How Poles pacified Ukrainians in 1930s

[Bonobo]

Well, Poles are not so holy as they often think of themselves. Apart from being oppressed by foreign powers, we were also oppressors.
Bold type for certain fragments was my idea.


Pacification of Ukrainians (Ukrainian: Пацифікація у Східній Галичині; Polish: Pacyfikacja Małopolski Wschodniej) refers to the punitive action by police and military of the Second Polish Republic against the Ukrainian minority in Poland (in Eastern Galicia — against the Ukrainian majority) in September–November 1930 in response to a wave of more than 2,200 acts of sabotage against Polish property in the region. It took place in 16 counties of southeastern provinces of the country, or eastern Galicia (this area was in the interbellum part of the eastern Lesser Poland province). Collective punishment meted out on thousands of mostly innocent peasants resulted in exacerbation of animosity between the Polish state and the Ukrainian minority.[1]

Background

Eastern Galicia was incorporated into the Polish republic after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the defeat of the short-lived Western Ukrainian People's Republic in 1919. From the outset the Polish government adopted the policy of assimilation and repression of Ukrainian minority in these lands. Many Ukrainian organizations continued close contact with the Weimar Republic, later the Nazi party while others kept in contact with the new Soviet government to the east. The use of Ukrainian language was banned in government agencies in 1924 and support was steadily withdrawn from Ukrainian schools. Polish-Ukrainian relations deteriorated during the Great Depression, which led to much economic disruption, felt particularly hard in the rural areas. In this atmosphere radical Ukrainian nationalists propagating active resistance to Polish domination found a ready response from Ukrainian youth.[2]

On 12 July 1930, activists of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), together with Ukrainian Military Organization, began the so-called sabotage action, during which Polish real estates were burned, roads, rail lines and telephone connections were destroyed. Financing was provided and weaponry was illegally smuggled with Nazi support. The OUN used terrorism and sabotage in order to force the Polish government into reprisals so fierce that they would cause the more moderate Ukrainian groups ready to negotiate with the Polish state to lose support.[3] OUN directed its violence not only against the Poles, but also against all those Ukrainians who wished for a peaceful settlement of the Polish - Ukrainian conflict.[4] In the course of time, local Ukrainians, many of whom saw the Poles as occupiers of their land, joined the action. Offices of the Polish paramilitary organization Strzelec were burned, as were the stands of the popular trade fairs in Lwów (Lviv). Government offices and mail trucks were attacked. This situation lasted until September, with some sporadic incidents taking place as late as November. The terror action was limited to Galicia, and did not take place in Volhynia.[5]

In response, Polish authorities decided to pacify the turbulent province. The decision to carry out the action was made by Marshall Józef Piłsudski in his capacity as Prime Minister of the Second Polish Republic. Recognizing that terrorist actions carried out by the OUN did not amount to an insurrection, Piłsudski ordered a police action, rather than a military one, and deputized the Minister of Interior, Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski with its organization. Sławoj-Składkowski in turn ordered regional police commanders to prepare for it in the Lwów Voivodeship, Stanisławów Voivodeship and Tarnopol Voivodeship. The commander of the planned action was Lwów Voivodeship's chief of police, Czesław Grabowski.

Before the action commenced, around 130 Ukrainian activists, including a few dozen former Sejm (Polish parliament) deputies were arrested.[6] The action itself began on 14 September 1930, in several villages of Lwów Voivodeship, where the cavalry unit of 14th Regiment of Jazłowiecki Ułans was directed, even though the detailed plan for the action was not established until 18 September.

Forces used in the action

From 20 to 29 September, 17 companies of police (60 policemen each) were used. Of these, 9 came from the police academy in Mosty Wielkie (Velyki Mosty), 3 from Lwów Voivodeship, 2.5 from Stanisławów Voivodeship, 2.5 from Tarnopol Voivodeship (a total of 1041 policemen and officers).

The main operations with the participation of military units took place in the first half of October.

Overall, the action affected:

Lwów Voivodeship: police action - 206 places in 9 different counties, military action - 78 places in 8 different counties.
Stanisławów Voivodeship: police action - 56 places in 2 counties, military action - 33 places in one county
Tarnopol Voivodeship - police action - 63 places in 4 counties, military action - 57 places in 5 counties.

Or in total 494 villages. Timothy Snyder and other sources give the figure of 1000 policemen used in the operation, affecting 450 villages.[7]

Nature of the action

The operation was carried out in three stages. First, a basic edict was issued authorizing a particular action. Second, police units were brought in. Third units of the regular army carried out "operational maneuvers".

The pacification involved the search of private homes as well as buildings in which Ukrainian organizations (including the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) were based. During the search, the buildings, belongings, and property of Ukrainians was destroyed and the inhabitants often beaten and arrested. Several Ukrainian schools (in Rohat, Drohobycz, Lwów, Tarnopol and Stanisławów) were closed and the Ukrainian Youth Scout organization Plast was delegalized. On 10 September, five deputies of Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance were arrested.

The pacification was carried out by first surrounding a village with police units, then calling out the village elder or an administrator of the village. He in turn was informed about the purpose of the operation, and was ordered to give up any weapons or explosives hidden in the village. All villagers were to remain in their houses. Subsequently, the houses of those suspected of cooperation with Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists were searched, which included the tearing up of floors and ceilings. During the course of the search the furniture and property inside the houses were often destroyed.[8] Policemen found about 100 kilograms of explosives and weapons (1287 rifles, 566 revolvers, 31 grenades).[7] Also, during the searches, physical force was used and many people were publicly whipped.[8] According to Polish historian Władysław Pobóg-Malinowski, there were no fatalities,[9] while, according to Ukrainian historian P. Mirchuk, 35 Ukrainian civilians died during the pacification. S. Horak estimates the number of victims at 7.[10] Additional punishments included laying special "contributions" on the villages and stationing regiments of cavalry in the village, which had to be fed and quartered by the villages.

A committee of the League of Nations in its response to Ukrainian-Nationalists protest regarding the "pacification" action, while not approving the methods used, stated that it was the Ukrainian extremists themselves who were to be blame[11] for consciously inviting this response by their sabotage activities and maintained that it was not governmental policy of persecution of the Ukrainian people.[12]

Effects of the action

One of the unintended consequences of the action, from the point of view of Polish authorities, was that previously moderately oriented Ukrainians became radicalized, and even those who had previously felt loyalty to the Polish state began supporting separation













Destruction of churches

[Bonobo]

An interesting essay some parts of which are useful for this thread:
link

“The Rus people hate Poles with the hatred of a tribe, of a language, of a faith; the hatred of a slave, a slave so oppressed, so belittled, and despite this—or perhaps because of this—the Rus people are so apt to honestly accept the word of salvation, and recent events have given the Rus people the opportunity to focus its hatred to a lesser extent than others, towards the propagators—towards the Emmigrants, or even to display a greater favoritism for them, a favoritism that effectively displayed their capacity to sacrifice themselves.” These are the words we read in a memorandum written by Goszczyński to the Polish Democratic Association 130 years ago; on 27 December, 1838.

The Ukrainian psyche was dramatically affected by the fact that Poles destroyed Ukrainian grave stones, crosses and memorials honoring the soldiers of the Galician Army who died fighting against both the Poles and the Russians in 1914-1920. Poland also banned the singing of songs of thanksgiving for the soldiers. One of the principle causes of Ukrainian hatred towards Poland was the Polish manner of underscoring at every step the notion that Poland was culturally superior as a civilization to Ukraine and of Polish claims that the Jagielonian dynasty was proof of this superiority. Every act of arson, every brawl was used as an excuse to excite Polish public opinion against Ukrainians. The effective end of any assimilationist policies could be seen as the declaration of the Sekretariat Porozumiewawczy polskich Organizacji Społecznych dated 9 November, 1937, signed by Prof. Grabski. The authors of this declaration, though inspired by chauvinistic sentiments, nevertheless came to the correct conclusions that the Ukrainians must be allowed to develop their own culture. “The interest of preserving Polish cultural and national expansion against un-Polish nationalism in Eastern Lower Poland…do not require of the Ruses or the Ukrainians the resignation from a struggle for their own national-cultural expansion, because our people will certainly not give up our fight.”


The Polish government takes the initiative and begins to conduct reprisals against the local people, rooted in the principle of collective guilt. “Show them no mercy” was the banner under which police squadrons and Polish cavalry charged into western Ukrainian farming villages. Western Ukraine had never in its history undergone such rape. Farmers saw their houses completely destroyed, cultural and economic institutions were devastated, the Prosvita, the Cooperatives, even the local schools were all closed down. The schools in Tarnopol, Rohatyn, Drohobycz—all of them were shut down. The Ukrainian boy scouts “Płasta” were disbanded. 30 Ukrainian members of parliament were all jailed. 5 of them were sent to the Brzesk prison. Libraries and monuments were ravaged. Whenever the local people would hear of Polish forces nearing their village, they would flee into the forrest and stay there for many days. Polish forces had a habit of returning to villages they had already destroyed once before.

A Polish essay for future reference.
www.kontrowersje.net/tresc/ukraina_i_polscy_bandyci_czesc_druga_o_tym_o_czym_polacy_wola_nie_mowic

[Polishprideson]

Those Ukrainians received the treatment they deserved. They were living in Poland but did not do any effort to adapt to the existing rules. Quite the contrary, they did everything to transgress against these rules. They organised terrorist acts like sabotaging industry and agriculture or killing the representatives of the state.
And later, when they lodged a complaint to the League of Nations, they were sent back with nothing because the Polish action  was declared justified.

[harry]

Interesting stuff, Bonobo. The reality is that all nations have parts of their pasts to be ashamed of; I don't understand why a few Poles can't accept that about their own nation.

[Bonobo]

Feb 24, 2016 11:14:50 GMT 1 harry said:

Interesting stuff, Bonobo. The reality is that all nations have parts of their pasts to be ashamed of; I don't understand why a few Poles can't accept that about their own nation.

Probably they are concentrated on the martyrological tradition of the Polish nation too much. Such concentration doesn`t allow any exceptions.

[Bonobo]

Feb 23, 2016 14:15:04 GMT 1 Polishprideson said:

Those Ukrainians received the treatment they deserved. They were living in Poland but did not do any effort to adapt to the existing rules. Quite the contrary, they did everything to transgress against these rules. They organised terrorist acts like sabotaging industry and agriculture or killing the representatives of the state.
And later, when they lodged a complaint to the League of Nations, they were sent back with nothing because the Polish action  was declared justified.

The history of the 20th century proved that national aspirations of subdued nations can`t be contained. Poles tried to turn Ukrainians into Polish citizens but it was a futile task and the methods used in 1930s were unacceptable.