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115-565: The majority of the shooting victims were ethnically Polish, but not all, with some belonging to various minority groups from the Kresy macro-region, for instance, Ruthenians ; these groups in the Soviet worldview had some element of Polish culture or heritage, and were therefore also "Polish". The NKVD agents looked through local phone books to expedite the procedure and detained people with names that sounded Polish. While similar to other operations such as

230-666: A Cro-Magnon population that arrived in Europe about 45,000 years ago; Neolithic farmers who migrated from Asia Minor during the Neolithic Revolution 9,000 years ago; and Yamnaya steppe pastoralists who expanded into Europe from the Pontic–Caspian steppe in the context of Indo-European migrations 5,000 years ago. In the Neolithic most of present-day Belarus was inhabited by Finno-Ugrians. Indo-European population appeared in

345-738: A Polish Santa Claus and Give a Book to a Polish Child in Kresy". Polish churches and cemeteries (such as Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów ) are renovated with money from Poland. For example, in Nysa , money is collected to renovate the Roman Catholic church in Łopatyn near Lviv, while residents of Oława collect funds to renovate the church in Sasiv, also in the area of Lviv. Also, physicians from Kraków's organization Doctors of Hope regularly visit Eastern Borderlands, and

460-406: A Polish background, around 40 percent of all victims, came from Soviet Ukraine, especially from the districts near the border with Poland. Among them were tens of thousands of peasants, railway workers, industrial labourers, engineers and others. An additional 17 percent of victims came from Soviet Byelorussia. The rest came from around Western Siberia and Kazakhstan, where exiled Poles had lived since

575-551: A halt to large scale economic activity which had depended on agriculture, forestry, brewing and small scale industries. Paradoxically, the Southern Kresy (present-day Ukraine) was famous for its fertile soil and was known as the "bread basket of Europe". Towards the end of the 19th century, the decline was so acute that trade and food supplies became problematic and large scale emigration from towns and villages began as Jewish communities, in particular, began heading West, to Europe and

690-558: A large part of central and western Belarus with cities such as Polotsk , Vitebsk , Orsha , Minsk , Barysaw and Slutsk , while the remaining lands inhabited by Slavs were called Rus. From the 17th century onward, the name White Ruthenia ( Belarusian : Белая Русь , romanized :  Biełaja Ruś ) spread, which initially referred to the territory of today's Eastern Belarus ( Polotsk , Vitebsk ). The term "Belarusians", "Belarusian faith" and "Belarusian speech" also appeared at that time. As stated by historian Andrej Kotljarchuk ,

805-492: A local church, meetings with Kresy activists and scholars, and theatre shows of Brzeg's Garrison Club as well as Lwów Eaglets Middle School number 3 in Brzeg. Organizers of the festival assured that for the two days Brzeg would turn into the "capital of interwar Polish Kresy". In January, February and March 2012, Centre for Public Opinion Research did a survey, asking Poles about their ties to Kresy. It turned out that almost 15% of

920-455: A lower NKVD organ (so-called dvoika , a two-man team) during early meetings, were then collected into "albums" and sent to the midrange NKVD offices for a stamp of approval by a troika (a three-man team; a communist official, NKVD leader, and party procurator). Poles were the first ever major Soviet population group to be sentenced in this manner. After the approval of the entire "album", the executions were carried out immediately. This procedure

1035-752: A million Poles from the Kresy were moved to the Recovered Territories , including 150,000 from the area of Wilno, 226,300 from Polesia , 133,900 from Volhynia , 5,000 from Northern Bukovina , and 618,200 from Eastern Galicia. The so-called First Repatriation of Poles (1944–1946) was carried out in a chaotic, disorganized way. People had to spend weeks, even months at railroad stations, waiting for transport. During that time, they were robbed of their belongings by either locals, Soviet soldiers or Soviet rail workers. For lack of railroad cars, in Lithuania at some point

1150-501: A process that for eastern and central Belarus ended around the 12th century. Belarusian lands in the 8th-9th centuries were inhabited by 3 tribal unions: the Krivichs , Dregoviches and Radimichs . Of these, the Krivichs played the most important role; Polotsk , founded by them, was the most important cultural and political center during this period. The principalities formed at that time on

1265-581: A result of World War III , in which Western Allies would defeat the Soviets. One of the adages of the postwar period was: "Just one atom bomb, and we will be back in Lwów again. Just second one is small but strong and we will be back in Wilno again." ("Jedna bomba atomowa i wrócimy znów do Lwowa. Druga mała, ale silna i wrócimy znów do Wilna"). Polish settlers in former German areas were insecure about their future there until

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1380-706: Is a 50,000 Polish minority in Latvia . In Lithuania and Belarus, Poles are more numerous than in Ukraine. This is the result of the Polish population transfers (1944–1946) as well as Massacres of Poles in Volhynia . Those Poles who survived the slaughter begged for the opportunity to emigrate. Many Polish organizations are active in the former Eastern Borderlands, such as the Association of Poles in Ukraine, Association of Polish Culture of

1495-542: Is a Museum of Kresy, and there is a project, supported by local government, to create a Museum of Eastern Borderlands in Wrocław, the city where a number of Poles from Kresy settled after World War II. Numerous photo albums and books, depicting cities, towns and landscapes of Kresy are published every year in Poland. In Chełm , there is Kresy Bicycle Marathon, Polish Radio Białystok every week broadcasts Kresy Magazine , dedicated to

1610-646: The Kresy after 1960 (especially in the territories of the Lithuanian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR ). Even today, Poles constitute the majority of inhabitants in many regions in the Grodno and Vilnius regions. Poles appear in the most recent national censuses as follows - Lithuania 183,000 (2021) ; Belarus 288,000 (2019) ; Ukraine 144,000 (2001) - the Belarus and Ukraine numbers firmly disputed in Poland. In

1725-569: The Kresy to alter its ethnic profile in favour of the Poles. One of the ways to do so was through the Osadnik colonists. These military colonists were one of the most "emotionalized" parts of the Polish government's policy in the Kresy and elicited opposition from the locals. The German historian Bernhard Chiari  [ de ] said that the Kresy were "the poorhouse of Poland", while

1840-615: The Kresy macroregion and the modern-day western border of Russia. It extended from the eastern pale , or demarcation line, to the Russian border with the Kingdom of Prussia (later the German Empire ) and Austria-Hungary . It also comprised about 20% of the territory of European Russia and largely corresponded to historical lands of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Cossack Hetmanate , and

1955-756: The Greek Operation , Finnish Operation , Latvian Operation and Estonian Operation , the Polish Operation was the largest ethnic shooting and deportation action during the Great Purge campaign of political murders in the Soviet Union. According to official data, victims of the Polish Operation accounted for 41.7% of the sentenced people and 44.9% of the executed people during all such ethnic operations. The top secret NKVD Order No. 00485 , titled " On

2070-730: The Austrian Galicia . The Kresy was the most war-devastated area in the whole of interwar Poland. The region later formed the eastern provinces of the Second Polish Republic. Territories included in the Kresy during the interbellum period comprised the eastern parts of the Voivodeships of Lwów and Białystok and the whole of the Nowogródek , Polesie , Stanisławów , Tarnopol , Wilno , Wołyń Voivodeships. The Polish government undertook an active policy of Polonizing

2185-757: The Austrian and Russian partitions became part of Poland. As many as 12 million inhabitants lived in the Eastern Borderlands, but ethnic Poles only were a third of that population, with another third being Ukrainian . Most small towns in the Borderlands were shtetls . Administratively, the Eastern Borderlands territory was composed of Lwów , Nowogródek , Polesie , Stanisławów , Tarnopol , Wilno , Wołyń , and Białystok voivodeships (provinces). Today, all these regions are divided between Western Ukraine , Western Belarus , and south-eastern Lithuania , with

2300-646: The Commonwealth before 1772, and where Polish communities continue to exist. Polish eastern settlements date back to the dawn of Poland as a state. In 1018, King Bolesław I the Brave invaded Kievan Rus' (see Bolesław I's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis , 1018), capturing Kyiv , and annexing the Cherven Cities . In 1340, Red Ruthenia came under Polish control, which intensified defensive Polish settlement and

2415-641: The Massacres of Poles in Wołyń were banned from publication for Soviet propaganda reasons, because these lands now belonged to the Soviet Union. In official documents, people born in the Eastern Borderlands were declared as born in the Soviet Union, and very few Kresy -themed books or films were passed by the state censor at that time. One of the exceptions was the immensely popular comedy trilogy by Sylwester Chęciński ( Sami swoi from 1967, Nie ma mocnych from 1974, and Kochaj albo rzuć from 1977). The trilogy tells

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2530-1488: The Masurian town of Mrągowo , there is a Festiwal Kultury Kresowej (Festival of Kresy Culture), sponsored among others by the Senate of the Republic of Poland and the Minister of Culture, with the patronage of the First Lady. The Festival is broadcast by TVP2 and TVP Polonia , and in 2011 it was organized for the 17th time. Among participants of the 2011 Festival, there were such artists, as Folk Ensemble Mozyrzanka from Mozyr , Children and Youth Band Tęcza from Minsk , Folk Band Kresowianka from Ivyanets , Polish Academic Choir Zgoda from Brest , Instrumental Band Biedronki from Minsk , Vocal Duo Wspólna wędrówka from Minsk, Children's Polonia Ensemble Dolinianka from Stara Huta (Ukraine), Ensemble Fujareczka from Sambir , Ensemble Boryslawiacy from Boryslav , Ensemble Niebo do Wynajecia from Stralhivci (Ukraine), Polish Dance and Song Ensemble Wilenka from Vilnius, Dance and Song Band Troczenie from Trakai , Band Wesołe Wilno from Vilnius, Song and Dance Ensemble Kotwica from Kaunas , and Folk and Polish Folklore Dance and Song Ensemble Syberyjski Krakowiak from Abakan in Siberia . Other notable Kresy-oriented festivals are: In Lubaczów

2645-510: The Ottoman Empire (with Crimean Khanate ). The area included in the Pale, with its large Roman Catholic , Eastern Catholic and Jewish populations, was acquired through a series of military conquests and diplomatic manoeuvres, between 1654 and 1815. While the religious nature of the edicts creating the Pale is clear: conversion to Russian Orthodoxy , the state religion, released individuals from

2760-687: The Partitions of Poland , as well as from the southern Urals, northern Caucasus and the rest of Siberia, including the Far East. The following categories of people were arrested by the NKVD during its Polish Operation, as described in Soviet documents: Although the Soviet authorities claim that the executed victims were all ethnic Poles, some of those killed were also ethnic Belarusians , Jews , Ukrainians and Russians mistaken and alleged for being ethnic Poles due to their surnames or religious denominations. 47.3% of

2875-640: The Podlaskie Voivodeship ), the Russian Federation and Lithuania. At the beginning of the 20th century, Belarusians constituted a minority in the regions around the city of Smolensk in Russia. Significant numbers of Belarusians emigrated to the United States, Brazil and Canada in the early 20th century. During Soviet times (1917–1991), many Belarusians were deported or migrated to various regions of

2990-599: The Polish high culture acquiring increasing prestige in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1697, Ruthenian was removed as one of the Grand Duchy's official languages. By the 17th century, Muscovites began encouraging the use of the word Belarusian and viewed the Belarusians as Russians and their language as a Russian dialect . This was done to legitimize Russian attempts of conquering the eastern lands of

3105-629: The Polish Military Organization which was disbanded in 1921. The NKVD declared that it continued to exist. Some Soviet Poles were tortured in order to confess to its existence, and denounce other individuals as spies. Meanwhile, the Communist International helped by revisiting its files in search of Polish members, producing another bountiful source of made-up evidence. The operation took place approximately from August 25, 1937, to November 15, 1938. The largest group of people with

3220-503: The Polish government-in-exile in London . The Potsdam Conference, via substantive recognition of the pro-Soviet Polish Committee of National Liberation , implicitly consented to the deportation of Polish people from Kresy (see Polish population transfers (1944–1946) ). Most Polish inhabitants of Kresy were ordered by the Soviets to migrate west to Germany's former eastern provinces, newly emptied of their German population and renamed as

3335-528: The Polotsk  [ ru ] and Mogilev Governorates . However, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia banned the use of the word Belarus in 1839, replacing it with the designation Northwestern Krai . Due to the ban, various different names were used for naming the inhabitants of those territories. It was part of the Pale of Settlement , which was the region where Jews were allowed permanent residency. During World War I and

3450-782: The Soviet Union (see Soviet invasion of Poland ), and a significant part of the ethnic Polish population of Kresy was deported to other areas of the Soviet Union including Siberia and Kazakhstan . The new border between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union was re-designated by the German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty , signed on 29 September 1939. After the elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus , communist governments for Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were formed and immediately announced their intention of joining their respective republics to

3565-787: The United States and Russia being home to more than 500,000 Belarusians each. The majority of Belarusians adhere to Eastern Orthodoxy . During the Soviet era, Belarusians were referred to as Byelorussians or Belorussians (from Byelorussia , derived from Russian "Белоруссия"). Before, they were typically known as White Russians or White Ruthenians (from White Russia or White Ruthenia, based on "Белая Русь"). Upon Belarusian independence in 1991, they became known as Belarusians (from Belarus , derived from "Беларусь"), sometimes spelled as Belarusans , Belarussians or Belorusians . The term White Rus' ( Белая Русь , Bielaja Ruś ), also known as White Ruthenia or White Russia (as

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3680-476: The United States . By the time of a newly resurgent Polish state, the provinces had been additionally disadvantaged by having the lowest literacy levels in the country, since education had not been compulsory during Russian rule. The regions had suffered a legacy of decades of neglect and underinvestment so were generally less economically developed than the western parts of interwar Poland. The years 1918–1921 were especially turbulent for Kresy , due to

3795-587: The Yad Vashem historian Leonid Rein even wrote that "it would not be a great exaggeration to say it was the poor-house of the whole of Europe." This led to frequent conflicts with Ukrainian nationalists in the southeastern part of Kresy , which led to the pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia . Numerous Polish communities continued to live beyond the eastern border of the Second Polish Republic, especially around Minsk , Zhytomyr and Berdychiv . In

3910-549: The flag (with the hammer and sickle removed), anthem , and coat of arms would be those of the BSSR . The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly stated that the referendum violated international standards. Members of the opposition claimed that the organization of the referendum involved several serious violations of legislation, including a violation of the constitution. Belarusians, like most Europeans, largely descend from three distinct lineages: Mesolithic hunter-gatherers , descended from

4025-632: The " Recovered Territories " of the Polish People's Republic , based on Polish medieval settlement of the areas. Poles from the southern Kresy (now Ukraine) were forced to settle mainly in Silesia , while those from the north (Belarus and Lithuania) moved to Pomerania and Masuria . Polish residents of Lwów settled not only in Wrocław, but also in Gliwice and in Bytom . Those cities had not been destroyed during

4140-592: The " Stolen Lands ". Even though Poles were a minority in those areas, owing to forced depopulation, the "Stolen Lands" remained an integral part of Polish national identity, with Polish cultural centres and seats of learning in Vilnius University , Jan Kazimierz University and Krzemieniec Lyceum among many others. Since many local educated inhabitants had actively participated in Polish–Lithuanian national insurgencies ( November Uprising , January Uprising ),

4255-467: The "one-suitcase policy" was introduced, which meant that Poles had to leave behind all their belongings. They travelled in freight or open wagons , and the journeys were long and dangerous, as there was no protection from the military or the police. In the years 1955–1959, the second mass repatriation of Poles from Kresy took place. As a result, in the years 1945–1960, over 2 million Polish people left Kresy . About 1-2 million more remained in

4370-590: The 17th century, the Russian tsars used the term to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . However, during the Russian Civil War , the term White Russian became associated with the White movement . Belarusians are an East Slavic ethnic group, who constitute the majority of Belarus' population. Belarusian minority populations live in countries neighboring Belarus: Ukraine, Poland (especially in

4485-650: The 1931 census. South-East Poland: North-East Poland: In 1931, according to the Polish National Census, the ten largest cities in Polish Eastern Borderlands were: Lwów (pop. 312,200), Wilno (pop. 195,100), Stanisławów (pop. 60,000), Grodno (pop. 49,700), Brześć nad Bugiem (pop. 48,400), Borysław (pop. 41,500), Równe (pop. 40,600), Tarnopol (pop. 35,600), Łuck (pop. 35,600) and Kołomyja (pop. 33,800). In addition, Daugavpils (pop. 43,200 in 1930) in inter-war Latvia

4600-564: The 1970s (see Kniefall von Warschau ). Eastern settlers did not feel at home in Lower Silesia , and as a result, they did not care about the machinery, households and farms abandoned by Germans. Lubomierz in 1945 was in good condition, but in the following years, Polish settlers from the area of Chortkiv in Podolia let it run down and become a ruin. The Germans were aware of it. In 1959, German sources wrote that Lower Silesia had been ruined by

4715-646: The Association of Help of Poles in the East Kresy (see also Karta Polaka ). Money is frequently collected to help those Poles who live in Kresy , and there are several annual events, such as "Christmas Package for a Polish Veteran in Kresy", and "Summer with Poland", sponsored by Association "Polish Community" , in which Polish children from Kresy are invited to visit Poland. Polish language handbooks and films, as well as medicines and clothes are collected and sent to Kresy . Books are most often sent to Polish schools which exist there — for example, in December 2010, University of Wrocław organized an event called "Become

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4830-436: The Bronze Age. In the Iron Age , the south of present-day Belarus was inhabited by tribes belonging to the Milograd culture (7th–3rd century BC) and later Zarubintsy culture . Some considered them to be Balts. Since the beginning of common era , these lands were penetrated by the Slavs, a process that intensified during the migration period (4th century). A peculiar symbiosis of Baltic and Slavic cultures took place in

4945-406: The Great Purge in Kyrgyzstan . According to historian Michael Ellman , "The 'national operations' of 1937–38, notably the 'Polish operation', may qualify as genocide as defined by the UN Convention , although there is as yet no legal ruling on the matter". Karol Karski argues that the Soviet actions against Poles are genocide according to international law. He says that while the extermination

5060-416: The Kresy provinces were part of Poland, and both dialects were in common usage, spoken by millions of ethnic Poles. After the war and Soviet annexation of Kresy, however, the majority of ethnic Poles were deported westward, resulting in a severe decline in the number of native speakers. The northern Kresy dialect is still used along the Lithuanian-Belarusian border, where Poles still live in large numbers, but

5175-496: The Lviv Land , the Federation of Polish Organizations in Ukraine, Union of Poles in Belarus , and the Association of Poles in Lithuania . There are Polish sports clubs ( Pogoń Lwów , FK Polonia Vilnius ), newspapers ( Gazeta Lwowska , Kurier Wileński ), radio stations (in Lviv and Vilnius), many theatres, schools, choirs and folk ensembles. Poles living in Kresy are helped by a government-sponsored organization Fundacja Pomoc Polakom na Wschodzie , and by other organizations, such as

5290-822: The Ossolineum, says that in 1945, there was a mass public campaign in Poland, aimed at transporting the whole Ossolineum to Wrocław. It succeeded in recovering only 200,000 volumes, as the Soviets decided that the bulk of the library had to remain in Lviv. Even though Poland lost its Eastern Borderlands in the aftermath of World War II, Poles connected with the Kresy still have some affection for those lands. Since Poles from current Western Ukraine mostly moved to Silesia . The cities of Wrocław and Gliwice are regarded as miasta lwowskie (cities of Lwów affinity), while Szczecin , Gdańsk and Olsztyn are regarded as miasta wileńskie (cities of Wilno affinity). Lwów's Ossolineum Foundation, its collections and famous library are now located in Wrocław. Polish academics from Lwów established

5405-406: The Poles. Zdzisław Mach, a sociologist from the Jagiellonian University , explains that when Poles were forced to resettle in the West, which they resented, they had to leave the land they considered sacred and move to areas inhabited by the enemy. In addition, Communist authorities did not initially invest in the Recovered Territories because, like the settlers, for a long time they were unsure about

5520-754: The Polish University of Wrocław (taking over from the old German University of Breslau) and Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice . At the same time, Polish academics from Vilnius founded Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (even though Toruń belonged to Poland before the outbreak of World War II before 1939). There are numerous Kresy-oriented organizations, with the largest one, World Congress of Kresy Inhabitants ( Światowy Kongres Kresowian ), located in Bytom , and branches scattered across Poland, and abroad. The Congress organizes annual World Convention and Pilgrimage of Kresy Inhabitants to Jasna Góra Monastery . Other important Kresy organizations, active in contemporary Poland, include: Every year, in

5635-423: The Polish Language gives a different etymology of the term. According to him, kresy meant the borderline between Poland and the Crimean Khanate , in the region of the lower Dnieper . The term kresy appeared for the first time in literature in Wincenty Pol poems, " Mohort " (1854) and " Pieśń o ziemi naszej ". Pol claimed that Kresy was the line between the Dniester and Dnieper rivers, neighbouring

5750-494: The Polish Ministry of Education runs a special program, which sends Polish teachers to the former Soviet Union. In 2007, more than 700 teachers worked in the East, most of them in Kresy . Studio East of Polish TV Wrocław organizes an event called "Save your grandfather's tomb from oblivion" ( Mogiłę pradziada ocal od zapomnienia ), during which students from Lower Silesia visit Western Ukraine, to clean Polish cemeteries there. In July 2011, about 150 students cleaned 16 cemeteries in

5865-429: The Polish language invocation, "O Lithuania, my fatherland, thou art like good health...." Other notable works located in Kresy , are Nad Niemnem , Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass , With Fire and Sword , Fire in the Steppe . In Communist Poland, all Kresy -related topics, such as Poland's eastern centuries old heritage, including ecclesiastical architecture, country houses and stately homes down to

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5980-421: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth under the pretense of unifying all Russian lands. During three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772, 1793 and 1795) most of the territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were annexed by the Russian Empire . Following the destruction of Poland–Lithuania with the Third Partition in 1795, Empress Catherine of Russia created the Belarusian Governorate from

6095-411: The Russian okrainy ( окраины ), meaning "the border regions". During the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Kresy only referred to the borderlands of the Kingdom of Poland and not the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Kresy is also largely co-terminous with the northern areas of the Pale of Settlement , a scheme devised by Catherine II of Russia to limit Jews from settling in

6210-409: The Russian Empire through the annexation of Polish-Lithuanian territory substantially increased the new "Russian" Jewish population. Kresy and the superimposed Pale, in the former Polish and Lithuanian territories, had a Jewish population of over five million, and represented the largest community (40%) of the world Jewish population at that time. From the Polish perspective, the lands came to be called

6325-480: The Russian authorities resorted to intensified persecution, confiscations of property and land, penal deportation to Siberia , and the systematic attempt at Russification of Poles and their traditional culture and institutions. From the Russian perspective the "Pale of Settlement" included all of Belarus , Lithuania and Moldova , much of present-day Ukraine , parts of eastern Latvia , eastern Poland , and some parts of western Russia , generally corresponding to

6440-574: The Soviet Union (see also Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union ). After the German invasion of the USSR, the southeastern part of Kresy was absorbed into Greater Germany 's General Government , whereas the rest was integrated with the Reichskommissariats Ostland and Ukraine . In 1943–1944, units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army , with the help of Ukrainian peasants, carried out mass exterminations of Poles living in southeastern Kresy (see Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia ). In January 1944, Soviet troops had reached

6555-405: The Soviet Union , which was ended by the Belovezh Accords in 1991. The modern Republic of Belarus exists since then. More than two million people were killed in Belarus during the three years of German occupation in 1941–44, around a quarter of the region's population, or even as high as three million killed or thirty percent of the population. Belarusian cuisine shares the same roots as

6670-428: The Soviet republics of Ukraine , Belarus and Lithuania , often by means of terror. Soviet territorial annexations during World War II were later ratified by the Allies at the Conferences of Tehran , Yalta and Potsdam and most of Poles here were expelled after the end of World War II in Europe . After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, there was no change to the post-World War II borders. Despite

6785-408: The Tatar borderland. Coincidentally in relation to Jewish settlement in the macro region, the notion of the pale is an archaic English term derived from the Latin word palus , (which in Polish exists as pal and also means a stake), extended in this instance to mean the area enclosed by a fence or boundary. At the beginning of the 20th century, the meaning of the term expanded to include

6900-469: The USSR and in the Baltic states. Polish population east of the Curzon Line before World War II can be estimated by adding together figures for Former Eastern Poland and for pre-1939 Soviet Union: Two tables below show the linguistic ( mother tongue ) and religious structure of interwar South-Eastern Poland (nowadays part of Western Ukraine ) and interwar North-Eastern Poland (nowadays part of Western Belarus and southern Lithuania) by county, according to

7015-412: The USSR, including Siberia , Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Since the 1991 breakup of the USSR , several hundred thousand Belarusians have emigrated to the Baltic states , the United States, Canada, Russia, and EU countries . The two official languages of Belarus are Belarusian and Russian . Russian was made co-official with Belarusian after the 1995 Belarusian referendum , which also established that

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7130-450: The accused were confiscated. The parents of the executed men – as well as their in-laws – were left with nothing to live on, which usually sealed their fate as well. Statistical extrapolation, wrote Jasiński, increases the number of Polish victims in 1937–1938 to around 200–250,000 depending on the size of their families. In Leningrad , the NKVD reviewed local telephone books and arrested almost 7,000 citizens with Polish-sounding name with

7245-450: The area of kresy (note: the redirected list does not include Poles born in the cities of Lwów (Lviv), and Wilno (Vilnius) - see List of Leopolitans , List of people from Vilnius ). The family of former President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski , allegedly hails from northern Lithuania. The mother of Bogdan Zdrojewski , Minister of Culture and National Heritage is from Boryslav , and the father of former First Lady Jolanta Kwaśniewska

7360-420: The area, but it was not a fully peaceful process, as evidenced by numerous fires in Balts' settlements in the 7th-8th centuries. According to Russian archaeologist Valentin Sedov  [ ru ] , it was intensive contacts with the Balts that contributed to the distinctiveness of the Belarusian tribes from the other Eastern Slavs . The Baltic population gradually became Slavic , undergoing assimilation,

7475-447: The areas of Lviv, Ternopil , Podolia and Pokuttya . Despite wars and ethnic cleansing many treasures of Polish culture still remain in the East. In Vilnius, there is the Wróblewski Library , with 160,000 volumes and 30,000 manuscripts, which now belong to the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences . In Lviv, there is the Ossolineum , one of the most important Polish culture centres. Adolf Juzwenko, current president of Wrocław's office of

7590-408: The case of an invasion. Kresy Eastern Borderlands ( Polish : Kresy Wschodnie ) or simply Borderlands ( Polish : Kresy , Polish pronunciation: [ˈkrɛsɨ] ) was a term coined for the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with a Polish minority, it amounted to nearly half of

7705-410: The fall of Russian Empire , a short-lived Belarusian Democratic Republic was declared in March 1918. Thereafter, modern Belarus' territory was split between the Second Polish Republic and Soviet Russia during the Peace of Riga in 1921. The latter created the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic , which was reunited with Western Belarus during World War 2 and lasted until the dissolution of

7820-401: The first person who called himself "Belarusian" was Calvinist writer Salomon Rysinski (Solomo Pantherus Leucorussus). According to his words, he was born "in richly endowed with forests and animals Ruthenia near the border to frigid Muscovy" and doctorated at the University of Altdorf . From the 1630s, Old Belarusian (Ruthenian) started to be replaced by the Polish language , as a result of

7935-419: The former Polish–Soviet border, and by the end of July 1944, they again re-annexed the whole territory that had been taken by the USSR in September 1939 into their control. During the Tehran Conference in 1943, a new Soviet-Polish border was established, in effect sanctioning most of the Soviet territorial acquisitions of September 1939 (except for some areas around Białystok and Przemyśl), ignoring protests from

8050-468: The former provinces of the Eastern Borderlands no longer being part of Poland, a Polish minority remains. The Polish word kresy ("borderlands") is the plural form of the word kres meaning 'edge'. According to Zbigniew Gołąb , it is "a medieval borrowing from the German word Kreis ", which in the Middle Ages meant Kreislinie, Umkreis, Landeskreis ("borderline, delineation or circumscribed territory"). Samuel Linde in his Dictionary of

8165-432: The future of these lands. As Mach says, people in Western Poland for years lived "on their suitcases", with all their belongings packed in case of return to the East. The population of Kresy was multi-ethnic, primarily comprising Poles, Ukrainians, Jews and Belarusians. According to official Polish statistics from the interwar period, Poles formed the largest linguistic group in these regions, and were demographically

8280-452: The genocidal". Historian Timothy Snyder called the Polish Operation genocidal : "It is hard not to see the Soviet "Polish Operation" of 1937-38 as genocidal: Polish fathers were shot, Polish mothers sent to Kazakhstan, and Polish children left in orphanages where they would lose their Polish identity. As more than 100,000 innocent people were killed on the spurious grounds that theirs was a disloyal ethnicity, Stalin spoke of "Polish filth". On

8395-677: The history and present times of the Eastern Borderlands. Every Sunday, Polish Radio Katowice broadcasts a program based on famous prewar Lwów's Merry Wave , every Tuesday, Polish Radio Rzeszów broadcasts a program Kresy Landscapes . In Wrocław, the Association of Remembrance of Victims of Ukrainian Nationalists publishes Na Rubieży ( On the Border ) magazine. Among best known Kresy activists of contemporary Poland are Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski , and Dr. Tadeusz Kukiz, father of popular singer Paweł Kukiz . Since 2007, annual medals Heritage of Eastern Borderlands are awarded in Wrocław. The 2011 recipient

8510-642: The homogenously Christian Orthodox core of the Russian Empire, such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg . The Pale was established after the Second Partition of Poland and lasted until the Russian Revolution in 1917, when the Russian Empire ceased to exist. In the aftermath of the Polish wars against Ukraine , Lithuania and Soviet Russia , the latter of which was ended by the Treaty of Riga, large parts of

8625-634: The immediate postwar period, Polish Communists, who ceded the Eastern Borderlands to the Soviet Union, were universally regarded as traitors, and Władysław Gomułka , First Secretary of the Polish Workers' Party, was fully aware of it. People who moved from the East to the Recovered Territories talked amongst themselves about their return to Lwów and other eastern locations, and the German return to Silesia , as

8740-536: The immediate postwar period, one-third of Polish settlers were either people from Kresy or Sybiraks . In 1948, people born in the Eastern Borderlands made up 47.5% of the population of Opole , 44.7% of Baborów , 47.5% of Wołczyn , 42.1% of Głubczyce , 40.1% of Lewin Brzeski , and 32.6% of Brzeg . In 2011, people with Kresy background made up 25% of the population of the Opole Voivodeship . The town of Jasień

8855-585: The indigenous upper classes of Kresy accepted Polish religion, culture and language, resulting in their assimilation and Polonization . The year 1772 marked the first partition of the Commonwealth of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (see Partitions of Poland ). By 1795, the whole eastern half of the state had been annexed by the Russian Empire in concert with the Habsburgs and Prussia 's Hohenzollerns . The dramatic westward expansion of

8970-451: The introduction of Catholicism . After the Union of Lublin 1569, more Polish settlers moved into the eastern borderlands of the vast Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Most of them came from the Polish provinces of Mazovia and Lesser Poland . They had moved gradually eastwards settling in sparsely populated areas, inhabited by earlier inhabitants such as Lithuanians and Ruthenians . Moreover,

9085-566: The lands of the former eastern provinces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , east of the Lwów – Wilno line. In the Second Polish Republic, Kresy equated to historically Polish settled lands to the east of the notional Curzon line . Currently, the term applies to all the eastern lands of the Second Polish Republic that are no longer within the frontiers of modern Poland, together with lands further east, that had been integral to

9200-538: The lands of the upper basins of Neman River , Dnieper River , and the Western Dvina River . The Belarusian people trace their distinct culture to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , earlier Kievan Rus' and the Principality of Polotsk . Litvin was a term used to describe all residents of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, primarily those belonging to the noble state , without distinction of ethnicity or religion. At

9315-587: The largest ethnic group in the cities. Other national minorities included Lithuanians and Karaites (in the north), Jews (scattered in cities and towns across the area), Czechs and Germans (in Volhynia and East Galicia), Armenians and Hungarians (in Lviv) and also Russians and Tatars . The proportions of different native languages in each voivodeship in 1931, according to the Polish census of 1931 , were as follows: In addition to ethnic Poles in former eastern Poland, there were also large Polish communities in

9430-604: The late 1920s and early 1930s, the Soviet authorities created two Polish National Districts in Belarus and Ukraine, but during the Polish Operation of the NKVD , most of the Poles in those areas were murdered, while those remaining were forcibly resettled in Kazakhstan (see also Poles in the Soviet Union ). As a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , on 17 September 1939, the Kresy territories were annexed by

9545-456: The liquidation of the Polish diversionist and espionage groups and POW units ," was approved on August 9, 1937 by the Party's Central Committee Politburo , and was signed by Nikolai Yezhov on August 11, 1937. It was distributed to the local subdivisions of the NKVD simultaneously with Yezhov's thirty-page "secret letter," explaining what the "Polish operation" was all about. The letter from Yezhov

9660-718: The major cities of Lviv , Vilnius , and Grodno no longer in Poland. During the Second Polish Republic, the Eastern Borderlands denoted the lands beyond the Curzon Line proposed after World War I in December 1919 by the British Foreign Office as the eastern border of the re-emerging sovereign Polish Republic, after over a century of partition. In September 1939, after Germany invaded Poland and follow-up invasion by Soviet Union, in accordance with Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact all Eastern Borderlands territories were incorporated into

9775-549: The number of Poles dropped from 792,000 in 1926 to 627,000 in 1939." Almost all victims of the NKVD shootings were men, wrote Michał Jasiński, most with families. Their wives and children were dealt with by the NKVD Order № 00486 . The women were generally sentenced to deportation to Kazakhstan for an average of 5 to 10 years. Orphaned children without relatives willing to take them were put in orphanages to be brought up as Soviet, with no knowledge of their origins. All possessions of

9890-558: The opinion of historian Timothy Snyder , this fabricated justification was intended only to cover-up the state-sanctioned campaign of mass-murder aiming to eradicate Poles as a national (and linguistic) minority group. Another possible cause, according to Snyder, might have sprung from the necessity to explain the Holodomor , the Soviet-made famine in Ukraine, which required a political scapegoat. A top Soviet official, Vsevolod Balitsky , chose

10005-605: The other hand, Stalin often praised Poland as a good nation and the Poles as brave fighters, the third most "dogged" soldiers after the Russians and Germans . Norman Naimark called Stalin's policy towards Poles in the 1930s "genocidal" but did not consider the entire Great Purge genocidal since it targeted political opponents as well. Simon Sebag Montefiore presents a similar opinion. According to historians Olle Sundström and Andrej Kotljarchuk, most scholars (for example, Nicolas Werth , Michael Mann and Hiroaki Kuromiya ) focus on

10120-619: The population of Opole Voivodeship , 25% of the population of West Pomeranian Voivodeship , and 18% of the population of Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship . Since Poles have lived in Kresy for hundreds of years, two groups of Kresy Polish dialects emerged: the northern ( dialekt północnokresowy ), and the southern ( dialekt południowokresowy ). Both dialects have been influenced either by Ukrainian , Belarusian or by Lithuanian . To Polish speakers in Poland, Kresy dialects are easy to distinguish, as their pronunciation and intonation are markedly different from standard Polish. Before World War II,

10235-426: The population of Poland (4,3 - 4,6 million people) declared that they either were born in the Kresy, or have a parent or a grandparent from that region. The number of Kresowiacy is high in northern and western Poland – as many as 51% of inhabitants of Lubusz Voivodeship , and 47% of inhabitants of Lower Silesian Voivodeship stated that their family has ties to the Kresy. Furthermore, Kresowiacy now make 30% of

10350-490: The prewar era. Examples of such publications include: In the first half of 2011, Rzeczpospolita daily published a series called "The Book of Eastern Borderlands" ( Księga kresów wschodnich ). The July 2012 issue of the Uważam Rze Historia magazine was dedicated to the Eastern Borderlands and their importance in Polish history and culture. The territory known to Poles as Kresy is now partitioned off between

10465-547: The rest were executed there. The small Polish communities of the more remote parts of the USSR were also targeted in the Polish Operation . According to the former secret police archives in Tbilisi , Georgia alone, at least 89 people were victims of the Polish Operation , and further 125 Poles were victims of other concurrent operations, whereas, according to Kyrgyz archives, at least 180 Poles fell victim to all simultaneous operations of

10580-456: The resurgence of the Polish nation-state and the formation of new borders. At that time, Poland had fought three wars to establish its eastern frontier: with Ukraine , Lithuania and Soviet Russia . In all three conflicts, Poland made territorial conquests, and as a result, it seized territories east of the Curzon line that were previously conquered by Russia, in addition to the land formerly part of

10695-499: The same time, the term Ruthenian ( Rusyn ) was in use, referring primarily to all persons professing Orthodoxy; later since the end of the 16th century it took on a broader meaning, and also referred to all the persons of Eastern Slavic origin, regardless of their religion. At the same time, there was a geographical division within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania between Lithuania proper and Rus'. However, it did not correspond to an ethnic or confessional division, as Lithuania proper included

10810-424: The security dilemma in the border areas suggesting the need to secure the ethnic integrity of Soviet space vis-à-vis neighboring capitalistic enemy states. They stress the role of international relations and believe that representatives of ethnic minorities such as the Poles, were killed not because of their ethnicity, but because of their possible relations to countries hostile to the USSR and fear of disloyalty in

10925-477: The southern Kresy dialect is endangered, as Poles in western Ukraine do not form a majority of the population in any district. Particularly notable among the Kresy dialects is the Lwów dialect which emerged early in the 19th century and was spoken in the city gaining much recognition in the 1920s and 1930s, partly due to the countrywide popularity of numerous Kresy-born and trained actors and comedians whose native speech it

11040-512: The states of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. Ethnic Poles still live in those areas: in Lithuania, they are the largest ethnic minority in the country (see Poles in Lithuania ), in Belarus, they are the second largest ethnic minority in the country after Russians (see Poles in Belarus ), and in Ukraine, they officially number 144,130, but some Polish organizations claim that the number of Poles in Ukraine may be as many as 2 million, most of them assimilated. (see Poles in Ukraine ). Furthermore, there

11155-536: The story of two quarreling families, who after the end of the Second World War were resettled from current Western Ukraine to Lower Silesia, after Poland was shifted westwards. After the collapse of the Communist system, the old Kresy returned as a Polish cultural theme in the form of historical polemics. Numerous books and albums were published about the Eastern Borderlands, frequently with original photos from

11270-461: The strictures - historians argue that the motivations for its creation and maintenance were primarily economic and nationalistic in nature. The Russian Empire had abandoned Kresy to decline as a vast rural backwater after the original Polish–Lithuanian landowners had been disposed of in the wake of insurrections and the Abolition of serfdom in Poland in 1864. The devastation of country estates put

11385-536: The term Rus' is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia ), was first used in the Middle Ages to refer to the area of Polotsk . The name Rus' itself is derived from the Rus' people which gave the name to the territories of Kievan Rus' . The chronicles of Jan of Czarnków mention the imprisonment of Lithuanian grand duke Jogaila and his mother at " Albae Russiae, Poloczk dicto " in 1381. During

11500-581: The territory of Belarus were part of Kievan Rus' . The process of the beginning of the East Slavic linguistic community and the separation of Belarusian dialects slowly took place. As a result of Lithuanian expansion, the lands of Belarus became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This fact accelerated the Slavicization of the Baltic population. Between the 13th and 16th centuries, a distinct Ruthenian language

11615-612: The territory of interwar Poland. Historically situated in the eastern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , following the 18th-century foreign partitions it was divided between the Empires of Russia and Austria-Hungary , and ceded to Poland in 1921 after the Treaty of Riga . As a result of the post-World War II border changes , all of the territory was ceded to the USSR , and none of it is in modern Poland . The Polish plural term Kresy corresponds to

11730-584: The total number of "Poles" who were arrested in Belarus were actually ethnic Belarusian Catholics , of whom many declared themselves to be Poles in the 1920s. They made up 14.2% of those arrested in the Polish Operation across the Soviet Union (September–November 1938). 13.4% of those arrested were ethnic Ukrainians. 8.8% of the arrested were ethnic Russians. According to archives of the NKVD, 111,091 Poles and people accused of ties with Poland, were sentenced to death, and 28,744 were sentenced to labor camps ; 139,835 victims in total. This number constitutes 10% of

11845-601: The total number of people officially convicted during the Yezhovshchina period, based on confirming NKVD documents. According to historian Bogdan Musiał : "It is estimated that Polish losses in the Ukrainian SSR were about 30%, while in the Belorussian SSR... the Polish minority was almost completely annihilated or deported." Musiał is also of the opinion that "it does not seem unlikely, as Soviet statistics indicate, that

11960-589: The vast majority of such nominal "suspects" were executed within 10 days of arrest. The Polish-majority villages of Siberia were also targeted. In Belostok, Tomsk Oblast , 100 men of Polish origins were executed and their bodies thrown into the Ob River . In Polozovo, Tomsk Oblast 33 Poles were arrested, of which 32 were executed and one died in captivity, and in Vershina 30 Poles were arrested (29 men and one woman), of which one person died during transport to Irkutsk and

12075-401: The war. They were relatively closer to the new eastern border of Poland, which could become significant in case of a sudden hoped for a return to the East. Frequently, whole Kresy villages and towns were deported in a single rail transport to new locations in the west. For instance, the village of Biała, near Chojnów , is still divided into two parts: Lower Biała and Upper Biała. Lower Biała

12190-432: Was (see also: Dialects of the Polish language ). Belarusians Belarusians ( Belarusian : беларусы , romanized :  biełarusy [bʲeɫaˈrusɨ] ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus . They natively speak Belarusian , an East Slavic language . More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99 million Belarusians reside in Belarus, with

12305-506: Was also a major Polish community with 21% ethnic Polish inhabitants. Despite the expulsion of most of ethnic Poles from the Soviet Union between 1944 and 1958, the Soviet census of 1959 still counted around 1.5 million ethnic Poles remaining in the USSR: According to a more recent census, there were about 295,000 Poles in Belarus in 2009 (3.1% of the Belarus population). A number of influential figures in Polish history were born in

12420-412: Was also used later on in other mass operations of the NKVD . The "Polish Operation" was a second in a series of national operations of the NKVD , carried out by the Soviet Union against ethnic groups including Latvian, Finnish, German, and Romanian, based on a theory about an internal enemy (i.e., the fifth column ), labelled as the "hostile capitalist surrounding" residing along its western borders. In

12535-567: Was born in Wołyń , where his sister was murdered in 1943 by the Ukrainian nationalists. Since some of the most distinguished names of Polish literature and music were born in Kresy , e.g. Mikołaj Rej , Adam Mickiewicz , Juliusz Słowacki , Karol Szymanowski or Czesław Miłosz , Eastern Borderlands have featured repeatedly in the Polish Literary canon . Mickiewicz's Pan Tadeusz begins with

12650-462: Was emeritus Archbishop of Wrocław , Henryk Gulbinowicz . Participants of annual Katyń Motorcycle Raid ( Motocyklowy Rajd Katyński ) always visit Polish centers in Kresy , giving presents to children, and meeting local Poles. The program of 2011 Days of Kresy Culture (October 22–23) in Brzeg covered such events, as: Kresy themed cabaret, promotion of Kresy books, Eastern Borderlands cuisine, mass in

12765-400: Was formed. It is called "Old Belarusian language" by Belausian researchers and "Old Ukrainian" by the Ukrainian ones. The rulers and the elite of the Grand Duchy adopted elements of Ruthenian culture, primarily Ruthenian language, which became the main language of writing. Belarusians began to emerge as a nationality during the 13th and 14th centuries in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania mostly on

12880-508: Was settled by people from the area of Ternopil in late 1945 and early 1946, while Poles from Borschiv moved to Trzcińsko-Zdrój and Chojna . The situation was completely different in Wschowa and its county. In 1945–1948, more than 8,000 people moved there. They came from different areas of the Kresy — Ashmyany , Stanislawow , Równe , Lwów , Brody , Dzyatlava District , and Ternopil . Altogether, between 1944 and 1946, more than

12995-462: Was settled by people who used to live in a Bieszczady village of Polana near Ustrzyki Dolne (this area belonged to the Soviet Union until 1951: see 1951 Polish–Soviet territorial exchange ), while inhabitants of the village Pyszkowce near Buczacz moved to Upper Biała. Every year in September, Biała is the scene of an annual festival called Kresowiana . In Szczecin and Polish West Pomerania , in

13110-443: Was targeting other nationalities as well, and according to the criteria other than ethnicity, but as long as Poles were singled out based on their ethnicity, that makes the actions to be genocide. The historian Terry Martin refers to the "national operations", including the "Polish Operation", as ethnic cleansing and "ethnic terror". According to Martin, the singling out of diaspora nationalities for arrest and mass execution "verged on

13225-452: Was titled, " On fascist-resurrectionist, spying, diversional, defeationist, and terrorist activity of Polish intelligence in the USSR ". Joseph Stalin was approving of the operation saying "‘Very good! Dig up and purge this Polish espionage mud in the future as well. Destroy it in the interest of the USSR.." The "Order" adopted the simplified so-called " album procedure " (as it was called in NKVD circles). The long lists of Poles condemned by

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