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Polish Autonomous Districts were created in the Soviet Union republics of Belarus and Ukraine in an attempt to live up to the postulate of the Leninism about the rights of nations for self-determination.
[edit] Dzierżyńszczyzna
Dzierżyńszczyzna was a Polish Autonomous District in Belarus. It was created on March 15, 1932, with the capital at Dzierżyńsk (Dzyarzhynsk, Dzerzhynsk, formerly known as Kojdanów). It was named after the bolshevik of Polish ancestry, Felix Dzerzhinsky.
It was created near Minsk, near the Soviet-Polish border of the time.
[edit] Marchlewszczyzna
Marchlewszczyzna was the Polish Autonomous District in Ukraine created in 1926, with its capital at Marchlewsk (known before and after as Dołbysz or Dowbysz, presently Довбиш - Dovbysh in Ukraine). It was named after a Polish bolshevik Julian Marchlewski.
It was created in Volynia, 100 km west of Zhytomyr.
[edit] Disbanding
Polish districts were among those which resisted Soviet collectivization and atheization. For political reasons, drastic measures were initially not applied in these areas. Eventually both districts were disbanded in 1935 at the onset of the Great Purge and most of their administration was executed. Many men were shot, women and children deported to Kazakhstan. More than 50 000 Poles were murdered in places like Kurapaty or Vinnitsa, many others were murdered or starved in Kazakhstan.
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