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136-484: This term, styled after Eastern Borderlands ( Polish : Kresy Wschodnie ) was first used by Jan Chryzostom Zachariasiewicz in his novel Na kresach published in 1860, but it did not enter common usage. The 19th century history of these regions was quite different from the rest of the former Commonwealth. There were uprisings in 1806, 1846, and 1848 but the main battle between the Polish majority and large German minority

272-762: 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

408-422: A conversation with Prime Minister David Lloyd George , commented sarcastically: "The war of giants has ended, the wars of the pygmies begin." The Polish–Soviet War was the longest lasting of the international engagements. The territory of what had become Poland had been a major battleground during World War I and the new country lacked political stability. It had won the hard-fought Polish–Ukrainian War against

544-610: A definitive ruling in regard to Poland's eastern border but on 8 December 1919, the Allied Supreme War Council issued a provisional boundary (its later version would be known as the Curzon Line ). It was an attempt to define the areas that had an "indisputably Polish ethnic majority". The permanent border was contingent on the Western powers' future negotiations with White Russia , presumed to prevail in

680-757: A group of mathematicians from the University of Warsaw and the University of Lwów (most notably the founders of the Polish School of Mathematics  – Stanisław Leśniewski , Stefan Mazurkiewicz and Wacław Sierpiński ), who succeeded in breaking the Soviet Russian ciphers as well. During the Polish–Soviet War, the Polish decryption of Red Army radio messages made it possible to use Polish military forces efficiently against Soviet Russian forces and to win many individual battles, most importantly

816-558: 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

952-602: A local Polish offensive action of 13–16 February, led by General Antoni Listowski, near Byaroza , Belarus. The event has been presented as the beginning of the war of liberation by the Polish side, or of Polish aggression by the Russian side. By late February, the Soviet westward offensive had come to a halt. As the low-level warfare continued, the Polish units crossed the Neman River, took Pinsk on 5 March and reached

1088-496: 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

1224-770: 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

1360-594: 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

1496-671: 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 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

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1632-559: A takeover of the western part of the province. The Polish–Ukrainian warfare there was discontinued from late May, and in early September an armistice was signed. On 21 November 1919, after contentious deliberations, the Allied Supreme War Council mandated Polish control over eastern Galicia for 25 years, with guarantees of autonomy for the Ukrainian population. The Conference of Ambassadors , which replaced

1768-621: A year and a half for a full-scale war to develop. The Western powers considered any significant territorial expansion of Poland, at the expense of Russia or Germany, to be highly disruptive to the post-World War I order. Among other factors, the Western Allies did not want to give Germany and Russia a reason to conspire together. The rise of the unrecognized Bolshevik regime complicated this rationale. The Treaty of Versailles , signed on 28 June 1919, regulated Poland's western border. The Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) had not made

1904-730: 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

2040-546: 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

2176-673: 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 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

2312-463: Is also referred to as the "War of 1920" ( Polish : Wojna 1920 roku ). The ending year of the conflict is variously given as either 1920 or 1921; this confusion stems from the fact that while the ceasefire came into force on 18 October 1920, the official treaty ending the war was signed on 18 March 1921. While the events of late 1918 and 1919 can be described as a border conflict and only in spring 1920 were both sides engaged in an all-out war ,

2448-670: 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

2584-529: 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

2720-527: 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

2856-760: 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

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2992-608: The Battle of Warsaw . On 5 January 1919, the Red Army took Vilnius, which led to the establishment of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia (Litbel) on 28 February. On 10 February, Soviet Russia's People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Georgy Chicherin wrote to Polish Prime Minister Ignacy Paderewski, proposing resolution of matters of disagreement and establishment of relations between

3128-667: 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

3264-958: The Estonian War of Independence , the Latvian War of Independence , and the Lithuanian Wars of Independence were all fought in the Baltic Sea region. Russia was overwhelmed by domestic struggles. In early March 1919, the Communist International was established in Moscow . The Hungarian Soviet Republic was proclaimed in March and the Bavarian Soviet Republic in April. Winston Churchill , in

3400-649: The Kiev offensive with the goal of securing favorable borders for Poland. On 7 May, Polish and allied Ukrainian forces captured Kiev , though Soviet armies in the area were not decisively defeated. The offensive lacked local support, and many Ukrainians joined the Red Army rather than Petliura’s forces. In response, the Soviet Red Army launched a successful counteroffensive starting in June 1920. By August, Soviet troops had pushed Polish forces back to Warsaw . However, at

3536-676: The Kingdom of Poland and for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . In the first half of the 14th century, the Principality of Kiev and the land between the Dnieper , Pripyat , and Daugava (Western Dvina) rivers became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1352, Poland and Lithuania divided the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia between themselves. In 1569, in accordance with the terms of the Union of Lublin between Poland and Lithuania, some of

3672-778: 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

3808-1518: 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

3944-521: 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

4080-507: 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

4216-844: The Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland, a body installed by the Central Powers . Subsequently, he was recognized by many Polish politicians as temporary chief of state and exercised in practice extensive powers. Under the Small Constitution of 20 February 1919, he became chief of state . As such, he reported to the Legislative Sejm . With the collapse of the Russian and German occupying authorities , virtually all of Poland's neighbours began fighting over borders and other issues. The Finnish Civil War ,

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4352-696: The Romanian border. A Red Army assault between the Daugava and Berezina Rivers was repelled in October and the front had become relatively inactive with sporadic encounters only, as the line designated by Piłsudski to be the goal of the Polish operation in the north was reached. In autumn 1919, the Sejm voted to incorporate into Poland the conquered territories up to the Daugava and Berezina Rivers, including Minsk. The Polish successes in summer 1919 resulted from

4488-868: The Russian Civil War . The Russian state lost territory due to the German offensive and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , signed by the emergent Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic . Several nations of the region saw a chance for independence and seized their opportunity to gain it. The defeat of Germany on the Western Front and the withdrawal of the Imperial German Army in the Eastern Front had left Berlin in no position to retaliate against Soviet Russia, which swiftly repudiated

4624-417: The Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia (Litbel). It is however unlikely that the Soviet forced plannes further incursions westward. From late 1919, Lenin, encouraged by the Red Army's civil war victories over the White Russian forces and their Western allies, began to envision the future of world revolution with greater optimism. The Bolsheviks proclaimed the need for the dictatorship of

4760-615: 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

4896-476: 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

5032-440: The West Ukrainian People's Republic by July 1919 but had already become embroiled in new conflicts with Germany (the 1919–1921 Silesian Uprisings ) and the January 1919 border conflict with Czechoslovakia . Meanwhile, Soviet Russia focused on thwarting the counterrevolution and the 1918–1925 intervention by the Allied powers . The first clashes between Polish and Soviet forces occurred in autumn and winter 1918/1919, but it took

5168-425: The Western Rifle Division in October 1918. In summer 1918, a short-lived Polish communist government, led by Stefan Heltman, was created in Moscow. Both the military and civilian structures were meant to facilitate the eventual introduction of communism into Poland in the form of a Polish Soviet Republic . Given the precarious situation resulting from the withdrawal of German forces from Belarus and Lithuania and

5304-477: 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

5440-421: The interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with a Polish minority, it amounted to nearly half of 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

5576-432: 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

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5712-472: 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 ),

5848-467: 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

5984-516: 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

6120-460: 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

6256-646: 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

6392-431: The Battle of Warsaw cemented its position as a significant player in Eastern European geopolitics in the interwar period. The war is known by several names. "Polish–Soviet War" is the most common but other names include "Russo–Polish War" (or "Polish–Russian War") and "Polish–Bolshevik War". This last term (or just "Bolshevik War" ( Polish : Wojna bolszewicka )) is most common in Polish sources. In some Polish sources it

6528-423: 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 the major cities of Lviv , Vilnius , and Grodno no longer in Poland. During

6664-446: The German front by mid-June. The offensive in the east was resumed at the end of June, following the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty, signed and ratified by Germany, preserved the status quo in western Poland. On the southern front in Volhynia, in May and in July the Polish forces confronted the Red Army, which was in process of pushing Petliura's Ukrainian units out of the contested territories. The rural Orthodox population there

6800-416: 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

6936-496: 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

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7072-822: 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

7208-597: The Paris Peace Conference. At the conference, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ignacy Paderewski declared Poland's support for self-determination of the eastern nations, in line with Woodrow Wilson 's doctrine and in an effort to secure Western support for Poland's policies in regard to Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. The Polish offensive was discontinued around the line of German trenches and fortifications from World War I, because of high likelihood of Poland's war with Weimar Germany over territorial and other issues. Half of Poland's military strength had been concentrated on

7344-406: 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

7480-754: 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

7616-558: The Polish Army. The Polish Self-Defence forces were defeated by the Soviets at a number of locations. Minsk was taken by the Russian Western Army on 11 December 1918. The Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia was declared there on 31 December. After three days of heavy fighting with the Western Rifle Division, the Self-Defence units withdrew from Vilnius on 5 January 1919. Polish–Soviet skirmishes continued in January and February. The Polish armed forces were hurriedly formed to fight in several border wars. Two major formations manned

7752-423: 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

7888-494: 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

8024-419: The Polish borders in Galicia and Volhynia and crush a Ukrainian attempt at self-determination in the disputed territories east of the Curzon Line, which contained a significant Polish minority. On 7 February 1919, Piłsudski spoke on the subject of Poland's future frontiers: "At the moment Poland is essentially without borders and all that we can gain in this regard in the west depends on the Entente  – on

8160-439: The Polish claim to Lwów and eastern Galicia was indisputable; in April 1919, the Legislative Sejm unanimously declared that all of Galicia should be annexed by Poland. In April to June 1919, the Polish Blue Army of General Józef Haller arrived from France . It consisted of over 67,000 well-equipped and highly trained soldiers. The Blue Army helped drive the Ukrainian forces east past the Zbruch River and decisively contributed to

8296-429: 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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8432-422: The Red Army. In late autumn 1918, the Polish 4th Rifle Division fought the Red Army in Russia. The division operated under the authority of the Polish Army in France and General Józef Haller . Politically, the division fought under the Polish National Committee (KNP), recognized by the Allies as a temporary government of Poland. In January 1919, per Piłsudski's decision, the 4th Rifle Division became part of

8568-456: The Russian Civil War. Piłsudski and his allies blamed Prime Minister Ignacy Paderewski for this outcome and caused his dismissal. Paderewski, embittered, withdrew from politics. The leader of Russia's new Bolshevik government, Vladimir Lenin , aimed to regain control of the territories abandoned by Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 (the treaty was annulled by Russia on 13 November 1918) and to set up Soviet governments in

8704-409: 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

8840-424: The Russian Governor-General at Warsaw. In the aftermath of World War I , the map of Central and Eastern Europe changed drastically. The German Empire 's defeat rendered obsolete Berlin 's plans for the creation of Eastern European German-dominated states ( Mitteleuropa ), which included another rendition of the Kingdom of Poland . The Russian Empire collapsed, which resulted in the Russian Revolution and

8976-480: 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

9112-423: The Russian front in February 1919: the northern, led by General Wacław Iwaszkiewicz-Rudoszański , and the southern, under General Antoni Listowski . On 18 October 1918, the Ukrainian National Council was formed in Eastern Galicia , still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire ; it was led by Yevhen Petrushevych . The establishment of a Ukrainian state there was proclaimed in November 1918; it had become known as

9248-469: 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

9384-439: The South and South-east, Russia could easily move into the status of second-grade power. Poland, as the largest and strongest of the new states, could easily establish a sphere of influence stretching from Finland to the Caucasus ". Piłsudski's concepts appeared more progressive and democratic in comparison with the rival National Democracy 's plans, although both pursued the idea of direct incorporation and Polonization of

9520-574: 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

9656-428: 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

9792-691: The Supreme War Council, recognized the Polish claim to eastern Galicia in March 1923. Jan Kowalewski , a polyglot and amateur cryptographer , broke the codes and ciphers of the army of the West Ukrainian People's Republic and of General Anton Denikin 's White Russian forces. In August 1919, he became chief of the Polish General Staff 's cryptography section in Warsaw. By early September, he had gathered

9928-511: 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

10064-633: 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

10200-825: The Ukrainian lands passed to the Polish Crown . Between 1772 and 1795, many of the East Slavic territories became part of the Russian Empire in the course of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania . In 1795 (the Third Partition of Poland ), Poland lost formal independence. After the Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815, much of the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw was transferred to Russian control and became

10336-622: The West Ukrainian People's Republic and it claimed Lwów as its capital. Because of Russia-related political considerations, the Ukrainian attempts failed to generate support of the Entente powers. Key buildings in Lwów were seized by the Ukrainians on 31 October 1918. On 1 November, Polish residents of the city counterattacked and the Polish–Ukrainian War began. Lwów was under Polish control from 22 November. To Polish politicians,

10472-457: The White forces elsewhere, withdrew from its positions. The Polish "Lithuanian–Belarusian Front " was established on 15 May and placed under command of General Stanisław Szeptycki . In a statute passed on 15 May, Polish Sejm called for the inclusion of the eastern borderline nations in the Polish state as autonomous entities. It was intended to make a positive impression on the participants at

10608-508: 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 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

10744-450: 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

10880-692: 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

11016-736: The autonomous Congress Poland (officially the Kingdom of Poland). After young Poles refused conscription to the Imperial Russian Army during the January Uprising of 1863, Tsar Alexander II stripped Congress Poland of its separate constitution, attempted to force general use of the Russian language and took away vast tracts of land from Poles. Congress Poland was incorporated more directly into imperial Russia by being divided into ten provinces, each with an appointed Russian military governor and all under complete control of

11152-628: The collapse of the Central Powers and the Armistice of 11 November 1918 , Vladimir Lenin 's Soviet Russia annulled the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and moved forces westward to reclaim the Ober Ost regions abandoned by the Germans. Lenin viewed the newly independent Poland as a critical route for spreading communist revolutions into Europe . Meanwhile, Polish leaders, including Józef Piłsudski , aimed to restore Poland’s pre-1772 borders and secure

11288-575: The country's position in the region. Throughout 1919, Polish forces occupied much of present-day Lithuania and Belarus , emerging victorious in the Polish–Ukrainian War . However, Soviet forces regained strength after their victories in the Russian Civil War , and Symon Petliura , leader of the Ukrainian People's Republic , was forced to ally with Piłsudski in 1920 to resist the advancing Bolsheviks. In April 1920, Piłsudski launched

11424-620: The decisive Battle of Warsaw (1920) , Polish forces achieved an unexpected victory between 12 and 25 August 1920, turning the tide of the war. This battle, often referred to as the "Miracle on the Vistula," is considered one of the most significant military triumphs in Polish history. The war ended with a ceasefire on 18 October 1920, and peace negotiations led to the Peace of Riga , signed on 18 March 1921. The treaty divided disputed territories between Poland and Soviet Russia. Poland’s eastern border

11560-465: The disputed eastern lands. However Piłsudski used his "federation" idea instrumentally. As he wrote to his close associate Leon Wasilewski in April 1919, (for now) "I want to be neither an imperialist nor a federalist. ... Taking into account that, in this God's world, an empty talk of the brotherhood of people and nations as well as the American little doctrines seem to be winning, I gladly side with

11696-464: The east, the Polish forces took Lida on 17 April, Novogrudok on 18 April, Baranavichy on 19 April and Grodno on 28 April. Piłsudski's group entered Vilnius on 19 April and captured the city after two days of fighting. The Polish action drove the Litbel government from its proclaimed capital. Upon the taking of Vilnius, in pursuit of his federation objectives, Piłsudski issued a "Proclamation to

11832-501: The east. They had been incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1772–1795 and had remained its parts, as the Northwest Territory , until World War I . After the war they were contested by the Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian , and Latvian interests. In newly independent Poland, politics were strongly influenced by Józef Piłsudski . On 11 November 1918, Piłsudski was made head of Polish armed forces by

11968-522: The emerging countries in the western parts of the former Russian Empire. The more ambitious goal was to also reach Germany, where he expected a socialist revolution to break out. By the end of summer 1919, the Soviets had taken over most of eastern and central Ukraine (formerly parts of the Russian Empire) and driven the Directorate of Ukraine from Kiev . In February 1919, they set up

12104-711: The expected arrival of the Red Army there, Polish Self-Defence had been organized in autumn 1918 around major concentrations of Polish population, such as Minsk , Vilnius and Grodno . They were based on the Polish Military Organisation and were recognized as part of the Polish Armed Forces by the decree of Polish Chief of State Piłsudski, issued on 7 December 1918. The German Soldatenrat of Ober Ost declared on 15 November that its authority in Vilnius would be transferred to

12240-482: The extent to which it may wish to squeeze Germany. In the east, it's a different matter; there are doors here that open and close and it depends on who forces them open and how far". Polish military forces had thus set out to expand far in the eastern direction. As Piłsudski imagined, "Closed within the boundaries of the 16th century, cut off from the Black Sea and Baltic Sea, deprived of land and mineral wealth of

12376-444: The fact that the Soviets prioritized the war with the White forces, which was more crucial for them. The successes created an illusion of Polish military prowess and Soviet weakness. As Piłsudski put it, "I am not worried about the strength of Russia; if I wanted to, I could go now, say to Moscow, and no one would be able to resist my power ...". The offensive was restrained in late summer by Piłsudski, because he did not want to improve

12512-525: The federalists". According to Chwalba, the differences between Piłsudski's vision of Poland and that of his rival National Democratic leader Roman Dmowski were more rhetorical than real. Piłsudski had made many obfuscating statements, but never specifically stated his views regarding Poland's eastern borders or political arrangements he intended for the region. From late 1917, Polish revolutionary military units were formed in Russia. They were combined into

12648-595: The first time and the town of Babruysk was captured. By 2 September, Polish units reached the Daugava River. Barysaw was taken on 10 September and parts of Polotsk on 21 September. By mid-September, the Poles secured the region along the Daugava from the Dysna River to Daugavpils . The frontline had also extended south, cutting through Polesia and Volhynia; along the Zbruch River it reached

12784-596: 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

12920-581: 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

13056-556: The future Polish state by structuring it as the Polish-led, multinational federation." Piłsudski had wanted to break up the Russian Empire and set up the Intermarium federation of various different states: Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and other Central and East European countries that emerged from the crumbling empires after World War I. In Piłsudski's vision, Poland would replace a truncated and vastly reduced Russia as

13192-496: 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

13328-435: The great power of Eastern Europe. His plan excluded negotiations prior to military victory. He had hoped that the new Poland-led union would become a counterweight to any potential imperialist intentions of Russia or Germany. Piłsudski believed that there could be no independent Poland without a Ukraine free of Russian control, thus his main interest was in splitting Ukraine from Russia. He used military force to expand

13464-473: The historian Andrzej Chwalba , however, the scenario was different in late 1919 and winter–spring 1920. The Soviets, facing decreasing revolutionary fervor in Europe and having to deal with Russia's own problems, attempted to make peace with its neighbors, including Poland. According to Aviel Roshwald , (Piłsudski) "hoped to incorporate most of the territories of the defunct Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth into

13600-681: 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

13736-554: 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

13872-549: 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

14008-596: 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

14144-487: The inhabitants of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania" on 22 April. It was sharply criticized by his rival National Democrats, who demanded direct incorporation of the former Grand Duchy lands by Poland and signaled their opposition to Piłsudski's territorial and political concepts. Piłsudski had thus proceeded to restore the historic territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by military means, leaving

14280-404: 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,

14416-498: 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

14552-591: 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

14688-669: 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

14824-416: The necessary political determinations for later. On 25 April, Lenin ordered the Western Front commander to reclaim Vilnius as soon as possible. The Red Army formations that attacked the Polish forces were defeated by Edward Rydz-Śmigły 's units between 30 April and 7 May. While the Poles extended their holdings further, the Red Army, unable to accomplish its objectives and facing intensified combat with

14960-548: The outcome of the war. The West Ukrainian People's Republic was defeated by mid-July and eastern Galicia had come under Polish administration. The destruction of the West Ukrainian Republic confirmed the belief held by many Ukrainians that Poland was the main enemy of their nation. From January 1919 fighting also took place in Volhynia, where the Poles faced the forces of the Ukrainian People's Republic led by Symon Petliura . The Polish offensive resulted in

15096-657: The outskirts of Lida ; on 4 March, Piłsudski ordered further movement to the east stopped. The Soviet leadership had become preoccupied with the issue of providing military assistance to the Hungarian Soviet Republic and with the Siberian offensive of the White Army , led by Alexander Kolchak . By July 1919 Polish armies eliminated the West Ukrainian People's Republic. Secretly preparing an assault on Soviet-held Vilnius, in early April Piłsudski

15232-619: 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,

15368-426: 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

15504-490: 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

15640-514: The proletariat and agitated for a worldwide communist community. They intended to link the revolution in Russia with a communist Revolutions and interventions in Hungary (1918–1920) they had hoped for and to assist other communist movements in Europe. To be able to provide direct physical support to revolutionaries in the West, the Red Army would have to cross the territory of Romania. According to

15776-475: The region continued as part of Poland. This Polish history –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Eastern Borderlands 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

15912-460: 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

16048-481: 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

16184-512: 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

16320-549: 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

16456-466: 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

16592-489: The treaty and proceeded to recover many of the former territories of the Russian Empire. However, preoccupied with the civil war, it did not have the resources to react swiftly to the national rebellions. In November 1918, Poland became a sovereign state . Among the several border wars fought by the Second Polish Republic was the successful Greater Poland uprising (1918–1919) against Weimar Germany . The historic Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth included vast territories in

16728-520: The two states. It was one of the series of notes exchanged by the two governments in 1918 and 1919. In February, Polish troops marched east to face the Soviets; the new Polish Sejm declared the need to liberate "the northeast provinces of Poland with their capital in Wilno [Vilnius]". After the German World War I troops had been evacuated from the region, the Battle of Bereza Kartuska , a Polish–Soviet skirmish, took place. It occurred during

16864-401: 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

17000-401: The warfare that took place in late April 1920 was an escalation of the fighting that had begun a year and a half earlier. The war's main territories of contention lie in what is now Ukraine and Belarus . Until the mid-13th century, they formed part of the medieval state of Kievan Rus' . After a period of internal wars and the 1240 Mongol invasion , the lands became objects of expansion for

17136-581: Was (see also: Dialects of the Polish language ). Polish%E2%80%93Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , following World War I and the Russian Revolution , over territories previously controlled by the Russian Empire and the Habsburg monarchy . After

17272-525: Was able to shift some of the forces used in Ukraine to the northern front. The idea was to create a fait accompli and to prevent the Western powers from granting the territories claimed by Poland to White Russia (the Whites were expected to prevail in the Russian Civil War). A new Polish offensive started on 16 April. Five thousand soldiers, led by Piłsudski, headed for Vilnius. Advancing to

17408-513: 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

17544-522: 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

17680-517: 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

17816-588: Was established about 200 km east of the Curzon Line , securing Polish control over parts of modern-day Ukraine and Belarus . The war resulted in the official recognition of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic as Soviet states, undermining Piłsudski’s ambitions for a Intermarium federation led by Poland. Despite this, Poland's success at

17952-467: Was for economic domination in these provinces. After World War I , most of this area became part of the Second Polish Republic as a result of the Greater Poland and Silesian Uprisings and decisions by the victorious Allies. During the interwar period interbellum most inhabitants of this area supported the politics of National Democracy political movement. Polish leader Józef Piłsudski

18088-541: Was hostile to the Polish authorities and actively supported the Bolsheviks. Also in Podolia and near the eastern reaches of Galicia, the Polish armies kept slowly advancing to the east until December. They crossed the Zbruch River and displaced Soviet forces from a number of localities. The Polish forces took Minsk on 8 August. The Berezina River was reached on 18 August. On 28 August, tanks were deployed for

18224-459: 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

18360-410: 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

18496-408: Was treated with considerable reserve or with open enmity. This was due to his collaboration with the Central Powers in World War I, and a perception that during the years when an independent Poland was being created Piłsudski was more interested in fighting for the Eastern Borderlands to become part of the new state than in fighting for the western Kresy Zachodnie . Following the end of World War II

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