THE SOVIET-POLISH TERRITORIAL EXCHANGE AGREEMENT ON FEBRUARY 15, 1951

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000500160020-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: February 15, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

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,Copy No. 4 5
THE SOVIET?POLISH TERRITORIAL iCHANGE AGREEMENT
? 6 2 1 8 6 5
. OF FEBRUARY 150 1951
DRS Information Paper Noo 19
June 1, 1951
This is an intelligence report; nothing
in it is to be construed as a Statement
of U050 or Departmental policy,or as a
recommendation of any given policy?
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Division of Research for the USSR
and Eastern Europe
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THE SOVIET-fOLISH TERRITORIAL EXCHANGE AGRED:ENT
OF FEBRUARY 3.5, 1953.
Announcement and Ratification by Poland
On May 22? 1951, the Soviet Government and the Polish Govern-
ment simultaneously announced that they had ooncladed an agreement
to make two changes in the existing frontier between Poland and the
USSR. According to the official announcements, the Changes were to
involve the cession of a mall piece of Soviet territory to Poland
and the cession of an equal area of Polish territory to the usaa,
in both cases near the southern end of the Palish-Soviet frontier.
There had been no indication prior to this announcement that the
two governments were discussing a frontier rectification. Official
communiques following shortly After the first announcement stated
that the agreement had been signed in Moscow on February 15 of
this year by Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky and Polish ?
Vice Premier Alexander Zawadzki. A bill for ratification of the
agreement by Poland was presented to the Sejm on May 25 and was un-
animously passed neit day, to the accompaniment, the Polish Radio
reported, of "long applause!' by the members of the Sejm.
Description of the Territories V
The location and size of the territories to be exchanged
were only roughly indicated in the initial announcements, which
at first simply stated that Poland would surrender a part of Lublin
Province in return for a part or the Drohobycz district of the
Ukrainian S.S.R. Subsequent official communiques located these
two areas respectively (1) in the angle of the Bug and Solokija
rivers, southeast of srubieszow, and (2) in the angle formed by
the River San and the overland frontier south of Przemysl. A more
precise description of the territory to be ceded to the USSR was
given an tlay 25 by Vice Premier Zawadzki of Poland in a statement
to the Sejm, in which he said that this territory wouldconsist of
480 square kilometers lying between the Bug, Solokija and Huorwa
rivers and would embrace four Polish townships in their entirely
(Chorobrow, Krystynopol, Bele and Uhnow) together with parts of
three others (Dolhobyczow, "ares and Tarnoszyn). From this it was
clear that the USSR was to acquire those sections of the Lwow.
'towel and the Rawa Rusks Rowel railway lines heretofore lying
on the Polish side of the frontier, together with a strip of land
varying in width from perhaps 5 to 15 kilometers on the westward
side of these lines.
The area to be transferred in turn to Poland was less
precisely indicated by Zawadzki? who stated only that it lay near
the town of Ustrzyki Dolne and that it would embrace, in area,
exactly the same number of square kilometers as the territory for
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which it was to be exchanged. Zawadzkils statement and other
early official Polish miss releases asserted that this territorial
acquisition would give Poland badly needed oil and natural gas
deposits. Nothing was said of an improvement in Polish railway
connections similar to the rail links to be ceded to the USSR$
although mention was made of "suitable transport facilities" that I
would enable Poland to exploit timber in the neely.qacquired district.
Owing to this failure to refer explicitly to the railway-line con-
necting Prsemysl with Sanok, which at present runs in part through
Soviet territory, it appeared doubtfe that more than a part of
this line would be included in the transaction. If this is true,
the territory to be acquired by Poland lies to the south of Dobromil
and Chyraw and probably does not include those towns. Possibly the
Soviet cession is to consist simply of that portion of the prewar
Polish county of l'esko, including the town of Ustrsyki Dolne, which
was left on the Soviet aide of the frontier in the postwar territor-
ial settlement an area roughly equal in size to the area (480 sq0
Ian.) mentioned by Zawadski.
From Zawadzkits statement it can be inferred that the total
area included in the teocterritories to be exchanged is 960 square
kilometers. This is an area slightly larger than that of the Free
Territory of Trieste. The transaction will apparently have the
effect of shifting the present Soviet-Polish frontier by as much
as 15 - 20 kilometers at some points.
Provisions for Transfer of Population and Proyerty
The actual redrawing of the boundary and the settlement of
all the problems involved, including transfers of population and
property, is expected to require several months, according to the
statement of Zawadski. He declared that the task of delimitation
would be parried out by a MiXed Soviet-Polish delimitation com-
mission, Which "in the two to three months following the exchange
of ratification instruments" would trace the new boundary in ac-
cordance with the description and map attached to the agreement.
of February-15. In addition, another mixed commission will re-
gulate transfers of property-in the two areas in question. There ,
is also to be a general transfer of the population. All in all,
changes of the magnitude indicated by Zawadski would appear to re-
quire at least the remainder of the year 1951 for their completion.
Whether the entire population of both districts is to be
exchanged remains unclear. Zawadzki, in his statement of May 258
said merely that "the agreement provides for the resettlement of
the population in the area covered by the agreement." He added
that there were 14,000 people in the districts to be ceded by,
Poland. Although this seemed to ipay that all 14,000 would be
resettled into Poland, hawadski in his next sentence used the phrase
"Polish population" in reference to these who would he resettled.
Henna the possibility cannot be excluded that he was referring to
1. Trybuna Ludu, Warsaw, May 22, 1951.
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only a part of the population, and that a number of non-Polish
inhabitants, probably Ukrainians, also still reside there despite
the general exchange of Ukrainians and Poles carried out during
1944-47 and may be transferred to the USSR along with the ter.
ritory. As for the dietrict around Ustrsyki Dolne to be trans-
ferred to Poland, Zawadski gave no indication of the number of
inhabitants now residing in this area,
The transfer of individual and other property in the two
exchanged districts is to be governed bye protocol attached to the
agreement of February 15, According to Zawadskils statement in
the Se, this protocol gives the inhabitants who are to be re-
settled.the right to take* with them all of their movable property,
As for non-private property, the protocol provides that Poland
and the USSR shall "transfer to each other intact" all immovable
state property, "cooperative-koikhos property* and cooperative
property, as well as other social property including industrial
equipment, railway lines and means of communication," The transfer
is to be actress the board and without compensation -- a principle
which, according to Zawadski, will be "of special significance for
Poland's interests,"
Economic Results of the Agreement
The advantages to be gained by Poland from the proposed
exchange of territory were a principal theme of the early official
Polish comments on the agreement. All official communiques from
Warsaw stressed that the idea of the exchange had originated with
the Polish Government, Moreover, they implied that Poland would
have a large net gain frau the transaction. Vice Premier Zacadski?
in his Sejm statement of May 2S, declare!,
"The exchange of frontier districts was proposed
by the Polish Government, which, acting in accordance
with the interests of our econow, approached the Soviet
Government on the subject, The Polish initiative was
warmly welcomed by the Soviet Government, and the
negotiations, conducted in an atmosphere of genuine
friendship and mutual understanding, have led to the
conclusion of the agreement.... The basic factor which
induced the Polish Government to make the proposal to
exchange the districts in question and to sign the agree-
ment is the oil fields, with a considerable number of
active oil wells, and the resources of natural gas, in the
territory ceded to ud by the Soviet Union, It fellows
therefore that, owing to this agreement, we obtain fhel
that is particularly valuable and indispensable for our
economy. On the other hand, the Soviet Union derives
. from this agreement certain advantages for railway
transport.... In the light of the aforesaid facts, and
considering that the agreement submitted by the Govern-
Mont today for ratification represents a further strengthen-
ing of our economic potential and conforms to our vital
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needs, I propose, on behalf of the Government, the passage
of the till for ratification."
Similarly, the Warsaw daily Trybuna Ludu of AV 22 commented:
"The exchange is to our advantage because for a
predominantly agricultural area, in which the Soviet
state is interested for reasons of transport facilities
only, we are getting an area most important to our
national economy. We are getting land rich in oil,
rich in natural gas, in raw materials which are so
important to our industry.... We are getting a piece
of land which, due to suitable transport facilities,
will enable adjacent vast forests to be exploited."
There has been as yet no official Polish statement giving
figures for the amount of oil and natural gas the Polish Govern-
ment expects to add to Poland's total output through the territory
to be acquired under the agreement. It seems clear, even from the
vague description initially issued, that the area to be transferred
to Poland does not extend as far as the important oil field at
Boryslaw and Drohobycs. There are, however, a number of oil and
gas wells near the headwaters of the Dniester River about 15 kilo-
meters southeast of Ustrsyki Dolne; presumably-it is these that
comprise the mineral acquisitions mentioned in the Polish com-
muniques. The present capacity-of the Ustrsyki Dolne field is
unknown, but it car:hardly be great, even by Polish standardso
as this was never, in the prewar period, one of the leading
petroleumsproducing districts. Nevertheless, in the present
situation of tight oil supply under the Polish Six...Year Plan,
any accretion of resources is significant for the Polish Government.
The advantage to the USSR, on the other hand, of acquiring
the railway lines linking Lwow and Rasa uuska with Koiel and
Brest appears to be considerable. These lines, when broadened to
Soviet gauge, will give the USSR a direct north.-south connection
along an important segment of its western frontier. Until now
this has been the only Soviet railway link cut off by
the existing frontier with Poland. The acquisition of this link
is undoubtedly of military as well as economic significance for
the USSR.
Origin of the Existing Boundary
The Soviete-Polish agreement of February 15, 1951, alters
the frontier that was established in principle by the US, the USSR
and the UK in the !alto. Agreement of February 1945. On that oc-
casion the heads of government of the three major powers declared
that they "consider that the Eastern frontier of Poland should
fellow the Curzon line with digressions from it in some regions
of 5 to 8 kilometers in favor of Poland." In accordance with
this settlement, the Soviet and Polish governments concluded a
boundary treaty in Moscow on August16s 1945, describing the gen..
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oral course of the new frontier and providing for its delimitation
by a mixed Soviet-Polish boundary commission. The commission car-
ried out its task between May 1946 and April 1947 and signed a
protocol at Ware= on April 30 1947, containing a detailed sum.-
mary of the results of its dellmitation?,together with maps showing
the course of the frontier.
On Jay 8, 1948$ Poland and the ossk signed a further
treaty at Moscow, establishing principles for determining and
marking the boundary in the field, and for inspecting and maintain-
ing boundary signs. On the same date they signed a convention
establishing a procedure for the settlement of disputes and con-
flicts arising along the boundary.
The Polish and non-Polish populations on either side of
the Curzon Line were for the most part exchanged during the period
1944447 under A Soviet-Polish program of population transfer. This
programmes provided for by a population-exchange agreement signed
by the Polish Committee of National Liberation at Imblin and the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on September 9, 19440 and by
similar agreements with the white Russian and Lithuanian Soviet
Socialist Republics, signed on September 9 and September 22, 1944,
respectively. In accordance with these three agreements about 1.25
million Poles were moved west of the Curzon Line between 1944
and 1947 (787,600.from the Ukrainian S.S.R.$ 2740163 from the
White Russian S.S.R. and 178,013 from the Lithuanian S.S.R.)10 It
has been estimated that over 400,000 Ukrainians, White, Russians
and Lithuanians were resettled to the east of the Curzon Line
under the same agreements. These agreements are not to be con-
fused with the Polish4oviet population-.exchange agreement of
Jay 6$ 19450 which provided mainly for the return to Poland of
persons in the interior of the USSR who had had Polish citizenship
prior to September 17, 1939. The latter agreement affected
principally Poles who had been deported to the USSR during World
War /I. By its operation over 250,000 persons werereturned to
Poland during 1944.4704
10 Poland, Rocznik Statyetyczny 1948, Warsaw, 1949, p. 28.
2. Ibid., p. a.
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POLAND: TERRITORIES ANNEXED AT THE CLOSE OF WORLD WAR TWO (1945)
AND TERRITORIES EXCHANGED WITH THE U.S.S.R. IN 1.951
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Polidh State frontiers after the Potsidam Agreement (1945)
Frontiers between Poland, Germany and the Free City of
Danzig, 1919 - 1939.
Areas' exchanged with the U.S.S.R. under the agreement
ezned in Moscow on February 15, 1951.
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