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Poles in the Soviet Union

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ThePolish minority in the Soviet UnionarePolishdiasporawho used to reside near or within the borders of theSoviet Unionbefore itsdissolution.Some of them continued to live in thepost-Soviet states,most notably inLithuania,Belarus,andUkraine,the areas historically associated with thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,as well as inKazakhstanandAzerbaijanamong others.

History of Poles in the Soviet Union[edit]

1917–1920[edit]

PainterKazimir Malevich(Kazimierz Malewicz)[1]was a prominent artist of Polish descent active in theSoviet Union.His attempt at settling in Warsaw in 1927 failed.[1]

Millions of Poles lived within theRussian Empire(along withAustria-Hungaryand thePrussian Kingdom) following the militaryPartitions of Polandthroughout the 19th century, which resulted in the extinction of the Polish state. After theRussian Revolution of 1917,followed by theRussian Civil War,the majority of the Polish population saw cooperation with the Bolshevik forces as betrayal and treachery to Polish national interests.[2]Polish writer and philosopherStanisław Ignacy Witkiewiczlived through theRussian Revolutionwhile inSt. Petersburg.What he saw, had a profound effect on his works, many of which display themes of the horrors of the Civil War he witnessed.[citation needed] Among the many Polish victims of the revolution was the father of Polish eminent composerWitold Lutosławski,Marian Lutosławskiand his brotherJózef,murdered in Moscow in 1918 as alleged "counter-revolutionaries".[3]

There were also some Poles (or those of partial Polish descent) associated with the communist movement. Famous revolutionaries includeKonstantin Rokossovsky,Vyacheslav Menzhinsky,Julian Marchlewski,Stanislaw Kosior,Karol ŚwierczewskiandFelix Dzerzhinsky,founder of theChekasecret police which would later turn into theNKVD.The Soviet Union also organized Polish units in theRed Army[citation needed]and a Polish Communist government-in-exile, however the former were persecuted and subject tomock trialsfollowing the end of the Second World War and the latter being appointed and installed by the Soviet regime as opposed to the legitimate government-in-exile based inLondon.[citation needed]Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committeewas created in 1920 but failed to control Poland.

1921–1938[edit]

Polish communities were inherited fromImperial Russiaafter the creation of the Soviet Union. AfterWorld War I,Polandreestablished itself as an independent country, and its borders with the USSR were finalized by thePeace of Rigain 1921 at the end of thePolish-Soviet War,which left significant territories populated by Poles near or within the confines of the Soviet Union. According to the 1926 Soviet census, there were a total of 782,334 Poles in the USSR. The largest concentration of Poles was in what was thenSoviet Ukraine,where according to the Soviet census in 1926 476,435 Poles lived. Those estimates are considered to have been lowered by Soviet officials. Church and independent estimates show estimates of 650,000 to 700,000 Poles living in that area.[2]This suggests that the total Polish population of the USSR was in excess of 1,000,000.

Initially the Soviets pursued a policy where the local national language was used as a tool for eradication of national identity in favour of "communist education of masses". In the case of the Poles this meant a goal ofSovietisationof the Polish population. However this proved extremely difficult as the Soviet communists themselves realised that the Poles were en masse opposed to communist ideology, seeing it as hostile to Polish identity and their predominant Roman Catholic religion. The policy of religious discrimination, plunder[clarification needed]and terror[clarification needed]further strengthened Polish resistance to Soviet rule. As a result, the Soviet authorities started to imprison and forcefully remove all those seen as an obstacle to their policies.[2]

TwoPolish Autonomous Districtswere created, with one inBelarusand one inUkraine.The first one was namedDzierzynszczyzna,afterFelix Dzierżyński;the second was namedMarchlewszczyznaafterJulian Marchlewski.Following the failure of the Sovietisation of the USSR's Polish minority, the Soviet rulers decided to portray Poles as enemies of the state and use them to fuelUkrainian nationalismin order to direct Ukrainian anger away from the Soviet government.[2]After 1928 Soviet policies turned to outright eradication of Polish national identity. Special centers were established where the youth was indoctrinated towards hatred against the Polish state, all contacts with relatives within Poland were dangerous and could result in imprisonment. Newspapers printed out in the Polish language were de facto used to printanti-Polishpropaganda.[2]Following attacks on the Polish minority, from 18 February 1930 till 19 March 1930 over 100,000 people from Polish areas were expelled by the Soviet authorities.[2]

Following thecollectivizationof agriculture underJoseph Stalin,both autonomies were abolished and their populations were subsequently deported toKazakhstanin 1934–1938.[2]Many people starved during the deportation and after, since the deported were moved to sparsely populated areas, unprepared for migration, lacking basic facilities and infrastructure. The survivors were under the supervision of theOGPU/NKVD,cruelly punished for any sign of discontent. 21,000 Poles died during theHolodomor.

In 1936 the Poles were deported from the territories of Belarus and Ukraine adjacent to the state border (the first recordeddeportation of a whole ethnic groupin the USSR). Tens of thousands of ethnic Poles became victims of theGreat Purgein 1937–1938 (seePolish operation of the NKVD). TheCommunist Party of Polandwas also decimated in the Great Purge and was disbanded in 1938. Another decimated group of Poles was the Roman Catholic clergy, who opposed the forced atheization.

A number of Poles fled to Poland during this time, among themIgor NewerlyandTadeusz Borowski.

1939–1947[edit]

See also:Poles in Kazakhstan
Polish refugees evacuated from the Soviet Union to Iran, 1942

DuringWorld War II,after theSoviet invasion of Polandthe Soviet Union occupied vastareas of eastern Poland(referred to in Poland asKresy wschodnieor "eastern Borderlands" ), and another 5.2–6.5 million ethnic Poles (from the total population of about 13.5 million residents of these territories) were added, followed by further large-scale forcible deportations to Siberia, Kazakhstan and other remote areas of the Soviet Union.

The number of Poland's citizens held captive in the Soviet Union is a matter of dispute, and ranges from over 300,000 up to nearly 2 million, according to various sources. On March 30, 2004, the head of the Archival Service ofRussianForeign Intelligence Service,General Vasili Khristoforov gave alleged exact numbers of deported Poles. According to him, in 1940 exactly 297,280 Poles were deported, in June 1941 another 40,000. These numbers do not include P.O.W.s, prisoners, small groups, people arrested trying to cross the new borders, people who voluntarily moved into the USSR, and men drafted into the Red Army and into construction battalions orstroybats.[citation needed]

In August 1941, following theGerman attack on the USSRand the dramatic change in Soviet/Polish relations, according to a January 15, 1943, note from Beria to Stalin, 389,041 Polish citizens (including 200,828 ethnic Poles, 90,662 Jews, 31,392 Ukrainians, 27,418 Belarusians, 3,421 Russians, and 2,291 persons of other nationalities) held in special settlements and prisoner of war camps were granted 'amnesty' and allowed to enroll in Polish army units. The location of reception centres was kept secret and no travel facilities provided.[4]Nevertheless, 119,855 Poles were evacuated toIranwith GeneralAnders' army,which subsequently fought alongside theAlliesinIranand Italy; 36,150 were transferred to the Polish Army which fought with the Red Army on the Eastern Front and 11,516 are reported to have died in 1941–1943.[5]

The following are cases of direct executions of Poles during the 1939–1941 occupation:

After World War II most Poles fromKresywere expelled into Poland,but officially 1.3 million stayed in the USSR. Some of them were motivated by the traditional Polish belief that one day they would become again lawful owners of the land they lived on. Some of them were kept forcefully in. Some simply stayed, without force or ideological reasons.

Wanda Wasilewskawas an exceptional case – she became a Soviet citizen and did not return after the war.

1947–1991[edit]

The Polish minority was one of the few whose numbers decreased over time, according to official statistics. There was also therepatriation of Poles (1955–1959).

After 1989, Poles who survived in Kazakhstan started to emigrate due to national tensions, mainly to Russia and, supported by an immigration society, to Poland. The number remaining is between 50,000 and 100,000.

After thedissolution of the Soviet Unionin 1991, the following post-Soviet countries have significant Polish minorities:

Demographics[edit]

The Polish population in the Soviet Union peaked in 1959, decreased by about 20% by 1970, and then decreased extremely slowly between 1970 and 1989.

Historical Soviet Polish population
YearPop.±%
1926782,334—
1939630,097−19.5%
19591,380,282+119.1%
19701,167,523−15.4%
19791,150,991−1.4%
19891,126,334−2.1%
Source:

List of prominent Soviets of Polish descent[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abAndrzej Turowski,Malewicz W Warszawie: Rekonstrukcje i SymulacjeUniversitas 2002,ISBN8370524869.
  2. ^abcdefgJ. M. Kupczak "Stosunek władz bolszewickich do polskiej ludności na Ukrainie (1921–1939), Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie 1 (1997) Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 1997 page 47–62" IPN Bulletin 11(34) 2003.
  3. ^Mirosław R. Derewońko (February 9, 2009),Witold Lutosławski bał się wspomnień...(Witold Lutosławski was afraid of memories...)Regionalny Portal Łomża.(in Polish)
  4. ^Michael Hope,Polish Deportees in the Soviet Union,Veritas Foundation, London, 2000,ISBN0-948202-76-9
  5. ^Stephen Wheatcroft,"The Scale and Nature of German and Soviet Repression and Mass Killings, 1930–1945",Europe-Asia Studies,Vol.48, No.8, 1996, p. 1345
  6. ^"Приложение Демоскопа Weekly".Demoscope.ru.Retrieved2016-04-27.

External links[edit]

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