Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

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Steve
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Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

#1

Post by Steve » 04 Oct 2016, 06:59

In 1940 the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists split into two factions a larger one led by Stepan Bandera OUN-B and a smaller one led by Andriy Melnyk OUN-M. Both Bandera and Melnyk were regarded by the Abwher as its agents Melnyk from 1939 and Bandera from 1940.

On entering Lwow in 1941 OUN units found many Ukrainians murdered in the NKVD jail. Before the arrival of Einsatzgruppe B in Lwow the OUN militia went on a murderous rampage against Jews and Polish intelligentsia. At a conference on July 18 in Lwow OUN activist Stepan Lenkavskyi stated “As for the Jews we are taking all measures leading to their extinction”. In late 1942 OUN-B established the Ukrainian Insurgent Army or UPA. Units associated with OUN-M seem to have started ethnic cleansing of Poles in February 1943 and it was soon taken up by the UPA. By late 1943 the UPA had eliminated the forces of OUN-M.

The leader of the UPA in Zavykkhost region admitted that in June 1943 he received an order to exterminate the Polish population in western provinces. A formation made up of several UPA groups killed over 15,000 Poles in August 1943. The Rovno headquarters of Soviet partisans reported “Nationalists do not shoot Poles but stab them with knives and axe them regardless of their sex or age. In the village Triputni nationalists axed fourteen Polish families”. Ivan Vasiuk a 19 year old UPA member captured by the Soviets admitted that his company killed 1,500 Poles in November 1943. He personally killed 8 men 6 women and 5 children. Waclaw Szeletnicki a Polish priest described a UPA massacre in Plebanowka during which people were murdered by being cut up with axes, stabbed or burnt alive. In Lwow Archdiocese 48 priests were killed. The Soviets captured a monthly report from the UPA commander of Peremyshl district:-
1/04/44 Bile village 19 Poles killed 11 houses burnt down.
2/04/44 9 Poles and 2 Jewesses killed
5/04/44 Pniatyn village 5 Poles killed
14/04/44 Zhydovychi village 38 Poles killed including 4 women who offered resistance and 14 houses burnt down.
15/04/44 In Tuchne village 66 Poles were killed 23 houses were burnt down.
etc. etc.
On the 30/04/44 they struck 9 villages killing 303 Poles.

How many Poles were killed is guesswork but certainly tens of thousands. The massacres started a wave of Poles fleeing from the Ukraine into Poland proper.

Taken from “The Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Western Borderlands” by Alexander Statiev 2010

The question is did the Polish Government by repressive pre war policies cause the rise of the neo Nazi OUN. Something must have caused this explosion of hatred.

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Re: Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

#2

Post by wm » 04 Oct 2016, 12:53

Did the Jews oppress them too? Or the Czechs who lived there? Or other Ukrainians? Because they murdered them all with a similar enthusiasm. It was ethnic cleansing of all non-Ukrainians there.
As to brutality, this was how it was done there, a way of life.

The UON was fighting brutally in the interbellum period too, they assassinated the minister of internal affairs Bronisław Pieracki, and many other people, tried to assassinate Piłsudski. So there were repressions, but generally the Ukrainian peasants (an absolute majority of the population) weren't especially differently "repressed" than the Polish peasants. Poverty was the main oppressor. the rest were first world problems.

There were other Ukrainian parties, groups. The Nazis and the Soviets destroyed them all, only the OUN survived - it was survival of the fittest.


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Re: Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

#3

Post by Steve » 08 Oct 2016, 04:06

There was a long history of attacks on Jews in W. Ukraine and not just by Ukrainians. Polish troops went on a rampage in the Lwow ghetto in November 1918. There was not the same history of violence between Ukrainians and Poles. I don’t think the Cossack wars of the 17c are relevant. When fighting started between Polish and Ukrainian military formations at the end of 1918 it was not characterised by massacres. By July 1919 when the forces of the West Ukraine National Republic had been defeated it was becoming nasty but not genocidal. After helping to wipe out the Jews many Ukrainians turned with equal determination to wiping out the Poles. For the Nazi like OUN ideology to take hold a feeling of grievance had probably been growing since the Ukrainians came under Polish rule.

At the end of WW2 the British did not hand over members of SS Galicia to the Soviets as they were classed as Polish citizens. In 1943 the legal Polish Government in London considered Galicia Polish territory. Therefore the UPA was the second largest resistance group in Poland and number one for brutality. The majority of UPA members would have been Polish citizens. Does this make what occurred in Galicia a civil war?

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Re: Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

#4

Post by wm » 08 Oct 2016, 22:14

But please, long history can't be made from two (unfortunately irrelevant) examples.
During the, let's say Cossack wars, the Jews weren't massacred because they were Jews, but because they were Poles (i.e. Polish citizens). Similarly the Poles were massacred because they were Poles.

In Lwów after months of fighting, in a city full of deserters, escaped criminals and other merry men, the law and order collapsed. There were looting and people were killed.
Simultaneously a 200-men-strong Jewish self-defense unit armed with military weapons, and basically serving on the Ukrainian side was fighting (some say by mistake) the advancing Polish Army - alone, because the Ukrainians fled. Most of the victims were probably fighters serving in that unit. And most likely among the killed the Jews were in minority.
Later there was a long investigation, over a thousand witnesses were interrogated, some people were punished, the victims were fully compensated with even checking their claims.

There is really a difference between some random development during war - in war shit happens and civilian casualties are inevitable, and giving a kill-them-all order by leaders of an army/state.

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Re: Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

#5

Post by Steve » 02 Nov 2016, 18:13

There is a Wikipedia article on the Lwow pogrom which seems well researched. The Jewish militia in Lwow had declared neutrality in the Polish Ukrainian fighting and was disarmed when the Poles won. Apparently the Poles did not just rampage through the Jewish parts of Lwow for two days they also attacked Ukrainian areas.

Polish rule in Galicia gave few reasons for either Jews or Ukrainians to feel any loyalty towards the Polish state.

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Re: Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

#6

Post by henryk » 02 Nov 2016, 20:40

http://ziemlak.republika.pl/narubiezy/spistresci1.htm
Website of organization remembering the attacks on Poles by UPA. In Polish
On the Borderlands. Still Not Punished and Nor Condemned.
Informations on communities attacked, destroyed, and of activities by the Organization.
Includes locations in present borders of Poland.

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Re: Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

#7

Post by wm » 03 Nov 2016, 00:23

Steve wrote:There is a Wikipedia article on the Lwow pogrom which seems well researched. The Jewish militia in Lwow had declared neutrality in the Polish Ukrainian fighting and was disarmed when the Poles won. Apparently the Poles did not just rampage through the Jewish parts of Lwow for two days they also attacked Ukrainian areas.
Maybe it is, but it seems it's mostly copy/paste from a single source: Hagen's article written in 2005.
It wasn't the Poles because it wasn't ordered by any Polish authority. It was just a bunch of looters, looting what was at hand, i.e. Jewish businesses as basically only the Jews owned shops, stores or whatever else worth looting there. And it wasn't just the Poles, the Ukrainians, the Jews looted too.
It was one of those border wars fought there between 1918-1920, when, who knows, maybe a half a million people were killed. Someone had to contribute to this tally. That this single incident is so known among all that misery only proves what the man responsible for security in Lwów (and failed in this role) - Czesław Mączyński wrote in his book that the Jews of Lwów were able to telegraph their version of events in real time to The New York Times, Berliner Tageblatt, and other influential newspapers making this otherwise unimportant event famous.

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Re: Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

#8

Post by Steve » 26 Nov 2016, 06:42

When the Soviet army entered Eastern Poland in 1939 they were warmly greeted by crowds of Ukrainians, Jews and Byelorussians. An eye witness wrote of the Byelorussians and Ukrainians “It was the rule rather than the exception for villages and towns to greet Red Army units with traditional symbols of hospitality”.

The part of Poland largely inhabited by Ukrainians was known as East Galicia during Hapsburg rule. In 1910 E. Galicia had a population of 573,500 Jews, 875,200 Poles and 2,711,400 Ukrainians. Perhaps the worst inter communal violence of WW2 took place in E. Galicia. As the area had been relatively peaceful under Hapsburg rule clearly something went very wrong during the twenty years of Polish rule.

In 1919 the Ukrainians of E. Galicia failed in their war of independence. During subsequent pacification measures by the Polish army perhaps 100,000 were put in camps under poor conditions. The Poles then refused to give the area autonomy.

In Galicia and Volhynia (an area to the north) the number of Ukrainian schools went from 1,050 in 1919 to 433 in 1922; in the early 30s most of the 433 were made into bilingual Polish/Ukrainian schools. The Ukrainian Chair at the University of Lwow was closed and attendance by Ukrainians restricted. Prior to WW1 47% of land in Ukrainian dominated areas belonged to landlords of whom 80% were Polish. In December 1920 a land reform was announced whose intention was to break up very large estates. The Ukrainians were left out and the land was distributed to Polish veterans and their families. Efforts at Polonisation such as conversion to Catholicism increased after the death of Pilsudski in 1935.

An underground Ukrainian organisation was formed in 1920 the UVO which carried out sabotage and assassinations. They tried to assassinate Pilsudski in 1921. The Poles reacted violently and between fifteen and twenty thousand Ukrainians were locked up. Stories of brutal treatment in the camps spread among the Ukrainian population. The Uniate Church became a major force in maintaining Ukrainian identity. Various societies and sports clubs arose whose aim was to keep the flame of Ukrainian nationalism alight.

For the Jews of Galicia Polish rule meant worse treatment than under the Hapsburg Empire. Once the Polish state was established there was a clear out of Jews working in state and civil institutions in Galicia. The number of Jewish state and civil employees was 12,312 in 1912 by 1921 there were 5,186. Before WW1 there were 6,000 Jewish rail and postal employees by 1923 there were 670. It was the same story in the police, legal profession and education. Between 1935 and 1937 there was a wave of anti Jewish agitation across Poland with about 2,000 Jews assaulted and injured and at least 24 murdered. A famous pre war politician Roman Dmowski and the movement/party he led were virulently anti Jewish and organised a boycott of Jewish businesses. The Catholic Church often viewed Jews as agents of communism. However, the situation was far from being as bad as in Germany.

While the Poles often discriminated against Jews the Ukrainian peasants seem to have viewed Jews as being pro Polish and later pro communist. The Ukrainians also organised a boycott of Jewish businesses in the 1930s. In September 1939 from the Jewish point of view their best option was probably Soviet rule as in theory they viewed people as belonging to a class rather than a race.

Taken from: - The Eagle Unbowed by Halik Kochanski. The Soviet Counter Insurgency in the Western Borderlands by Alexander Statiev. The Lands Between by Alexander V. Prusin

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Re: Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

#9

Post by wm » 28 Nov 2016, 01:50

Steve wrote:In December 1920 a land reform was announced whose intention was to break up very large estates. The Ukrainians were left out and the land was distributed to Polish veterans and their families.
It's seems not a very logical statement. If the land was distributed (sold in reality) among veterans then everybody was left out who was not a veteran, not only the Ukrainians.
There is nothing wrong with it actually, a country which don't care about its veterans is simply a POS.

Steve wrote:The number of Jewish state and civil employees was 12,312 in 1912 by 1921 there were 5,186. Before WW1 there were 6,000 Jewish rail and postal employees by 1923 there were 670. It was the same story in the police, legal profession and education.
I would like to ask, what is the source of those numbers? Because despite all the appearances the people then were much less obsessed with all the racial stuff. Such statistics simply never were done.

But anyway, what they show is that there were less Jews later. But the actual reason for that is not shown at all.
Especially that there were no Austro-Hungarian and then Polish periods there. The railways were built by Polish entrepreneurs, the province was basically ruled by the Poles during the Dual Kingdom time. The Poles ruled it earlier (from 1867), they ruled it later too.

And then considering that the place was God forgotten, poverty stricken, hilly and mountainous small piece of territory, how many state and civil employees were there?
For example the railways were just about 800 miles long. Assuming that 3,000 Jews worked there, it seems most of the railway employees had to be Jewish! After all how many employees such a small enterprise needs.

So then what happened to those Jews? Were they really removed in the first 2 years of Poland's existence? Emigrated? Preferred to move to Austria or Hungary? Had to resign because they didn't speak Polish (most of them didn't).

Steve wrote:Between 1935 and 1937 there was a wave of anti Jewish agitation across Poland with about 2,000 Jews assaulted and injured and at least 24 murdered.
Judging by the today's murder statistics, in such a large population there should be at least 300 murders. The times must have been exceedingly peaceful then :)
Of course I don't know who the 24 people were, but I would say in most murder cases I know from that period the violence was initiated by Jews, and it was some Poles who were murdered first. And this not a joke.
Of course there were conflicts, but were they different, larger that other political, class, economic conflicts at that time in Poland?
Steve wrote:A famous pre war politician Roman Dmowski and the movement/party he led were virulently anti Jewish and organised a boycott of Jewish businesses.
Virulently is too strong word I would say. It suggests irrationality. Actually he was concerned that such a large population of culturally alien people, with superior to Polish culture, naturally gravitating to Germany or Russia was a security risk.
And their dominance, their control of Polish economy made this risk unacceptable.
Steve wrote:The Catholic Church often viewed Jews as agents of communism. However, the situation was far from being as bad as in Germany.
This view was shared by lots of people all around the world, not only the Catholic Church.
Steve wrote:While the Poles often discriminated against Jews the Ukrainian peasants seem to have viewed Jews as being pro Polish and later pro communist.
How do we know that, who ran the poll? Most of those peasants were illiterate after all.
Steve wrote:The Ukrainians also organised a boycott of Jewish businesses in the 1930s.
Rather they organized their own businesses, mostly cooperatives which displaced Polish and Jewish ones.

And the last thing. The half a million East Galician Jews didn't warmly greeted the Soviets because a few thousand Jewish state employees lost their jobs/resigned in 1919. For the reason they didn't consider them to be Jews at all. They were mostly orthodox, ultra-orthodox Jews. The "state" Jews were invariably reform Jews, or even Christian Jews - in one word traitors.

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Re: Ethnic Cleansing of the Polish Population in W. Ukraine

#10

Post by wm » 28 Nov 2016, 22:03

The life of the Jews in the Habsburgian Galicia wasn't actually that great. Although they absolutely dominated commerce, and dominated in some other sectors of the economy, the Poles (and the Ukrainians) were determined to carve out for themselves a large part of the pie, running their own affirmative actions:

The majority of Jewish enterprises, led by owners and their families, and their families, were economically very weak. Nevertheless, Jewish commerce had no serious competitor until the last years of the nineteenth century, especially in Eastern Galicia. Ukrainians prevailed there in agriculture and Poles in public service, from administration officials at the top to janitors at the bottom.

In 1885, a Polish Society of Farmers' Associations (Towarzystwo Kolek Rolniczych) was established, and three years later Ukrainians founded their National Trade Association (Narodna Tarhowla). Both these institutions organized credit unions to ease the credit situation of the peasants and created cooperative shops to eliminate the Jewish middlemen. Peasant cooperatives remained, however, mostly weak and usually landed in private hands. The Galician administration supported the cooperative movement financially and by enacting laws unfavorable to Jews in regard to Sunday rest, the salt monopoly and liquor trade. In 1893, an economic boycott of the Jews in Galicia was proclaimed during a Catholic convention in Cracow. The boycott lasted until the First World War. Galician authorities tried to create a Polish bourgeoisie by limiting Jewish participation in trade and industry. Special licenses were necessary for peddling, old-clothes trade, transportation, running an employment agency and owning pharmacy. Persons selling colonial articles and spices, oils and paints had to obtain individual "proof of capability" from the local administration.
A new veterinarian law limited Jewish participation in the cattle trade. In 1910, Jews were forbidden to sell alcoholic beverages. By 1900 foreign capital, mostly German and British, started to create competing enterprises and big landowners themselves engaged in trade. The economic crisis of 1912 also weakened Jewish businesses, mostly in terms of credit, which was waning during the pre-war international tension.

Jewish enterprises went, therefore, through a crisis in the years 1900-14. The number of "helping family members" and overstaffing in commerce was constantly growing. The Jews were also forced out of non-commercial branches of industry. In the 1890s, there were 6,000 Jews among 9,000 workers of the Boryslaw oil-fields. In the last years before the First World War, Jewish oilers were replaced by cheaper, Christian labor. The financial help of the Baron de Hirsch Foundation, the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden and of other organizations could not stop the replacement of Jewish workers by Polish and Ukrainian peasants. The occupational structure of the Jewish community in Galicia was less oriented towards commerce and handicrafts than in Russia, but the economic situation of Galician Jewry, nevertheless, grew worse and worse, descending towards poverty.
from The Jews of Galicia under Austrian-Polish Rule, 1867-1918 by Piotr Wrobel

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