History of Ukrainian minority in Poland

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History of Ukrainian minority in Poland

Contents

[edit] Second Polish Republic

After the end of the First World War EEastern part of Galicia and Volhynia, territories with majority Ukrainian population[citation needed] became again the part of Poland. While the national consciousness among the Galicia Ukrainians was very strong, the Ukrainians of Volhynia were largely influenced by strong Russophile trends.

Two contradicting policies towards national minorities were competing in Poland at the time.

The assimilationist approach advocated by Roman Dmowski (minister of foreign affairs) and Stanisław Grabski (minister of religion and education) clashed with the more tolerant approach advocated by the Polish chief of State Józef Piłsudski,[1] whose project of creating the Międzymorze federation with other states failed in the aftermath of the Polish-Soviet War. As most of the Polish government was initially controlled by Dmowski, the policies based on his views prevailed and were implemented [2] and managed to alienate Poland's minorities to such an extent that, even after Piłsudski gained power in 1926, his attempted reforms did not affect the attitude of the minorities.[3] Piłsudski's reign marked the much-needed improvement in the situation of ethnic minorities. Piłsudski replaced the National-Democratic "ethnic-assimilation" with a "state-assimilation" policy: citizens were judged by their loyalty to the state, not by their nationality.[3] However the vicious spiral of terrorist attacks by Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and government pacifications[4] [3] meant that the situation continued to degenerate, despite Piłsudski's efforts. The attitude of Ukrainians of that time is well shown in the statements by the reputable Ukrainian historian Mykhailo Hrushevsky, who noted negative influence of Polish policies on the Ukrainian culture: "the four centuries of Polish rule had left particularly destructive effects (...) economic and cultural backwardness in Galicia was the main "legacy of historical Poland, which assiduously skimmed everything that could be considered the cream of the nation, leaving it in a state of oppression and helplessness".[5]

In 1928 Henryk Józewski, the former deputy minister for internal affairs in Ukrainian government was nominated the voivode of Volhynia. Józewski, who actively supported Ukrainian national cultural and religious development lost his post in 1938, and his programme was cancelled.

In 1930 the Ukrainian Scientific Institute was established with the government funding. Until the outbreak of the Second World War the institute managed to publish more Ukrainian books than any other Ukrainian institution.

Following the WW1, the government policy was initially aimed at limiting the influence of the predominantly Greek Catholic Ukrainians from Galicia on the Orthodox Ukrainians in Volhynia.[3] A decree defending the rights of the Orthodox minorities was issued but often failed in practice, as the Roman Catholic Church, also eager to strengthen its position, had official representation in the Sejm and the courts. Eventually, a hundred ninety Orthodox churches were destroyed and often abandoned [6] and another one hundred fifty were transformed into Roman Catholic churches.[7] In the meantime, the land reform designed to favour the Poles[8] brought further alienation of the Ukrainian population.[3]

The government of the Second Polish Republic initially promised a degree of local autonomy to its predominantly Ukrainian-populated territories. [3] Subsequently however, its policy has changed with the demise of Józef Piłsudski's Międzymorze Federation and the increase of Polish nationalism encouraged by Roman Dmowski's political adherents. Eventually the government proceeded to suppress the Ukrainian language, culture and religion.

Ukrainians were openly discriminated against in the education system. In the 1936/37 academic year only 344 Ukrainians (13.3%)in comparison to 2599 Poles were enrolled in middle school. In the 1938/9 academic year only 6 Ukrainians were accepted for tertiary education[9].

In 1935 the situation temporarily improved, as the Polish government reached an agreement with Ukrainian National Democratic Union (UNDO); most prisoners of Bereza were released. Ukrainian education and political participation improved.[10] But Ukrainian extremists continued their attacks on the Poles, and the moderates lost their bid to stabilize the situation.[11]

Between 100,000 and 300,000 Polish colonists were encouraged by the Polish government to resettle in Volhynia (see osadnik)[citation needed]. Although the majority of the local population was Ukrainian, virtually all government official positions were assigned to Poles. The Poles suppressed the Ukrainian educational system, reducing the number of Ukrainian-language schools from 440 to 8. Higher education became unattainable for Ukrainians in Poland. In the middle schools in Volhynia only 344 (14%) Ukrainians were enrolled in comparison to 2599 Poles (1938). Of the 80 Ukrainians who qualified to continue through to tertiary studies, only 3 were accepted in 1938-1939.[12] Eventually, many Ukrainians were forced to seek education in institutions outside the country such as the Ukrainian Free University in Czechoslovakia, the Drahomanov Pedagogical College as well as at other education establishments there.

In 1938-1939 a number of Ukrainian libraries and reading rooms were burned by Polish mobs of misguided patriotic youth who often went unpunished by the Polish police forces[7]. Polish youths were organized into armed, local paramilitary strzelcy groups and terrorized the Ukrainian population under the pretext of maintaining law and order. Bloodshed however was rare.

On the other hand, the Ukrainians during the interbellum had several representatives in the Polish Parliament, in 1928-1930 there were 26 of them, including Marshall Deputy of the Sejm, Volodymyr Zahajkiewicz and the Secretary of the Sejm, Dymitr Ladyka. In those years, Ukrainian and Belarussian deputies created a powerful Ukrainian-Belarussian Club (Klub Ukrainsko-Bialoruski), whose members were very active.

In 1935 there were 19 Ukrainian deputies and in 1938 - 14, including Vasyl Mudry. There were numerous Ukrainian organizations, like Prosvita, Luh and UNDO, several newspapers (including Dilo) and sports organizations, including the soccer team Ukraina Lwow, which was close to promotion to the Ekstraklasa.

[edit] After Second World War

After the quashing of a Ukrainian insurrection at the end of World War II by the Soviet Union, about 140,000 Ukrainians remaining in Poland were forcibly moved to northern and western Poland in Repatriation of Ukrainians from Poland to USSR (1944-1946) and Operation Wisła. Since 1989, there has been a new wave of Ukrainian immigration, mostly of jobseekers, which is concentrated in larger cities.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Zbigniew Brzezinski in his introduction to Wacław Jędrzejewicz’s “Pilsudski A Life For Poland” wrote: Pilsudski’s vision of Poland, paradoxically, was never attained. He contributed immensely to the creation of a modern Polish state, to the preservation of Poland from the Soviet invasion, yet he failed to create the kind of multinational commonwealth, based on principles of social justice and ethnic tolerance, to which he aspired in his youth. One may wonder how relevant was his image of such a Poland in the age of nationalism.... Quoted from this website.
  2. ^ Lonnie R. Johnson, Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends [1]
  3. ^ a b c d e Timothy Snyder, The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10586-X Google Books, p.144
  4. ^ Davies, God's Playground, op.cit., [2]
  5. ^ C. M. Hann, Paul Robert Magocsi. Galicia: A Multicultured Land. University of Toronto, 2005. ISBN 0-8020-3781-X. Google Print, Page 85.
  6. ^ The Impact of External Threat on States and Domestic Societie, Manus I. Midlarsky in Dissolving Boundaries, Blackwell Publishers, 2003, ISBN 1-4051-2134-3, Google Print, p.15
  7. ^ a b Subtelny, Orest (1988). Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-5808-6. 
  8. ^ Snyder, op cit, Google Print, p.146
  9. ^ Mieczyslaw iwanicki, Oswiata i szkolnictwo ukrainskie w Polsce w latach 1918-1939. praca habilatacyjna. Siedlce, 1975 s. 162
  10. ^ Roy Francis Leslie, The History of Poland Since 1863, Cambridge University Press, 1983, ISBN 0521275016, Google Print, p.200
  11. ^ Subtelny, Ukraine.. p.431-432
  12. ^ Siwicki p.40

[edit] External links