Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union

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After the Soviet invasion of Poland following the corresponding German invasion that marked the start of World War II in 1939, the Soviet Union annexed eastern parts (so-called "Kresy") of the Second Polish Republic, totaling 201,015 km² and a population of 13.299 million. Most of those territories became part of the Soviet Union in 1945 as part of the Europe-wide territorial rearrangement caused by the World War II. Poland was partially compensated by the Soviet Union with former German territories, the so called "Recovered Territories".

Soviet occupation 1939-1941

Under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, adjusted by agreement on 28 September 1939, the Soviet Union annexed all Polish territory east of the line of the rivers Pisa, Narew, Western Bug, and San, except for Wilno Voivodship with its capital Wilno (Vilnius), which was given to Lithuania, and the Suwałki region, which was annexed by Nazi Germany. Initially captured by Poland in a series of wars between 1918 and 1921 (primarily the Polish-Soviet War), these territories had mixed population of different nationalities with Poles and Ukrainians being the most numerous ethnic groups, as well as large minorities of Belarusians and Jews. However, as the different national groups were located in a patchwork of mixed settlement patterns, much of the territory had its own significant local non-Polish majority (Ukrainians in the south and Belarusians in the North), especially in the rural areas. The "need to protect" the Ukrainian and Belarusian population was used as a pretext for Soviet invasion of Eastern Poland (including Western Ukraine and Belarus) carried out in the wake of Poland's falling apart under the Nazi invasion with Warsaw being besieged and Poland's government being in the process of evacuation. The total area, including the area given to Lithuania, was 201,015 square kilometres, with a population of 13.299 million, of which 5.274 million were ethnic Poles and 1.109 million were Jews.An additional 138,000 ethnic Poles and 198,000 Jews fled the German occupied zone and became refugees in the Soviet occupied region

During 1939-1941 1.450 million.of the people inhabiting the region were deported by the Soviet regime, of whom 63.1% were Poles, and 7.4% were Jews. Previously it was believed that about 1.0 million Polish citizens died at the hands of the Soviets, however recently Polish historians, based mostly on queries in Soviet archives, estimate the number of deaths at about 350,000 people deported in 1939-1945.

Polish northern territories, around Wilno (now Vilnius), were annexed by Lithuania (and soon afterwards, Lithuania was annexed by Soviet Union and became the Lithuanian SSR). Other northern territories were attached to Belastok Voblast, Hrodna Voblast, Navahrudak Voblast (soon renamed to Baranavichy Voblast), Pinsk Voblast and Vileyka (later Maladzyechna) Voblast in Byelorussian SSR. Ukrainian SSR divided the territories in the south it received from Poland's annexation into: Drohobych Oblast, Lviv Oblast, Rivne Oblast, Stanislav (later known as Ivano-Frankivsk) Oblast, Tarnopil Oblast and Volyn Oblast,

German occupation 1941-1944

These areas were conquered by the Nazi Germany in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa. The Nazis divided them up as follows:

Bezirk Bialystok (district of Białystok), which included the Białystok, Bielsk Podlaski, Grajewo, Łomża, Sokółka, Vaukavysk, and Hrodna counties and was "attached to" (not incorporated into) East Prussia;
Bezirk Litauen und Weissruthenien — the Polish parts of White Ruthenia (today western Belarus), including the Vilnius (Vilna) province of Lithuania, which was incorporated into the Reichskommissariat Ostland;
Bezirk Wolhynien-Podolien — the Polish province of Volhynia, which was incorporated into the Reichskommissariat Ukraine; and
District Galicia, East Galicia, which was incorporated into the General Government and became its fifth district.

During 1943-1944 the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia caused about 100,000 deaths and the mass exdous of Poles from the Ukraine.

The Polish and Jewish language population of the annexed regions totaled about 6.7 million in 1939. During the war 2 million perished (including 1.2 million Jews) and are included with Polish war losses, 2 million (including 250,000 Jews) became refugees in Poland or the west, 1.5 million were in the territories given back to Poland in 1945 and 1.2 million remained in the USSR. Contemporary Russian historians also include the war losses of Poles and Jews from this region with Soviet war dead.

Soviet annexation 1945

After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union kept most of the territories occupied in 1939, while territories with an area of 21,275 square kilometers with 1.5 million inhabitants were returned to its Polish ally, notably the areas near Białystok and Przemyśl.

On August 16, 1945 the communist dominated Polish government signed a treaty with the USSR to formaly cede these territories.The total population of the territories annexed by the USSR, not including the portion returned to Poland in 1945, had a population of 10,653,000 according to the 1931 Polish census. In 1939 this had increased to about 11.6 million. The composition by language group was Ukrainian 37.1%, Belarusian 15.1%, Polish 36.5%, Yiddish 8.3%, Other 3%. Religious affiliation: Russian Orthodox 31.6%,Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church 26.7% Roman Catholic 30.1%, Jewish 9.9%, Other 1.7%.

From 1944 until 1952 the Ukrainian Insurgent Army continued an armed struggle against the communists. The Soviets deported 600,000 people from these territories and 170,000 of the local population were killed in the fighting (See also Akcja Wisła).

References

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