Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

APPENDIX 16

January 12, 1943 13

Poland: Ethnic Composition of the Population East of the Soviet-German Demarcation Line

of September 28, 1939

I. ETHNIC DATA FOR THE AREA AS A WHOLE

The territory which was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939 had an approximate area of 78,700 square miles and a population, according to the Polish census of 1931, of 11,850,571. This population, according to the statistics on mother-tongue, was made up of the following nationalities:

[blocks in formation]

In general, the northern half of eastern Poland is populated by Poles and White Russians, with some 75,000 Lithuanians living in the districts adjoining the pre-1939 Polish-Lithuanian frontier. A strongly Polish-speaking zone extends northeastward from the solid Polish bloc of central Poland to the pre-1939 Soviet-Polish frontier.

The województwo (province) of Bialystok (all but a small fraction of which was included in the Soviet-occupied area) is strongly Polish in character. Thence, the zone of Polish settlement extends eastward to the former Polish-Soviet frontier, embracing the northern powiaty (administrative districts) of the województwo of Nowogródek (Szczuczyn, Lida, Wolozyn and Stolpce), and northeastward along the former frontier between Poland and Lithuania, through the western powiaty of the województwo of Wilno (Wilno-Troki, Oszmiana, Swieciany and Braslaw). In each of these eight powiaty the Poles have an absolute majority; lumped together, these eight districts show a Polish-speaking population of 920,137, or 70.1 percent of their total.

The remaining eight powiaty in the two województwa of Wilno and Nowogródek show a White Russian total of 551,322 (53.3 percent), as against a Polish total of 395,445 (38.3 percent). The White Russians are strongest in the extreme northeastern corner of former Poland and in the powiaty of Nowogródek and Nieświez.

A line separating districts with Polish majorities or pluralities from those in which the White Russians are the most numerous linguistic group would follow the administrative boundary between the powiaty of Braslaw and Dzisna, then cut across Postawy (in which Poles and White Russians have approximately equal representation) to the junction of the Postawy-Swieciany boundary with the northern boundary of Wilejka, thence following the western boundaries of

13 A factual background paper.

Wilejka and Molodeczno to the former Polish-Soviet frontier; following that line southwards as far as the administrative boundary between the powiaty of Stolpce and Nieświez, it would then turn westward and follow the northern boundaries of Nieświez, Baranowicze, Nowogródek and Slonim, to meet the eastern boundary of the województwo of Bialystok at the junction of the Szczara and Niemen Rivers. The eastern sector of the województwo of Wilno and the southern sector of that of Nowogródek would thus fall within White Russian-speaking territory, but these two areas would be separated by a strip of territory in which the Poles form the majority. The powiat of Baranowicze also has a slight Polish majority but it is surrounded by predominantly White Russian district; accordingly, it falls on the White Russian side of a hypothetical ethnic line.

The totals reported for the two województwa of the northern zone (Wilno and Nowogródek) are as follows:

[blocks in formation]

The województwo of Polesie, which extends from the Bug River, in the BrestLitovsk area, through the Pripet marshes to the former Soviet-Polish frontier, is overwhelmingly non-Polish. The census statistics show only 75,338 White Russians and 54,047 Ukrainians, as against 164,106 Poles, (14.5 percent) but 707,088 inhabitants (62.5 percent) are listed as "local". These are probably White Russians and Ukrainians, in any case, non-Poles. Polish spokesmen admit freely that this "local" population is White Russian and Ukrainian in language, religion and customs, but deny that it has any degree of White Russian or Ukrainian national or political consciousness. In this area the traditional line of cleavage has been Catholic (Polish) and Orthodox (White Russian and Ukrainian), divisions which largely coincide with the social cleavage between upper class (landowners and officials) and peasantry.

The województwo of Wolyń, directly south of Polesie, has a total population of 2,085,574, of whom 1,426,872 (68.4 percent) were reported as Ukrainianspeaking, and only 346,640 (17.1 percent) as Polish-speaking. There were also, in 1931, 46,883 Germans in this province, more than half of the German-speaking population of Eastern Poland, as well as a greater number of Jews (205,545) than in any other województwo.

In the two central województwa together, the Polish-speaking element comprises only 15.9 percent of the total population, and is in the minority in every political subdivision (powiat).

3. Southern Zone

South of the województwo of Wolyń lies Eastern Galicia, which includes the województwa of Tarnopol, Stanislawów, and the eastern part of Lwów. In this thickly populated area, with its 4,959,910 inhabitants, the Ukrainians have an absolute majority (51.9 percent), and the Poles represent 40 percent of the population. In the southeastern province of Stanislawów the Ukrainians are a majority in every powiat and make up 68.8 percent of the total population of 1,480,285; the Polish share is only 22.4 percent.

In the województwa of Lwów (eastern part) and Tarnopol, Poles and Ukrainians are fairly evenly balanced. This territory forms a corridor of mixed population bounded on the north and on the south by solidly Ukrainian-speaking areas; it extends eastward from the Soviet-German partition line of 1939, in the vicinity of the city of Przemyśl, all the way to the pre-1939 Polish-Soviet

frontier. Its total population in 1931 was 3,479,625, of whom 1,651,756 (47.5 percent) were Polish-speaking, and 1,549,965 (44.5 percent) were Ukrainian-speaking. The two nationalities are evenly balanced in nearly every powiat; in only a few instances is the majority of one over the other as much as two-to-one. The heaviest Ukrainian majorities are found in the districts on the edges of the corridor of mixed population, bordering on the województwo of Wolyń to the north and on Carpathian Ruthenia and the województwo of Stanislawów to the south. Running through the center of the corridor is a narrower strip, never more than about fifty miles wide, in which Polish majorities are consistent. These majorities are strongest in the vicinity of the city of Przemyśl, in the city and powiat of Lwów (where the 1931 census reported are 278,924 Polish-speaking and 93,532 Ukrainian-speaking persons), and in the area between the city of Tarnopol and the former Polish-Soviet frontier. This predominantly Polish strip includes the following powiaty: Przemyśl (eastern half), Mosciska, Rudki, Lwów (in the województwo of Lwów), and Kamionka Strumilowa, Przemyślany, Złoczów, Zborów, Tarnopol, Trembowla, Skalat and Zbaraz (in the województwo of Tarnopol). The number of Poles in this area is 853,960 (56.7 percent of the total population of 1,506,132), and the number of Ukrainians 490,224 (32.6 percent).

No line of ethnic division can be drawn through Eastern Galicia from north to south. The only possible lines run east and west, from the San River to the pre-1939 Polish-Soviet frontier, separating the strip of districts with Polish majorities from the predominantly Ukrainian-populated territory to the north and to the south. These lines are based purely on the language statistics.

III. ETHNIC CHARACTER OF THE POPULATION NEAR THE SOVIET-GERMAN LINE OF PARTITION

In the north, the Soviet-German line of partition cut through solidly Polishpopulated territory. The województwo of Bialystok, lying almost entirely east of the line, is strongly Polish in character, especially its western districts. The northernmost powiat, Suwalki, which was joined to East Prussia pursuant to the Soviet-German agreement of September 28, 1939, is also overwhelmingly Polish. The eastern districts are more mixed, but the Poles, according to the census of 1931, are the most numerous nationality even there.

Where the line followed the Bug River along the western boundaries of the województwa of Polesie and Wolyń, it marked a rough lines of separation between Polish and non-Polish nationalities. All the powiaty of Polesie and Wolyn have non-Polish majorities, even the westernmost ones along the Bug River.

Where the line ran from the Bug to the San River (roughly, a straight line between Sokal, on the Bug, and Jaroslaw, on the San), it bisected a number of powiaty where the Polish-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking elements are fairly evenly balanced, with the latter having numerical superiority in Sokal and Rawa Ruska, the former in Lubaczów.

Along the San River, which the partition line of 1939 followed from the city of Jaroslaw to the former Polish-Czechoslovak border, the districts on the left bank, which fell to the Soviet Union, have Ukrainian majorities, with the exception of the eastern part of the powiat of Przemyśl (including the city of that name). The city of Lwów, which is less than one hundred kilometers east of the partition line, has a large Polish majority. In general, the San River is the dividing line between the overwhelmingly Polish-speaking part of the województwo of Lwów, to the west, and the mixed Polish and Ukrainian part to the east. The 1931 statistics give the Poles a slight majority in the eastern part, 862,642 as against 821,810. No sharp line of ethnic division can be drawn through

this area. The line of September 28, 1939, left many Poles to the Soviet Union; but a line drawn to the east of the city of Lwów leaves almost as many Ukrainians in Poland.

IV. ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF THE TERRITORY CEDED BY THE SOVIET UNION TO LITHUANIA, OCTOBER 10, 1939

The area ceded by the Soviet Union to Lithuania on October 10, 1939 included the city of Wilno and the eastern parts of the powiaty of Braslaw, Swięciany and Wilno-Troki (all in the województwo of Wilno), plus a small corner of the powiat of Lida (in the województwo of Nowogródek). In each of these units the Poles outnumber the Lithuanians. The total population of the area (1931 census) was approximately 467,700, of whom 69.6 percent were Polish-speaking, 14.3 Yiddish-speaking, 8.8 percent Lithuanian-speaking, 3.7 percent Russianspeaking and 3.1 percent White-Russian-speaking. In the city of Wilno, with a population of 195,071, there were 128,628 Polish-speaking persons, 54,596 Yiddishspeaking, 7,372 Russian-speaking, 1,737 White-Russian-speaking, and 1,579 Lithuanian-speaking.

THE POLISH CENSUS OF 1931

While the Polish statistics of 1931 represent the best available data, their present usefulness is limited. In the taking of the census, political pressures undoubtedly maximized the registered total of Polish-speaking inhabitants at the expense of the non-Polish nationalities; to what degree this occurred is uncertain. Ukrainian nationalists have claimed repeatedly that the Polish census understated the number of their people. Foreign Commissar Molotov, in a speech of October 31, 1939, asserted that Soviet-occupied Eastern Poland contained seven million Ukrainian inhabitants and over three million White Russians; these estimates are much higher than the official Polish figures for 1931.

Since the census of 1931 the makeup of the population has undergone notable changes. Before the outbreak of war in 1939 the government of Poland fostered the settlement of Polish farmers in the eastern provinces. Since September 1939, the Polish element has been much reduced, perhaps by over one million, through the flight of many Poles to neighboring countries and through the migration and deportation of Poles to the interior of the Soviet Union. The German invasion and occupation have brought about further drastic changes, including extermination of a great part of the Jewish population and the transfer of forced labor to other areas under German domination. The actual situation upon the cessation of hostilities, can be determined only by detailed investigation on the ground.

APPENDIX 17 March 26, 1943 14

Polish-Soviet Frontier: Alternative Boundaries

1. DESCRIPTION OF ALTERNATIVE BOUNDARIES

15

14

The following ten lines, which cover most of the possible compromises between the frontier of 1938 and the Soviet-German partition line of September 28, 1939, will be discussed in terms of 1) their strategic implications for the two states and for general security in Europe; 2) the way in which they divide the various ethnic groups inhabiting the disputed area; 3) their probable economic advantages and disadvantages to the two states; 4) their bearing upon communications and transportation.

A. The Soviet-German Partition Line of 1939

This line followed the former Polish-Lithuanian boundary southwestward from the frontier of Latvia to the southernmost tip of Lithuania, then cut across the base of the Suwalki salient (leaving the powiat of Suwalki and part of that of Augustów to Germany) then followed the boundary between Poland and East Prussia and the Pisa and the Narew Rivers to the city of Ostrolęka, then ran in a southwesterly direction to meet the Bug River near the town of Malkinia; it followed the Bug upstream as far as the town of Krystynopol, in Eastern Galicia, turned west and ran in a nearly straight line to a point on the San River near Sieniawa, then followed the San River upstream to the old border between Poland and Czechoslovakia.

In the consideration of this line as a possible Polish-Soviet boundary the point where the Pisa River crosses the boundary of East Prussia will be taken as the northern terminus; the Suwalki district thus falls on the Soviet side of the line.

B. The Curzon Line of 1919 and its Continuation Through Eastern Galicia

On December 8, 1919, the Supreme Council of the Allied and Associated Powers recognized the right of Poland "to proceed with the organization of a regular administration" in the territory west of a line which followed the Bug downstream from the northern border of Eastern Galicia to the administrative boundary between the districts of Bielsk and Brest-Litovsk, then ran in a general northeasterly direction to pass east of the town of Hainowka and reach the Lososna River, near its source; it followed the Lososna River, with some deviations, to its confluence with the Niemen River, then followed the latter past Grodno to the district of Suwalki, the eastern and northern Boundary of which it followed, with slight deviations, to the border of East Prussia.

The line which the Supreme Council accepted, in 1919, as the western boundary of Eastern Galicia, for which a special status was under consideration, was a continuation of the Curzon Line. It followed the southern boundary of the province of Lublin as far as Belzec, then turned south to follow the western boundaries of the districts of Rawa Ruska, Jaworów, Mosciska, Sambor, Stary Sambor and Turka.

14 A problem paper. In B below, the reference to the "Curzon Line" is to the line of Dec. 8, 1919, to which the name of Lord Curzon became attached in 1920. All the following footnotes in appendix 17 are in the original document.

See Map 13, Polish Series (Eastern Poland: Distribution of Population). [Printed as appendix 19.]

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »