Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union
Early in the morning of the 24th of August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a ten-year non-aggression pact. This agreement contained a secret protocol that divided Northern and Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. The states of Finland, Estonia, and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere. Poland was to be partitioned if its political rearrangement occurred. Areas east of the Narev, Vistula, and San Rivers went to the Soviet Union while Germany occupied the west. A second secret protocol agreed in September 1939 assigned the majority of Lithuania to the USSR. Lithuania would retrieve its historical capital Vilnius, which had been subjugated during the inter-war period by Poland. These territories had mixed urban national populations with Poles and Ukrainians being the most numerous ethnic groups.
Seventeen days after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Soviet Union entered the eastern regions of Poland. They annexed territories totaling 201,516 square kilometers with a population of 13,299,000. Inhabitants besides ethnic Poles included Belarusian and Ukrainian major population groups. Czechs, Lithuanians, Jews, and other minority groups also lived there. During the Interbellum period, the Second Polish Republic had carried out an oppressive programme of Polonization against its minorities. Buildings, belongings, and property of Ukrainians were destroyed and their inhabitants were often beaten and arrested. The Soviet Union cited a need to protect the Ukrainian and Belarusian majority populations as justification for the invasion. Many Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Jews welcomed the Soviet troops into the occupied territories. The total area, including the area given to Lithuania, was 201,516 square kilometers.
Soviet authorities immediately started a campaign of sovietization following the invasion. Passportization and residence registration of the population began in the newly acquired territories. Inhabitants of Kresy, on whom Soviet citizenship was imposed in November 1939, had to return documents issued by former Poland. Those who did not receive the citizenship or refused to accept it were arrested or deported. In March 1940, authorities decided about the fate of refugees from western Poland. Deportation of this group of about 75, 80 thousand people finally began on the 29th of June 1940. NKVD officers conducted lengthy interrogations of prisoners in camps that served as a selection process. On the 5th of March 1940, members of the Soviet Politburo signed an order to execute POWs labeled nationalists and counterrevolutionaries. This became known as the Katyn massacre where some 22,000 were executed. During 1939, 1941, 1.45 million of the people inhabiting the region were deported by the Soviet regime.
These areas were conquered by Nazi Germany in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa. The Nazis divided them up into several administrative sectors including Bezirk Białystok and Generalbezirk Wolhynien und Podolien. During 1943, 1944 ethnic cleansing operations took place in Ukraine which brought about an estimated 100,000 deaths. An exodus of ethnic Poles occurred from this territory following these massacres. The Polish and Jewish language population of the regions in 1939 totaled about 6.7 million. During the war, an estimated 2 million persons perished including 1.2 million Jews. Contemporary Russian historians also include the war losses of Poles and Jews from this region with Soviet war dead. These numbers are included with Polish war losses.
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union annexed most of the territory it had invaded in 1939. Soon after the Soviet re-entry to Poland in July 1944, the Polish prime minister from London flew to Moscow along with Churchill. He offered a smaller section of land but Stalin declined to allow the exiled government to participate in the Polish Committee of National Liberation. An agreement between the Allies was reluctantly reached at the Yalta Conference where the Soviets would annex the entirety of their Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact portion of Eastern Poland. They granted Poland part of Eastern Germany in return. On the 16th of August 1945 the Communist-dominated Provisional Government of National Unity signed a treaty with the USSR to formally cede these territories. The total population of the territories annexed by the USSR had an estimated population of 10,653,000 according to the 1931 Polish census.
From 1944 until 1952 the Ukrainian Insurgent Army were engaged in an armed struggle against the communists. As a result of skirmishes between the UIA and Soviet units, the Soviets deported 600,000 people from these territories. In the process 170,000 of the local population were killed in the fighting. Some parts of eastern Poland occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939 with an area of 18,800 square kilometers and 1.5 million inhabitants near Białystok and Przemyśl were returned to postwar Poland. In June 1951, the Soviet-Polish border was realigned in two areas. Even after the expulsion of the Germans, Red Army soldiers continued their plundering, rape and murder in what was known as the Recovered Territories between 1945 and 1947. These traumatic postwar experiences had a lasting impact on the relationship of the civilian population there with the Soviet Union.
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Common questions
When did the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany that included secret protocols to partition Poland?
The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a ten-year non-aggression pact on the 24th of August 1939. This agreement contained a secret protocol that divided Northern and Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
What date did the Soviet Union enter eastern regions of Poland after the German invasion in 1939?
Seventeen days after the German invasion of Poland, the Soviet Union entered the eastern regions of Poland. They annexed territories totaling 201,516 square kilometers with a population of 13,299,000.
On what date did members of the Soviet Politburo sign an order to execute prisoners labeled nationalists and counterrevolutionaries during the Katyn massacre?
On the 5th of March 1940, members of the Soviet Politburo signed an order to execute POWs labeled nationalists and counterrevolutionaries. This event became known as the Katyn massacre where some 22,000 were executed.
When was the treaty signed between the Communist-dominated Provisional Government of National Unity and the USSR to formally cede these territories?
On the 16th of August 1945 the Communist-dominated Provisional Government of National Unity signed a treaty with the USSR to formally cede these territories. The total population of the territories annexed by the USSR had an estimated population of 10,653,000 according to the 1931 Polish census.
In which year did the Ukrainian Insurgent Army engage in armed struggle against communists leading to mass deportations from these territories?
From 1944 until 1952 the Ukrainian Insurgent Army were engaged in an armed struggle against the communists. As a result of skirmishes between the UIA and Soviet units, the Soviets deported 600,000 people from these territories.