The Soviet Takeover of the Polish Eastern Provinces, 1939–41

342 Pages·1991·33.689 MB·English

by  Keith Sword (eds.)

STUDIES IN RUSSIA AND EAST EUROPE
formerly Studies in Russian and East European History
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BRITISH POLICY TOWARDS WARTIME RESISTANCE IN YUGOSLAVIA AND
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Elisabeth Barker
BRITISH POLICY IN SOUTH-EAST EUROPE IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Roger Bartlett (editor)
LAND COMMUNE AND PEASANT COMMUNITY IN RUSSIA: Communal Forms in
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Roger Bartlett and Janet M. Hartley (editors)
RUSSIA IN THE AGE OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT: Essays for Isabel de Madariaga
Richard Clogg (editor)
THE MOVEMENT FOR GREEK INDEPENDENCE, 1770-1821: A Collection of Documents
Olga Crisp
STUDIES IN THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY BEFORE 1914
John C. K. Daly
RUSSIAN SEAPOWER AND 'THE EASTERN QUESTION', 1827-41
Norman Davies and Antony Polonsky (editors)
JEWS IN EASTERN POLAND AND THE USSR, 1939-46
Dennis Deletant and Harry Hanak (editors)
HISTORIANS AS NATION-BUILDERS: Central and South-East Europe
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IDEOLOGY IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE
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CULTURE AND THE MEDIA IN THE USSR TODAY
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NIKOLA Y GOGOL: Text and Context
Hans Giinther (editor)
THE CULTURE OF THE STALIN PERIOD
Harry Hanak (editor)
T. G. MASARYK (1850-1937)
Volume 3: Statesman and Cultural Force
Geoffrey A. Hosking (editor)
CHURCH, NATION AND STATE IN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE
Geoffrey A. Hosking and George F. Cushing (editors)
PERSPECTIVES ON LITERATURE AND SOCIETY IN EASTERN AND WESTERN
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D. G. Kirby (editor)
FINLAND AND RUSSIA, 180S-1920: Documents
Michael Kirkwood (editor)
LANGUAGE PLANNING IN THE SOVIET UNION
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THE RECONSTRUCTIONS OF POLAND, 1914-23
Martin McCauley
mE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND mE SOVIET STATE, 1917-1921: Documents (editor)
KHRUSHCHEV AND mE DEVELOPMENT OF SOVIET AGRICULTURE
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mE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC SINCE 1945
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mE SOVIET UNION UNDER GORBACHEV (editor)
GORBACHEV AND PERESTROIKA (editor)
Martin McCauley and Stephen Carter (editors)
LEADERSHIP AND SUCCESSION IN mE SOVIET UNION, EASTERN EUROPE AND
CHINA
Martin McCauley and Peter Waldron
THE EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN RUSSIAN STATE, 1856-81
Arnold McMillin (editor)
FROM PUSHKIN TO PALlSANDRIIA
Evan Mawdsley
mE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND THE BALTIC FLEET
LaszI6 Peter and Robert B. Pynsent (editors)
INTELLECTUALS AND mE FUTURE IN mE HABSBURG MONARCHY, 1890-1914
Robert B. Pynsent (editor)
T. G. MASARYK (1850-1937) Volume 2: Thinker and Critic
MODERN SLOVAK PROSE: Fiction since 1954
Ian W. Roberts
NICHOLAS I AND mE RUSSIAN INTERVENTION IN HUNGARY
Keith Sword (editor)
THE SOVIET TAKEOVER OF mE POLISH EASTERN PROVINCES, 1939--41
J. J. Tomiak (editor)
WESTERN PERSPECTIVES ON SOVIET EDUCATION IN THE 1980s
Paul I. Trensky
mE FICTION OF JOSEF SKVORECKY
Stephen White and Alex Pravda (editors)
IDEOLOGY AND SOVIET POLITICS
Stanley B. Winters (editor)
T. G. MASARYK (1850-1937) Volume 1: Thinker and Politician
Alan Wood and R. A. French (editors)
mE DEVELOPMENT OF SIBERIA: People and Resources
THE SOVIET
TAKEOVER OF THE
POLISH EASTERN
PROVINCES, 1939-41
Edited by
Keith Sword
Research Fellow
School of Slavonic and East European Studies
University of London
M
in association with the
Palgrave Macmillan
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© School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, 1991
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First published 1991
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
The Soviet takeover of the Polish eastern provinces, 1939--1941 - (Studies in
Russia and East Europe)
1. Poland. Political events, 1939-1945
I. Sword, Keith II. University of London, School of Slavonic and East European
Studies III. Series 943.8053
ISBN 978-1-349-21381-8 ISBN 978-1-349-21379-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-21379-5
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Contents
List of Maps Vll
p~~ ~
Notes on the Contributors x
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction XVI
1 The Red Army's March into Poland, September 1939
John Erickson 1
2 The Polish-Soviet War of September 1939
Ryszard Szawlowski 28
3 Polish POW Camps in the Soviet-Occupied Western
Ukraine
Jan T. Gross 44
4 The Plight of Refugees from the German-Occupied
Territories
Y osef Litvak 57
5 Sociological Aspects of the Annexation of Poland's
Eastern Provinces to the USSR in 1939-41
Jan Malanowski 71
6 Soviet Economic Policy in the Annexed Areas
Keith Sword 86
7 Soviet Policies in the Literary Sphere: Their Effects and
Implications
Bogdan Czaykowski 102
v
VI Contents
8 The Socio-political Role of the Polish Literary
Tradition in the Cultural Life of Lwow: The Example
of Adam Mickiewicz's Work
Mieczyslaw lnglot 131
9 Armed Resistance in the north-eastern Provinces of
the Polish Republic, 1939-41
Tomasz Strzembosz 149
10 Armed Underground Activity in the Lwow District,
1939-41
Jerzy WfJgierski 182
11 Arrest and Imprisonment in the Light of Soviet Law
Kazimierz Zamorski 201
12 The Mass Deportations of the Polish Population to the
USSR, 1940--41
Zbigniew Siemaszko 217
13 The Ukrainians in Eastern Poland under Soviet
Occupation, 1939-41: A Study in Soviet Rural Policy
David R. Marples 236
14 The Byelorussians of Eastern Poland under Soviet
Occupation, 1939-41
Mikolaj lwanow 253
15 The Baltic States under Stalin: The First Experiences,
1940--41
V. Stanley Vardys 268
Appendices
1 The reactions of the world press to the Soviet invasion of
Poland on 17 September 1939 291
2 'A Historical Campaign' (Soviet account of the Red
Army's campaign in Poland) 295
3 Documents relating to the mass deportations 301
Index 309
List of Maps
2.1 Locations of major encounters between Polish
and Soviet forces during September 1939 34
9.1 The north--eastern provinces of the Polish Republic
in 1939 151
Vll
Preface
This volume appears as the result of a conference held at the School of
Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London in April
1989 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Soviet takeover of eastern
Poland. Although the Red Army moved into Poland on 17 Septem
ber 1939, the precise date of the anniversary was avoided by the
organisers, in the sure knowledge that the anniversary of the out
break of the Second World War would bring with it a spate of other
historical conferences. The London conference was convened in
order to bring together scholars from both inside and outside Poland
interested in a dark episode in Polish-Soviet relations and a largely
neglected chapter of twentieth-century European history.
At the time the London conference was conceived, the study of
this 'first' Soviet takeover of Polish territory during the 1940s was one
of the 'blank spots' in Polish historiography. It was a taboo area, and
not considered a legitimate subject for research by the communist
authorities. While scholars outside Poland - some of the contributors
to this volume included - had published pioneering works on the
subject, within Poland research into the more controversial aspects of
Polish-Soviet relations was largely confined to the privacy of the
home; any works published appeared only in the underground press.
In the late 1980s, with glasnost declared a cornerstone of the new
Soviet thinking, there came a greater freedom in Poland to discuss
the previously unmentionable. The relinquishing of Soviet domi
nation over east-central Europe and the introduction of democratic,
multi-party political systems during the latter part of 1989 encourages
the hope that censorship will become a thing of the past and that
henceforth all of recent Polish history will be an open field for
researchers. Despite this it seems that the greatest stumbling block to
research in many key areas - lack of access to Soviet archive material
- will remain a barrier for some time to come.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the M. B. Grabowski
Foundation, the De Brzezie Lanckoronska Foundation and the
Leverhulme Trust, without whose financial support it would have
been impossible to organise the conference, and therefore also to
Vlll
Preface ix
produce this book; also Professor Michael Branch, Director of the
School of Slavonic and East European Studies, for encouraging the
idea of such a conference, and Ms Kate Moore, Publications and
Conference Officer at the School, for the administrative effort put
into organising the session and for helping to bring this volume to
press.
Sincere thanks also go to those who have helped in different ways
with the preparation of this volume; to Nick Brown, Jim Dingley,
Lizzie Graham-Maw, Andrzej Rzepczynski, Nina Taylor, Bernadeta
Tendyra, Samantha Westwood and Anna Marianska for translation
and editing of papers, to Iwona Nowicka for retyping many of the
papers, and to Ed Oliver (Queen Mary College, University of Lon
don) for drawing the maps.
KEITH SWORD