Białystok Voivodeship
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Białystok Voivodeship (Polish: Województwo białostockie, Belarusian: Беластоцкае вайводзтва) was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from 1975 to 1998, when it was superseded by Podlasie Voivodeship. Its capital city is Białystok.
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[edit] Major cities and towns
- Augustów
- Białystok (277,800 population, capitol)
- Bielsk Podlaski (27,500)
- Hajnówka (24,300)
- Grodno
- Brańsk
- Choroszcz
- Czarna Białostocka
- Dąbrowa Białostocka
- Drohiczyn
- Kleszczele
- Knyszyn
- Łapy
- Łomża
- Mońki
- Ostrołęka
- Ostrów Mazowiecka
- Siemiatycze
- Sokółka,
- Suchowola
- Supraśl
- Suwałki
- Suraż
- Tykocin
- Wasilków
- Wołkowysk
- Zabłudów
[edit] Bialystok Voivodeship in the years 1919-1939
- For more details on this topic, see Białystok Voivodeship (1919-1939).
In interwar Poland, this Voivodeship was located in mid-northern part of the country. It bordered Germany (East Prussia) to north-west, Lithuania to north-east, Wilno Voivodeship and Nowogródek Voivodeship to the east, Polesie Voivodeship and Lublin Voivodeship to the south and Warszawa Voivodeship to the west. Inhabited mostly by Poles (in 1931 they made 66.9% of the population), it also had significant Belarusian (16.3%) and Jewish (12.1%) minorities. Interesting is the fact that in 1931, 2.8% claimed Russian as their native tongue. Its area was 26 036 sq. km. and population, according to the 1931 census - 1 263 300.
Since April 1, 1938 (see: Territorial changes of Polish Voivodeships on April 1, 1938) it consisted of 10 powiats (counties). These were:
- Augustow county (area 2 035 sq. km., pop. 74 800),
- city of Bialystok county (area 39 sq. km., pop. 91 100),
- Bialystok county (area 3 079 sq. km., pop. 140 100),
- Bielsk Podlaski county (area 4 989 sq. km., pop. 204 500),
- Grodno county (area 4 459 sq. km., pop. 213 100),
- Sokolka county (area 2 333 sq. km., pop. 103 100),
- Suwalki county (area 2 246 sq. km., pop. 110 100),
- Szczuczyn county (area 1 451 sq. km., pop. 68 200),
- Wolkowysk county (area 3 938 sq. km., pop. 171 300),
- Wysokie Mazowieckie county (area 1 467 sq. km., pop. 87 000).
According to the 1931 census, the biggest cities were:
- Bialystok (pop. 91 100),
- Grodno (pop. 49 700),
- Suwalki (pop. 21 800),
- Wolkowysk (pop. 15 100),
- Augustow (pop. 12 100).
In the interwar period, Bialystok Voivodeship was part of the so-called "Poland B". It meant that it was underdeveloped, with 23.1% of population illiterate. Railroad network was scarce (total lenght 1 377 km., density - 4.2 per 100 sq. km.), forested areas covered 24.4% of Voivodeship's area. The city of Bialystok (whose population reached 107 000 in 1939), was Voivodeship's lone industrial center.
[edit] Source
- Maly rocznik statystyczny 1939, Nakladem Glownego Urzedu Statystycznego, Warszawa 1939 (Concise Statistical Year-Book of Poland, Warsaw 1939).
[edit] History
[edit] Overview
During World War II, massive war crimes and atrocities were conducted by occupying German forces against the local population. The area was twice under German control, first in September 1939 before it passed over to Soviet administration, then in the period of 1941-1944.
Such actions were commonplace in the region while it was under German administration and several villages were subject to similar mass executions and destruction. It should be noted that the reprisal actions made no difference towards children or the elderly, as whole village populations were murdered. Another aspect was the deportation of people for slave labour in German Reich, however estimates are hard to get as to the scale of that activity, while it is known that due to hunger, disease and brutal treatment mortality of those who were forced to work in Germany was very high. Despite those conditions and punishments local people engaged in supporting resistance movement, as well as helping Jews and escaped POWs. Altogether in the area of Białystok Voivodeship 148 villages were subject to pacification operations. The losses of non-Jewish population of the region during the period of German occupation are estimated at 94.000 people while 47,000 civilian buildings were destroyed.
[edit] Treatment of Polish citizens during September Campaign by German forces
First atrocities were conducted during military operations in September 1939. German Main Staff of Land Forces issued order number 183/39 regarding population "able to serve in the military of the enemy state" which ordered taking and executing hostages, detention of male population, "ruthless" destruction of any kind of resistance. According to instructions of the order general Fedor von Bock introduced the rule of collective responsibility against the whole village if "from a home which can't be determined, shots were fired against German soldiers". The order also stated that "men shall be detained, refugees persecuted". The pretext for mass extermination of local civilian population were usually acts of resistance against German occupation or successes of Polish military against German forces, for example Bogusze (burned down as a revenge for success of Polish infantry unit), Lipówka, Olszewo (burned down and its inhabitants murdered as a revenge for success of Polish cavalry). However Wehrmacht engaged in destruction of villages without any connection to military operations, at least 30 villages were destroyed in September 1939 in such way in powiats : bielski, wysokomazowiecki, suwalski and łomżyński. Besides those villages 19 others were burned down completely or in part.
In Wylinach Rusi, Drogoszew, Rutkach and Pietraszach Germans engaged in their most brutal acts of violence. Children and elderly were shot at by Wehrmacht soldiers, in Pietrasze for example a tank gunner shot from cannon to a women holding two children on her hands, killing her instantly, while the children managed to survive. In Rutkach Germans have driven the local people in hollow area and then shot them with a cannon. One man was killed in that way, while a wounded girl was executed by shot from a pistol. Massive round-ups of civilian population were conducted by Wehrmacht also, especially regarding the male population. Such people were gathered in churches, warehouses, military barracks or synagogues. Their fate usually was to be deported into East Prussia, and then made into slave workers. They were also used sometimes as hostages by German forces.
Besides Wehrmacht, German Luftwaffe also engaged in atrocities against operations against local civilians, and engaged in bombing of civilians in villages of Boćki, Zaręby, Długobórz, Czyżew and many others. Altogether German forces engaged in pacification of 31 villages in the short period of their presence in September 1939 in the area and murdered 197 civilians, burned down 112 villages, and destroyed 2535 buildings.
[edit] Treatment of local population by German forces in the period of 1941-1944
After their attack against USSR in 1941, Germans introduced their own administration in the area. In July 1941 military administration was replaced with civilian one, following that most of the Białostok was annexed to East Prussia. It had a territory of 31, 426 square km, and population of 1,682,000 people. Repressions made by German state, were aimed especially against villages, where the rule of collective responsibility was applied, that resulted in mass pacifications and executions. They were conducted mostly as a revenge against activity of resistance movement, help made by locals towards underground, escaped prisoners of war, and hiding Jews. During pacifications buildings were burned, possessions of local people were confiscated, while the population was either murdered, or sent to prisons or labour camps. According to order of Heinrich Himmler issued on 28th of July, all people suspected of helping local partisans, were to be executed, while women and children were to be subject to expulsions, while villages ought to be burned down.
During the period of June-July 1941 Wehrmacht was engaged in its most active phase of atrocities conducted against civilians. German soldiers regularly used artillery against civilian areas, outside of military operations. Several villages and towns were bombed with the result of many destroyed buildings and people killed. Units led by general von Schenckendorff that were part of Army Group Center, have gained infamous reputation due to their operations.
After Wehrmacht police battalions from Polizeiregiment Mitte led by Oberstleutnant Max Montua. Their duties were laid down by Hitler's decree from 13th May 1941, about "jurisdiction of Barbarossa" on occupied areas of Soviet Union. Battalion 322 after short stay in Białystok, was direct towards Puszcza Białowieska where they engaged in expulsions and executions of local people in several villages, with culmination of those operations being burning down of twelve Polish and Belarussian villages and mass murder of 42 people in Lacka Forest near Waniek. Other places of slaughter included Osuszek Forest near Piliki village, where people captured near Bielska Podlaski were executed or Nowosiółki forest near Choroszczy, where Germans executed 4 thousand people in the period from August 1941 till 1944, including hundreds of hospital patients. During Sonnderaktion 1005 the bodies of murdered were dig up and burned. Mass executions and simple acts of single case murder covered all the regions. During Wehrmacht's operations in 1941, German soldiers pacified 30 villages and murdered 379 people, while burning circa 2,000 civilian buildings during those atrocities. On 12th April 1942 Erich Koch issued a decree allowing and encouraging mass reprisal actions against "Poles, Jews and other non-German civilians" An example of this German policy is the village of Rajsk, which was pacified on 16 July 1942 by Wehrmacht, SS and police. All people from the village were gathered in front of Orthodox Church, and 142 people were selected for execution near the village. Afterwards all buildings were burned down, and after a couple of days all roads to the village were destroyed, as well as wells, remains of building, trees, and any other trace of the existence of the village.
The biggest massacre against a village population occurred in Krasowo-Częstki, where in revenge for successful action by local resistance group of Home Army under the command of Tadeusz Westfall. All inhabitants of the village were gathered in local barn, and then taken out, one by one, and shot in the back of the head. During this action 257 people were murdered, including 83 that were below seventeen years. Buildings in the village were burned down, and afterwards the ground on which it stood was ploughed in order to erase any signs of its previous existence.
[edit] References
- Marcin Markiewicz Represje hitlerowskie wobec wsi Białostockiej, Polish IPN bulletin nr.35-36.
