Galicia, Volhynia and Right bank Ukraine was accompanied by the Polonization of some Ukrainians. Social and ethnical conflicts arose regarding the differences of religious practices between the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches and conclusion of the Union of Brest.

In 1914, there were 1,640,000 Poles living in that region.[14] In 1917 the Polish population of Kiev was 42,800.[15] In July 1917, when relations between the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) and Russia became strained, the Polish Democratic Council of Kiev supported the Ukrainian side in its conflict with Petrograd. Throughout the existence of UNR a separate minister for Polish affairs was set up in November 1917 headed by M. Mickiewycz. During that period 1,300 Polish schools functioned with 1,800 teachers and 84,000 students.

In the region of Podolia in 1917 there were 290 Polish schools. The Bolshevik actions of 1920 however encouraged the emigration of the Polish population to Poland. In 1922, 120,000 Poles were repatriated to Poland.

End of World War One[edit]

In the aftermath of World War I Poland re-emerged as a sovereign state after a century of foreign partions during several border conflicts. The Polish-Ukrainian alliance was unsuccessful and the Polish-Soviet war continued until the Treaty of Riga was signed in 1921. The disputed territories were split between the Second Polish Republic and the Soviet Union representing Ukrainian SSR (part of the Soviet Union after 1923). In the following years 8,265 Polish farmers were settled in Kresy by the government.[16] The overall number of the actual real settlers in the east was negligible. For instance in the Volhynian Voivodeship (1,437,569 inhabitants in 1921) the number of Polish settlers did not exceed 15,000 people (3,128 refugees from Bolshevist Russia, roughly 7,000 members of local administration and 2,600 military settlers).[16] Approximately 4 percent of the newly arrived settlers lived on their land, while the majority either rented their land to local farmers or moved to the cities.[16][17] Because of that tensions between the Ukrainian minority in Poland and the Polish government escalated.

Inaccuracies appeared in the Soviet 1926 census where ethnic Poles were marked down as being of Russian or Ukrainian ethnicity.[18]

Mass deportations started in the autumn of 1935 in order to remove Poles from the border regions and resettle these areas with ethnic Russians and Ukrainians. In that year alone 1,500 families were deported from Ukraine. In 1936, a further 5,000 Polish families were deported to Kazakhstan. The deportations were accompanied by the gradual elimination of Polish cultural institutions. Polish language newspapers were closed as were Polish language courses in Pedagogical Institutes in Ukraine. By the 1937–8 census, the Polish population in Ukraine had officially fallen by 120,000.

After the signing of the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in 1939 between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Germany invaded Western Poland. Two weeks later, the Soviet Union also invaded eastern Poland. As a result, Poland was divided between the Germans and the Soviets (see Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union). With the annexation of the Kresy – Western Ukraine was annexed to Soviet Ukraine and Western Belarus to Soviet Belorussia – in 1939. The Polish population of the Kresy comprised up to 2,513.7 thousand.[citation needed].

By 1944, the population of ethnic Poles in Western Ukraine was 1,182,100.[citation needed]

The Polish government in exile in London affirmed its position of retaining the 1939 borders. Nikita Khrushchev, however, approached Stalin personally to keep the territories gained through the illegal and secret Molotov-Ribbentrop pact under continued Soviet occupation.

1944–1946[edit]

The document regarding the resettlement of Poles from Ukrainian and Belorussian SSR to Poland was signed 9 September 1944 in Lublin by Khrushchev and the head of the Polish Committee of National Liberation Edward Osóbka-Morawski (the corresponding document with Lithuanian SSR was signed on 22 September). The document further specified who was eligible for the resettlement, (it was primarily applicable to all Poles and Jews who were citizens of the Second Polish Republic before 17 September 1939 and their families) what property they could take with them and what aid they would receive from the corresponding governments. The resettlement was divided into two phases: first, the eligible citizens were registered as wishing to be resettled; second their request was to be reviewed and approved by the corresponding governments. About 750,000 Poles and Jews from the western regions of Ukraine were deported, as well as about 200,000 from western Belarus and from Lithuanian SSR each. The deportations continued until August 1, 1946.

Transfers from Ukraine[edit]

After World War II, tensions between Poles and Ukrainians were very high, escalated by the conflict between the nationalistic Ukrainian organizations such as the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (see: Massacres of Poles in Volhynia) and the Polish AK. Although the Soviet government was actively trying to eradicate these organizations, it did little to support the Polish minority; and instead encouraged population transfer. The haste at which repatriation was done was such that the Polish leader Bolesław Bierut was forced to intercede and approach Stalin to retard this repatriation, as the post-war Polish government was overwhelmed by the sudden great number of refugees.

The Poles in southern Kresy (now Western Ukraine) were given the option of resettlement in Siberia or Poland and most chose Poland.[19]

The Polish exile government in London sent out directives to their organizations (see Polish Secret State) in Lwów and other major centers in Eastern Poland to sit fast and not evacuate, promising that during peaceful discussions they would be able to keep Lwów within Poland. Khrushchev as a result of this directive introduced a different approach to dealing with this Polish problem. Until this time, Polish children could receive education in Polish according to the curriculum of pre-war Poland. Overnight this was discontinued and all Polish schools switched to the Soviet Ukrainian curriculum with classes only in Ukrainian and Russian. All males were also told to prepare for mobilization into labor brigades within the Red Army. These actions were introduced specifically to encourage Polish emigration to Poland.

The director of the Middle school in Rokotyniv, Stefania Kubrynowycz stated:

"The Russians hate the Poles. (Soviet) Soldiers get changed in to the uniforms of bandits (Banderites) and wander into Polish villages where they suggest that they move to Poland. Those that do not want to move are threatened with death. If it were not for England and America the Soviets would eat the Poles".[20]

In January 1945, the NKVD arrested 772 Poles in Lviv (where, according to Soviet sources, on October 1, 1944, Poles represented 66.7% of population), among them 14 professors, 6 doctors, 2 engineers, 3 artists, 5 Catholic priests. The reaction to these arrests in the Polish community was extremely negative. The Polish underground press in Lviv characterized these acts as attempts to hasten the deportation of Poles from their city. Those arrested were released after they signed papers agreeing to emigrate to Poland. It is difficult to establish the exact number of Poles expelled from Lviv, between 100,000 and 140,000.

From Belarus[edit]

In stark contrast to what took place in the Ukrainian SSR, the communist officials in the Belorussian SSR did not actively support deportation of Poles. Belorussian officials made it difficult for Polish activists to communicate with tuteishians – people who were undecided as to whether they considered themselves Polish or Belarusian.[21] Much of the rural population, which usually had no official documents of identity, were denied the right of repatriation on the basis that they did not have documents stating they were Polish citizens.[21] In what was described as the "fight for the people", Polish officials attempted to get as many people repatriated as possible, while the Belorussian officials tried to retain them, particularly the peasants, while deporting most of the Polish intelligentsia. It is estimated that about 150,000 to 250,000 people were deported from Belarus. Similar numbers were registered as Poles but forced by the Belorussian officials to remain. A similar number were denied registration as Poles in the Belorussian SSR. A symmetric process has taken place in regards to the Belarusian population of the territory of the Białystok Voivodeship, that was partially retained by Poland after WW2.

Part of the different treatment arose from religious identity; unlike in Ukraine, where most Ukrainian Catholics were members of the powerful Ukrainian Uniate church which was often in conflict with the Polish Roman Catholics, most Belarusian Catholics were members of the Latin rite. It was not unheard of for more educated Belarusian Catholics who could speak Polish to identify as "Poles" to be deported out of Stalin's regime to Poland, where religious freedom was somewhat more open; the Belarusian authorities did not want a mass exodus of their population to Poland. Consequently, Latin Rite Catholicism retains a significant presence in Belarus even today, at about 10%.

From Lithuania[edit]

The Lithuanian repatriation suffered from numerous delays. Local Polish clergy were active agitating against leaving, and the underground press called those who had registered for repatriation traitors, hoping that the post War Peace Conference would assign Vilnius region to Poland. After these hopes vanished, the number of people wanting to leave gradually increased and signed papers for the People's Republic of Poland State Repatriation Office representatives.

Attitudes in the Lithuanian SSR were similar to those of the Belarusian officials. The Lithuanian communist party was dominated by a nationalist faction[citation needed] which supported the removal of the Polish intelligentsia, particularly from the highly disputed Vilnius region.[22] The city of Vilnius itself was considered a historical capital of Lithuania, however in the early 20th century its population was around 60% Polish, 30% Jewish, with only about 2–3% self-declared Lithuanians. The rural Polish population was however seen as important for the economy, and an easy target for assimilation policies (Lithuanization).[21][22] The repatriation of Poles from Vilnius, on the other hand, was encouraged and facilitated; the result was a rapid depolonization and Lithuanization of the city[22] (80% of the Polish population was removed).[23] Furthermore, Lithuanian ideology declared that many of the individuals who declared themselves as Polish were in fact "polonized Lithuanians". Again, the rural population was denied the right to leave Lithuania due to their lack of official pre-war documentation of Polish citizenship.[21][22] Contrary to an agreement with Poland, many individuals were threatened with the repayment of debts or with arrests if they chose repatriation. Individuals connected to the Polish resistance (Armia Krajowa and Polish Underground State) were persecuted by the Soviet authorities. In the end, only about 50% of the registered 400,000 people were allowed to leave. Dovile Budryte estimates that about 150,000 people left for Poland.[24]

Lithuanian historians estimate that about 10 percent of people who left for Poland were ethnic Lithuanians, looking for a way to escape the Soviet occupation and to flee to the West[citation needed].

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Jerzy Kochanowski (2001). "Gathering Poles into Poland. Forced Migration from Poland's Former Eastern Territories". In Philipp Ther, Ana Siljak. Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944–1948. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7425-1094-4. 
  2. ^ Jürgen Weber (2004). Germany, 1945–1990: A Parallel History. Budapest: Central European University Press. p. 2. ISBN 963-9241-70-9. 
  3. ^ Włodzimierz Borodziej; Ingo Eser; Stanisław Jankowiak; Jerzy Kochanowski; Claudia Kraft; Witold Stankowski; Katrin Steffen (1999). Stanisław Ciesielski, ed. Przesiedlenie ludności polskiej z Kresów Wschodnich do Polski 1944–1947 (in Polish). Warsaw: Neriton. p. 468. ISBN 83-86842-56-3. 
  4. ^ Z. R. Rudzikas (2002). Antonino Zichichi, Richard C. Ragaini, ed. "Democracy and Mathematics in Lithuania". International Seminar on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies, 34th session (World Scientific): 190. ISBN 978-0-300-12599-3. Retrieved 2009-07-10. 
  5. ^ Timothy D. Snyder (2007). "The Local World War". Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist's Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. pp. 190–193. ISBN 0-300-12599-2 – via Google Books. 
  6. ^ a b Józef Poklewski (1994). Polskie życie artystyczne w międzywojennym Wilnie (in Polish). Toruń: Toruń University Press. p. 321. ISBN 83-231-0542-1. 
  7. ^ Krystyna Kersten (1991). The establishment of Communist rule in Poland, 1943–1948. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 535. ISBN 0-520-06219-1. 
  8. ^ Krystyna Kersten (1974). Repatriacja ludności polskiej po II wojnie światowej: studium historyczne. Wrocław: Polish Academy of Sciences, Ossolineum. p. 277. 
  9. ^ Bogumiła Lisocka-Jaegermann (2006). "Post-War Migrations in Poland". In Mirosława Czerny. Poland in the geographical centre of Europe. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers. pp. 71–87. ISBN 1-59454-603-7 – via Google Books. 
  10. ^ Norman Davies, God's Playground, Chapters XX-XXI, ISBN 83-240-0654-0, ZNAK 2006
  11. ^ Sławomir Cenckiewicz (2005). "SB a propaganda polonijna: Między sowiecką agenturą a koncepcją "budowania mostów"" (in Polish). Retrieved 2009-07-10. Takie postrzeganie „zagranicznych Polaków” potwierdza chociażby tzw. pierwsza kampania powrotowa (zwana niesłusznie repatriacją), którą komuniści zainicjowali niemal od razu po zakończeniu II wojny światowej. 
  12. ^ Jan Czerniakiewicz (1992). Stalinowska depolonizacja Kresów Wschodnich II Rzeczpospolitej (Stalinist de-Polonization of the Eastern Borderlands of the 2nd Republic) (in Polish). Warsaw: Centre for Eastern Studies, Warsaw University. p. 20. 
  13. ^ a b Yosef Litvak (1991). Norman Davies, Antony Polonsky, eds. Polish-Jewish Refugees Repatriated from the Soviet Union at the End of the Second World War and Afterwards. Jews in Eastern Poland and the USSR, 1939-46 (Springer). pp. 9, 227. ISBN 1349217891 – via Google Books. 
  14. ^ Entsyklopedia Ukrainoznavstva — Paris-NY, 1970. Vol 6 p. 2224
  15. ^ Entsyklopedia Ukrainoznavstva Vol. 6, P.2224
  16. ^ a b c Andrzej Gawryszewski (2005). "XI: Przemieszczenia ludności" (PDF). Ludność Polski w XX wieku (in Polish). Warsaw: Polish Academy of Sciences. pp. 381–383. ISBN 83-87954-66-7. 
  17. ^ Władysław Pobóg-Malinowski (1990). Najnowsza historia polityczna Polski 1864–1945 (in Polish) II. Warsaw: Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza. pp. 623–624. ISBN 83-03-03162-7. 
  18. ^ Serhiychuk p. 7
  19. ^ Serhiychuk, p. 24
  20. ^ Serhiychuk, p. 16
  21. ^ a b c d Philipp Ther, Ana Siljak, Redrawing nations: ethnic cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944–1948, Rowman & Littlefield, 2001, ISBN 0-7425-1094-8, Google Print, p.141
  22. ^ a b c d Timothy Snyder, The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999, Yale University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-300-10586-X, Google Print, p.91-93
  23. ^ Michael McQueen. "Collaboration as an Element in the Polish-Lithuanian struggle over Vilnius." Joachim Tauber. "Kollaboration" in Nordosteuropa. Harrassowitz Verlag. 2006. p. 172.
  24. ^ Dovile Budryte, Taming nationalism?: political community building in the post-Soviet Baltic States, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005, ISBN 0-7546-4281-X, Google Print, p.147

Further reading[edit]

  • (Ukrainian) Volodymyr Serhijchuk, Deportatsiya Poliakiv z Ukrainy – Kiev, 1999 ISBN 966-7060-15-2
  • (Polish) Grzegorz Hryciuk, Przemiany narodowościowe i ludnościowe w Galicji Wschodniej i na Wołyniu w latach 1931–1948
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