The Polish minority in the Soviet Union reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Polish minority in the Soviet Union

The Polish minority in the Soviet Union refers to former Polish citizens or Polish speaking people who resided in the Soviet Union. Their history is broken into three periods.

Table of contents

1 1921-1938 2 1939-1947 3 1947-1991 4 Related atricles 5 External links

1921-1938

Polish communities were inherited from the Imperial Russia after the creation of the USSR. The latter have led to secession of Poland, which belonged to the Russian Empire at these times. The secession was finalized by the Peace of Riga in 1921, after the Polish-Soviet war, that had left significant territories populated by Poles within the Soviet Union. Initially, the Poles were given 2 Polish Autonomous Districts, one in Belarus, and one in Ukraine. The first one was named Dzierzynszczyzna, after Dzierżyński, the second one was Marchlewszczyzna, after Marchlewski. Following the collectivization by Stalin, both autonomies were abolished and their populations were subsequently deported to Kazakhstan in 1934-1938. Huge number of people some (400,000 by some estimates) perished during the deportation and after, since the deported were moved to sparsely populated areas, unprepared for migration, lacking basic facilities for survival (medical, housing, etc.), and left there for their own. See also genocide.

In addition, a significant population of Poles was present in Russia proper, exiled to Siberia after Polish uprisings. See History of Poland.

In addition to the deportation of the Poles (the first recorded in the USSR deportation of the whole ethnic group), Polish Communist Party were also decimated following Great Purge and eventually closed in 1938.

1939-1947

During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied vast areas of eastern Poland (so called Kresy), another 5.2-6.5 million of Poles (from the total population of about 13,5 million of these territories) were added. Some claim that as many as 1.7 million of Poles were later deported to far away territories of USSR, such as Siberia. Other historians gave a much lower estimation, about half a million of Poles murdered and deported. On March 30 2004, the head of Russian FSB, general Wasilij Christoforow gave final exact numbers of deported Poles. According to him, in 1940 exactly 297,280 Poles were deported, in June 1940 another 40,000. Following are cases of direct murders committed on Poles during the1939-1941 occupation:

• Katyn massacre 28,000
• Massacre of prisoners 30,000-40,000

After World War II most of Poles from Kresy were expelled into Poland, but officially stated 1.3 mil stayed in USSR. Some of them stayed motivated by traditional Polish belief, that one day they can become again lawful owners of the land they live on. Some of them were kept forcefully in. There are reasons to believe that those expelled were more happy that those, who stayed.

1947-1991

Polish minority was one of the few whose numbers decreased over time, according to official statistics. They also belonged to the least educated ethnic group, which allegedly was caused by ethnic persecutions.

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

After the Collapse of the Soviet Union, 1991 the following post-Soviet countries have significant Polish minorities:

• Lithuania, around 250 000 (7% of population),
• Belarus, at least 420 000,
• Ukraine, at least 150 000,
• Russia, more than 100 000.

Related atricles

• Curzon line
• List of Gulag camps
• Dzierzynszczyzna
• Marchlewszczyzna
• Polonia

External links

• History of Poles in Kazakhstan

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