Hello Eve:
Let me answer the questions of "resettlement of Poles" in 1945 as
opposed to "Operation Wisla" in April of 1947. The resettlement was
part of the Potsdam agreement which mandated the transfer of
populations including the resettlement of
Germans from the East of
the Oder-Neisse lines. Resettlement of Germans was not a "Polish"
idea and the London government was philosophically opposed to large
transfers of population. How many Poles were resettled? We do not
know and it seems like no one wants to know. Many Ukrainians in Kresy
declared themselves Polish in order to escape Soviet rule and were
resettled in Western Poland. Some were UPA supporters and I suspect
some were members, but I know of only one such case (anectodal
evidence). The Soviet and "Polish" Communist authorities were eager
to resettle the Western territories which were being cleared of its
German population, and there were not enough Poles remaining to
replace them.
"Operation Wisla" was a pacification campaign as well as a hunt for
the remaining units of UPA. UPA was pursued by Security forces in
both Kresy and South-Eastern Poland. continued attacking Polish
villages in
South-Eastern Poland, but also committed crimes against
the Ukrainian population. The operation can be better understood as
being overall an NKVD operation. The Russians, after destroying the
Polish Underground Army (AK) and having gained total control of
Poland turned their attention to OUN and UPA. The Polish part of the
operation was called "Operation Wisla" and it was a "pacification"
type of operation meant to root out all remaining OUN-UPA units and
sympathizer. There is no precedent for that kind of operation in
Polish history, but mass deportations were the norm in the Soviet
Union.
A number of captured Ukrainians suspected of being members of UPA
were sent to prisons, but the operation is best remembered for
transfer of a very large large number of if not most of the people
from Lemko region to North Western Poland on newly acquired lands. I
personally think that the Polish government is apologizing too
much
for the operation and to the wrong people, namely the Ukrainian
Government (April 2007 declaration by Kaczynski and Juszczenko). The
Polish apologies always refer to the deported population
as "Ukrainians" even though probably half were Lemkos. The Ukrainian
Government does not represent the Lemkos, and if it wants to
represent the Ukrainian population of that region and accept
apologies for Operation Wisla it should also assume responsibility
for the actions of OUN_UPA and condemn their actions and issue an
apology to the Polish victims for their crimes. Those crimes will
always be remembered for their mindless brutality. Successive
Ukrainian Governments have refused to do so.
I do believe that the Lemkos were unfairly targeted and deserve an
apology since they were not UPA supporters and there were very few
if any UPA units there prior to the Soviet conquest of Eastern
Poland. Although a large proportion
do identify themselves with
Ukrainians, best to my knowledge they were not supporters of ultra
nationalists. Majority of Lemkos see themselves as a distinct people
with their own language and culture. Their expulsion from their land
cannot be justified.
I do not know how many Poles remained in Kresy (as opposed to Russia,
Ukraine and Bielorus) but a few did especially in the city of Lwow. I
have not visited Lwow, but a friend told me that one can frequently
hears Polish spoken in the streets of Lwow. But I doubt if there are
any isolated Polish villages remaining. In the former Soviet Union
there are approximately 3.5 million Polish Ethnic minority.
With best regards,
Wladek
--- In
Kresy-Siberia@yahoogroups.com, Eve5J@... wrote:
>
> Hello Wladek -
>
> Thank you so much for answering my questions so thoroughly and
promptly. It
> has taken me some time to answer because you provided a lot of
information to
> digest. Some of what you wrote brings more questions to mind. Now
I am again
> confused. I thought Operation Wisla was this: All Ukrainians
living in what
> is now Poland were made to move to what is now Ukraine. All Poles
who
> remained in what is now Ukraine and formerly Kresy, were told to
move to Western
> Poland, which was newly acquired, formerly German territory. (I
just remembered
> that Polish resettlement was not part of Operation Wisla. Why it
was not
> considered part of Operation Wisla I do not know, because it seems
to be part of
> the same operation.) You wrote that innocent Lemkos and
Ukrainians, and some
> of the UPA were sent to Poland. Was I wrong in what I thought
Operation Wisla
> was? Were Ukrainians sent to Poland and some Poles allowed to stay
in
Ukraine?
>
> You wrote, "What surprises me is how little one hears from the
Ukrainians
> about the Russian part of the operation." Yes, you are right, one
never hears
> Russians mentioned regarding this operation. I guess at the time
and for many
> years in the future, one did not dare point a finger towards Russia
as far as
> any wrongdoing was concerned. If so, that finger would later be
frostbitten in
> Siberia or holding onto jail cell bars, but it is very strange. Is
it
> possible that Poles were commanded to do the actual dirty work with
Russians
> overseeing the operation? From what you wrote though, the larger
Russian force was
> in the east and Poles to the west of the rivers. On the other hand
there were
> undoubtedly Poles who wanted revenge, and these could be the cases
one reads
> of, but still, this is odd.
>
> Regarding your
original post informing us of the monument, Wladek,
don't you
> think a letter should at least be written to the Polish Government,
and also
> the arm of the Government responsible for bringing perpetrators of
war and
> other crimes to justice? (I can't remember the acronym for this
agency either.
> Is it the Institute of Remembrance? ) At the very least those who
wish to
> sign the letter may do so. We could also give this matter to the
Polish American
> Congress and other such organizations around the world who
hopefully are
> already aware of and working on this. Also we could individually
contact our
> respective governments' embassies in Lviv, Ukraine and express our
displeasure,
> because let's face it. It is outrageous.
>
> Best regards,
> Eve Jesionka Jankowicz
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> **
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*** See what's free at
>
