Ethnic history of the region of Vilnius
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The following is a list of all censuses organised in the city of Vilnius/Vilna/Wilno/Wilna throughout the ages. The list is so far incomplete and the data at times is only fragmentary.
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[edit] Censuses
[edit] Russian census of 1897
In 1897 the first Russian Empire Census was held. The territory covered by the tables included large parts of today's Belarus, that is the voblasts of Hrodna, Vitebsk and Minsk. Its results are currently criticised with respect to the issue of ethnic composition, because the ethnicity was defined by language spoken. In many cases the reported language of choice was defined by general background (education, occupation), rather than ethnicity. Some results are also thought as skewed due to the facts that pidgin speakers were assigned to nationalities arbitrarily and the Russian military garrisons were counted in as permanent inhabitants of the area. Some historians point out the fact that the Russification policies and persecution of ethnic minorities in Russia were added to the notion to subscribe Belarusians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and Poles to the category of Russians[2][3].
[edit] 1916 German census
During World War I, in 1915, almost all of today's Poland and Lithuania got under German occupation. On March 9, 1916, the German military authorities organised a census to determine the ethnic composition of their newly-conquered territories[4]. This census is currently the only census organised before 1991 that is accepted by both Polish and Lithuanian historians.[citation needed] However, many Belarusian historians note that the Belarusian minority is not noted among the inhabitants of the city.
Similar census was organised for all territory of German-occupied Lithuania and the borders of the northern part of the territory were more or less correspondent to those of present-day Lithuania, however, it had much more territories to the south, down almost to Brest-Litovsk and including the city of Białystok (see Southern Lithuania).
[edit] 1921 Polish census
After the Polish-Bolshevik War and the Treaty of Riga, the eastern Polish border was almost established. In 1921 the first Polish all-national census was held on all territory under Polish control. However, the territory of Central Lithuania, seized by the forces of General Lucjan Żeligowski in the effect of a staged mutiny in 1920 was outside of the Polish borders and it was not until March 22, 1922, when the short-lived state, considered to be a puppet state of Poland by Lithuanians, was incorporated into Poland.
Because of that, the census of September 20, 1921 covered only parts of the future Wilno Voivodship area, that is the communes of Brasław, Duniłowicze, Dzisna and Wilejka[6]. The remaining part of the territory of Central Lithuania (that is the communes of Wilno, Oszmiana, Święciany and Troki) was covered by the additional census organised there in 1923. The tables on the right give the combined numbers for the area of Wilno Voivodship (Administrative Area of Wilno), taken during both the 1921 and 1923 censuses.
[edit] Polish census of 1931
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Wilno Voivodship
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The 1931 census was the first Polish census to measure the population of whole Wilno and Wilno Voivodship at once. It was organised on December 9, 1931 by the Main Statistical Office of Poland and was widely considered impartial at the time it was taken. However, in 1931 the question of nationality was replaced by two separate questions of religion worshipped and the language spoken at home. The numbers listed in the tables on the right give the overview of the language criterion. Because of that, it is sometimes argued that the "language question" was introduced to diminish the number of Jews, who were in large part Polonized and spoke Polish language rather than Yiddish or Hebrew. At the same time, Lithuanian authorities often argued that the large majority of Polish-speaking people were in fact Polonized Lithuanians. However, there are no proofs for such stance.
[edit] Lithuanian census of 1939
In December of 1939, shortly after their take-over of the area, the Lithuanian authorities organized a new census in the area. However, the census is often criticized by Polish statisticians, as skewed, intending to prove the historical and moral rights of Lithuania to the disputed area, rather than to determine the factual composition[8].
[edit] German-Lithuanian census of 1942
After the outbreak of the German-Soviet War in 1941, the area of former Central Lithuania was quickly seized by the Wehrmacht. On May 27, 1942 a new census was organised by the German authorities and the local Lithuanian collaborators[9]. The details of the methodology used are unknown and the results of the census are commonly believed to be an outcome of the racial theories and beliefs of those who organised the census rather than the actual ethnic and national composition of the area[9]. Among the most notable features is a complete lack of data on the Jewish inhabitants of the area (see Paneriai for explanation) and a much lowered number of Poles, as compared to all the earlier censuses[10][11].
[edit] Soviet census of 1959
Presents results of two mass migrations to Poland.
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Vilnius region
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[edit] Soviet census of January 1989
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City of Vilnius
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Vilnius region
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258,000 Poles in Lithuania, including 63.5% in the Vilnius rayon (currently Vilnius district municipality, excluding the city of Vilnius itself) and 79.5% in the rayon of Šalčininkai (currently known as Šalčininkai district municipality).
[edit] Lithuanian census of 2001
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Vilnius city municipality
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Vilnius district municipality
Source: 2001 Lithuanian census[citation needed] |
[edit] Jews of Vilnius
Jews of Wilno had their own complex identity, and labels of Polish Jews, Lithuanian Jews or Russian Jews are all applicable only in part.[14]
[edit] Notes and references
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- In-line:
- ^ a b (Russian) [1]
- ^ (Lithuanian) Egidijus Aleksandravičius; Antanas Kulakauskas (1996). Carų valdžioje: Lietuva XIX amžiuje (Lithuania under the reign of Czars in XIX. century). Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 253–255.
- ^ (Polish) various authors (2002). in Wiesław Łagodziński: 213 lat spisów ludności w Polsce 1789-2002. Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Warsaw.
- ^ a b c (Polish) Michał Eustachy Brensztejn (1919). Spisy ludności m. Wilna za okupacji niemieckiej od. 1 listopada 1915 r.. Biblioteka Delegacji Rad Polskich Litwy i Białej Rusi, Warsaw.
- ^ (Polish) Ludwik Krzywicki (1922). "Rozbiór krytyczny wyników spisu z dnia 30 IX 1921 r.". Miesięcznik Statystyczny V (6).
- ^ (Polish) Ludwik Krzywicki (1922). "Organizacja pierwszego spisu ludności w Polsce". Miesięcznik Statystyczny V (6).
- ^ a b (Polish) (1939) "Drugi Powszechny Spis Ludności z dnia 9 XII 1931 r.". Statystyka Polski D (34).
- ^ (English) Zakład Wydawnictw Statystycznych (corporate author) (1990). Concise Statistical Year-Book of Poland: September 1939-June 1941. Zakład Wydawnictw Statystycznych. ISBN 83-7027-015-8.
- ^ a b c d (Polish) A. Srebrakowski (1997). Liczba Polaków na Litwie według spisu ludności z 27 maja 1942 roku. Wrocław University, Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie.
- ^ (Polish) Główny Urząd Statystyczny (corporate author) (1939). Mały rocznik statystyczny 1939. Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Warsaw.
- ^ (Polish) Stanisław Ciesielski; Aleksander Srebrakowski (2000). "Przesiedlenie ludności z Litwy do Polski w latach 1944-1947". Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie (4): 227-253. ISSN 1429-4168.
- ^ a b (Polish) Professor Piotr Eberhardt. Liczebność i rozmieszczenie ludności polskiej na Litwie (Numbers and distribution of Polish population in Lithuania). Last accessed on 19 January 2006.
- ^ Population by some ethnicities by county and municipality . Data from Statistikos Departamentas, 2001 Population and Housing Census.
- ^ Ezra Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics, Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0195083199, Google Print, p.8 and Mark Abley, Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages, Houghton Mifflin Books, 2003, ISBN 061823649X, Google Print, p.205
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- General:
- Tadeusz Rutowski (red.) (1888). Rocznik Statystyki Przemysłu i Handlu Krajowego. Krajowe Biuro Statystyczne, Lwów.
- Józef Kleczyński (1892). Spisy ludności w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Akademia Umiejętności, Kraków.
- Józef Kleczyński (1898). Poszukiwania spisów ludności Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej w zbiorach Moskwy, Petersburga i Wilna. Akademia Umiejętności, Kraków.
- Główny Urząd Statystyczny (1930). Pierwsze dziesięciolecie Głównego Urzędu Statystycznego. T. 3, Organizacja i technika opracowania pierwszego polskiego spisu powszechnego z 30 września 1921 roku. Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Warsaw.
- Lietuvos Statistikos Departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybés (1995). Lietuvos Statistikos Metraštis. Lietuvos Statistikos Departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybés. ISSN 1392-026X.
- (red.) Zbigniew Strzelecki, Tadeusz Toczyński, Kazimierz Latuch (2002). Spisy ludności Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1921-2002; wybór pism demografów. Polskie Towarzystwo Demograficzne, Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Warsaw. ISBN 83-901912-9-6.
- Zbigniew Strzelecki (editor) (since 1991). Polish Population Review. Polish Demographic Society, Central Statistical Office. ISSN 0867-7905.
- (1996) Mniejszości w świetle spisów statystycznych XIX-XX w. Instytut Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, Lublin. ISBN 83-85854-16-9.
