THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND

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• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000400260005-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 37
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: May 1, 1944
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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T1
INFORMATION NOTES
No. 3
THE
EASTERN PROVINCES
OF POLAND
Issued by
THE POLISH MINISTRY OF PREPARATORY WORK
CONCERNING THE PEACE CONFERENCE
\r 30~.~
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The following Notes are prepared by experts and are designed to
give the basic facts essential to the settlement of Polish post-war problems.
They are primarily intended for the use of students and writers on
international affairs. They may be obtained direct from The Polish
Ministry of Preparatory Work Concerning the Peace Conference,
73, Portland Place, London, W.1.
Any opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those
of the Polish Government.
May, 1944
Printed by C. T. Northover & Son, Ltd., 179, Tottenham Court Road, London, W.1
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1. POLAND'S RIGHTS AND INTERESTS ... ... ... ...
(1) Historical and Legal Evidence
(2) Economic and Social Evidence
(3) National Tradition and the Predominance of Polish Culture
(4) National and Religious Relations
(5) The Strategic Importance of the Eastern Territories for
Poland
II. POLAND'S EASTERS TERRITORIES ARE NOT ESSENTIAL TO
RUSSIA ... ... ...
1. THE PRINCIPAL ALLIED POWERS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR
AND THE EASTERN BOUNDARIES OF POLAND ... ... 21
II. The Demarcation Lines in Galicia
Document No. 1. Declaration of the Supreme Council of
the Allied and Associated Powers of
December 8, 1919
Document No. 2. Agreement signed by M. Grabski on
July 10, 1920, at Spa
Document No. 3. Lord Curzon's Dispatch to the Soviet
Government of July 11, 1920
2. SOVIET RUSSIA AND THE EASTERN BOUNDARIES OF POLAND
DURING THE YEARS 1917-1943 ... ... ... ... 27
MAPS :
1.
EASTERN POLAND ... ... ...
...
...
...
... 4
2.
WILNO AND NORTH-EASTERN POLAND
...
...
...
... 14
3.
CURZON LINE AND OTHER LINES
...
...
...
(it end
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I
Poland's Rights and Interests
The Eastern Provinces of Poland-those east of the so-called
" Curzon Line," and the latter's extension southwards through Galicia to
the Carpathian Mountains-represent nearly half of the total area of
Poland and one-third of her entire population.
These territories cover an area of 181,300 sq. km., or 70,000 sq.
miles, i.e. 46.5 per cent. of the area of Poland, with 10,768,000* inhabitants
or 33.1 per cent. of the total Polish population.**
The Curzon Line is almost identical with the western border of the
Polish territories annexed by Russia in the Third Partition of Poland in
1795.
The rights of Poland to her Eastern territories as well as their union
with the integral whole of Poland are based on international obligations,
common history, culture, economy and-to a considerable extent-on
ethnography.
1. Historical and Legal Evidence
Poland's Eastern territories have formed an integral part of the
country since the earliest ages of her history, or else have belonged to
her for at least 400 years prior to the Partitions in the second half of the
18th century.
Eastern Galicia with the city of Lwow belongs to the first category,
in spite of some vicissitudes. Between the 12th and 14th centuries this
province formed the Duchy of Wlodzimierz (Vladimir) and Halicz which,
however, remained in close relation with Poland. After the extinction
of its ruling dynasty in 1340 it became an integral part of the Polish
Commonwealth and constituted up to the First Partition in 1772 a
Polish province under the historical name of Red Ruthenia. During
the following period, from 1772 to 1918, Red Ruthenia belonged to
Austria as part of so-called Galicia, but since about the middle of the
19th century the administration of the province remained in Polish hands.
This territory has never belonged to Russia.
By voluntary agreement, not by force, or as the result of victorious
wars, did the other Eastern lands become part of Poland in the second
half of the 1.4th century. The subsequent Unions of Horodlo (1413) and
Lublin (1569) affirmed and strengthened the union of these territories
with Poland.. They came under Russian rule after the Third Partition
in 1795, and remained thus for the comparatively short period of 120
years-at the time when the whole of Poland was subjugated.
* According to the census of 1931; the population was larger at the outbreak
of the war.
** These territories, in comparison with the part of Poland which came under
the Soviet occupation as the result of the German-Russian (Ribbentrop-Molotov)
Treaty of September 28, 1939, represent barely 5.1 per cent. less of the entire area
of Poland, the difference in population being only 4 per cent. less.
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On August 28, 1918, the Soviet Government, then under the premier-
ship of Lenin, resolved on, and subsequently published a declaration
which annulled all the treaties with regard to Poland's Partitions in the
18th and 19th centuries. By that act the Soviet Government recognized
Poland's right to all territories which had belonged to her before the
Partitions.
The Russian-Polish frontier, however, was not fixed until two-and-a-
half years after that declaration. The Treaty of Riga of March 18, 1921,
was not imposed on Russia ; it was a settlement based on compromise.
By this treaty Poland abandoned her claims to some 300,000 sq. km., or
120,000 sq. miles, which had belonged to her before the Partitions, i.e.
almost one-half of her territory at that time. She relinquished to Russia
the provinces of Minsk, Mogilev, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Kiev, half of Volhynia
and almost the whole of Podolia. Poland retained only that part of her
Eastern lands where Poles constituted the majority or where Polish
culture was predominant.
Russian official quarters recognized without reservation the con-
ciliatory character of the Riga Treaty. Before its conclusion they
several times suggested to Poland a border-line which would reach even
farther east than that fixed by the Treaty of Riga. This suggestion was
mentioned, for instance, in the declaration of the Council of the People's
Commissars on January 29, 1920.
The Treaty of Riga was not only signed by delegates of the Russian
Soviet Republic who were at the same time acting in the name of the
White Ruthenian Soviet Republic, but also by authorized delegates of
the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. After having signed the Treaty the
head of the Soviet delegation, Joffe, made a speech in which he stated :
" We have been calmly negotiating a peace here in Riga . . . .
None of the peace treaties concluded by Russia and the Ukraine
admits preparations for a new war, because none of them leaves any
problem unsolved or solved merely on the basis of the relative
strength of the contracting parties, as was formerly done at the
expense of some of the nations concluding such treaties."
Significant evidence is also contained in the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia,
an official publication of the Soviet State Institute in Moscow. In the
edition of 1940, volume 46, page 247, the frontiers of the Riga Treaty are
characterized in the following way :
" In accordance with its provisions, Poland kept Galicia and a
part of White Ruthenia. However, the new Soviet-Polish frontier
was far less advantageous for the White Poles than the one which
was proposed to Poland by the Soviet Government in April, 1920;
the frontier determined after the Polish-Soviet war runs 50 to 100
kilometres to the west of the line which was suggested at the
beginning of the war. This means that Soviet Russia emerged
victorious even from this struggle against the forces of counter-
revolution."
The frontiers drawn by the Treaty of Riga were recognized on
March 15, 1923, by the Conference of Ambassadors of the Principal
Allied Powers in accordance with Article 87 of the Versailles Treaty,
which authorized these Powers to fix Poland's Eastern boundaries. At
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that time Lord Curzon was still Foreign Secretary of Great Britain.
The Government of the, United States recognized the frontiers of the
Riga Treaty three weeks later, on April 5, 1923.
These frontiers were never questioned or repudiated by the Soviet
Government until the Red Army invaded Poland on September 17,
1939. On the contrary, the Soviet Government on many occasions
solemnly affirmed their validity in various agreements and official pro-
nouncements, as in the Pact of Non-Aggression between Poland and the
U.S.S.R., signed in Moscow, on July 25, 1932, and subsequently prolonged
on May 5, 1934, until December 31, 1945.
The Convention for the Definition of Aggression, signed by the
U.S.S.R., Poland and other neighbouring countries in London on July 3,
1933, in Article 2, among other things stated that an aggressor is that
State which is the first to perpetrate " invasion by its armed forces, with
or without a declaration of war, of the territory of another State and
Article 3 stated that " no political, military, economic or other considera-
tion may serve as an excuse or justification for the aggression referred
to in Article 2." In the light of these resolutions, the arguments used
as an excuse for the armed invasion of Poland, made in the statement
of the Soviet Government of September 17, 1939, and later in various
official declarations, cannot be considered to possess any significance as
they are completely contradictory to former voluntary obligations under-
taken by the U.S.S.R.
According to International Law also " elections " under military
occupation as those staged in Eastern Poland by the Soviet authorities
on October 22, 1939, are devoid of any significance. Apart from this,
these " elections," in which the population was only allowed to vote for
official Soviet candidates, were held in such an atmosphere of unquestion-
able compulsion that it is impossible to consider them as reflecting in
any way an expression of the free will of the inhabitants. Moreover,
the population was not at all informed of the actual purpose of the
" elections," namely, that the " representatives " elected should decide
on the incorporation of Eastern Poland into the Soviet Union.
On the basis of the Agreement concluded in London, on July 30,
1941, between Poland and the U.S.S.R., the latter repealed its previous
allegation that Poland had ceased to exist as a State, and declared null and
void all the treaties concluded in 1939 with Germany as to territorial
changes in Poland. Thus, in view of the fact that no state of war existed
between Poland and the U.S.S.R., all binding treaties and above all the
Treaty of Riga, signed by the two countries, have automatically resumed
their legal force.
2. Economic and Social Evidence
The Eastern provinces are indispensable to Poland as a source of
raw materials and of agricultural wealth. Their area provides 50 per
cent. of Poland's forests, 63 per cent. of the total Polish oil output, 90
per cent. of the natural gas production, one of Europe's richest potassium
mines, Poland's unique deposit of phosphates and ozocerites, half of the
output of Poland's quarries including the most important for road
building. Moreover, the Eastern provinces possess 42 per cent. of
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8 THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND
Poland's water power (" white coal "). They are also her chief source
of flax, hemp, maize and tobacco.
For centuries Poland has contributed vastly to the material and
economic development of her Eastern provinces. Many public works
were initiated, particularly during the reign of the last King of Poland,
Stanislaus Augustus, such as the building of the Royal Canal and the
Oginski Canal, which joined the river systems of the Pripet, the Niemen
and the Vistula.
The Tsarist Russian Government not only failed to give this region
anything comparable, but even hampered every kind of economic and
social progress. Under Russian domination this part of Eastern Poland
became one of the most backward regions of Europe. The Austrian
administration of Galicia was rather better ; from about the middle of 19th
century, however, the administration of the province was-as pointed
out above-in Polish hands. Nevertheless, Galicia, too, was deliberately
neglected economically by the central authorities in Vienna, because the
Austrians feared the loss of markets and hence they prevented the
country from attaining a higher level of industrial development.
During barely 20 years of its own administration the resurrected
Polish State very considerably improved the economic and social
conditions in its Eastern lands. This fact has been admitted by many
foreign observers.
The two decades of Polish economy in the area which had until 1918
belonged to Russia, resulted in the first instance in a large scale intensifi-
cation of agricultural production. The crops of the principal agricultural
products, in hundredweights per 1 hectare, increased in comparison with
those at the time of Russian domination :-
1909-1913
1934-1938
Wheat
...
...
...
9.5
11.3
Barley
...
...
...
8.1
10.0
Rye
...
...
...
8.2
10.2
Oats
...
...
...
7.8
9.8
Potatoes
...
...
...
68.0
109.0
Volhynia held the first place among all the Polish provinces in the
systematic expansion of the area of wheat and sugar-beet ? cultivation,
as well as in the increased productiveness of its soil. Hop and hemp
production were largely developed, and, at the outbreak of war, these
crops represented 60 and 26 per cent. respectively of Poland's total
production.
The North-eastern provinces-Wilno, Nowogrodek and the part of the
Bialystok Province lying east of the Curzon Line-showed a marked
development in their flax cultivation (67,200 hectares, i.e. 45.5 per cent. of
the total flax-yielding area in Poland).
Galicia also underwent an intensification of agricultural production
after 1918. About 22 per cent. of the arable land of the Tarnopol
Province was utilized for wheat-growing, and its production amounted
to nearly one-fourth (23.6 per cent.) of the total Polish production. In
the provinces of Lwow and Tarnopol large areas were used for sugar-beet
cultivation.
On the lands formerly under Russian rule substantial progress was
made in industrialization. For example, saw mills were modernized and
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new ones built ; this was also the case with the manufacturing of ply-
wood (new large plants in Mikaszewicze and Pinsk), matches, furniture,
cellulose, etc. The food-stuff industry was enlarged by many new
factories processing meat, fruit and other agricultural products ; a large
new cold storage plant was just about to be completed in Wilno. A big
factory in Wilno supplied the whole country with first rate wireless sets.
Finally, Volhynia's rich quarries were considerably extended.
Under the Polish Government new roads were built. In the
provinces of Wilno, Nowogr6dek, Polesie and Volhynia, twice as
many hard-surface roads were constructed in the 20 years after Poland's
restoration as the Russians built in the 120 years of their domination.
Towns as well as villages were rebuilt and modernized. Extensive
modernization was carried out on a particularly large scale in such cities
as Wilno, Lida, Baranowicze, Brzesc-on-Bug, Pinsk, Kowel, Luck,
Rdwne and Krzemieniec. In all towns, even small ones, electric light
and modern sanitation systems were introduced, pavements laid, parks
opened and flower beds set and many attractive buildings for schools,
hospitals, cultural institutions, theatres, cinemas, offices, and so on
erected.
. In Eastern Galicia, too, the Polish administration founded and
developed local industries ; the expansion of the potassium mine at
Kalusz and the building of two large sugar factories at Tarnopol and
Horodenka are the most important examples. The general conditions in
towns and villages were improved notably.
As far as social conditions were concerned, the successive Polish
Governments carried out an extensive agrarian reform in Eastern Poland,
by which hundreds of thousands of landless and small-holding peasants
were given ownership of land, regardless of their nationality. At the
same time the consolidation of farms and a general amelioration of land
were carried out. As far as the consolidation is concerned, Volhynia
held the second place among all the provinces of Poland, and the first
place with regard to the area ameliorated.
In Eastern Poland large and middle-sized landed property (above
50 hectares, or 125 acres) amounted to about 15 per cent. of the total
arable land in 1939. This fact eloquently contradicts the allegations,
spread by propaganda hostile to Poland, that Polish " landlords " hold
the larger part of the land. It is interesting and revealing to draw
a comparison with Germany in this respect : in that country landed
estates of over 50 hectares represent-according to the 1931 figures-
about 30 per cent. of the total area under cultivation, in East Prussia
that proportion is as high as 52 per cent, in Prussian Pomerania 52.5 per
cent., and in Mecklenburg even 63 per cent.
As in other parts of Poland, a modern system of social insurance,
unknown at the time of Russian rule, was also introduced in the Eastern
Provinces. A considerable number of hospitals and medical estab-
lishments were built. Owing to the work done by the Polish medical
services, the hygienic conditions greatly improved, and the death
rate among infants decreased considerably. According to the reports of
the Health Section of the League of Nations, the Eastern frontier of
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10 THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND
Poland was at the same time a barrier to epidemics coming from the
east. They were effectively stopped by the Polish health services. *
The majority of Poland's health resorts lie in the Eastern territories
under Polish administration they were modernized and equipped with
all the necessary medical installations. Neither capital nor effort was
spared in order to develop such spas as Morszyn and Truskawiec, in
Eastern Galicia, known for their healing waters. Druskienniki, in the
northern part of Eastern Poland, played a role similar to that of Morszyn.
The period of Soviet occupation resulted in a complete disorganiza-
tion of the economic life of these territories, and in a decided decline in
the standard of life of the entire population.
3. National Tradition and the Predominance of Polish Culture
The Eastern provinces are bound to Poland by numberless ties of
tradition and culture. They gave Poland many of her greatest citizens,
such as the High Constables Stanislaw Zolkiewski and Karol Chodkiewicz ;
King Jan Sobieski-the saviour of Vienna ; Tadeusz Kosciuszko-the
leader of the Insurrection of 1794 and the hero of the American War of
Independence ; Emilia Plater-the heroine of the 1830-1831 Insurrec-
tion ; Romauld Traugutt-the leader of the 1863-1864 Insurrection.
The two greatest Polish poets, Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Slowacki,
came from these lands, like many other distinguished writers : the
playwright Alexander Fredro, the poets Bohdan Zaleski, Seweryn
Goszczynski, Kornel Ujejski, the novelists Jozef Korzeniowski, Jozef
Ignacy Kraszewski, Eliza Orzeszkowa, Maria Rodziewiczowna. Also the
two outstanding personalities of modern Poland, Ignacy Jan Paderewski
and Jozef Pilsudski, were natives of these provinces. All these prominent
Poles belonged to old local families and were not descendants of settlers.
Joseph Conrad, the well-known English author of Polish descent, was
also born there.
Lwow and Wilno ranked among Polish capitals throughout the
centuries and they never ceased to occupy a prominent place in the
heart of every Pole. Most of the towns of South-eastern Poland, to quote
only Tarnopol, Stanislaw6w, Zbaraz, Brzekany, Trembowla, Zolkiew,
were founded and built by Poles, and they have all played a distinguished
part in Polish national history.
Many old centres of Polish culture may be found in Eastern Poland.
Already in the 16th century, Wilno had 16 Polish printing houses, and
their number increased to 19 in the 17th century. In the second half
of the 16th century the Academy of Wilno was founded by the Polish
King, Stefan Batory. This institution, under the name of the University
of Wilno, attained a leading, if not a dominating position, in Polish
intellectual life during the first decades of the 19th century. Mickiewicz
and Slowacki studied there ; prominent scientists lectured there, and
many spiritual, scientific and political movements, such as the Societies
of Philomats and Philarets, flourished in this city. From there Prince
Adam Czartoryski conducted his extensive educational and cultural
programme. Owing to a well organized network of 'elementary, secondary
* Weekly Epidemiological Record. League of Nations, 1937.
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and professional schools, its influence was felt all over Poland's Eastern
territories.
The University of Wilno, closed by the Russians in 1832, was
reopened by the Polish authorities after the last war ; beside it, a number
of other high schools, academies and scientific societies, were busy
carrying on the work of reconstruction and progress.
In the south-east, Lwow held a similar position in Polish cultural
life for centuries. The Lwdw University was founded in the 17th century
and occupied a prominent place in the scientific world owing to the
activities of many great scientists such as, for example, Professor
Czekanowski, the anthropologist, and Professor Weigl, the discoverer of
the anti-typhus vaccine.. Apart from its University, Lwdw had a
Technical Academy with a very high standard of teaching, and a number
of other Academies. There, too, bad been founded one of the most
important monuments of Polish culture, the national library called
Ossolineum.
Volhynia had its main cultural centre in the Krzemieniec College
which was closed in 1833 by the Russian authorities and reopened by the
Poles as soon as Poland regained her independence. Many of the smaller
towns of Volhynia, Polesie and the Wilno and Nowogrddek regions, such
as Ostrdg, Luck, Brzesc, Pinsk and Nieswiez had their Polish printing
houses as early as the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Province of Nowogrddek, the native land of Mickiewicz, was
used by the eminent poet as a background to Poland's greatest national
epic poem, Pan Tadeusz.
Apart from the reopening of the Wilno University and of the
Krzemieniec College, and apart from enlarging the Lwdw University,
the Government of the resurrected Polish State very considerably
increased the number of elementary, secondary and professional schools,,
as well as of public libraries. Compulsory education, non-existent under
Russian rule, was introduced ; at the time of Russian domination
illiteracy in those areas was enormous. Under Polish administration the
number of illiterates dropped, during the 20 years of independence, tc
as low as one-third of the previous figures.
4. National and Religious Relations
In the territory east of the Curzon Line, and the latter's extension
southwards, the Poles numerically represented the strongest national
group beside the Ukrainians (Ruthenians). According to the 1931
census they numbered about 4 million.
The Polish population has an absolute majority in wide areas.
Such a majority may be found above all in the zone extending from
Bialystok (situated west of the Curzon Line) in a north-easterly direction
towards the River Dvina ; this zone includes the north-eastern part of
the Bialystok Province (the city of Grodno and its vicinity), the larger
part of the Wilno Province including the city of Wilno, as well as a large
portion of the Province of Nowogrddek. Thus, contrary to opinion in
some quarters, Wilno is not a Polish " island " surrounded by areas
with a majority of White Ruthenian or Lithuanian people. Wilno lies
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in a country which is ethnically closely bound to the main body of the.
Polish nation.
The proportion of the various nationalities in the provinces of
Wilno and Nowogrodek is illustrated by the following figures, quoted
according to the census of 1931 :-
Province of Province of
Wilno Nowogrodek
Poles ... ... ... ... ... 59.7 per cent. 52.4 per cent.
White Ruthenians ... ... ... 22.7 ? 39.1
Jews ... ... ... ... ... 8.5 ? 7.3
Lithuanians ... ... ... ... 5.2 ? 0.0
Russians ... ... ... ... ... 3.4 ? 0.7
Other and undeclared nationalities ... 0.5 ,,, 0.5
The western and central counties of both provinces show a parti-
cularly high percentage of Poles. The highest percentage of the Polish
population is found in the following districts : Wilno-Troki (84.2 per cent.
Poles, and 7.9 per cent. Lithuanians) ; Szczuczyn (83.5 per cent. Poles
and no Lithuanians) ; Oszmiana (81.2 per cent. Poles and 1.5 per cent.
Lithuanians) ; Lida (79.4 per cent. Poles and 1.3 per cent Lithuanians).
In the city of Wilno itself the Poles represent 65.9 per cent. of the total
population in 1931, while the remainder are mostly Jews, the number
of Lithuanians (0.8 per cent.) and of White Ruthenians (0.9 per cent.)
being quite negligible.
In that part of the Wilno Province (including the city of Wilno)
which the Soviet illegally ceded to Lithuania following the agreement
signed on October 10, 1939, and which subsequently was incorporated
into the Soviet Union together with the whole of Lithuania, the pro-
portion of nationalities was, according to the 1931 census:-
Total population ... ... ... ... ... 489,000
Poles ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 337,000 i.e. 69.0 per cent.
Jews ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 66,000 ? 13.5
Lithuanians ... ... ... ... ... ... 55,000 ? 11.3
Russians ... ... ... ... ... ... 16,000 ? 3.2
White Ruthenians ... ... ... ... ... 12,000 ? 2.4
Other and undeclared nationalities ... ... ... 3,000 ? 0.6
In his speech at the 5th session of the Supreme Council of the
U.S.S.R., on October 31, 1939, M. Molotov, the Commissar for Foreign
Affairs, admitted that :
" the Soviet Union decided to hand over the city of Wilno to the
Lithuanian Republic not because it is inhabited by a Lithuanian
majority. No, in fact, Wilno has a majority of non-Lithuanian
population."
Statistics compiled 'in 1916 and 1918, by German occupation
authorities unfavourable to Poland, proved beyond doubt the existence
of a majority of Polish inhabitants in the whole stretch of land extending
from the county of Grodno and embracing a large portion of the Wilno
and Nowogrodek provinces. The aim of those authorities was to create
a Lithuanian vassal Kingdom with Wilno as its capital. The following
are the results of the German census of 1916 (the administrative division
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of that period does not exactly correspond with the present one) :-
County
Poles
per cent.
Lithuanians
per cent.
Jews
per cent.
Various
per cent.
Grodno rural
...
...
78.1
2.4
11.7
7.8
Grodno urban
...
...
31.1
0.5
63.7
4.7
Radun ...
...
...
87.4
7.9
3.9
0.8
Wasiliszki
...
...
57.8
0.9
10.2
31.1*
Wilno rural
...
...
89.8
4.3
4.3
1.6
Wilno urban
...
...
50.2
2.6
43.5
3.7
Podbrodzie
...
...
72.1
10.2
9.3
8.4t
The result of this census came as a complete surprise to the German
authorities. Captain von Backerath wrote in his report to the German
High Command on January 3, 1917 :-
" The numerical, as well as political and economic importance
of the Polish element was underestimated in Berlin. Russian
official statistics . . . . do not comply with the requirements of
modern science and certainly have been distorted to the disadvantage
of the Poles, whose real strength has thus become more apparent."
According to another census carried out by the German occupying
authorities in 1918, the Polish population in the city of Wilno represented
53.3 per cent. of the inhabitants ; Jews 41.9 per cent. ; Lithuanians
1.9 per cent. In the rural county of Wilno the Poles represented 91.2
per cent. and the Lithuanians only 3.7 per cent. of the total population.
The Polish character of Wilno and of the Wilno Province has been
openly admitted by General Ludendorff in his memoirs of the First
World War. Not without regret does he stress the fact that the Wilno
territory is " very Polish in spirit," also that " Wilno, Grodno and other
towns are Polish."+ In another part of his memoirs Ludendorff quotes
the opinion expressed by the German Secretary of State, von Hintze, on,
August 28, 1918 ; according to von Hintze's words Wilno " would always.
constitute a foreign element in any Lithuanian State," owing to its Polish
character. For this very reason Hintze was opposed to the incorporation
of Wilno in the Lithuanian State which the Germans were creating at:
the time, and the German G.H.Q. in an instruction dated August 30,
1918, inclined to this opinion.?
German statistics compiled during the present war give the same
evidence as those compiled in 1916 and 1918. Despite deportations of
the Polish population carried out by both Soviet and German authorities,
the Poles, according to the census of May 26, 1942, continue to make up
the absolute majority in the city of Wilno. The population statistics
announced in January, 1944, and compiled by the Lithuanian Adminis-
tration of Wilno, provide yet another proof that the town is Polish. These
statistics relate to 1943, and give the number of inhabitants of Wilno as
* Including 26.9 per cent. of White Ruthenians.
t Including 6.8 per cent. of White Ruthenians.
t Ludendorff Fr. My Way Memories, 1914-1918. London, 1919. p. 471.
? Ibid., pp. 704-705.
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144,531 (in 1939, 209,000). The proportion of national groups is as
follows :-
Poles ...
...
Lithuanians
31,378
(21.7
,.
)
White Ruthenians
3,015
( 2.1
Russians ...
...
6,355
( 4.4
" Volksdeutsche "
456
(0.3
Others ...
...
847
( 0.6
)s
according to 1931 Census
- OVER 3OS ADSOLUTE MAJORITY
? {O-499?b RELATIVE MAJORITY
? 90'49. 9Ya MINORITY
Percentage of population of POLISH nationality
606
* It is characteristic that the statistics of the Lithuanian Administration of
Wilno does not mention Jewish population, which in 1939 constituted 28 per cent.
of all inhabitants. The number of Lithuanians in Wilno has jumped, according to
the Lithuanian statistics, from 0.8 per cent. to 21.7 per cent. ; this would be
explained by the influx of Lithuanian officials, Lithuanian police force, and the
Lithuanian army, all of whom were included in the statistics. The Polish statistics
did not include the garrison of the town.
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The second large agglomeration of the Polish population is in
Eastern Galicia. The Polish element in that province is autochthonous
and, in fact, its first settlement may be traced back to a time prior to
the settlement of Ruthenians. It was due to Tartar invasions into
Kiev-Ruthenia that the local Ruthenians, fleeing from the invaders,
came to settle in the territory later called Eastern Galicia ; at the same
time other Polish settlers came from the west. This, naturally, led
to the intermingling of Polish and Ruthenian elements. A symbiosis
of these two nationalities exists in this area to this day ; counties with a
Polish majority, as well as those with a Ruthenian majority, are scattered
all over the country.
Out of the three provinces of Eastern Galicia the largest percentage
of Poles live in the Tarnopol Province, where the Poles form 49.3 per
cent, the Ukrainians (Ruthenians) 45.5 per cent., the remainder being
Jews and others. In the part of the Lwow Province, east of the extension
southwards of the Curzon Line, the Polish and Ukrainian (Ruthenian)
elements are numerically almost equal, for they both represent about
45 per cent. of the population ; the rest, i.e. 10 per cent., being Jews and
others. Only in the Stanislawdw Province, bordering on the Carpathian
Mountains, and therefore relatively thinly populated, the percentage of
Poles is considerably smaller (22.4 per cent.).
The capital of Eastern Galicia, the city of Lwow, had 312,000
inhabitants in 1931, of whom 63.7 per cent. were Poles, 11.3 per cent.
Ukrainians (Ruthenians) and about 25 per cent. Jews. Statistics corn-
piled by German authorities in September, 1942, show that Poles
formed 59.6 per cent. of the inhabitants of Lwow at that time.
According to the official German guide, Das General-Gouvernement,
by Karl Badeker (Leipzig, 1943), the city of Lwow, to which the Germans
added some suburban districts, has now a population of 420,000, of
whom 12,000 are Germans, 42,000 (10 per cent.) Ukrainians and " the
rest are Poles," the rest being 366,000 (87.1 per cent.). The Jews are
not mentioned, but it is known that the Jewish ghetto of Lwdw was
" liquidated " in 1942.
In the remaining Eastern provinces, i.e. Volhynia and Polesie, the
Poles are in the minority, but everywhere Polish culture is preponderant.
The Poles in the Eastern provinces belong to all social classes ; but
most of them are peasants and workers. Allegations that the bulk of
the Polish population in these provinces is recruited from " landlords "
and officials, are completely devoid of foundation. The mere fact that
such a great number of Poles live there gives the lie to such assertions.
That proportion would have been much higher were it not for a
ruthless campaign of Russification relentlessly carried out by the Russian
Imperial authorities during the 120 years of Poland's subjugation.
Tens of thousands of Poles, mainly from the Eastern provinces, were at
that time deported to the interior of Russia, to Siberia, whence they
never returned. After the Insurrection of 1830-1831 Tsar Nicholas I
ordered the deportation of several tens of thousands of families of the
poorer Polish gentry, whose material condition and standard of
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living did not differ from those of the peasantry. Russian authorities
closed not only the University of Wilno, but also all Polish schools, thus
forcing Polish children and the Polish youth to attend Russian schools.
Moreover, the Tsarist Government suppressed, in the entire Eastern
territory, the Uniate Church, which constitutes the Eastern branch of
the Catholic Church. All Uniates were forcibly included in the Orthodox
Church and subjected there to an intense process of Russification.
These measures, unscrupulously applied to the Polish population by
the Tsarist regime, were subsequently condemned on many occasions by
Soviet political writers, including Lenin himself. Yet, when in 1939 the
Eastern half of the re-instituted Polish State found itself under Soviet
occupation, the occupying authorities applied to the local Polish
population the well known system which found its expression primarily
in the deportation to the interior of Russia of over a million Polish
citizens, most of whom were Poles by birth.
Thus the Polish element in the Eastern territories is being subjected
for well over a century-with the exception of the short period of
Poland's independence-to systematic extermination. But it holds fast
to its Polish allegiance and to the land of its ancestors.
It should be kept in mind that members of the Polish armed forces
now in Britain, the Middle East and Italy, are in a large majority recruited
from Poles born and bred in Poland's Eastern provinces. Among Polish
airmen who -played a distinguished part in the Battle of Britain in the
autumn of 1940, the majority were young men from the Eastern
territories. The " Lwow " and " Wilno " squadrons rank among the
best fighting units.
l3eside the Poles, the Ukrainians (Ruthenians) represent the second
largest national group in Eastern Poland. They inhabit chiefly Eastern
Galicia and Volhynia, and number about 4 million according to the
1931 census. In the provinces of Wilno and Nowogrodek, as well as in
the eastern part of the Bialystok Province and northern part of Polesie,
the White Ruthenian population amount to over 900,000.
Neither the Ukrainians nor the White Ruthenians regard themselves
as Russians ; on the contrary, they consider themselves very different
from the latter. And here it may be safely said that the official Soviet
attitude does not deny the fact.
The Western groups of those people living in Poland are, without
doubt, both ethnically and culturally more akin to the Poles than to the
Russians ; this is due to the common age-long relationship, the numerous
mixed marriages, the influence of Polish culture and social institutions
modelled on Western patterns, and lastly-with regard to a large section
of the White Ruthenians and Ukrainians-it is also due to the Catholic
religion common to themselves and to the Poles.
Polish policy towards the Ukrainians may be judged from different
angles. Doubtlessly, the Polish administration made mistakes ; neverthe-
less, the fact remains that the Ukrainians possessed national rights in
Poland and, what is more, they enjoyed greater freedom than did their
brethren in the Soviet Union.
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THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND 17
With the exception of a small number of Communists, there was in
Poland no political group among the Ukrainians which would have tried
to secure the support of Soviet Russia. During the Soviet occupation
none of the Ukrainian political parties declared their pro-Russian leanings.
As soon as the Germans re-occupied Eastern Galicia some Ukrainian
elements went so far in demonstrating their attitude as to form several
volunteer divisions to fight against the Soviet armies. The Ukrainian
Front of National Unity and the OUN (Ukrainian secret terrorist
organization) tried to get in touch with the Germans.
It may be said that before the outbreak of war, in spite of certain
frictions and mutual grievances, the relations between the main body of
Ukrainians and the Poles gradually improved and advanced towards a
still closer understanding. In August, 1.939, shortly before the outbreak
of war, the largest and most important Ukrainian party, the Ukrainian
National Democratic Union (UNDO), issued a declaration in which the
Ukrainian population affirmed their allegiance to the -Polish State and
asserted that they would fulfil their duty as loyal citizens in the event
of a German invasion of Poland. The declaration issued on September 2,
1939, by M. Mudry, chairman of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Group
in the Polish Seym, reflected the same spirit.
The Ukrainians enjoyed the same rights as the Poles. In the Polish
Seym and Senate they possessed a numerically strong representation
composed of delegates from all Ukrainian political parties, ranging from
Nationalists to Radical Socialists.
The Greek Catholic denomination, universal among the Ukrainians
of Eastern Galicia, united them closely with Western European civilisa-
tion, and it played no negligible part in reducing the cultural difference
between them and the Poles. The Greek Catholic Church enjoyed
complete autonomy ; in spite of the fact that Greek Catholics were not
exclusively of Ukrainian nationality, the clergy were almost entirely
Ukrainian.
Moreover, the Ukrainians had great freedom with regard to their
cultural life, which developed on national lines. According to statistical
data of 1937, the Ukrainians had two daily papers and 123 periodicals
of economic, cultural, educational or religious character. As far as
Ukrainian education in Eastern Galicia was concerned, there were in 1939
452 Ukrainian elementary schools ; 2,485 bi-lingual elementary schools ;
38 Ukrainian high schools ; 2 bi-lingual high schools.
It must be pointed out that in all provinces with a mixed Polish
and Ukrainian population the Ukrainian language was taught in all
schools and was treated as a special subject, while the principle of
religious teaching in the mother tongue was generally applied. In the
universities of Lwow, Cracow and Warsaw the Ukrainians held a number
of chairs. Moreover, there was a Greek Catholic Theological Academy
in Lwow and a Ukrainian Institute of Sciences in Warsaw. There
existed a number of Scientific Societies and many other cultural institu-
tions, such as the Ukrainian National Museum in LwOw, many libraries,
bookshops, theatrical companies, etc. The most important cultural and
educational institutions were : " Prosvita," which, according to its
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annual report of 1936, ran 1,301 country club houses, 2,915 permanent
and 118 mobile libraries ; and " Ridna Shkola," which, according to its
1938 report, ran 2,049 centres providing for 110,000 members.
The Ukrainians are mostly farmers (about 90 per cent). In trade
and industry they could not be described as very enterprising, but on
the other hand they proved to be extremely capable in organizing the
co-operative movement. In 1937 the " RSUK " (" The Revisional
Union of Ukrainian Co-operative Societies") comprised as many as 3,516
co-operative societies with their 661,000 members. It must, however,
be acknowledged that the really flourishing development of the Ukrainian
co-operatives began after the Poles had taken over the administration of
Eastern Galicia. The Poles gave their support to such enterprises, not
infrequently in the form of State subsidies.
White Ruthenians, too, had their own representatives in the Polish
Seym, as well as their own cultural, social and economic institutions.
The population of Polesie occupied a special position from a national
point of view. The majority of people in that sparsely populated province
described themselves in every census as " local people " ; they consider
themselves neither White Ruthenian nor Ukrainian, and their sympathies
seem to be largely pro-Polish since Poland safeguarded their religion and
ownership of land.
The Russians always formed a negligible fraction in Eastern Poland,
their total number. amounting only to 102,000 in 1931. In Eastern
Galicia there are no Russians at all, an obvious fact, as this province,
as already said, has never in its history been under Russian sovereignty.
The total number of Russians in Poland amounted in 1931 to
139,000. For the sake of comparison it may be said that the Treaty of
Riga left within the boundaries of the Soviet Union about one and a half
million Poles.
The Jews represented a fairly large national group in Eastern
Poland (about 900,000 in 1931). The remainder included smaller groups
among which there were 76,000 Lithuanians.
The religious aspect of the position in all Polish territories, east of
the Curzon Line, and of the latter's extension into Galicia, was this
Catholics (of both rites)
6,110,000 i.e. 56.7 per cent.
Orthodox
...
...
3,408,000 ?
31.7
Hebrews
...
...
1,065,000 ?
9.9
Other denominations ...
185,000 ?
1.7
According to the 1931 census, the figures illustrating the religious
denominations in Eastern Galicia were :-
Catholics (of both rites)
...
...
88.7 per cent.
Hebrews
...
...
...
...
10.4
Protestants
...
...
...
...
0.5
Orthodox
...
...
...
...
0.2
Other denominations
...
...
...
0.2
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THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND 19
The Polish Eastern borderlands gave to Poland many remarkable
leaders of religious life. The most famous of all Polish preachers, Piotr
Skarga, was Rector of the Academy of Wilno in the 17th century. The
so-called Ostya Brama in Wilno, with its ancient image of the Virgin,
has for centuries been a shrine most ardently venerated by the Polish
population, as well as by the Lithuanians and the White Ruthenians.
The Catholics are strongly opposed to the Soviet system and to the
ideology it represents. The same is true of the feelings of the majority
of the Orthodox and Jewish population.
5. The Strategic Importance of the Eastern Territories of Poland
In the case of a new German aggression and an invasion of Polish
territory by enemy forces the Eastern provinces would provide
the Polish army with the necessary territorial depth. This-together
with an adequate armament-would enable the Poles to sustain
the first impetus of a German attack and to organize further
military operations. As for Russia, these territories are of no
value in this respect, when her immensely vast area and the distances
of her capitals and industrial centres from her western borders are taken
into account. Furthermore, Poland serves as a shield for Russia against a
German political or military Drang each Osten owing to her geographical
position as well as to the decidedly anti-German attitude of the Polish
nation and the latter's sincere desire of maintaining friendly relations
with its eastern neighbour.
Poland's Eastern Territories are Not Essential to Russia
The area of Poland's Eastern territories is merely 0.9 per cent. of
the total area of the Soviet Union, its population is less than 7 per cent.
of the total population of the U.S.S.R.
The number of Russians who live in Eastern Poland does not exceed
1 per cent. of the population. They consist mainly of the remnants of
the old Tsarist bureaucracy. Poland's Eastern territories, whether on
account of their historic traditions or their emotional value, are no asset
to Russia.
Also economically, Eastern Poland is of no importance to Russia,
because of the latter's formidable territorial possessions. Resources,
enumerated above, so essential to Poland's national economy, would
mean but a small and insignificant fraction of Soviet Russia's wealth
under the same categories. For example, the area of Polish forests in
the Eastern provinces amounts to 4.2 million hectares, whereas the
U.S.S.R. has 950 million hectares ; Polish oil production-500 thousand
tons, the U.S.S.R.'s-28 million tons ; the area under flax cultivation in
Eastern Poland embraces 102,000 hectares, whereas in the U.S.S.R. it
amounts to no less than 2,250,000 hectares. In the Soviet Ukraine alone
the U.S.S.R. has far greater natural resources.
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20 THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND
The Eastern territories, which have excellent lines of communication
with the remainder of Poland (among others a number of canals built
by the Polish Republic before the Partitions) would lie on the outskirts
of the huge Russian Empire (the distance from Wilno to Warsaw is 270
miles and to Moscow 525 miles) which, consequently, would condemn
them to economic decline. The history of Soviet Russia shows that the
centres of her economic potential have been steadily shifted eastwards.
Soviet Ukraine, right of the Dnieper bank, and Soviet White Ruthenia
have been neglected economically by the Soviet authorities, who for
military reasons lay special stress on the development of industry farther
east, whereas the borderlands are treated rather as a strategic belt.
This fate would befall Poland's Eastern territories in the case of their
incorporation into the U.S.S.R. still more than it has done Soviet
Ukraine or White Ruthenia.
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EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND
21
THE
Appendix No. 1
THE PRINCIPAL ALLIED POWERS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR
AND THE EASTERN BOUNDARIES OF POLAND
I.-The so-called Curzon Line
On December 8, 1919, a decision of the Supreme Council of the
Allied and Associated Powers adopted a declaration in which it drew a
provisional eastern line of Poland, within which it recognized Poland's
right to organize as soon as possible a regular administration on the
territories of the former Russian Empire. It stated clearly that east of
this line any rights which Poland might claim were expressly reserved.
The declaration begins as follows :
" Les principales Puissances alliees et associees, ayant reconnu
qu'il importe de faire cesser le plus tot possible 1'etat actuel d'incerti-
tude politique dans laquelle se trouve la nation polonaise, et sans
prejuger des stipulations ulterieurs devant fixer les frontieres
orientales definitives de la Pologne, declarent reconnaitre des a
present le droit du Gouvernement polonaise de proceder, dans les
termes precedemment prevus par le Traite du 28 juin 1919 avec la
Pologne, a 1'organisation dune administration reguliere des terri-
toires de 1'ancien Empire de Russie situes a l'ouest de la ligne ci-
dessous decrite."
The detailed description of the Line (see Document No. 1) begins
with the words : " From the point where the former frontier between
Russia and Austria-Hungary meets the river Bug, etc. . . . ," thence the
line runs northwards. It implies that the line of December 8, 1919 did
not encroach upon the territory of Galicia, which, previously to the First
World War, was part of Austria.
After the detailed description of the whole line the declaration ends
with the observation :
" Rights which Poland may claim to the territories situated to
the east of the above-mentioned line are expressly reserved."
The document made in Paris bears the signature of G. Clemenceau,
Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Allied and Associated Powers.
On July 10, 1920, at Spa, at the time of the victorious Bolshevik
offensive, the Supreme Council exacted Poland's consent for an armistice
with the Soviet based on the line drawn on December 8, 1919. The main
provision of the Agreement concluded between the Supreme Council and
Poland was the following :
" The Polish Government agrees to initiate and sign an
immediate armistice on the basis that the Polish army retires to and
stands on the line fixed by the Peace Conference on the 8th December,
1919, as the provisional boundary of Polish administration, and
that the Soviet armies halt 50 kilom. to the east of this line. Vilna
however, to be handed over immediately to the Lithuanians, and to
be excluded from the zone to be occupied by the Bolsheviks during
the armistice. In the case of Eastern Galicia, the armies to stand
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on the line which they have reached on the date of the armistice,
each army then to retire 10 kilom. so as to have a neutral zone "
(see Document No. 2).
Moreover the obligation was laid on Poland to accept the decisions
of the Supreme Council regarding the frontier between Poland and
Lithuania, the future of Galicia, the question of Cieszyn (Teschen) and
the future treaty between Danzig and Poland.
The line of December, 1919, described by Prof. Paton (Temperley,
Vol. VI, p. 275) as the " provisional minimum frontier," became thereby
in July, 1920, merely a Polish-Soviet armistice line, and-as the Soviet
were opposed to it-it has never been put into practice as such.
For, following the reception of Curzon's cable of July 11, 1920,
giving communication of the Supreme Council's armistice proposal*, the
Soviet Government answered by a refusal to accept the mediation of the
Great Powers and.by an assertion that the Soviet Government was ready
to conclude a direct peace treaty with Poland granting her a frontier
more favourable than the Curzon Line. In fact, already on January 29,
1920, Lenin, Chicherin and Trotsky proposed a Soviet-Polish armistice
line, running farther to the east than the later Riga frontier. The offer of
a frontier more favourable than the Curzon Line was repeated on the
Soviet part at the Minsk negotiations on August 19, 1920, and finally
the same was effectively carried out in the Riga Treaty.
The Riga Treaty being an expression of the free will of both interested
parties was ratified by the Ambassadors' Conference on behalf of the
British Empire, France, Italy and Japan on March 15, 1923, by a resolu-
tion recognizing the Eastern boundaries of Poland. The United States
followed suit on April 5, 1923. By this very procedure the decree annulled
both the provisional frontier line of December 8, 1919, and the suggested
armistice line of July 10 and 11, 1920.
II.-The Demarcation Lines in Galicia
As it appears from the above, neither the so-called Curzon Line of
July, 1920, nor its prototype of December, 1919, running from the
former frontier between Austria and Russia, encroached upon the territory
of Galicia. The declaration of the Supreme Council of December, 1919-
let us recall it-speaks clearly of the territories of the former Russian
Empire. The demarcation lines proposed on the territory of Galicia had
no connection whatever with the preceding problem and their character
was entirely different.
The Principal Powers took primarily into consideration the following
two alternatives :
(a) the return of entire Eastern Galicia to Poland, as a kind of
League of Nations' mandate, providing for an autonomy of the local
population, and this for a term of 25 years, at the end of which a final
decision had to be taken ; or
(b) the division of Eastern Galicia between Poland and a Galician-
Ukrainian State.
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Two alternative demarcation lines stood in connection with these
schemes :
Line A, running east of Przemysl and west of Lwow, should the
whole of Eastern Galicia belong to Poland, under the reservations out-
lined in paragraph (a).
Line B, running east of Lwdw and Drohobycz, i.e., leaving within
Poland's frontiers both Lwdw and the oil-fields-in the event of a division
of Galicia and of a simultaneous creation there in the eastern part of a
small Galician-Ukrainian State.
The Commission on Polish Affairs in its report of April 26, 1919,
and the Supreme Council in its sessions of June 18 and 25, 1919, declared
themselves in favour of the first scheme. Subsequently, the resolution
of the Supreme Council of June 25, 1919, authorized Poland to occupy
the whole of Eastern Galicia as far as the river Zbrucz.
In the second half of 1919, the Commission on Polish Affairs
elaborated a draft of an autonomous statute for Eastern Galicia which
at first met the approval of the Supreme Council at its session of November
21, 1919. As this draft was based upon a merely provisional character
of the Polish rights (final decision to be taken by the League of Nations
25 years later), Poland insisted on its withdrawal. This was done by
decision of the Supreme Council of December 22, 1919.
The problem of Eastern Galicia was finally settled by the Conference
of Ambassadors on March 15, 1923, and by the United States Government
on April 5 of the same year, jointly with the ratification of the entire
eastern frontier of Poland.
The disparity existing between the text of the declaration of the
Supreme Council of December 8, 1919, and the text of the Agreement
concluded with Poland in Spa on July 10, 1920-on one hand, and the
telegram sent the next day by Lord Curzon to the Soviet Government as a
proposal for an armistice with Poland-on the other hand, remains unex-
plained. This telegram, diverging from the afore-mentioned documents,
prolonged the Polish-Soviet demarcation line by making it pass through
Galicia-" west of Rawa Ruska, east of Przemysl, to the Carpathians "
(see Document No. 3).
It is not explained how this inexactness could have occurred in Lord
Curzon's telegram. It could not, however, have any practical bearing
since the final passage of the paragraph with which we are concerned-
in this case in accordance with the Agreement of Spa of July 10-states
that " in Eastern Galicia each army will stand on the line which they
occupy at the date of the signature of the armistice." Yet, at that
time, the Polish-Soviet front was beyond the River Zbrucz, that is not
east of Przemysl, but outside the territory of Eastern Galicia.
This discrepancy, however, originated a quite erroneous interpreta-
tion of the armistice conditions, thus creating an entirely false version
of the Curzon Line, which in fact did never pass through the territory
of Galicia.
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I)A
DECLARATION OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE ALLIED
AND ASSOCIATED POWERS
(Adopted in Paris, December 8, 1919)
Les principales Puissances alliees et associees, ayant reconnu qu'il importe de
faire cesser le plus tot possible 1'etat actuel d'incertitude politique daps laquelle se
trouve la nation polonaise, et sans prejuger des stipulations ulterieurs devant fixer
les frontieres orientales definitives de la Pologne, declarent reconnaitre des a
present le droit du Gouvernement polonais de proceder, dans les termes precedem-
ment prevus par le Traite du 28 juin 1919 avec la Pologne, a l'organisation d'une
administration reguliere des territoires de 1'ancien Empire de Russie situes a
l'ouest de la ligne ci-dessous decrite (voir la carte) :
Du point ou l'ancienne frontiere entre la Russie at 1'Autriche-Hongrie
rencontre la riviere Bug, et jusqu'au point oii elle est toupee par la limite adminis-
trative entre les cercles de Byelsk et de Brest-Litovsk ;
le cours de la Bug vers l'aval ;
de la, vers le nord, cette limite administrative jusqu'au point oil elle forme
on angle aigu a environ 9 kilom. au nord-est de Melnik ;
de la, vers le nord-est jusqu'A on point du cours de la Lesna Prawa oil le
cours d'eau est coupe par la route forestiere en direction sud-nord, passant a
environ 2 kilom. A l'ouest de Skupowo :
une ligne a determiner sur le terrain, laissant a la Pologne les villages de
Weirpole, Stolbce, Piesczatka et Wolka, et coupant la voie ferree Byelsk a Brest-
Litovsk au point on elle franchit la route de Vysoko-Litovsk a Kleshcheli ;
de la, vers le nord, jusqu'au point ofi la route Narev-Narevka coupe le voie
ferree Gainowka-Svisloch ;
une ligne a determiner sur le terrain et le long de la route forestiere designee
ci-dessus ;
de la, vers le nord-est, jusqu'au point situe a 4 kilom. an nord de Yalowka
oii la riviere Svisloch est rejointe par celle qui traverse cette ville
une ligne a determiner sur le terrain ;
de la, en aval le cours du Svisloch, puis en amont celui de Laszanka ; puis
en amont celui du Likowka jusqu'a 11 kilom. A l'ouest de Baranowo ;
de 1a, vers le nord-nord-ouest, jusqu'A un point de la voie ferree Grodna-
Kuznitsa, situe a environ 500 metres an nord-est de la bifurcation de Kielbasin
une ligne a determiner sur le terrain ;
de la, vers le nord-ouest, jusqu'A un point situe sur le cours du Lososna, a
environ 21 kilom. an sud-ouest de son confluent avec le Nyeman
une ligne a determiner sur le terrain ;
de la, le cours du Lososna en aval, puis celui du Nyeman en aval, puis en
amont, jusqu'A sa source, celui de la riviere Igorka, qui traverse Warwischki
de la, vers l'ouest-sud-ouest, jusqu'a on point du cours du Chernohanja
(Marycha) pros de Sztudjanka :
one ligne a determiner sur le terrain, suivant un affluent de la rive gauche
de la, en amont le tours du Chernohanja jusqu'A on point a environ 2.5 kilom.
a Pest de Zelwa ;
de la, vers le nord jusqu'a un point de la route Berzniki-Kopciowa, situe a
environ 2 kilom. an sud-est de Berzniki :
one ligne a determiner sur le terrain
de la, vers le nord-ouest jusqu'au point le plus an sud du rentrant de la limite
administrative septentrionale du district de Suvalki (a environ 7 kilom. an nord-
ouest de Punsk) :
une ligne a determiner sur le terrain, en direction generale parallele a la ligne
de petits lacs situes entre Berzniki et Zegary et a environ 2 kilom. A 1'est de ces
lacs, se dirigeant vers l'ouest jusqu'a on point situe sur le lac Galadusya a environ
2 kilom. an Nord de Zegary, franchissant le lac jusqu'a son extremite nord-ouest
et laissant Punsk a la Pologne ;
de la, vers le nord de la limite administrative de Suvalki jusqu'au point ou
elle recontre l'ancienne frontiere entre la Russie et la Prusse orientale.
Les droits que la Pologne pourrait avoir a faire valoir sur les territoires situes
a Pest de ladite ligne sont expressement reserves.
Fait a Paris, le 8 decembre, 1919.
Le President du Conseil Supreme
des Puissances alliees et associees
G. CLEMENCEAU.
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THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND 25
Document No. 2
AGREEMENT SIGNED BY M. GRABSKI ON JULY 10, 1920 AT SPA
The Polish Government agrees-
(a) To initiate and sign an immediate armistice on the basis that the Polish
army retires to and stands on the line fixed by the Peace Conference
on the 8th December, 1919, as the provisional boundary of Polish
administration, and that the Soviet armies halt 50 kilom. to the east
of this line. Vilna, however, to be handed over immediately to the
Lithuanians, and to be excluded from the zone to be occupied by the
Bolsheviks during the armistice. In the case of Eastern Galicia, the
armies to stand on the line which they have reached on the date of the
armistice, each army then to retire 10 kilom., so as to have a neutral zone.
(b) To send plenipotentiaries to -a conference to be held as soon as possible
afterwards in London, to be attended also by delegates from Poland,
Soviet Russia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and held under the auspices
of the Peace Conference, which shall endeavour to make a lasting peace
between Russia and its European neighbours.
Representatives of Eastern Galicia will also be summoned to London
to state their case at the conference.
(c) To accept the decision of the Supreme Council as to the Lithuanian
boundaries, the future of Eastern Galicia, the Teschen question, and
the treaty to be negotiated between Danzig and Poland.
In consideration of Poland agreeing to the above, the British Government
will-
Immediately make a similar proposal to Soviet Russia ;
In the event of the Russian armies refusing the armistice, and passing the line
as above, the Allies will give Poland all the assistance, especially in
war material, which is possible, consistent with their own exhaustion
and the heavy liabilities they are carrying elsewhere, to enable the
Polish people to defend their independence and national existence.
(Signed) W. T. GRABSKI.
LORD CURZON'S DISPATCH TO THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT OF
JULY 11, 1920
The British Government notes the acceptance by the Russian Soviet
-Government of the principles laid down in its memorandum of 1st July as the basis
of an agreement for the resumption of trade relations and the cessation of mutual
hostilities, and it therefore agrees to continue the negotiations for a definite trade
agreement as soon as the Russian delegates return. The British Government has
a further proposal to make ; the Soviet Government of Russia has repeatedly
declared its anxiety to make peace with all its neighbours ; the British Government,
which is no less anxious to restore peace throughout Europe, therefore proposes the
following arrangements with this object in view :-
(a) That an immediate armistice be signed between Poland and Soviet Russia
whereby hostilities shall be suspended. The terms of the armistice should provide
on the one hand that the Polish army shall immediately withdraw to the line
provisionally laid down last year by the Peace Conference as the eastern boundary
within which Poland was entitled to establish a Polish administration. This line
runs approximately as follows : Grodno, Vapovka, Nemirov, Brest-Litovsk, Doro-
dusk, Ustilug, east of Grubeshov, Krilov and thence west of Ravaruska, east of
Przemysl to Carpathians. North of Grodno the line which will be held by the
Lithuanians will run along the railway running from Grodno to Vilna and thence
to Dvinsk. On the other hand, the armistice should provide that the armies of
Soviet Russia should stand at a distance of 50 kilom. to the east of this line ; in
Eastern Galicia each army will stand on the line which they occupy at the date
the signature of the armistice.
(b) That as soon as possible therefore a conference sitting under the auspices
of the Peace Conference should assemble in London to be attended by representatives
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of Soviet Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland with the object of negotiating
a final peace between Russia and its neighbouring States ; representatives of
Eastern Galicia would also be invited to London to state their case for the purpose
of this conference. Great Britain will place no restriction on the representatives
which Russia may nominate, provided that they undertake while in Great Britain
not to interfere in the politics or the internal affairs of the British Empire or to
indulge in propaganda.
The British Government, as a separate proposal, suggests that an armistice
should similarly be signed between the forces of Soviet Russia and General Wrangel
on the condition that General Wrangel's forces shall immediately retire to the
Crimea, and that General Wrangel should be invited to London to discuss the
future of troops under his command and the refugees under his protection, but not
as a member of the Conference. The British Government would be glad of an
immediate reply to this telegram, for the Polish Government has asked for the
intervention of the Allies, and if time is lost a situation may develop which will
make the conclusion of lasting peace far more difficult in Eastern Europe. Further,
while the British Government has bound itself to give no assistance to Poland for
any purpose hostile to Russia, it is also bound under the Covenant of the League
of Nations to defend the integrity and independence of Poland within its legitimate
ethnographic frontiers. If, therefore, Soviet Russia, despite its repeated
declarations accepting the independence of Poland, will not be content with the
withdrawal of the Polish armies from Russian soil on the condition of a mutual
armistice, but intends to take action hostile to Poland in its own territory, the
British Government and its Allies would feel bound to assist the Polish nation
to defend its existence with all the means at their disposal. The Polish Government
has declared its willingness to make peace with Soviet Russia and to initiate
negotiations for an armistice on basis of conditions set out above directly it is
informed that Soviet Russia also agrees. The British Government therefore would
be glad of definite reply within a week as to whether Soviet Russia is prepared to
accept the aforesaid proposal for putting an end to further unneces_ary bloodshed
and giving peace to Europe."
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Appendix No. 2
SOVIET RUSSIA AND THE EASTERN BOUNDARIES OF POLAND
DURING THE YEARS 1917-1943
1. Extracts from Lenin's speech made to the All-Russian Conference of the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, on May 12, 1917.
. No one has oppressed the Poles as much as have the Russian people.
The Russian people have served in the hands of the Tsar as the executioner of
Polish freedom.
Why should we, Great Russians, who have been oppressing a greater number
of nations than any other people, why should we repudiate the right of separation
for Poland, the Ukraine, Finland ?
If Finland, if Poland, if the Ukraine break away from Russia, it is nothing
terrible. Wherein is it bad ? Anyone who says so is a Chauvinist. One must
be insane to continue the policy of Tsar Nicolas. Norway has separated from
Sweden. . . . Once upon a time Alexander and Napoleon traded peoples, once
upon a time the Tsar were trading portions of Poland. Are we to continue this
policy of the Tsars ? That would be repudiation of international tactics, that
would be Chauvinism of the worst brand.
We say that boundaries are determined by the will of the population. Russia,
you must not dare to fight over Courland ! Germany, out with your armies from
Courland ! This is our solution of the separation problem. The proletariat must
not resort to force, for it must not interfere with the freedom of peoples.
No people can be free which oppresses another people."
Source : Lenin, Sobvanye Sochineny, Moscow, 1927, vol. xx, pp. 275-278.
2. Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of August 29, 1918.
" Article 3.-All treaties and acts concluded by the Government of the former
Russian Empire with the Governments of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austro-
Hungarian Empire, concerning the partitions of Poland, in view of their being
contrary to the principle of the self-determination of nations and the revolutionary
sense of law of the Russian nation, which recognizes the Polish nation's inalienable
right to independence and unity, are hereby repealed irrevocably."
Source : Sobvanye Ilzakonyeny Rasporyazheny Rabochego i Krestyanshogo
Pravitelstva, Nr. 64, September 9, 1918.
3. Statement b~ the Council of the People's Commissars, on January 28, 1920.
" The Council of People's Commissars-
1. Declares that the policy of the Russian Socialist Federation of Soviet
Republics in regard to Poland, arising not from fortuitous and temporary military
or diplomatic combinations, but from the inviolate principle of the right of every
nation to decide its own fate, has recognized and invariably recognizes, without
conditions or reservations, the independence and sovereignty of the Polish Republic,
and bases all its relations with Poland on this recognition, which dates from the
first day of existence of an independent Polish State.
2. Maintaining the last peace proposal made to Poland by the Commissars for
Foreign Affairs on December 22, 1919, the Council of People's Commissars, which
is foreign to all aggressive policy, declares that the Red forces will not pass beyond
the present lines of the front of Byelorussia, running close to the following points
Drysa, Dzisna, Polock, Parycko, the station of Ptycz, liialokorowicze.
In regard to the Ukrainian front, the Council of People's Commissars declares
in its own name and in the name of the Provisional Government of the Ukraine
that the Soviet forces will not carry out military operations to the west of the
occupied zones, close to the small towns of Cudnowa, 1'ilawa, Derazna and the town
of Bar.
(Signed) LENIN (Chairman of the Council).
CHICHERIN (Commissar for Foreign Affairs).
TROTSKY (Commissar for War)."
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4. Treaty of Peace between Poland, Russia and the Ukraine, signed at Riga,
March 18, 1921.
ARTICLE 2.
The two Contracting Parties, in accordance with the principle of national
self-determination, recognize the independence of the Ukraine and of White
Ruthenia, and agree and decide that the eastern frontier of Poland, that is to say,
the frontier between Poland on the one hand, and Russia, White Ruthenia and
the Ukraine on the other, shall be as follows :
ARTICLE 3.
Russia and the Ukraine abandon all rights and claims to the territories situated
to the west of the frontier laid down by Article 2 of the present Treaty. Poland,
on the other hand, abandons in favour of the Ukraine and of White Ruthenia all
rights and claims to the territory situated to the east of this frontier. The two
Contracting Parties agree that, in so far as the territory situated to the west of the
frontier fixed in Article 2 of the present Treaty includes districts which form the
subject of a dispute between Poland and Lithuania, the question of the attribution
of these districts to one of those two States is a matter which exclusively concerns
Poland and Lithuania."
5. Speech made by M. Joffe, the President of the Russian-Ukrainian Delegation.
" On behalf of the Russian-Ukrainian Delegation I should like, first of all, to
second the thanks of the Latvian nation, its government and the hospitable city
of Riga, expressed by the Honourable President of the Polish Delegation, in his
capacity as chairman of the present meeting of the Peace Conference.
I have already had occasion to stress the important part played in peace
negotiations by the general atmosphere and the conditions in which they are
conducted. I am glad to be able to state that, although the international situation
has changed several times in the course of the Russian-Ukrainian-Polish peace
negotiations in Riga, the atmosphere of these conversations has remained invariably
favourable and it facilitated the conclusion of a satisfactory agreement.
I have no doubt that the fact that negotiations were conducted n the capital
of Latvia will contribute to the strengthening of those friendly relations of good
neighbourliness which have existed between the Russian, Ukrainian and White
Ruthenian nations and the Latvian nation since the moment when Russia
spontaneously recognized the right of self-determination of large,and small nations
alike, testifying as far as possible with action her readiness to assist smaller nations
whenever necessary. These bonds will be further strengthened by the fact that
the peace between Russia and Ukraine on the one hand and Poland on the other,
based on the Peace Preliminaries signed also in Riga on October 12 of last year,
once again proves conclusively that Russia and Ukraine do not change their policy
according to circumstances, to the successes or reverses of war, and that they never
abuse the principle of freedom and self-determination for the domination of other
nations, as others have sometimes done, but that they always and in all circumstances
remain faithful to their fundamental principles.
Irrespective of the attempts made by the enemies of the Soviet Union, who-
after the complete failure of armed intervention-endeavour to start a new
intervention against Russia and Ukraine by discrediting them in the eyes of nations
desiring a peaceful collaboration with them, the language of facts is plain. While
a skilful campaign of slander and lies endeavours to convince the credulous that
Soviet Russia and Ukraine are weak, the Soviet rule is being consolidated not only
where it has been flourishing before, but also in parts which it had not hitherto
reached. While the enemies of the Soviet Union tried to use their slander in order
to intimidate the neighbours of Russia and Ukraine with rumours about ' Soviet
aggressiveness ' and reports about alleged Red Army concentrations on the frontiers,
we have been calmly negotiating a peace here in Riga, and we have not only not
displayed any aggressiveness, but we have concluded a peace treaty giving full
satisfaction to the vital, legitimate and necessary interests of the Polish nation.
Thanks to the peaceful policy of Russia and Ukraine the old maxim si vis
pacem para bellum is becoming obsolete and is replaced by the idea which I have
always professed, that peaceful relations between nations are inaugurated and not
terminated by the conclusion of a Peace Treaty.
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THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND 29
None of the peace treaties concluded by Russia and Ukraine admits preparations
for a new war, because none of these treaties leaves any problems unsolved, or
solved merely on the basis of the relative strength of the contracting parties, as
was formerly done at the expense of some of the nations concluding such treaties.
Nations which receive all that they genuinely need will take care to see that the
peace shall be permanent.
By the conclusion of the Peace Treaty with Poland we have closed the circle
of peaceful relations between all the nations which belonged to the former Russian
Empire, liquidating the policy of violence of the Tsars. The separated nations
will now be able, without hate or ill-feeling, animated by sincere friendship, to
develop on the basis of good neighbourly relations those bonds of economic
community and mutual relations which are the result of belonging for some
centuries to one State organisation.
I have heard with profound satisfaction the words spoken by the Honourable
President of the Polish Delegation, who presented the positive programme of the
Polish Government with the statesmanship which Characterizes him. I have great
pleasure in declaring on behalf of Russia and Ukraine that, if Poland's policy will
really not be inspired by any interests alien to the Polish nation, the relations of
friendship and good neighbourliness mentioned by the President of the Polish
Delegation will certainly be established between the countries concluding the present
Peace Treaty. Close economic relations with a free Poland, with an independent
policy of her own, are the aim which the governments of Russia, Ukraine and
White Ruthenia have in view. These countries are and will be willing to help
economically their neighbours as far as it may be possible.
The peace negotiations lasted several months and encountered considerable
difficulties, especially in the settlement of economic and financial problems. I must
state, however, that both at a time when guns were firing along the front line and
blood was being shed, and during calmer periods, the knowledge of affairs and tact
displayed by the Polish Delegation and particularly by its President have greatly
assisted both the progress of the negotiations and their final satisfactory conclusion.
In closing my address, I should like to express on behalf of the Russian-
Ukrainian Peace Delegation our gratitude to the Honourable Polish Delegation
and particularly to its President."
6. Pact of Non-Aggression between Poland and the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics. Signed at Moscow, July 25, 1932.
The President of the Polish Republic, of the one part, and the Central
Executive Committee of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, of the other part.
Desirous of maintaining the present state of peace between their countries,
and convinced that the maintenance of peace between them constitutes an important
factor in the work of preserving universal peace;
Considering that the Treaty of Peace of March 18, 1921, constitutes, now as
in the past, the basis of their reciprocal relations and undertakings ;
Convinced that the peaceful settlement of international disputes and the
exclusion of all that might be contrary to the normal condition of relations between
States are the surest means of arriving at the goal desired ;
Declaring that none of the obligations hitherto assumed by either of the Parties
stands in the way of the peaceful development of their mutual relations or is
incompatible with the present Pact ;
Have decided to conclude the present Pact with the object of amplifying and
completing the Pact for the renunciation of war signed at Paris on August 27,
1928, and put into force by the Protocol signed at Moscow on February 9, 1929,
and for that purpose have designated as their Plenipotentiaries . . .
Who, after exchanging their full powers, found in good and due form, have
agreed on the following provisions ;
ARTICLE 1
The two Contracting Parties, recording the fact that they have renounced
war as an instrument of national policy in their mutual relations, reciprocally
undertake to refrain from taking any aggressive action against or invading the
territory of the other Party, either alone or in conjunction with other Powers.
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30 THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND
Any act of violence attacking the integrity and inviolability of the territory
or the political independence of the other Contracting Party shall be regarded as
contrary to the undertakings contained in the present Article, even if such acts
are committed without declaration of war and avoid all possible warlike
manifestations.
Should one of the Contracting Parties be attacked by a third State or by a
group of other States, the other Contracting Party undertakes not to give aid or
assistance, either directly or indirectly, to the aggressor State during the whole
period of the conflict.
If one of the Contracting Parties commits an act of aggression against a third
State the other Contracting Party shall have the right to be released from the
present Treaty without previous denunciation.
ARTICLE 3
Each of the Contracting Parties undertakes not to be a party to any agreement
openly hostile to the other Party from the point of view of aggression.
ARTICLE 4
The undertakings provided for in Articles 1 and 2 of the present Pact shall
in no case limit or modify the international rights and obligations of each Contracting
Party under agreements concluded by it before the coming into force of the present
Pact, so far as the said agreements contain no aggressive elements.
ARTICLE 5
The two Contracting Parties, desirous of settling and solving, exclusively by
peaceful means, any disputes and differences, of whatever nature or origin, which
may arise between them, undertake to submit questions at issue, which it has not
been possible to settle within a reasonable period by diplomatic channels, to a
procedure of conciliation, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention for
the application of the procedure of conciliation, which constitutes an integral part
of the present Pact and shall be signed separately and ratified as soon as possible
simultaneously with the Pact of Non-Aggression."
7. Convention for the Definition of Aggression, Signed at London, July 3, 1933.
" ARTICLE 2-Accordingly, the aggressor in an international conflict shall,
subject to the agreements in force between the parties to the dispute, be considered
to be that State which is the first to commit any of the following actions 1. Declaration of war upon another State ;
2. Invasion by its armed forces, with or without a declaration of war, of the
territory of another State ;
3. Attack by its land, naval or air forces, with or without a declaration of war,
on the territory, vessels or aircraft of another State ;
4. Naval blockade of the coasts or ports of another State ;
ARTICLE 3.-No political, military, economic or other considerations may serve
as an excuse or justification for the aggression referred to in Article 2."
8. Protocol renewing until December 31, 1945, the Pact of Non-Aggression of
July 25, 1932, between Poland and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Moscow, May 5, 1934.
ARTICLE 1.-In modification of the provisions of Article 7 of the Treaty of
Non-Aggression concluded at Moscow on July 25, 1932, between the Republic of
Poland and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics concerning the date and manner
in which that Treaty shall cease to have effect, the two Contracting Parties decide
that it shall remain in force until December 31, 1945.
Each of the High Contracting Parties shall be entitled to denounce the Treaty
by giving notice to that effect six months before the expiry of the above-mentioned
period. If the Treaty is not denounced by either of the Contracting Parties, its
period of validity shall be automatically prolonged for two years ; similarly, the
Treaty shall be regarded as prolonged on each occasion for a further period of two
years, if it is not denounced by either of the Contracting Parties in the manner
provided for in the present Article."
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9. German-Soviet Agreement. Moscow, September 28, 1939.
" The Government of the U.S.S.R. and the German Government, following
the collapse of the former Polish State, consider it as exclusively their own task
to restore peace and order in these territories and to assure to the peoples inhabiting
it a peaceful existence which will correspond to their national characteristics. With
this object in view, they have concluded the following Agreement :-
ARTICLE 1
The Government of the U.S.S.R. and the German Government establish as
the frontier between their respective State interests in the territory of the former
Polish State, a line which is marked on the attached map and which will be given
in more detail in a supplementary Protocol.
ARTICLE 2
Both countries recognize as final the frontier between their respective State
interests, as set out in Article 1, and will resist any interference with this decision
on the part of other Powers.
ARTICLE 3
The German Government will carry out the necessary State reconstruction on
the territory west of the line indicated in Article 1, and the Soviet Government
on the territory east of this line.
ARTICLE 4
The Government of the U.S.S.R. and the German Government regard the
above-mentioned reconstruction as a reliable foundation for the future development
of friendly relations between their peoples.
ARTICLE 5
This. agreement is subject to ratification. The exchange of instruments of
ratification is to take place as soon as possible in Berlin.
The agreement enters into force from the moment of its signature."
" The Government of the U.S.S.R. and the Government of the Republic of
Poland have reached the following Agreement :--
(1) The Government of the U.S.S.R. recognizes the Soviet-German Treaties of
1939 as to territorial changes in Poland as having lost their validity. The Polish
Government declares that Poland is not bound by any agreement with any third
Power which is directed against the U.S.S.R.
(2) Diplomatic relations will be restored between the two Governments upon
the signing of this Agreement and an immediate exchange of Ambassadors will be
arranged.
(3) The two Governments mutually agree to render one another aid and
support of all kinds in the present war against Hitlerite Germany.
(4) The Government of the U.S.S.R. expresses its consent to the formation on
the territory of the U.S.S.R. of a Polish Army under a Commander appointed by
the Polish Government in agreement with the Soviet Government, the Polish Army
on the territory of the U.S.S.R. being subordinated in an operational sense to the
supreme command of the U.S.S.R. upon which the Polish Army will be represented.
All details as to command, organization and employment of this force will be settled
in a subsequent agreement.
(5) This Agreement will come into force immediately upon signature and without
ratification.
(1) As from the resumption of diplomatic relations, the Government of the
U.S.S.R. grants an amnesty to all Polish citizens now detained on the territory of
the U.S.S.R. either as prisoners of war or on other sufficient grounds.
(2) The present Protocol comes into force simultaneously with the Agreement
of July 30, 1941."
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After the signature of the Agreement Mr. Eden handed General Sikorski a
Note in the following terms:-
" On the occasion of the signature of the Polish-Soviet Agreement of to-day's
date I desire to take the opportunity of informing you that in conformity with the
provisions of the Agreement of mutual assistance between the United Kingdom
and Poland of August 25, 1939, His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom
have entered into no undertaking towards the U.S.S.R. which affects the relations
between that country and Poland. I also desire to assure you that His Majesty's
Government do not recognize any territorial changes which have been effected in
Poland since August, 1939."
General Sikorski handed Mr. Eden a reply in the following terms :
" The Polish Government take note of your Excellency's letter dated July 30,
1941, and desire to express sincere satisfaction at the statement that His Majesty's
Government in the United Kingdom do not recognize any territorial changes which
have been effected in Poland since August, 1939. This corresponds with the view
of the Polish Government, which, as they have previously informed His Majesty's
Government, have never recognized any territorial changes effected in Poland since
the outbreak of the present war."
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Appendix No. 3
SOME OPINIONS ON POLAND'S EASTERN PROVINCES
1. Major Guy Lloyd, M.P., in a Foreword to Dr. J. Weyers' book,
" Poland and Russia," London, 1943:
. . . It is true that the eastern parts of the former Polish Commonwealth
were not purely Polish, but neither were they Russian. It is a great mistake to
assume, as many misinformed writers do, that what is not purely Polish must be
Russian. There is no definite geographical frontier between the areas of the
Polish and Russian languages-the dialects spoken by various national groups are
closer to Polish in the western parts and they approach Russian in the eastern parts
of the large belt of territories separating ethnographic Poland from ethnographic
Russia. The same observation can be applied to the extent of the spheres of
influence of the two cultures-western and eastern, for Poland and Russia
respectively.
A definite frontier between the two States must be based on compromise.
Both States were guided by such a spirit of compromise when they concluded the
Treaty of Riga in 1921 to terminate all controversies. The Poles showed much
practical realism when they renounced the territories which had been taken by
Russia in the First and Second Partitions and which had become largely Russified.
To put an end to an age-old conflict, Poland-after a short period of Pilsudski's
personal eastern policy--abandoned for ever the policy of expansion to the east
and the plans for the resurrection of her Commonwealth within the frontiers before
the First and Second Partitions . . . '
The Polish eastern provinces were formally incorporated in various
Soviet Republics. Contrary to the plain principles of international law (Hague
Convention, 1907) elections were organized to show the ' spontaneous ' desire of
all inhabitants to join the Soviet Union. Everyone knows well the value of a ballot
carried out under military occupation, with a compulsory vote and only one
voting list. Applying these methods we could certainly expect, for instance,
Southern France or Malta, G.C., to express their eager desire to join the Italian
Empire for ever 1
. The Polish provinces which were occupied by the Soviet Army in
September, 1939, belonged to Poland either since the dawn of her thousand-years-
old existence or for at least four hundred years. They were bound with the rest
of Poland by innumerable ties of Western European' culture, Catholic religion,
democratic institutions, common law, etc. Cities like Lwow and Wilno were for
many centuries centres of Polish and therefore Western European culture, no less
important than Warsaw, Cracow and Poznan. It must be emphatically stated
that the Polish element in many regions was composed mostly of peasants, artisans
and yeoman farmers. Suggestions to the effect that the Polish element was
composed chiefly of aristocracy and landlords are not based on true facts.
The entire population of these territories consisted at the outbreak of this
war of about 13 million inhabitants, divided into different Slav national groups,
of which the Polish group was the largest, thus holding a relative majority. The
Catholics formed a group of almost 8 millions, over 1 million were Jews, and less
than 4 million were Orthodox, of whom only 135,000 were Russians . . . "
II. Sir John Russell, in " Geographical Journal of the Royal Society,"
vol. XCVIII, Nos. 5-6:
Looking back over the ten years, it is clear that Poland has very faithfully
dealt with these eastern provinces. Remarkable progress was made, and more
seems to be coming. The difficult land problem had been well attacked, the
terrible poverty of the peasants had been mitigated, and the way laid open for
steady economic improvement. Education was everywhere being made available
and illiteracy was fast disappearing : the educational ladder, though not complete,
was nevertheless developed and peasant children were in fact stepping up to higher
posts. Reconstruction was going on, natural resources were being developed, the
younger generation were genuinely trying to help the peasants and to make them
realize their share in the country and its government. Had Poland been vouchsafed
fifty years of peace a satisfying degree of comfortable life would have been
attained ; not great material riches, but something much more valuable : good
standards of culture and civilization."
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III. W. J. Rose, in his book, " Poland," London, 1939:
` . Wilno became in time a Polish city as surely as Breslau became German,
or Strassburg in later days French. We have seen how it was the chief centre of
the Polish romantic movement after 1815, and the only other influence of note-
apart from the Russian elements introduced in the nineteenth century, was a large
Jewish population. This state of things was no doubt a great grieve to the leaders
of the resurgent Lithuanian people, who fought and suffered along with the Poles
under the yoke of Tsardom and in a common cause. They held the view that
Wilno was their ' sacred ' city, although the historic process had changed things
completely. One other essential thing must be remembered. Had not the Poles
defeated the Bolshevik armies in 1920 there would not have been either a free
Poland or a free Lithuania. Once this was achieved it was impossible that any
other claim to Wilno should compete with that of the Poles. There are less than
ten per cent. of Lithuanians in the city . . . " (p. 84-85).
. Both in their public declarations and in their policy, the Ukrainian
leaders have been loyal to Poland throughout. They were to show this when
the real crisis came six months later March, 1939, brought the complete
wiping out of Czechoslovak independence by a single wave of the Nazi arm ; and
this was a salutary lesson to the few irresponsibles in south-east Poland, who
talked of welcoming a totalitarian regime in the land. Since then the solidarity
of the Ukrainian leaders behind the Polish plans for defence are known to all.
When the Air Defence loan was launched in the Governor's Residence in Lwow,
Mudryj and his colleagues were present, and their support has the approval of the
majority of their people." (pp. 176-77).
IV. Bernard Newman, in his book, " The New Europe," London, 1942:
" . The date 1934 seems to crop up in the discussion of all Polish problems-
the date of the Ten-Year Pact with Germany. The fact is that most Polish
troubles were aggravated or investigated by Germany prior to that date, presumably
to weaken Poland with a view to the recovery of the Corridor. German influence
could be traced in most Polish affairs. The famous 'Ukrainian Bureau,' which
fomented many of the disturbances in Eastern Galicia, was claimed by the Poles
as being a German creation, and it is significant that its activities diminished
abruptly in 1934."
11 . . . Nevertheless when in April, 1939, it appeared that Poland was to be
the next victim of aggression, the Ukrainians hastened to express their loyalty to
Poland, offering their services in its defence : agitation for autonomy was tem-
porarily dropped
" . My own impression was that there was no serious demand over a large
part of Galicia for union with Soviet Russia. If the nervous post-war weeks can
be safely surmounted, then the character of the new Polish regime should make
the position easier. A liberal grant of local autonomy, and a much fuller measure
of agrarian reform, and many of the troubles of the Ukrainians in Poland would
lose their force " (pp. 127-28).
V. William Henry Chamberlin, in " Harper's Magazine," April, 1944:
" Misinformation : ' Perhaps with some reason they (the Poles) feared that if
Soviet armies entered Poland, even for its defence, the eastern part of Poland
might be lost for good. The population of the region was predominantly Russian,
and Lord Curzon, acting on behalf of the Supreme Allied Council, had prudently
assigned that section of the country to the Russians.'-Arthur Upham Pope,
Litvinoff, pp. 448-49.
The Facts.-While there is no reason to question the accuracy of the first of
these sentences, the second is a medley of inaccuracies. In the first place, if the
term ' Russian ' is used exactly, it is evident that there are very few Russians in
eastern Poland, and that by any method of computation the Poles form a large
proportion of the population. The latest figures for the area occupied by the
Soviet Union after the German-Soviet pact are as follows : Poles, 5,250,000
Ukrainians, 4,500,000 ; White Russians (in the racial, not political sense), 1,100,000
Jews, 1,100,000 ; Russians, 130,000 ; miscellaneous groups, 500,000.
Furthermore, neither Lord Curzon nor the Supreme Council ever assigned the
territory east of the so-called Curzon Line (with the drawing of which Lord Curzon
had little to do) definitely to Russia. It was considered a minimum, not a maximum
eastern frontier of Poland." (pp. 410-11).
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ok THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF POLAND
VI. H. Foster Anderson, in his book, " Borderline Russia," Cresset
Press, London, 1S42:
. . . if you had seen the population of Vilna which was preponderantly Polish
you would have wondered why the Lithuanians ever imagined they had a right to
the place " (p. 148).
The Spirit of Poland, proud, vital and unyielding filled the town (i.e.,
Vilna). The Lithuanian policemen had the uncertain air of an army of occupation "
(p. 159).
VII. Ann Su Cardwell, in her book, " Poland and Russia," Sheed and
Ward, New York, 1944 :
. The origin and lack of significance of the so-called Curzon Line should
be borne in mind, since it occurs so frequently in to-day's discussions. In reality
it was not Lord Curzon's suggestion, but was proposed in a letter sent to the Peace
Conference by a committee from the Russian exiles in France. The letter, dated
April 9, 1919, was signed by Prince Lvov, Serge Sazonov and Makhlakoff-all well-
known political figures in Tsarist Russia. Russian in origin, naturally it was drawn
in favour of the Soviet Union. It was never intended by the Allies as anything but
a temporary administrative expedient " (p. 13).
" I spent part of the summer of 1938 in Vilno and consider it literally one
of the most Polish of all Polish cities. Its population, which has throughout history
been overwhelmingly Polish, has all the patriotic fervour characteristic of people
living near their own frontier " (p. 158).
11 . . . Poles and Ruthenians had been intermarrying for centuries. There
could not possibly be a drawing of national lines. It often happened that in these
mixed families one brother would choose to call himself Ukrainian, the other a
Pole. . . With this bit of background in mind it is comprehensible that there were
Ruthenians, and many of them, in Poland 1939, who as one of an older generation
said were " gente Rutheni, natione Poloni ", Ruthenians in race, Poles in citizenship,
and were not seeking citizenship in an independent Ukraine " (p. 160).
As Polish citizens all the minorities had their rights and exercised them.
They had their political parties and elected their leaders to the Polish Seym or
Parliament. . . As for the Ukrainian minority of whose political activities so much
has been written, on September 2, 1939, the chairman of Ukrainian parliamentary
group declared Ukrainians ready to fight in defence of Poland. . . I have seen many
of the Ukrainian schools and I have seen the government notices in these areas
posted in Ukrainian. . . The Ukrainian co-operatives were flourishing, prosperous
societies, steadily growing in size and influence " (p. 163).
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1. Provisional line of December 8, 1919, within which the Supreme
Council authorized the Polish Government to organize
immediately a regular administration. The declaration
concluded that the rights which Poland may claim to territories
situated east of the above-mentioned line are expressly reserved.
This line was accepted by the Supreme Council in Spa on
July 10, 1920, as a basis for decision with regard to Polish-
Soviet armistice (" Curzon Line ").
2. The demarcation line (A) of the Commission on Polish Affairs
in connection with the proposed status of autonomous Eastern
Galicia as a kind of Polish mandate under the League of
Nations for a term of twenty-five years after which the League
had to take a final decision. This line was proposed in
June, 1919, and adopted by the Supreme Council in the same
month. At the same time Poland was authorized to occupy the
whole Eastern Galicia as far as the River Zbrucz. In November,
1919, the Supreme Council adopted a draft of an autonomous
statute for Eastern Galicia, elaborated by the Commission on
Polish Affairs ; it was withdrawn, however, a month later in
December, 1919.
3. The demarcation line (B) of the Commission on Polish Affairs
in the event of a division of Eastern Galicia between Poland
and the Galician- Ukrainian State. This line was proposed
as an alternative simultaneously with the line A in June, 1919,
but not put into force.
4. The Polish- Russian armistice line proposed by Lenin, Chicherin
and Trotsky on January 29, 1920.
5. The Polish Russian frontier established by the Peace Treaty
of Riga, on March 18, 1921. This frontier was recognized by
Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan in a decision of the
Ambassadors' Conference in Paris, on March 15, 1923.
It was also recognized by the United States on April 5, 1923.
6. Boundary line of Galicia which up to 1919 formed part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire.
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