# Kresy

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kresy
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kresy.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kresy
> Source revision: 1354631643
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Former eastern regions of Poland

For other places with the same name, see [Kresy (disambiguation)](/source/Kresy_(disambiguation)).

Eastern Borderlands Kresy Wschodnie Part of the Second Polish Republic In the wake of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Eastern Borderlands (grey) were annexed directly into the Soviet Union. The Soviet gains east of the Curzon line devised in 1919 were confirmed (with minor adjustments in the areas around Białystok and Przemyśl) by the Western Allies at the Tehran Conference, the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Conference. In 1945 most of Germany's territory east of the Oder–Neisse line (pink) was ceded to what remained of Poland (white), both of which would compose the newly created People's Republic of Poland Historical region Period 1919–1939; 1945 Area Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union in the Invasion of Poland of 1939 Today part of Ukraine Belarus Lithuania

Territorial evolution of Poland in the 20th century Pre-World War II Revolution in Congress Poland (1905–1907) Ostrowiec Republic Zagłębie Republic Separation of Kholm Governorate from Congress Poland and annexation into Russian Kiev General Governorate (1913) Act of 5th November by the Central Powers proclaiming Kingdom of Poland (1916) Central Powers-Ukrainian People's Republic/Ukrainian State Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) Central Powers-Soviet Russia Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) Short-lived Byelorussian, Ukrainian and Rusyn republics (1917-1920): West Ukrainian People's (later absorbed into Poland-allied Ukrainian People 's), Belarusian Democratic, Lemko, Komancza Local revolts and transient polities in postwar power vacuum (1918) Tarnobrzeg Republic Republic of Zakopane First Republic of Pińczów Witkowo Revolt Republic of Ostrów Restoration of Polish independence (1918) and ensuing wars to preserve it (1918-1922): Greater Poland uprising Silesian Uprisings Polish–Czechoslovak War Polish-West Ukrainian War War of Polish-Ukrainian alliance against Soviet Russia (1920-1921) and its satellites: Ukrainian SSR short-lived Galician SSR later merged into the former short-lived SSR of Lithuania and Belorussia attempted Polish SSR later dissolved and replaced with token Polish National Districts Polish-Lithuanian War Treaty of Versailles (1919) Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) Suwałki Agreement (1920) Treaty of Warsaw (1920) with Ukrainian People's Republic 1920 East Prussian plebiscite (1920) Polish satellite states Republic of Central Lithuania (1920-1922) Free City of Danzig under League of Nations protection (1921-1939) Peace of Riga (1921): eastern border of Poland accepted by Russian SFSR and its satellites (Byelorussian SSR which replaced SSR of Lithuania and Belorussia, and Ukrainian SSR which replaced Ukrainian People's Republic) Incorporation of Central Lithuania (1922) German–Polish Convention regarding Upper Silesia (1922) Polish National Districts of the Soviet Union (1925-1937) Marchlewszczyzna (1925-1931) Dzierżyńszczyzna (1932-1937) Munich Agreement and Polish annexation of Trans-Olza (1938) First Vienna Award and Polish annexation of parts of Spiš and Orava (1938) Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (1939) Secret German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty World War II Wartime administrative division Territories of Poland and Danzig annexed by Nazi Germany General Government Polish areas annexed by USSR Polish government-in-exile and Polish Underground State German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement (1941) Bialystok District Sikorski–Mayski agreement (1941) Transient Polish-controlled areas (1944) Turgiele Republic Iwonicz Republic Second Pińczów Republic Warsaw Uprising Allied conferences Tehran Conference (1943) Moscow Conference (1943) Yalta Conference (1945) Potsdam Conference (1945) Post World War II Potsdam Agreement (1945) Polish–Soviet border agreement (1945) Treaty of Zgorzelec (1950) Polish-Soviet Border Adjustment Treaty (1951) Polish-Czechoslovak Border Treaty (1958) Polish-East German Baltic Continental Shelf Delimitation Treaty (1968) Treaty of Warsaw (1970) Polish-Czechoslovak Border Adjustment (1976) Polish-East German Maritime Boundary in Pomeranian Bay Delimitation Treaty (1989) German-Polish Border Treaty (1990) Two Plus Four Treaty (1991) Treaty of Good Neighbourship (1991) Poland–Slovakia Border Adjustment (2005) Polish-Danish Maritime Boundary Delimitation Agreement (2018) Areas Remnants of Polish statehood during partitions: Congress Poland/Vistula Land Galician autonomy Kresy Wschodnie ("Eastern Borderlands") Taken Lands (remainder of Russian partition of Poland) Wileńszczyzna Grodzieńszczyzna Lwów Land Areas of Galicia and Lodomeria east of river San Kresy Zachodnie ("Western Borderlands") 1815-1918 used as synonymous with entire Prussian partition of Poland 1918-1945 used in altered meaning regions unsuccessfully claimed from Germany by interwar Poland, in particular Upper Silesia, Warmia, Masuria, Powiśle, Posen-West Prussia, sometimes also Starostwo of Draheim, Lauenburg and Bütow Land and easternmost Hither Pomerania (Lands of Schlawe and Stolp) Zaolzie After 1945, the former eastern territories of Germany were called Recovered Territories, while the term Kresy Zachodnie fell into disuse, though it was sometimes invoked to denote Polish claims to some East German territories such as Wolgast Pomerania, Milsko, Miśnia or Lausitz, raised typically only until early 1970s as counterclaims to retaliate for West German calls for revision of Oder–Neisse line. Demarcation lines Greater Poland military demarcation line (1919-1920) Cieszyn Silesia demarcation line (1918-1920) Polish–Lithuanian demarcation line (1919-1920) Curzon Line (1920) Upper Silesia demarcation line (1921-1922) Polish–Lithuanian demarcation line (1923-1938) Oder–Neisse line (1945–1951) Adjacent countries Territorial evolution of Germany Territorial changes of the Baltic states Territorial evolution of Russia v t e

**Eastern Borderlands**[1] ([Polish](/source/Polish_language): *Kresy Wschodnie*), often simply **Borderlands** ([Polish](/source/Polish_language): *Kresy*, Polish pronunciation: [\[ˈkrɛsɨ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Polish))[a] was a historical region of the eastern part of the [Second Polish Republic](/source/Second_Polish_Republic). The term was coined during the [interwar period](/source/History_of_Poland_(1918%E2%80%931939)) (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with a Polish minority,[2] it amounted to nearly half of the territory of interwar Poland. Historically situated in the eastern [Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth), following the [18th-century foreign partitions](/source/Partitions_of_Poland) it was divided between the Empires of [Russia](/source/Russian_Empire) and [Austria-Hungary](/source/Austria-Hungary), and ceded to Poland in 1921 after the [Treaty of Riga](/source/Treaty_of_Riga). As a result of the [post-World War II border changes](/source/Territorial_changes_of_Poland_immediately_after_World_War_II), all of the territory was ceded to the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union), and today the area of Kresy is divided between [Western Ukraine](/source/Western_Ukraine), [Western Belarus](/source/Western_Belarus), and south-eastern [Lithuania](/source/Lithuania).

The region gave rise to the [Kresy myth](/source/Kresy_myth), a collection of nostalgic views about the area. After the [fall of Communism in Europe](/source/Fall_of_Communism_in_Europe) and [dissolution of the Soviet Union](/source/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union) a major economic conflict emerged about [the real estate lost by Poland](/source/Bug_River_property) with the loss of Kresy.

In contemporary studies the term has been described as colonial and compared to similar other terms such as Russian *"okrainy*", which in the past was used by Russian imperial authorities to describe its borderlands, which included partitioned Poland.[3][4][5]

## Extents

During the existence of the [Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth), *Kresy* only referred to the borderlands of the [Kingdom of Poland](/source/Crown_of_the_Kingdom_of_Poland) and not the [Grand Duchy of Lithuania](/source/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania).[6] *Kresy* is also largely co-terminous with the northern areas of the [Pale of Settlement](/source/Pale_of_Settlement), a scheme devised by [Catherine II of Russia](/source/Catherine_the_Great) to limit [Jews](/source/Jews) from settling in the homogenously [Christian Orthodox](/source/Russian_Orthodox_Church) core of the Russian Empire, such as [Moscow](/source/Moscow) and [Saint Petersburg](/source/Saint_Petersburg). The Pale was established after the [Second Partition of Poland](/source/Second_Partition_of_Poland) and lasted until the [Russian Revolution](/source/Russian_Revolution) in 1917, when the Russian Empire ceased to exist. In the aftermath of the Polish wars against [Ukraine](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Ukrainian_War), [Lithuania](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_War) and [Soviet Russia](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Soviet_War), the latter of which was ended by the Treaty of Riga, large parts of the [Austrian](/source/Austrian_Partition) and [Russian](/source/Russian_Partition) partitions became part of Poland. As many as 12 million inhabitants lived in the Eastern Borderlands, but ethnic [Poles](/source/Polish_people) only were a third of that population, with another third being [Ukrainian](/source/Ukrainians).[6][7] Most small towns in the Borderlands were [shtetls](/source/Shtetl).[7]

Administratively, the Eastern Borderlands territory was composed of [Białystok](/source/Bia%C5%82ystok_Voivodeship_(1919%E2%80%931939)), [Lwów](/source/Lw%C3%B3w_Voivodeship), [Nowogródek](/source/Nowogr%C3%B3dek_Voivodeship_(1919%E2%80%931939)), [Polesie](/source/Polesie_Voivodeship), [Stanisławów](/source/Stanis%C5%82aw%C3%B3w_Voivodeship), [Tarnopol](/source/Tarnopol_Voivodeship), [Wilno](/source/Wilno_Voivodeship_(1926%E2%80%931939)) and [Wołyń](/source/Wo%C5%82y%C5%84_Voivodeship_(1921%E2%80%931939)) [voivodeships](/source/Voivodeship) (provinces). Today, of these regions, only the western portions of Białystok and Lwów voivodeships remain in Poland (including the eponymous city in Białystok but not Lwów); the remainder of the area is divided between [Western Ukraine](/source/Western_Ukraine), [Western Belarus](/source/Western_Belarus), and south-eastern [Lithuania](/source/Lithuania), with the major cities of [Lviv](/source/Lviv), [Vilnius](/source/Vilnius), and [Grodno](/source/Grodno) no longer in Poland. During the Second Polish Republic, the Eastern Borderlands denoted the lands beyond the [Curzon Line](/source/Curzon_Line) proposed after [World War I](/source/World_War_I) in December 1919 by the British Foreign Office as the eastern border of the re-emerging sovereign Polish Republic, after over a century of partition. The interwar period in *Kresy* was noted by an active policy of [Polonization](/source/Polonisation) of the local population, which involved enforced usage of Polish language in education as well as settling of the Polish colonists, [Osadniks](/source/Osadnik).

In September 1939, after [Germany](/source/Germany) [invaded Poland](/source/Invasion_of_Poland) and follow-up [invasion by Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland), in accordance with [Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact](/source/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact) all Eastern Borderlands territories were incorporated into the Soviet republics of [Ukraine](/source/Ukrainian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic), [Belarus](/source/Byelorussian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic) and [Lithuania](/source/Lithuanian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic), often by means of terror.[8] Soviet territorial annexations during [World War II](/source/World_War_II) were later ratified by the [Allies](/source/Allies_of_World_War_II) at the Conferences of [Tehran](/source/Tehran_Conference), [Yalta](/source/Yalta_Conference) and [Potsdam](/source/Potsdam_Conference) and most of Poles here were expelled after the [end of World War II in Europe](/source/End_of_World_War_II_in_Europe). After the [dissolution of the Soviet Union](/source/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union) in 1991, there was no change to the post-World War II borders. Despite the former provinces of the Eastern Borderlands no longer being part of Poland, a Polish minority remains.

## Etymology

Polish voivodeships 1922–1939. One can consider the six easternmost voivodeships as roughly equivalent with *Kresy*.

The [Polish](/source/Polish_language) word *kresy* ("borderlands") is the plural form of the word *kres* meaning 'edge'. According to [Zbigniew Gołąb](/source/Zbigniew_Go%C5%82%C4%85b), it is "a medieval borrowing from the [German](/source/German_language) word *[Kreis](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Kreis#German)*", which in the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages) meant *Kreislinie, Umkreis, Landeskreis* ("borderline, delineation or circumscribed territory").[9] [Samuel Linde](/source/Samuel_Linde) in his *Dictionary of the Polish Language* gives a different etymology of the term. According to him, *kresy* meant the borderline between Poland and the [Crimean Khanate](/source/Crimean_Khanate), in the region of the lower [Dnieper](/source/Dnieper). The term *kresy* appeared for the first time in literature in [Wincenty Pol](/source/Wincenty_Pol) poems, "Mohort" (1854) and "Pieśń o ziemi naszej". Pol claimed that Kresy was the line between the [Dniester](/source/Dniester) and Dnieper rivers, neighbouring the Tatar borderland.[10] Coincidentally in relation to Jewish settlement in the macro region, the notion of the *pale* is an archaic English term derived from the [Latin](/source/Latin) word **[palus](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palus#Latin)**, (which in Polish exists as *pal* and also means a stake), extended in this instance to mean the area enclosed by a fence or boundary.[11]

At the beginning of the 20th century, the meaning of the term expanded to include the lands of the former eastern provinces of the [Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth), east of the [Lwów](/source/Lw%C3%B3w)–[Wilno](/source/Wilno) line. In the Second Polish Republic, *Kresy* equated to historically Polish settled lands to the east of the notional [Curzon line](/source/Curzon_Line). Currently, the term applies to all the eastern lands of the Second Polish Republic that are no longer within the frontiers of modern Poland, together with lands further east, that had been integral to the [Commonwealth](/source/Commonwealth_of_Two_Nations) before 1772, and where Polish communities continue to exist.[12]

## History

Polish eastern settlements date back to the dawn of Poland as a state. In 1018, King [Bolesław I the Brave](/source/Boles%C5%82aw_I_the_Brave) invaded [Kievan Rus'](/source/Kievan_Rus') (see [Bolesław I's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis](/source/Boles%C5%82aw_I's_intervention_in_the_Kievan_succession_crisis), 1018), capturing [Kyiv](/source/Kyiv), and annexing the [Cherven Cities](/source/Cherven_Cities). In 1340, [Red Ruthenia](/source/Red_Ruthenia) came under Polish control, which intensified defensive Polish settlement and the introduction of [Catholicism](/source/Catholicism). After the [Union of Lublin](/source/Union_of_Lublin) 1569, more Polish settlers moved into the eastern borderlands of the vast [Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth). Most of them came from the Polish provinces of [Mazovia](/source/Mazovia) and [Lesser Poland](/source/Lesser_Poland). They had moved gradually eastwards settling in sparsely populated areas, inhabited by earlier inhabitants such as [Lithuanians](/source/Lithuanians) and [Ruthenians](/source/Ruthenians). Moreover, the indigenous upper classes of *Kresy* adopted Polish [catholicism](/source/Catholic_Church), culture and language, resulting in their assimilation and [Polonization](/source/Polonisation).

### The Partitions of Poland

The year 1772 marked the first partition of the Commonwealth of the [Kingdom of Poland](/source/Kingdom_of_Poland) and the [Grand Duchy of Lithuania](/source/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania) (see [Partitions of Poland](/source/Partitions_of_Poland)). By 1795, the whole eastern half of the state had been annexed by the [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire) in concert with [the Habsburgs](/source/Habsburg_monarchy) and [Prussia](/source/Prussia)'s [Hohenzollerns](/source/House_of_Hohenzollern). The dramatic westward expansion of the Russian Empire through the annexation of Polish-Lithuanian territory substantially increased the new "Russian" Jewish population. Kresy and the superimposed Pale, in the former Polish and Lithuanian territories, had a Jewish population of over five million, and represented the largest community (40%) of the world Jewish population at that time.

From the Polish perspective, the lands came to be called the "[Stolen Lands](/source/Western_Krai)". Even though Poles were a minority in those areas, owing to forced depopulation, the "Stolen Lands" remained an integral part of Polish national identity, with Polish cultural centres and seats of learning in [Vilnius University](/source/Vilnius_University), [Jan Kazimierz University](/source/Jan_Kazimierz_University) and [Krzemieniec Lyceum](/source/Krzemieniec_Lyceum) among many others. Since many local educated inhabitants had actively participated in Polish–Lithuanian national insurgencies ([November Uprising](/source/November_Uprising), [January Uprising](/source/January_Uprising)), the Russian authorities resorted to intensified persecution, confiscations of property and land, [penal deportation](/source/Katorga) to [Siberia](/source/Siberia), and the systematic attempt at [Russification](/source/Russification_of_Poles_during_the_Partitions) of Poles and their traditional culture and institutions.

### The Pale of Settlement

Main article: [Pale of Settlement](/source/Pale_of_Settlement)

The Pale of Settlement

From the Russian perspective the "Pale of Settlement" included all of [Belarus](/source/Belarus), [Lithuania](/source/Lithuania) and [Moldova](/source/Moldova), much of present-day [Ukraine](/source/Ukraine), parts of eastern [Latvia](/source/Latvia), [eastern Poland](/source/Eastern_Poland), and some parts of [western Russia](/source/Western_Russia), generally corresponding to the *Kresy* macroregion and the modern-day western border of Russia. It extended from the eastern *pale*, or demarcation line, to the Russian border with the [Kingdom of Prussia](/source/Kingdom_of_Prussia) (later the [German Empire](/source/German_Empire)) and [Austria-Hungary](/source/Austria-Hungary). It also comprised about 20% of the territory of [European Russia](/source/European_Russia) and largely corresponded to historical lands of the former [Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth), [Cossack Hetmanate](/source/Cossack_Hetmanate), and the [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire) (with [Crimean Khanate](/source/Crimean_Khanate)).

The area included in the Pale, with its large [Roman Catholic](/source/Catholic_Church), [Eastern Catholic](/source/Eastern_Catholic_Churches) and Jewish populations, was acquired through a series of military conquests and diplomatic manoeuvres, between 1654 and 1815. While the religious nature of the edicts creating the Pale is clear: conversion to [Russian Orthodoxy](/source/Russian_Orthodox_Church), the state religion, released individuals from the strictures - historians argue that the motivations for its creation and maintenance were primarily economic and [nationalistic](/source/Nationalist) in nature.[13]

### Economic decline of Kresy

[Leon Wyczółkowski](/source/Leon_Wycz%C3%B3%C5%82kowski) "Ploughing in the Ukraine"

The [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire) had abandoned Kresy to decline as a vast rural backwater after the original Polish–Lithuanian landowners had been disposed of in the wake of insurrections and the [Abolition of serfdom in Poland](/source/Abolition_of_serfdom_in_Poland) in 1864. The devastation of country estates put a halt to large scale economic activity which had depended on agriculture, forestry, brewing and small scale industries. Paradoxically, the Southern Kresy (present-day Ukraine) was famous for its fertile soil and was known as the "bread basket of Europe". Towards the end of the 19th century, the decline was so acute that trade and food supplies became problematic and large scale emigration from towns and villages began as Jewish communities, in particular, began heading West, to [Europe](/source/Europe) and the [United States](/source/Immigration_to_the_United_States). By the time of a newly resurgent Polish state, the provinces had been additionally disadvantaged by having the lowest [literacy](/source/Literacy) levels in the country, since education had not been [compulsory](/source/Compulsory_education) during Russian rule.[14][15][16] The regions had suffered a legacy of decades of neglect and underinvestment so were generally less economically developed than the western parts of interwar Poland.

### Between the World Wars

The years 1918–1921 were especially turbulent for **Kresy**, due to the resurgence of the Polish nation-state and the formation of new borders. At that time, Poland had fought three wars to establish its eastern frontier: with [Ukraine](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Ukrainian_War), [Lithuania](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_War) and [Soviet Russia](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Soviet_War). In all three conflicts, Poland made territorial conquests, and as a result, it seized territories east of the Curzon line that were previously conquered by Russia, in addition to the land formerly part of the [Austrian](/source/Cisleithania) [Galicia](/source/Galicia_(Eastern_Europe)). The **Kresy** was the most war-devastated area in the whole of interwar Poland.[17] The region later formed the eastern provinces of the Second Polish Republic.

Territories included in the **Kresy** during the interbellum period comprised the eastern parts of the Voivodeships of [Lwów](/source/Lw%C3%B3w_Voivodeship) and [Białystok](/source/Bia%C5%82ystok_Voivodeship_(1919%E2%80%931939)) and the whole of the [Nowogródek](/source/Nowogr%C3%B3dek_Voivodeship_(1919%E2%80%931939)), [Polesie](/source/Polesie_Voivodeship), [Stanisławów](/source/Stanis%C5%82aw%C3%B3w_Voivodeship), [Tarnopol](/source/Tarnopol_Voivodeship), [Wilno](/source/Wilno_Voivodeship_(1926%E2%80%931939)), [Wołyń](/source/Wo%C5%82y%C5%84_Voivodeship_(1921%E2%80%931939)) Voivodeships. The [Polish government](/source/Polish_government) undertook an active policy of [Polonizing](/source/Polonisation) the **Kresy** to alter its ethnic profile in favour of the Poles.[17] One of the ways to do so was through the *[Osadnik](/source/Osadnik)* colonists.[17] These military colonists were one of the most "emotionalized" parts of the Polish government's policy in the **Kresy** and elicited opposition from the locals.[18] The German historian [Bernhard Chiari](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bernhard_Chiari&action=edit&redlink=1) [[de](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhard_Chiari)] said that the **Kresy** were "the poorhouse of Poland", while the [Yad Vashem](/source/Yad_Vashem) historian Leonid Rein even wrote that "it would not be a great exaggeration to say it was the poor-house of the whole of Europe."[19] This led to frequent conflicts with [Ukrainian nationalists](/source/Ukrainian_nationalism) in the southeastern part of **Kresy**, which led to the [pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia](/source/Pacification_of_Ukrainians_in_Eastern_Galicia).

Numerous Polish communities continued to live beyond the eastern border of the Second Polish Republic, especially around [Minsk](/source/Minsk), [Zhytomyr](/source/Zhytomyr) and [Berdychiv](/source/Berdychiv). In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Soviet authorities created two [Polish National Districts](/source/Polish_National_District) in Belarus and Ukraine, but during the [*Polish Operation* of the NKVD](/source/Polish_Operation_of_the_NKVD), most of the Poles in those areas were murdered, while those remaining were forcibly resettled in [Kazakhstan](/source/Kazakhstan) (see also [Poles in the Soviet Union](/source/Poles_in_the_Soviet_Union)).

### During and after World War II

See also: [Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia](/source/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia)

Members of the German *[Ordnungspolizei](/source/Ordnungspolizei)* shooting naked women and children in the [Mizoch Ghetto](/source/Mizoch_Ghetto), October 1942

[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia](/source/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia) in 1943. Most [Poles](/source/Polish_people) of Volhynia (now in Ukraine) had either been murdered or had fled the area.

As a consequence of the [Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact](/source/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact), on 17 September 1939, the Kresy territories were annexed by the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union) (see [Soviet invasion of Poland](/source/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland)), and a significant part of the ethnic Polish population of *Kresy* [was deported to other areas of the Soviet Union](/source/Poles_in_the_Soviet_Union#1939–1947) including [Siberia](/source/Siberia) and [Kazakhstan](/source/Kazakhstan).[20] The new border between [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany) and the Soviet Union was re-designated by the [German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty](/source/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Boundary_and_Friendship_Treaty), signed on 29 September 1939. After the [elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus](/source/Elections_to_the_People's_Assemblies_of_Western_Ukraine_and_Western_Belarus), communist governments for Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were formed and immediately announced their intention of joining their respective republics to the Soviet Union (see also [Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union](/source/Territories_of_Poland_annexed_by_the_Soviet_Union)). After the German invasion of the USSR, the southeastern part of *Kresy* was absorbed into [Greater Germany](/source/Greater_Germany)'s [General Government](/source/General_Government), whereas the rest was integrated with the [Reichskommissariats](/source/Reichskommissariat) [Ostland](/source/Reichskommissariat_Ostland) and [Ukraine](/source/Reichskommissariat_Ukraine). In 1943–1944, units of the [Ukrainian Insurgent Army](/source/Ukrainian_Insurgent_Army), with the help of Ukrainian peasants, carried out mass exterminations of Poles living in southeastern **Kresy** (see [Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia](/source/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia)).

In January 1944, Soviet troops had reached the former Polish–Soviet border, and by the end of July 1944, they again re-annexed the whole territory that had been taken by the USSR in September 1939 into their control. During the [Tehran Conference](/source/Tehran_Conference) in 1943, a new Soviet-Polish border was established, in effect sanctioning most of the Soviet territorial acquisitions of September 1939 (except for some areas around Białystok and Przemyśl), ignoring protests from the [Polish government-in-exile in London](/source/Polish_government-in-exile). The Potsdam Conference, via substantive recognition of the pro-Soviet [Polish Committee of National Liberation](/source/Polish_Committee_of_National_Liberation), implicitly consented to the deportation of Polish people from **Kresy** (see [Polish population transfers (1944–1946)](/source/Polish_population_transfers_(1944%E2%80%931946))). Most Polish inhabitants of *Kresy* were ordered by the Soviets to migrate west to [Germany's former eastern provinces](/source/Former_eastern_territories_of_Germany), newly emptied of their German population and renamed as the "[Recovered Territories](/source/Recovered_Territories)" of the [Polish People's Republic](/source/Polish_People's_Republic), based on Polish medieval settlement of the areas. Poles from the southern **Kresy** (now Ukraine) were forced to settle mainly in [Silesia](/source/Silesia), while those from the north (Belarus and Lithuania) moved to [Pomerania](/source/Pomerania) and [Masuria](/source/Masuria). Polish residents of [Lwów](/source/Lw%C3%B3w) settled not only in Wrocław, but also in [Gliwice](/source/Gliwice) and in [Bytom](/source/Bytom). Those cities had not been destroyed during the war. They were relatively closer to the new eastern border of Poland, which could become significant in case of a sudden hoped for a return to the East.[21]

Frequently, whole *Kresy* villages and towns were deported in a single rail transport to new locations in the west. For instance, the village of Biała, near [Chojnów](/source/Chojn%C3%B3w), is still divided into two parts: Lower Biała and Upper Biała. Lower Biała was settled by people who used to live in a [Bieszczady](/source/Bieszczady_County) village of Polana near [Ustrzyki Dolne](/source/Ustrzyki_Dolne) (this area belonged to the Soviet Union until 1951: see [1951 Polish–Soviet territorial exchange](/source/1951_Polish%E2%80%93Soviet_territorial_exchange)), while inhabitants of the village Pyszkowce near [Buczacz](/source/Buczacz) moved to Upper Biała. Every year in September, Biała is the scene of an annual festival called *Kresowiana*.[22] In [Szczecin](/source/Szczecin) and [Polish West Pomerania](/source/West_Pomeranian_Voivodeship), in the immediate postwar period, one-third of Polish settlers were either people from *Kresy* or [Sybiraks](/source/Sybirak).[23] In 1948, people born in the Eastern Borderlands made up 47.5% of the population of [Opole](/source/Opole), 44.7% of [Baborów](/source/Babor%C3%B3w), 47.5% of [Wołczyn](/source/Wo%C5%82czyn), 42.1% of [Głubczyce](/source/G%C5%82ubczyce), 40.1% of [Lewin Brzeski](/source/Lewin_Brzeski), and 32.6% of [Brzeg](/source/Brzeg). In 2011, people with *Kresy* background made up 25% of the population of the [Opole Voivodeship](/source/Opole_Voivodeship).[24] The town of [Jasień](/source/Jasie%C5%84%2C_Lubusz_Voivodeship) was settled by people from the area of [Ternopil](/source/Ternopil) in late 1945 and early 1946,[25] while Poles from [Borschiv](/source/Borschiv) moved to [Trzcińsko-Zdrój](/source/Trzci%C5%84sko-Zdr%C3%B3j) and [Chojna](/source/Chojna).[26] The situation was completely different in [Wschowa](/source/Wschowa) and its county. In 1945–1948, more than 8,000 people moved there. They came from different areas of the **Kresy** — [Ashmyany](/source/Ashmyany), [Stanislawow](/source/Ivano-Frankivsk), [Równe](/source/R%C3%B3wne%2C_Opole_Voivodeship), [Lwów](/source/Lw%C3%B3w), [Brody](/source/Brody), [Dzyatlava District](/source/Dzyatlava_District), and [Ternopil](/source/Ternopil).[27]

Altogether, between 1944 and 1946, more than a million Poles from the **Kresy** were moved to the [Recovered Territories](/source/Recovered_Territories), including 150,000 from the [area of Wilno](/source/Vilnius_Region), 226,300 from [Polesia](/source/Polesia), 133,900 from [Volhynia](/source/Volhynia), 5,000 from [Northern Bukovina](/source/Northern_Bukovina), and 618,200 from [Eastern Galicia](/source/Eastern_Galicia).[28] The so-called First [Repatriation of Poles](/source/Polish_population_transfers_(1944%E2%80%931946)) (1944–1946) was carried out in a chaotic, disorganized way. People had to spend weeks, even months at railroad stations, waiting for transport. During that time, they were robbed of their belongings by either locals, [Soviet soldiers](/source/Soviet_Army) or [Soviet rail workers](/source/Rail_transport_in_the_Soviet_Union). For lack of railroad cars, in [Lithuania](/source/Lithuanian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic) at some point the "one-suitcase policy" was introduced, which meant that Poles had to leave behind all their belongings. They travelled in freight or [open wagons](/source/Open_wagon), and the journeys were long and dangerous, as there was no protection from the military or the police.[21] In the years 1955–1959, the second mass repatriation of Poles from **Kresy** took place. As a result, in the years 1945–1960, over 2 million Polish people left **Kresy**. About 1-2 million more remained in the **Kresy** after 1960 (especially in the territories of the [Lithuanian SSR](/source/Lithuanian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic) and the [Byelorussian SSR](/source/Byelorussian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic)). Even today, Poles constitute the majority of inhabitants in many regions in the Grodno and Vilnius regions. Poles appear in the most recent national censuses as follows - Lithuania 183,000 (2021) ; Belarus 288,000 (2019) ; Ukraine 144,000 (2001) - the Belarus and Ukraine numbers firmly disputed in Poland.

In the immediate [postwar period](/source/Aftermath_of_World_War_II), Polish Communists, who ceded the Eastern Borderlands to the Soviet Union, were universally regarded as traitors, and [Władysław Gomułka](/source/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Gomu%C5%82ka), First Secretary of the [Polish Workers' Party](/source/Polish_Workers'_Party), was fully aware of it. People who moved from the East to the Recovered Territories talked amongst themselves about their return to Lwów and other eastern locations, and the German return to [Silesia](/source/Silesia), as a result of [World War III](/source/World_War_III), in which Western Allies would defeat the Soviets. One of the adages of the postwar period was: "Just one [atom bomb](/source/Nuclear_weapon), and we will be back in Lwów again. Just second one is small but strong and we will be back in Wilno again." ("Jedna bomba atomowa i wrócimy znów do Lwowa. Druga mała, ale silna i wrócimy znów do Wilna").[29][30] Polish settlers in former German areas were insecure about their future there until the 1970s (see *[Kniefall von Warschau](/source/Kniefall_von_Warschau)*). Eastern settlers did not feel at home in [Lower Silesia](/source/Lower_Silesia), and as a result, they did not care about the machinery, households and farms abandoned by Germans. [Lubomierz](/source/Lubomierz) in 1945 was in good condition, but in the following years, Polish settlers from the area of [Chortkiv](/source/Chortkiv) in [Podolia](/source/Podolia) let it run down and become a ruin. The Germans were aware of it. In 1959, German sources wrote that Lower Silesia had been ruined by the Poles. Zdzisław Mach, a sociologist from the [Jagiellonian University](/source/Jagiellonian_University), explains that when Poles were forced to resettle in the West, which they resented, they had to leave the land they considered sacred and move to areas inhabited by the enemy. In addition, Communist authorities did not initially invest in the Recovered Territories because, like the settlers, for a long time they were unsure about the future of these lands. As Mach says, people in Western Poland for years lived "on their suitcases", with all their belongings packed in case of return to the East.[31]

Map of interwar Poland according to the [1931 Polish census](/source/1931_Polish_census) based on the most spoken native language in each [powiat](/source/Powiat): Polish (white), Ukrainian (green), Belarusian (red) and "local language" such as [Polesian](/source/West_Polesian) or other dialects (grey). Shaded denotes subdivisions where the difference in share between the first and second most spoken languages is less than 5%.

## Interwar population

The population of **Kresy** was multi-ethnic, primarily comprising Poles, Ukrainians, Jews and Belarusians. According to official Polish statistics from the interwar period, Poles formed the largest linguistic group in these regions, and were demographically the largest ethnic group in the cities. Other national minorities included [Lithuanians](/source/Lithuanians) and [Karaites](/source/Crimean_Karaites) (in the north), [Jews](/source/Jews) (scattered in cities and towns across the area), [Czechs](/source/Czechs) and [Germans](/source/Germans) (in Volhynia and East Galicia), [Armenians](/source/Armenians) and [Hungarians](/source/Hungarians) (in Lviv) and also [Russians](/source/Russians) and [Tatars](/source/Tatars).[32]

The proportions of different native languages in each voivodeship in 1931, according to the [1931 Polish census](/source/1931_Polish_census), were as follows:[33]

Voivodeship Polish Belarusian Ukrainian Yiddish Russian German Other Wilno 60% 23% _ 8% 3% _ 8% Nowogródek 53% 39% _ 7% 1% _ _ Polesie 14% 6% 5% 10% _ _ 63% "Other" or Tutejszy (Polesian & other dialects) Wołyń 17% _ 68% 10% 1% 2% 2% Lwów 58% _ 34% 8% _ _ _ Tarnopol 50% _ 45% 5% _ _ _ Stanisławów 23% _ 69% 7% _ 1% _

In addition to ethnic Poles in former eastern Poland, there were also large Polish communities in the USSR and in the Baltic states. Polish population east of the Curzon Line before World War II can be estimated by adding together figures for Former Eastern Poland and for pre-1939 Soviet Union:

Linguistic (mother tongue) and religious structure of Northern Kresy (today parts of Belarus and Lithuania) according to the Polish census of 1931

1. Interwar Poland Polish mother tongue (of whom Roman Catholics) Source (census) Today part of: South-Eastern Poland 2,243,011 (1,765,765)[34][35] 1931 Polish census[36] Ukraine North-Eastern Poland 1,663,888 (1,358,029)[37][38] 1931 Polish census and 2. Interwar USSR Ethnic Poles according to official census Source (census) Today part of: Soviet Ukraine 476,435 1926 Soviet census Ukraine Soviet Belarus 97,498 1926 Soviet census Belarus Soviet Russia 197,827 1926 Soviet census Russia rest of the USSR 10,574 1926 Soviet census 3. Interwar Baltic states Ethnic Poles according to official census Source (census) Today part of: Lithuania 65,599[Note 1] 1923 Lithuanian census Lithuania Latvia 59,374 1930 Latvian census[39] Latvia Estonia 1,608 1934 Estonian census Estonia TOTAL (1., 2., 3.) 4 to 5 million ethnic Poles

1. **[^](#cite_ref-40)** Polish sources estimated, based on the percentage of votes for Polish parties in the 1923 Lithuanian parliamentary election, that the real number of ethnic Poles in [interwar Lithuania](/source/Interwar_Lithuania) in 1923 was 202,026.

Two tables below show the linguistic ([mother tongue](/source/First_language)) and religious structure of interwar South-Eastern Poland (nowadays part of [Western Ukraine](/source/Western_Ukraine)) and interwar North-Eastern Poland (nowadays part of [Western Belarus](/source/Western_Belorussia) and southern Lithuania) by county, according to the 1931 census.

South-East Poland:

Linguistic and religious structure of South-East Poland in 1931[40][41][42][43][44] County Pop. Polish % Yiddish & Hebrew % Ukrainian & Ruthenian % Other language [Note 1] % Roman Catholic % Jewish % Uniate & Orthodox % Other religion [Note 2] % Dubno 226709 33987 15.0% 17430 7.7% 158173 69.8% 17119 7.6% 27638 12.2% 18227 8.0% 173512 76.5% 7332 3.2% Horokhiv 122045 21100 17.3% 9993 8.2% 84224 69.0% 6728 5.5% 17675 14.5% 10112 8.3% 87333 71.6% 6925 5.7% Kostopil 159602 34951 21.9% 10481 6.6% 105346 66.0% 8824 5.5% 34450 21.6% 10786 6.8% 103912 65.1% 10454 6.6% Kovel 255095 36720 14.4% 26476 10.4% 185240 72.6% 6659 2.6% 35191 13.8% 26719 10.5% 187717 73.6% 5468 2.1% Kremenets 243032 25758 10.6% 18679 7.7% 196000 80.6% 2595 1.1% 25082 10.3% 18751 7.7% 195233 80.3% 3966 1.6% Liuboml 85507 12150 14.2% 6818 8.0% 65906 77.1% 633 0.7% 10998 12.9% 6861 8.0% 65685 76.8% 1963 2.3% Lutsk 290805 56446 19.4% 34142 11.7% 172038 59.2% 28179 9.7% 55802 19.2% 34354 11.8% 177377 61.0% 23272 8.0% Rivne 252787 36990 14.6% 37484 14.8% 160484 63.5% 17829 7.1% 36444 14.4% 37713 14.9% 166970 66.1% 11660 4.6% Sarny 181284 30426 16.8% 16019 8.8% 129637 71.5% 5202 2.9% 28192 15.6% 16088 8.9% 132691 73.2% 4313 2.4% Volodymyr 150374 40286 26.8% 17236 11.5% 88174 58.6% 4678 3.1% 38483 25.6% 17331 11.5% 89641 59.6% 4919 3.3% Zdolbuniv 118334 17826 15.1% 10787 9.1% 81650 69.0% 8071 6.8% 17901 15.1% 10850 9.2% 86948 73.5% 2635 2.2% Borshchiv 103277 46153 44.7% 4302 4.2% 52612 50.9% 210 0.2% 28432 27.5% 9353 9.1% 65344 63.3% 148 0.1% Brody 91248 32843 36.0% 7640 8.4% 50490 55.3% 275 0.3% 22521 24.7% 10360 11.4% 58009 63.6% 358 0.4% Berezhany 103824 48168 46.4% 3716 3.6% 51757 49.9% 183 0.2% 41962 40.4% 7151 6.9% 54611 52.6% 100 0.1% Buchach 139062 60523 43.5% 8059 5.8% 70336 50.6% 144 0.1% 51311 36.9% 10568 7.6% 77023 55.4% 160 0.1% Chortkiv 84008 36486 43.4% 6474 7.7% 40866 48.6% 182 0.2% 33080 39.4% 7845 9.3% 42828 51.0% 255 0.3% Kamianka-Buzka 82111 41693 50.8% 4737 5.8% 35178 42.8% 503 0.6% 29828 36.3% 6700 8.2% 45113 54.9% 470 0.6% Kopychyntsi 88614 38158 43.1% 5164 5.8% 45196 51.0% 96 0.1% 31202 35.2% 7291 8.2% 50007 56.4% 114 0.1% Pidhaitsi 95663 46710 48.8% 3464 3.6% 45031 47.1% 458 0.5% 38003 39.7% 4786 5.0% 52634 55.0% 240 0.3% Peremyshliany 89908 52269 58.1% 4445 4.9% 32777 36.5% 417 0.5% 38475 42.8% 6860 7.6% 44002 48.9% 571 0.6% Radekhiv 69313 25427 36.7% 3277 4.7% 39970 57.7% 639 0.9% 17945 25.9% 6934 10.0% 42928 61.9% 1506 2.2% Skalat 89215 60091 67.4% 3654 4.1% 25369 28.4% 101 0.1% 45631 51.1% 8486 9.5% 34798 39.0% 300 0.3% Ternopil 142220 93874 66.0% 5836 4.1% 42374 29.8% 136 0.1% 63286 44.5% 17684 12.4% 60979 42.9% 271 0.2% Terebovlia 84321 50178 59.5% 3173 3.8% 30868 36.6% 102 0.1% 38979 46.2% 4845 5.7% 40452 48.0% 45 0.1% Zalishchyky 72021 27549 38.3% 3261 4.5% 41147 57.1% 64 0.1% 17917 24.9% 5965 8.3% 48069 66.7% 70 0.1% Zbarazh 65579 32740 49.9% 3142 4.8% 29609 45.2% 88 0.1% 24855 37.9% 3997 6.1% 36468 55.6% 259 0.4% Zboriv 81413 39624 48.7% 2522 3.1% 39174 48.1% 93 0.1% 26239 32.2% 5056 6.2% 49925 61.3% 193 0.2% Zolochiv 118609 56628 47.7% 6066 5.1% 55381 46.7% 534 0.5% 36937 31.1% 10236 8.6% 70663 59.6% 773 0.7% Dolyna 118373 21158 17.9% 9031 7.6% 83880 70.9% 4304 3.6% 15630 13.2% 10471 8.8% 89811 75.9% 2461 2.1% Horodenka 92894 27751 29.9% 5031 5.4% 59957 64.5% 155 0.2% 15519 16.7% 7480 8.1% 69789 75.1% 106 0.1% Kalush 102252 18637 18.2% 5109 5.0% 77506 75.8% 1000 1.0% 14418 14.1% 6249 6.1% 80750 79.0% 835 0.8% Kolomyia 176000 52006 29.5% 11191 6.4% 110533 62.8% 2270 1.3% 31925 18.1% 20887 11.9% 121376 69.0% 1812 1.0% Kosiv 93952 6718 7.2% 6730 7.2% 79838 85.0% 666 0.7% 4976 5.3% 7826 8.3% 80903 86.1% 247 0.3% Nadvírna 140702 16907 12.0% 11020 7.8% 112128 79.7% 647 0.5% 15214 10.8% 11663 8.3% 113116 80.4% 709 0.5% Rohatyn 127252 36152 28.4% 6111 4.8% 84875 66.7% 114 0.1% 27108 21.3% 9466 7.4% 90456 71.1% 222 0.2% Stanyslaviv 198359 49032 24.7% 26996 13.6% 120214 60.6% 2117 1.1% 42519 21.4% 29525 14.9% 123959 62.5% 2356 1.2% Stryi 152631 25186 16.5% 15413 10.1% 106183 69.6% 5849 3.8% 23404 15.3% 17115 11.2% 108159 70.9% 3953 2.6% Sniatyn 78025 17206 22.1% 4341 5.6% 56007 71.8% 471 0.6% 8659 11.1% 7073 9.1% 61797 79.2% 496 0.6% Tlumach 116028 44958 38.7% 3677 3.2% 66659 57.5% 734 0.6% 31478 27.1% 6702 5.8% 76650 66.1% 1198 1.0% Zhydachiv 83817 16464 19.6% 4728 5.6% 61098 72.9% 1527 1.8% 15094 18.0% 5289 6.3% 63144 75.3% 290 0.3% Bibrka 97124 30762 31.7% 5533 5.7% 60444 62.2% 385 0.4% 22820 23.5% 7972 8.2% 66113 68.1% 219 0.2% Dobromyl 93970 35945 38.3% 4997 5.3% 52463 55.8% 565 0.6% 25941 27.6% 7522 8.0% 59664 63.5% 843 0.9% Drohobych 194456 91935 47.3% 20484 10.5% 79214 40.7% 2823 1.5% 52172 26.8% 28888 14.9% 110850 57.0% 2546 1.3% Horodok 85007 33228 39.1% 2975 3.5% 47812 56.2% 992 1.2% 22408 26.4% 4982 5.9% 56713 66.7% 904 1.1% Yavoriv 86762 26938 31.0% 3044 3.5% 55868 64.4% 912 1.1% 18394 21.2% 5161 5.9% 62828 72.4% 379 0.4% Lviv City 312231 198212 63.5% 75316 24.1% 35137 11.3% 3566 1.1% 157490 50.4% 99595 31.9% 50824 16.3% 4322 1.4% Lviv County 142800 80712 56.5% 1569 1.1% 58395 40.9% 2124 1.5% 67430 47.2% 5087 3.6% 67592 47.3% 2691 1.9% Mostyska 89460 49989 55.9% 2164 2.4% 37196 41.6% 111 0.1% 34619 38.7% 5428 6.1% 49230 55.0% 183 0.2% Rava-Ruska 122072 27376 22.4% 10991 9.0% 82133 67.3% 1572 1.3% 22489 18.4% 13381 11.0% 84808 69.5% 1394 1.1% Rudky 79170 38417 48.5% 4247 5.4% 36254 45.8% 252 0.3% 27674 35.0% 5396 6.8% 45756 57.8% 344 0.4% Sambir 133814 56818 42.5% 7794 5.8% 68222 51.0% 980 0.7% 43583 32.6% 11258 8.4% 78527 58.7% 446 0.3% Sokal 109111 42851 39.3% 5917 5.4% 59984 55.0% 359 0.3% 25425 23.3% 13372 12.3% 69963 64.1% 351 0.3% Turka 114457 26083 22.8% 7552 6.6% 80483 70.3% 339 0.3% 6301 5.5% 10627 9.3% 97339 85.0% 190 0.2% Zhovkva 95507 35816 37.5% 3344 3.5% 56060 58.7% 287 0.3% 20279 21.2% 7848 8.2% 66823 70.0% 557 0.6% South-East Poland 6922206 2243011 32.4% 549782 7.9% 3983550 57.6% 145863 2.1% 1707428 24.7% 708172 10.2% 4387812 63.4% 118794 1.7%

North-East Poland:

Linguistic and religious structure of North-East Poland in 1931[45][46][47][48][49] County Pop. Polish % Yiddish & Hebrew % Belarusian, Poleshuk & Russian % Other language [Note 3] % Roman Catholic % Jewish % Orthodox & Uniate % Other religion [Note 4] % Baranavichy 161038 74916 46.5% 15034 9.3% 70627 43.9% 461 0.3% 45126 28.0% 16074 10.0% 99118 61.5% 720 0.4% Lida 183485 145609 79.4% 14546 7.9% 20538 11.2% 2792 1.5% 144627 78.8% 14913 8.1% 23025 12.5% 920 0.5% Nyasvizh 114464 27933 24.4% 8754 7.6% 77094 67.4% 683 0.6% 22378 19.6% 8880 7.8% 82245 71.9% 961 0.8% Novogrudok 149536 35084 23.5% 10326 6.9% 103783 69.4% 343 0.2% 28796 19.3% 10462 7.0% 109162 73.0% 1116 0.7% Slonim 126510 52313 41.4% 10058 8.0% 63445 50.2% 694 0.5% 23817 18.8% 12344 9.8% 89724 70.9% 625 0.5% Stowbtsy 99389 51820 52.1% 6341 6.4% 40875 41.1% 353 0.4% 37856 38.1% 6975 7.0% 54076 54.4% 482 0.5% Shchuchyn 107203 89462 83.5% 6705 6.3% 10658 9.9% 378 0.4% 60097 56.1% 7883 7.4% 38900 36.3% 323 0.3% Valozhyn 115522 76722 66.4% 5261 4.6% 33240 28.8% 299 0.3% 61852 53.5% 5341 4.6% 47923 41.5% 406 0.4% Braslaw 143161 93958 65.6% 7181 5.0% 37689 26.3% 4333 3.0% 89020 62.2% 7703 5.4% 29713 20.8% 16725 11.7% Dzisna 159886 62282 39.0% 11762 7.4% 85051 53.2% 791 0.5% 56895 35.6% 11948 7.5% 88118 55.1% 2925 1.8% Molodechno 91285 35523 38.9% 5789 6.3% 49747 54.5% 226 0.2% 21704 23.8% 5910 6.5% 63074 69.1% 597 0.7% Oshmyany 104612 84951 81.2% 6721 6.4% 11064 10.6% 1876 1.8% 81369 77.8% 7056 6.7% 15125 14.5% 1062 1.0% Pastavy 99907 47917 48.0% 2683 2.7% 49071 49.1% 236 0.2% 50751 50.8% 2769 2.8% 44477 44.5% 1910 1.9% Švenčionys 136475 68441 50.1% 7654 5.6% 16814 12.3% 43566 31.9% 117524 86.1% 7678 5.6% 1978 1.4% 9295 6.8% Vilyeyka 131070 59477 45.4% 5934 4.5% 65220 49.8% 439 0.3% 53168 40.6% 6113 4.7% 70664 53.9% 1125 0.9% Vilnius-Trakai 214472 180546 84.2% 6508 3.0% 9263 4.3% 18155 8.5% 201053 93.7% 6613 3.1% 2988 1.4% 3818 1.8% Vilnius City 195071 128628 65.9% 54596 28.0% 9109 4.7% 2738 1.4% 125999 64.6% 55006 28.2% 9598 4.9% 4468 2.3% Brest 215927 50248 23.3% 32089 14.9% 115323 53.4% 18267 8.5% 43020 19.9% 32280 14.9% 135911 62.9% 4716 2.2% Drahichyn 97040 6844 7.1% 6947 7.2% 81557 84.0% 1692 1.7% 5699 5.9% 6981 7.2% 83147 85.7% 1213 1.3% Kamin-Kashyrskyi 94988 6692 7.0% 4014 4.2% 75699 79.7% 8583 9.0% 6026 6.3% 4037 4.3% 83113 87.5% 1812 1.9% Kobryn 113972 10040 8.8% 10489 9.2% 71435 62.7% 22008 19.3% 8973 7.9% 10527 9.2% 93426 82.0% 1046 0.9% Kosava 83696 8456 10.1% 6300 7.5% 68769 82.2% 171 0.2% 7810 9.3% 6333 7.6% 68941 82.4% 612 0.7% Luninyets 108663 16535 15.2% 7811 7.2% 83769 77.1% 548 0.5% 13754 12.7% 8072 7.4% 85728 78.9% 1109 1.0% Pinsk 184305 29077 15.8% 25088 13.6% 128787 69.9% 1353 0.7% 16465 8.9% 25385 13.8% 140022 76.0% 2433 1.3% Pruzhany 108583 17762 16.4% 9419 8.7% 81032 74.6% 370 0.3% 16311 15.0% 9463 8.7% 82015 75.5% 794 0.7% Stolin 124765 18452 14.8% 10809 8.7% 92253 73.9% 3251 2.6% 6893 5.5% 10910 8.7% 105280 84.4% 1682 1.3% Grodno 213105 101089 47.4% 35354 16.6% 69832 32.8% 6830 3.2% 89122 41.8% 35693 16.7% 87205 40.9% 1085 0.5% Volkovysk 171327 83111 48.5% 13082 7.6% 74823 43.7% 311 0.2% 76373 44.6% 13283 7.8% 80621 47.1% 1050 0.6% North-East Poland 3849457 1663888 43.2% 347255 9.0% 1696567 44.1% 141747 3.7% 1512478 39.3% 356632 9.3% 1915317 49.7% 65030 1.7%

### Largest cities and towns

In 1931, according to the Polish National Census, the ten largest cities in Polish Eastern Borderlands were: [Lwów](/source/Lviv) (pop. 312,200), [Wilno](/source/Vilnius) (pop. 195,100), [Stanisławów](/source/Ivano-Frankivsk) (pop. 60,000), [Grodno](/source/Hrodna) (pop. 49,700), [Brześć nad Bugiem](/source/Brest%2C_Belarus) (pop. 48,400), [Borysław](/source/Boryslav) (pop. 41,500), [Równe](/source/Rivne) (pop. 40,600), [Tarnopol](/source/Ternopil) (pop. 35,600), [Łuck](/source/Lutsk) (pop. 35,600) and [Kołomyja](/source/Kolomyia) (pop. 33,800).

In addition, [Daugavpils](/source/Daugavpils) (pop. 43,200 in 1930) in inter-war [Latvia](/source/Latvia) was also a major Polish community with 21% ethnic Polish inhabitants.

Ethnolinguistic structure (mother tongue) of the population in 24 largest cities and towns in Kresy according to the censuses of 1931[36] and 1930[50] City Pop. Polish Yiddish & Hebrew German Ukrainian & Ruthenian Belarusian Russian Lithuanian Other Today part of: Lwów 312,231 63.5% (198,212) 24.1% (75,316) 0.8% (2,448) 11.3% (35,137) 0% (24) 0.1% (462) 0% (6) 0.2% (626) Ukraine Wilno 195,071 65.9% (128,628) 28% (54,596) 0.3% (561) 0.1% (213) 0.9% (1,737) 3.8% (7,372) 0.8% (1,579) 0.2% (385) Lithuania Stanisławów 59,960 43.7% (26,187) 38.3% (22,944) 2.2% (1,332) 15.6% (9,357) 0% (3) 0.1% (50) 0% (1) 0.1% (86) Ukraine Grodno 49,669 47.2% (23,458) 42.1% (20,931) 0.2% (99) 0.2% (83) 2.5% (1,261) 7.5% (3,730) 0% (22) 0.2% (85) Belarus Brześć 48,385 42.6% (20,595) 44.1% (21,315) 0% (24) 0.8% (393) 7.1% (3,434) 5.3% (2,575) 0% (1) 0.1% (48) Belarus Daugavpils 43,226 20.8% (9,007) 26.9% (11,636) - - 2.3% (1,006) 19.5% (8,425) - 30.4% (13,152) Latvia Borysław 41,496 55.3% (22,967) 25.4% (10,538) 0.5% (209) 18.5% (7,686) 0% (4) 0.1% (37) 0% (2) 0.1% (53) Ukraine Równe 40,612 27.5% (11,173) 55.5% (22,557) 0.8% (327) 7.9% (3,194) 0.1% (58) 6.9% (2,792) 0% (4) 1.2% (507) Ukraine Tarnopol 35,644 77.7% (27,712) 14% (5,002) 0% (14) 8.1% (2,896) 0% (2) 0% (6) 0% (0) 0% (12) Ukraine Łuck 35,554 31.9% (11,326) 48.6% (17,267) 2.3% (813) 9.3% (3,305) 0.1% (36) 6.4% (2,284) 0% (1) 1.5% (522) Ukraine Kołomyja 33,788 65% (21,969) 20.1% (6,798) 3.6% (1,220) 11.1% (3,742) 0% (0) 0% (6) 0% (2) 0.2% (51) Ukraine Drohobycz 32,261 58.4% (18,840) 24.8% (7,987) 0.4% (120) 16.3% (5,243) 0% (13) 0.1% (21) 0% (0) 0.1% (37) Ukraine Pińsk 31,912 23% (7,346) 63.2% (20,181) 0.1% (45) 0.3% (82) 4.3% (1,373) 9% (2,866) 0% (2) 0.1% (17) Belarus Stryj 30,491 42.3% (12,897) 31.4% (9,561) 1.6% (501) 24.6% (7,510) 0% (0) 0% (10) 0% (0) 0% (12) Ukraine Kowel 27,677 37.2% (10,295) 46.2% (12,786) 0.2% (50) 9% (2,489) 0.1% (27) 7.1% (1,954) 0% (1) 0.3% (75) Ukraine Włodzimierz 24,591 39.1% (9,616) 43.1% (10,611) 0.6% (138) 14% (3,446) 0.1% (18) 2.9% (724) 0% (0) 0.2% (38) Ukraine Baranowicze 22,818 42.8% (9,758) 41.3% (9,423) 0.1% (25) 0.2% (50) 11.1% (2,537) 4.4% (1,006) 0% (1) 0.1% (18) Belarus Sambor 21,923 61.9% (13,575) 24.3% (5,325) 0.1% (28) 13.2% (2,902) 0% (4) 0% (4) 0% (0) 0.4% (85) Ukraine Krzemieniec 19,877 15.6% (3,108) 36.4% (7,245) 0.1% (23) 42.4% (8,430) 0% (6) 4.4% (883) 0% (2) 0.9% (180) Ukraine Lida 19,326 63.3% (12,239) 32.6% (6,300) 0% (5) 0.1% (28) 2.1% (414) 1.7% (328) 0% (2) 0.1% (10) Belarus Czortków 19,038 55.2% (10,504) 25.5% (4,860) 0.1% (11) 19.1% (3,633) 0% (0) 0.1% (17) 0% (0) 0.1% (13) Ukraine Brody 17,905 44.9% (8,031) 35% (6,266) 0.2% (37) 19.8% (3,548) 0% (5) 0.1% (9) 0% (0) 0.1% (9) Ukraine Słonim 16,251 52% (8,452) 41.1% (6,683) 0.1% (9) 0.3% (45) 4% (656) 2.3% (369) 0% (2) 0.2% (35) Belarus Wołkowysk 15,027 49.6% (7,448) 38.8% (5,827) 0% (7) 0.1% (10) 6.9% (1,038) 4.6% (689) 0% (3) 0% (5) Belarus

## Polish minority after World War II

Despite the expulsion of most of ethnic Poles from the Soviet Union between 1944 and 1958, the Soviet census of 1959 still counted around 1.5 million ethnic Poles remaining in the USSR:

Republic of the USSR Ethnic Poles in 1959 census Belarusian SSR 538,881 Ukrainian SSR 363,297 Lithuanian SSR 230,107 Latvian SSR 59,774 Estonian SSR 2,256 rest of the USSR 185,967 TOTAL 1,380,282

According to a more recent census, there were about 295,000 Poles in Belarus in 2009 (3.1% of the Belarus population).[51]

## Notable people

A number of influential figures in Polish history were born in the area of *kresy* (note: the redirected list does not include Poles born in the cities of Lwów (Lviv), and Wilno (Vilnius) - see [List of people from Lviv](/source/List_of_people_from_Lviv), [List of people from Vilnius](/source/List_of_people_from_Vilnius)). The family of former [President of Poland](/source/President_of_Poland), [Bronisław Komorowski](/source/Bronis%C5%82aw_Komorowski), allegedly hails from northern Lithuania.[52] The mother of [Bogdan Zdrojewski](/source/Bogdan_Zdrojewski), [Minister of Culture and National Heritage](/source/Ministry_of_Culture_and_National_Heritage) is from [Boryslav](/source/Boryslav),[53] and the father of former First Lady [Jolanta Kwaśniewska](/source/Jolanta_Kwa%C5%9Bniewska) was born in [Wołyń](/source/Wo%C5%82y%C5%84), where his sister was murdered in 1943 by the Ukrainian nationalists.[54]

The macro region of Kresy denotes the Eastern historical provinces of the [Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania](/source/Kingdom_of_Poland_and_the_Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania). In the 20th century during the [Second Republic of Poland](/source/Second_Republic_of_Poland) it was the term for its Eastern Borderlands. Following the "[Fourth Partition of Poland](/source/Fourth_Partition_of_Poland)", the [Tehran](/source/Tehran_Conference), [Yalta](/source/Yalta_Conference) and [Potsdam Conferences](/source/Potsdam_Conference), in the wake of the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War), ratified the annexation of the Kresy territories by the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union_in_World_War_II). They were apportioned to [Lithuania](/source/Lithuania), [Belarus](/source/Belarus) and [Ukraine](/source/Ukraine) where they remain.

A number of notable or influential figures from Polish history were born in the former [macroregion](/source/Macroregion) (note: the following list does not include Poles born in the cities of [Lwów (Lviv)](/source/Lviv), and [Wilno (Vilnius)](/source/Vilnius) - see [List of Leopolitans](/source/List_of_people_from_Lviv), [List of Vilnius-related people](/source/List_of_Vilnius-related_people)).

Contents: 

- [A](#A)

- [B](#B)

- [C](#C)

- [D](#D)

- [E](#E)

- [F](#F)

- [G](#G)

- [H](#H)

- [I](#I)

- [K](#K)

- [L](#L)

- [M](#M)

- [N](#N)

- [O](#O)

- [P](#P)

- [R](#R)

- [S](#S)

- [T](#T)

- [U](#U)

- [V](#V)

- [W](#W)

- [Y](#Y)

- [Z](#Z)

- [See also](#See_also)

A Roman Aftanazy, historian and librarian, chronicler of the residences of the Eastern Borderlands, born in Morszyn, current Ukraine[55] B Jan Beyzym, priest, teacher, Jesuit missionary in Madagascar born in Stari Beyzymi, currently in Ukraine[56] Tadeusz Borowski, writer and journalist, born in Zhitomir, current Ukraine[57] Jan Brzechwa, poet, children's author and lawyer born in Żmerynka, Podolia, current Ukraine[58] C Tadeusz Czacki, historian, born in Poryck, now Pavlivka, current Ukraine[59] Joseph Conrad, novelist in English, born in Berdychiv, current Ukraine[60] Zbigniew Cybulski, stage and film actor, born in Kniaze, current Ukraine[61] D Ignacy Domeyko, 19th-century geologist, born in Niedźwiadka Wielka, current Belarus[62] Benedykt Dybowski, naturalist and physician, born near Nowogródek, current Belarus[63] F Feliks Falk, film director, born in Stanisławów, current Ukraine[64] G Mieczysław Gębarowicz, art historian, soldier, custodian of cultural heritage[65] Zygmunt Gloger, historian, archeologist, geographer and ethnographer, born in Kamionka Podolska, current Ukraine[66] Artur Grottger, painter, born in Otynevychi, current Ukraine[67] H Mirosław Hermaszewski, astronaut, born in Lipniki, current Ukraine[68] I Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, writer and poet, born in Kalnik, current Ukraine[69] J Wladyslaw Marian Jakowicki, soldier, physician, academic, rector of Stefan Batory University, born in Vitebsk, current Belarus[70] Aleksander Jełowicki, Roman Catholic priest, publisher of Adam Mickiewicz and writer in Paris. born in Hubnyk, now in Ukraine.[71] K Jerzy Kawalerowicz, film director, born in Gwoździec, current Ukraine[72] Hugo Kołłątaj, social and political activist, political thinker, historian and philosopher, born in Dederkały Wielkie, current Ukraine[73] Tadeusz Konwicki, film director and writer, born in Nowa Wilejka, current Lithuania[74] Ryszard Kapuściński, journalist, travel writer, Nobel nominee, born in Pinsk, current Belarus[75] Tadeusz Kościuszko, national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus, born in the village of Mereczowszczyzna, current Belarus[76] Jerzy Kulczycki, civil engineer, activist publisher and bookseller in London[77] L Tadeusz Łomnicki, notable Polish actor of stage and screen, born in Podhajce, current Ukraine[78] M Stanisław Maczek, tank commander in World War II, exiled in Scotland, born in Szczerzec, current Ukraine[79] Kornel Makuszyński, poet, creator of Koziolek Matolek, born in Stryj, current Ukraine[80] Ernest Malinowski, railway engineer builder, defender of Peru, born in Seweryny, current Ukraine[81] Tadeusz Manteuffel, historian, medievalist, born in Rezekne, now in Latvia[82] Adam Mickiewicz, a Bard of Poland, poet born in Zaosie, current Belarus[83] Czesław Miłosz, poet, prose writer, translator Nobel Laureate in Literature, diplomat, born in Seteniai, current Lithuania[84] Stanisław Moniuszko, Polish/Belarusian conductor, composer and teacher born in Ubiel, current Belarus[85] N Gabriel Narutowicz, first President of the Second Polish Republic, born in Telšiai, current Lithuania[86] Adam Naruszewicz, poet, historian, dramatist, translator, publicist and Jesuit, born in Pinsk, current Belarus[87] Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, poet, playwright and statesman, born near Brześć nad Bugiem, current Belarus[88] Czesław Niemen, singer, born in Stare Wasiliszki, current Belarus[89] O Napoleon Orda, Polish-Lithuanian musician, composer and artist, born in Worocewicze, current Belarus[90] Eliza Orzeszkowa, Positivist novelist, lost out Nobel Prize in Literature to Leo Tolstoy and Henryk Sienkiewicz, born in Milkowszczyzna, current Belarus[91] Stanisław Julian Ostroróg, Crimean war veteran, exile, London and Paris early portrait photographer born in Mogilev current Belarus[92] P Ignacy Jan Paderewski, composer, diplomat, pianist, prime minister of Poland, born the village of Kurilovka, current Ukraine[93] Aniela Pawlikowska, draughtswoman, graphic artist, illustrator, painter[94] Józef Piłsudski, statesman, Chief of State, First Marshal, and leader of the Second Polish Republic, born in Zułów, current Lithuania[95] Stanisław August Poniatowski, last King of Poland, born in Voŭčyn, current Belarus[96] Jan Potocki, writer and adventurer, author of The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, born in Pikov, current Ukraine[97] Stanisław "Rewera" Potocki, magnate and military leader, after whom the city of Stanisławów was named, born in Podhajce, current Ukraine[98] R Mikołaj Rej, renaissance poet and prose writer in Polish, born in Zurawno, current Ukraine[99] Edward Rydz-Śmigły, marshal of Poland, born in Lapshin, current Ukraine[100] Wacław Rzewuski, drama writer, poet, Grand Crown Hetman, ancestor of Balzac's wife, born in Rozdol, current Ukraine[101] S Konstanty Skirmunt, foreign minister (1921-1922), representative to the League of Nations, ambassador to London, born in Moładava, current Belarus[102] Juliusz Słowacki, the father of modern Polish drama, born in Krzemieniec, current Ukraine[103] John III Sobieski, King of Poland, saviour of Europe at Battle of Vienna, born in Olesko, current Ukraine[104] Karol Szymanowski, pianist, composer, born in Tymoszówka, current Ukraine[105] T Jerzy Tabeau, cardiologist, as an imprisoned medical student he broke out of Auschwitz to report about the genocide, born in Zabolotiv, current Ukraine[106] Wiktor Thommée, Brigadier General of the Polish Army, born in Švenčionys, current Lithuania[107] Romuald Traugutt, commander of the January Uprising, born in the village of Szostakowo, near Brześć nad Bugiem, current Belarus[108] Michał Tyszkiewicz, landowner, collector, egyptologist, born in Wołożyn, current Belarus[109] W Anna Walentynowicz, Solidarity legend, born in Równe, current Ukraine[110] Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland, born in Wiśniowiec, current Ukraine[111] Z Gabriela Zapolska, novelist, theatre critic and actor, born in Podhajce, current Ukraine[112] Franciszek Żwirko, aviator, born in Švenčionys, current Lithuania[113]

- [Jozef J. Zwislocki](/source/Jozef_J._Zwislocki), physicist and neuroscientist, born in Lwów.[114]

## Cradle of Polish culture

Map of areas where Polish was used as a primary language in 1916

Map of the Polish population living in Lithuania on the basis of elections to the parliament of Lithuania in 1923, censuses in 1921 and elections to the Polish parliament in 1922

Map of the distribution of Poles in Kresy during the late 19th century
  over 50% Polish

  30% – 50% Polish

  20% – 30% Polish

  10% – 20% Polish

  5% – 10% Polish

  3% – 5% Polish

  1% – 3% Polish

  0% – 1% Polish

Since some of the most distinguished names of [Polish literature](/source/Polish_literature) and [music](/source/Music_of_Poland) were born in **Kresy**, e.g. [Mikołaj Rej](/source/Miko%C5%82aj_Rej), [Adam Mickiewicz](/source/Adam_Mickiewicz), [Juliusz Słowacki](/source/Juliusz_S%C5%82owacki), [Karol Szymanowski](/source/Karol_Szymanowski) or [Czesław Miłosz](/source/Czes%C5%82aw_Mi%C5%82osz), *Eastern Borderlands* have featured repeatedly in the Polish Literary canon. Mickiewicz's [Pan Tadeusz](/source/Pan_Tadeusz) begins with the Polish language invocation, "O Lithuania, my fatherland, thou art like good health...." Other notable works located in **Kresy**, are [Nad Niemnem](/source/Nad_Niemnem), [Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass](/source/Sanatorium_Under_the_Sign_of_the_Hourglass), [With Fire and Sword](/source/With_Fire_and_Sword), [Fire in the Steppe](/source/Fire_in_the_Steppe). In Communist Poland, all **Kresy**-related topics, such as Poland's eastern centuries old heritage, including ecclesiastical architecture, country houses and stately homes down to the [Massacres of Poles in Wołyń](/source/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Wo%C5%82y%C5%84) were banned from publication for [Soviet propaganda](/source/Propaganda_in_the_Soviet_Union) reasons, because these lands now belonged to the Soviet Union. In official documents, people born in the Eastern Borderlands were declared as born in the Soviet Union, and very few **Kresy**-themed books or films were passed by the state censor at that time.[115] One of the exceptions was the immensely popular comedy trilogy by [Sylwester Chęciński](/source/Sylwester_Ch%C4%99ci%C5%84ski) (*[Sami swoi](/source/Sami_swoi)* from 1967, *Nie ma mocnych* from 1974, and *Kochaj albo rzuć* from 1977). The trilogy tells the story of two quarreling families, who after the end of the Second World War were resettled from current Western Ukraine to Lower Silesia, after Poland was shifted westwards.

After the [collapse of the Communist system](/source/End_of_Communism_in_Poland_(1989)), the old **Kresy** returned as a Polish cultural theme in the form of historical polemics. Numerous books and albums were published about the Eastern Borderlands, frequently with original photos from the prewar era. Examples of such publications include:

- [Roman Aftanazy](/source/Roman_Aftanazy). *Dzieje rezydencji na dawnych kresach Rzeczypospolitej*. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo [Ossolineum](/source/Ossolineum), 1991–1997. *History of Residences in Poland's Former Eastern Borderlands*, (1991–1997), listing and describing in a monumental eleven volume work the cultural heritage contained in the myriad estates and grand residences in the once Polish Kresy and [Inflanty](/source/Inflanty_Voivodeship) regions.

- *Kresy in Photos of [Henryk Poddębski](/source/Henryk_Podd%C4%99bski)*, published in May 2010 in Lublin, with a foreword by people with a **Kresy** background - [Anna Seniuk](/source/Anna_Seniuk), [Krzesimir Dębski](/source/Krzesimir_D%C4%99bski) and [Maciej Płażyński](/source/Maciej_P%C5%82a%C5%BCy%C5%84ski)[116]

- *The World of Kresy*, with numerous photos, postcards and maps[117]

- *Sentimental Journeys. Travel across Kresy with [Andrzej Wajda](/source/Andrzej_Wajda) and [Daniel Olbrychski](/source/Daniel_Olbrychski)*[118]

- *The Encyclopedia of Kresy*, with 3600 articles, and foreword by another famous person from **Kresy**, [Stanisław Lem](/source/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem).[119] Articles about the Eastern Borderlands frequently appear in Polish newspapers and magazines. The local office of *[Gazeta Wyborcza](/source/Gazeta_Wyborcza)* in Wrocław in late 2010 began a *Kresy Family Album*, stories and photos of those who were forced to move from the East.

In the first half of 2011, *[Rzeczpospolita](/source/Rzeczpospolita_(newspaper))* daily published a series called "The Book of Eastern Borderlands" (*Księga kresów wschodnich*).[120] The July 2012 issue of the [Uważam Rze Historia](/source/Uwa%C5%BCam_Rze) magazine was dedicated to the Eastern Borderlands and their importance in Polish history and culture.[121]

## Present day

Grey: Areas with majority Polish population in modern Lithuania. Red: pre-World War II Polish-Lithuanian border

The territory known to Poles as **Kresy** is now partitioned off between the states of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. Ethnic Poles still live in those areas: in Lithuania, they are the largest ethnic minority in the country (see [Poles in Lithuania](/source/Poles_in_Lithuania)), in Belarus, they are the second largest ethnic minority in the country after Russians (see [Poles in Belarus](/source/Poles_in_Belarus)), and in Ukraine, they officially number 144,130, but some Polish organizations claim that the number of Poles in Ukraine may be as many as 2 million, most of them assimilated.[122] (see [Poles in Ukraine](/source/Poles_in_Ukraine)). Furthermore, there is a 50,000 [Polish minority in Latvia](/source/Poles_in_Latvia). In Lithuania and Belarus, Poles are more numerous than in Ukraine. This is the result of the [Polish population transfers (1944–1946)](/source/Polish_population_transfers_(1944%E2%80%931946))[123] as well as [Massacres of Poles in Volhynia](/source/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia). Those Poles who survived the slaughter begged for the opportunity to emigrate.[21]

Many Polish organizations are active in the former Eastern Borderlands, such as the Association of Poles in Ukraine, [Association of Polish Culture of the Lviv Land](/source/Association_of_Polish_Culture_of_the_Lviv_Land), the Federation of Polish Organizations in Ukraine, [Union of Poles in Belarus](/source/Union_of_Poles_in_Belarus), and the [Association of Poles in Lithuania](/source/Association_of_Poles_in_Lithuania). There are Polish sports clubs ([Pogoń Lwów](/source/Pogo%C5%84_Lw%C3%B3w), [FK Polonia Vilnius](/source/FK_Polonia_Vilnius)), newspapers ([Gazeta Lwowska](/source/Gazeta_Lwowska), [Kurier Wileński](/source/Kurier_Wile%C5%84ski)), radio stations (in Lviv and Vilnius), many theatres, schools, choirs and folk ensembles. Poles living in *Kresy* are helped by a government-sponsored organization [Fundacja Pomoc Polakom na Wschodzie](/source/Fundacja_Pomoc_Polakom_na_Wschodzie), and by other organizations, such as the Association of Help of Poles in the East Kresy (see also [Karta Polaka](/source/Karta_Polaka)). Money is frequently collected to help those Poles who live in *Kresy*, and there are several annual events, such as "Christmas Package for a Polish Veteran in Kresy", and "Summer with Poland", sponsored by [Association "Polish Community"](/source/Association_%22Polish_Community%22), in which Polish children from *Kresy* are invited to visit Poland.[124] Polish language handbooks and films, as well as medicines and clothes are collected and sent to *Kresy*. Books are most often sent to [Polish schools](/source/Education_in_Poland) which exist there — for example, in December 2010, University of Wrocław organized an event called "Become a Polish Santa Claus and Give a Book to a Polish Child in Kresy".[125] Polish churches and cemeteries (such as [Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów](/source/Cemetery_of_the_Defenders_of_Lw%C3%B3w)) are renovated with money from Poland. For example, in [Nysa](/source/Nysa%2C_Poland), money is collected to renovate the Roman Catholic church in Łopatyn near Lviv,[126] while residents of [Oława](/source/O%C5%82awa) collect funds to renovate the church in Sasiv, also in the area of Lviv.[127] Also, physicians from Kraków's organization Doctors of Hope regularly visit Eastern Borderlands, and the [Polish Ministry of Education](/source/Ministry_of_National_Education_(Poland)) runs a special program, which sends Polish teachers to the former Soviet Union. In 2007, more than 700 teachers worked in the East, most of them in *Kresy*.[128] Studio East of Polish TV Wrocław organizes an event called "Save your grandfather's tomb from oblivion" (*Mogiłę pradziada ocal od zapomnienia*), during which students from [Lower Silesia](/source/Lower_Silesia) visit Western Ukraine, to clean Polish cemeteries there. In July 2011, about 150 students cleaned 16 cemeteries in the areas of Lviv, [Ternopil](/source/Ternopil), [Podolia](/source/Podolia) and [Pokuttya](/source/Pokuttya).[129]

Despite wars and [ethnic cleansing](/source/Ethnic_cleansing) many treasures of Polish culture still remain in the East. In Vilnius, there is the [Wróblewski Library](/source/Wr%C3%B3blewski_Library), with 160,000 volumes and 30,000 manuscripts, which now belong to the [Lithuanian Academy of Sciences](/source/Lithuanian_Academy_of_Sciences). In Lviv, there is the [Ossolineum](/source/Ossolineum), one of the most important Polish culture centres. Adolf Juzwenko, current president of Wrocław's office of the Ossolineum, says that in 1945, there was a mass public campaign in Poland, aimed at transporting the whole Ossolineum to Wrocław. It succeeded in recovering only 200,000 volumes, as the Soviets decided that the bulk of the library had to remain in Lviv.[130]

### In contemporary Poland

Percentage of Kresy Poles in modern Poland by region.

Even though Poland lost its Eastern Borderlands in the aftermath of World War II, Poles connected with the Kresy still have some affection for those lands. Since Poles from current Western Ukraine mostly moved to [Silesia](/source/Silesia). The cities of [Wrocław](/source/Wroc%C5%82aw) and [Gliwice](/source/Gliwice) are regarded as *miasta lwowskie* (cities of Lwów affinity), while [Szczecin](/source/Szczecin), [Gdańsk](/source/Gda%C5%84sk) and [Olsztyn](/source/Olsztyn) are regarded as *miasta wileńskie* (cities of Wilno affinity).[131] Lwów's [Ossolineum](/source/Ossolineum) Foundation, its collections and famous library are now located in Wrocław. Polish academics from Lwów established the Polish [University of Wrocław](/source/University_of_Wroc%C5%82aw) (taking over from the old German University of Breslau) and [Silesian University of Technology](/source/Silesian_University_of_Technology) in [Gliwice](/source/Gliwice). At the same time, Polish academics from Vilnius founded [Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń](/source/Nicolaus_Copernicus_University_in_Toru%C5%84) (even though [Toruń](/source/Toru%C5%84) belonged to Poland before the outbreak of [World War II](/source/World_War_II) before 1939).

There are numerous Kresy-oriented organizations, with the largest one, World Congress of Kresy Inhabitants (*Światowy Kongres Kresowian*), located in [Bytom](/source/Bytom), and branches scattered across Poland, and abroad. The Congress organizes annual World Convention and Pilgrimage of Kresy Inhabitants to [Jasna Góra Monastery](/source/Jasna_G%C3%B3ra_Monastery).[132]

Other important *Kresy* organizations, active in contemporary Poland, include:

- *Polskie Towarzystwo Miłośników Miasta Krzemieńca i Ziemi Krzemienieckiej* (Polish Association of Lovers of Krzemieniec and Krzemieniec Land) from [Poznań](/source/Pozna%C5%84).

- *Stowarzyszenie Kresowe "Podkamień"* (Kresy Association "Podkamien") from [Wołów](/source/Wo%C5%82%C3%B3w),

- *Stowarzyszenie Odra-Niemen* (Association [Odra](/source/Odra_(Poland)) - [Niemen](/source/Niemen)) from Wrocław,

- *Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciół Ziemi Drohobyckiej* (Association of Friends of [Drohobycz](/source/Drohobycz) Land) from [Legnica](/source/Legnica),

- *Stowarzyszenie Rodzin Osadników Wojskowych i Cywilnych Kresów Wschodnich* (Association of Families of [Osadniks](/source/Osadnik) of Eastern Borderlands) from Warsaw,

- *Towarzystwo Miłośników Kultury Kresowej* (Association of Friends of Kresy Culture) from Wrocław,

- *Towarzystwo Miłośników Wołynia i Polesia* (Association of Lovers of Wołyn and Polesie) from Warsaw,

- *Towarzystwo Miłośników Lwowa i Kresów Południowo-Wschodnich* (Association of Lovers of Lwów and Southeastern Kresy) from [Wrocław](/source/Wroc%C5%82aw), with branches in Brzeg, Bydgoszcz, Bytom, Chełm, Gdańsk, Jelenia Góra, Kłodzko, Kraków, Leszno, Lublin, Poznań, Szczecinek, Świdwin, Warszawa, Węgliniec and Zabrze,

- *Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Grodna i Wilna* (Association of Friends of Grodno and Wilno), with branches in Białystok, Ełk, Gdańsk, Giżycko, Lublin, Łódź, Ostrołęka, Stargard Szczeciński, Warszawa, Węgorzewo, Wrocław,

- *Związek Sybirakow* (Association of [Sybiraks](/source/Sybirak)) from Warsaw, with branches scattered across Poland and abroad.

the [Skirmunt](/source/Konstanty_Skirmunt) estate, [Moładaŭ](/source/Mo%C5%82adava), by [Napoleon Orda](/source/Napoleon_Orda) 1875

Every year, in the [Masurian](/source/Masuria) town of [Mrągowo](/source/Mr%C4%85gowo), there is a *Festiwal Kultury Kresowej* (Festival of Kresy Culture), sponsored among others by the [Senate of the Republic of Poland](/source/Senate_of_the_Republic_of_Poland) and the Minister of Culture, with the patronage of the First Lady. The Festival is broadcast by [TVP2](/source/TVP2) and [TVP Polonia](/source/TVP_Polonia), and in 2011 it was organized for the 17th time. Among participants of the 2011 Festival, there were such artists, as Folk Ensemble Mozyrzanka from [Mozyr](/source/Mozyr), Children and Youth Band Tęcza from [Minsk](/source/Minsk), Folk Band Kresowianka from [Ivyanets](/source/Ivyanets), Polish Academic Choir Zgoda from [Brest](/source/Brest%2C_Belarus), Instrumental Band Biedronki from [Minsk](/source/Minsk), Vocal Duo Wspólna wędrówka from Minsk, Children's Polonia Ensemble Dolinianka from Stara Huta (Ukraine), Ensemble Fujareczka from [Sambir](/source/Sambir), Ensemble Boryslawiacy from [Boryslav](/source/Boryslav), Ensemble Niebo do Wynajecia from Stralhivci (Ukraine), Polish Dance and Song Ensemble Wilenka from Vilnius, Dance and Song Band Troczenie from [Trakai](/source/Trakai), Band Wesołe Wilno from Vilnius, Song and Dance Ensemble Kotwica from [Kaunas](/source/Kaunas), and Folk and Polish Folklore Dance and Song Ensemble Syberyjski Krakowiak from [Abakan](/source/Abakan) in [Siberia](/source/Siberia).[133]

Other notable Kresy-oriented festivals are:

- *Dzień Kresowiaka* (Kresy Inhabitant Day) in the village of Łagiewniki near [Malbork](/source/Malbork),

- *Dzień Kresowy* (Kresy Day) in [Wschowa](/source/Wschowa),

- *Dzień Kultury Kresowej* (Day of Kresy Culture) in [Kędzierzyn-Koźle](/source/K%C4%99dzierzyn-Ko%C5%BAle),

- *Dni Kultury Kresowej* (Days of Kresy Culture) in [Białystok](/source/Bia%C5%82ystok),

- *Dni Kultury Kresowej* (Days of Kresy Culture) in [Brzeg](/source/Brzeg),

- *Dni Kultury Kresowej* (Days of Kresy Culture) in [Prochowice](/source/Prochowice),

- *Kaziuki* (*[Kaziuko mugė](/source/Kaziuko_mug%C4%97)*), an annual folk arts and crafts fair, which takes place in [Vilnius](/source/Vilnius), is organized in several Polish cities ([Gdańsk](/source/Gda%C5%84sk),[134] [Olsztyn](/source/Olsztyn),[135] [Poznań](/source/Pozna%C5%84),[136] [Suwałki](/source/Suwa%C5%82ki),[137] [Warsaw](/source/Warsaw)[138]), on initiative of Poles resettled from Vilnius,

- *Kresowy Festiwal Polonijny Młodzieży Szkolnej* (Kresy Festival of [Polonia](/source/Polish_diaspora) Schoolchildren) in [Zamość](/source/Zamo%C5%9B%C4%87),

- *Legnickie Dni Kultury Kresowej* (Legnica Days of Kresy Culture) in [Legnica](/source/Legnica), [Lubin](/source/Lubin), [Jawor](/source/Jawor), [Chojnów](/source/Chojn%C3%B3w),

- *Lipcowy Festiwal Kresowy* (July Kresy Festival) in [Rejowiec](/source/Rejowiec%2C_Lublin_Voivodeship),

- *Międzynarodowy Festiwal Kultury Kresowej* (International Festival of Kresy Culture) in [Jarosław](/source/Jaros%C5%82aw),

- *Prezentacja Kultury Polaków z Kresów Wschodnich i Bukowiny* (Show of Culture of Poles from Eastern Borderlands and [Bucovina](/source/Bucovina)) in [Zielona Góra](/source/Zielona_G%C3%B3ra), [Szprotawa](/source/Szprotawa), [Nowa Sól](/source/Nowa_S%C3%B3l), [Kożuchów](/source/Ko%C5%BCuch%C3%B3w), [Żagań](/source/%C5%BBaga%C5%84)

- *Świdnicki Dzień Kultury Kresowej i Lwowa* (Świdnica Day of Kresy and Lwów Culture) in [Świdnica](/source/%C5%9Awidnica).

In [Lubaczów](/source/Lubacz%C3%B3w) is a Museum of Kresy, and there is a project, supported by local government, to create a Museum of Eastern Borderlands in Wrocław, the city where a number of Poles from Kresy settled after World War II.[139] Numerous photo albums and books, depicting cities, towns and landscapes of *Kresy* are published every year in Poland. In [Chełm](/source/Che%C5%82m), there is Kresy Bicycle Marathon, Polish Radio Białystok every week broadcasts *Kresy Magazine*, dedicated to the history and present times of the Eastern Borderlands. Every Sunday, [Polish Radio Katowice](/source/Polish_Radio_Katowice) broadcasts a program based on famous prewar [Lwów's Merry Wave](/source/Weso%C5%82a_Lwowska_Fala), every Tuesday, Polish Radio Rzeszów broadcasts a program *Kresy Landscapes*. In Wrocław, the Association of Remembrance of Victims of Ukrainian Nationalists publishes *Na Rubieży* (*On the Border*) magazine. Among best known *Kresy* activists of contemporary Poland are Father [Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski](/source/Tadeusz_Isakowicz-Zaleski), and Dr. Tadeusz Kukiz, father of popular singer [Paweł Kukiz](/source/Pawe%C5%82_Kukiz). Since 2007, annual medals Heritage of Eastern Borderlands are awarded in Wrocław. The 2011 recipient was emeritus [Archbishop of Wrocław](/source/Archbishop_of_Wroc%C5%82aw), [Henryk Gulbinowicz](/source/Henryk_Gulbinowicz).[140] Participants of annual Katyń Motorcycle Raid (*Motocyklowy Rajd Katyński*) always visit Polish centers in *Kresy*, giving presents to children, and meeting local Poles.[141]

The program of 2011 Days of Kresy Culture (October 22–23) in [Brzeg](/source/Brzeg) covered such events, as: *Kresy* themed cabaret, promotion of *Kresy* books, Eastern Borderlands cuisine, mass in a local church, meetings with *Kresy* activists and scholars, and theatre shows of Brzeg's Garrison Club as well as Lwów Eaglets Middle School number 3 in Brzeg. Organizers of the festival assured that for the two days Brzeg would turn into the "capital of interwar Polish Kresy".[142]

In January, February and March 2012, [Centre for Public Opinion Research](/source/Centre_for_Public_Opinion_Research) did a survey, asking Poles about their ties to Kresy. It turned out that almost 15% of the population of Poland (4,3 - 4,6 million people) declared that they either were born in the Kresy, or have a parent or a grandparent from that region. The number of *Kresowiacy* is high in northern and western Poland – as many as 51% of inhabitants of [Lubusz Voivodeship](/source/Lubusz_Voivodeship), and 47% of inhabitants of [Lower Silesian Voivodeship](/source/Lower_Silesian_Voivodeship) stated that their family has ties to the Kresy. Furthermore, *Kresowiacy* now make 30% of the population of [Opole Voivodeship](/source/Opole_Voivodeship), 25% of the population of [West Pomeranian Voivodeship](/source/West_Pomeranian_Voivodeship), and 18% of the population of [Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship](/source/Warmian%E2%80%93Masurian_Voivodeship).[143]

## Polish regional dialects

Since Poles have lived in Kresy for hundreds of years, two groups of Kresy Polish dialects emerged: the [northern](/source/Northern_Borderlands_dialect) (*dialekt północnokresowy*), and the [southern](/source/Southern_Borderlands_dialect) (*dialekt południowokresowy*).[144] Both dialects have been influenced either by [Ukrainian](/source/Ukrainian_language), [Belarusian](/source/Belarusian_language) or by [Lithuanian](/source/Lithuanian_language). To Polish speakers in Poland, Kresy dialects are easy to distinguish, as their pronunciation and intonation are markedly different from standard Polish.[145] Before World War II, the Kresy provinces were part of Poland, and both dialects were in common usage, spoken by millions of ethnic Poles. After the war and Soviet annexation of Kresy, however, the majority of ethnic Poles were [deported](/source/World_War_II_evacuation_and_expulsion) westward, resulting in a severe decline in the number of native speakers. The northern Kresy dialect is still used along the [Lithuanian-Belarusian border](/source/Belarus%E2%80%93Lithuania_border), where Poles still live in large numbers, but the southern Kresy dialect is endangered, as [Poles](/source/Poles_in_Ukraine) in [western Ukraine](/source/Western_Ukraine) do not form a majority of the population in any district. Particularly notable among the Kresy dialects is the [Lwów dialect](/source/Lw%C3%B3w_dialect) which emerged early in the 19th century and was spoken in the city gaining much recognition in the 1920s and 1930s, partly due to the countrywide popularity of numerous Kresy-born and trained actors and comedians whose native speech it was (see also: [Dialects of the Polish language](/source/Dialects_of_the_Polish_language)).

## See also

- Kresy dialects: - [Northern Borderlands dialect](/source/Northern_Borderlands_dialect) - [Southern Borderlands dialect](/source/Southern_Borderlands_dialect)

- [Bug River land](/source/Bug_River_land)

- [Lithuanian and Belarusian Self-Defence](/source/Lithuanian_and_Belarusian_Self-Defence)

- [Lwów Eaglets](/source/Lw%C3%B3w_Eaglets)

- [Peace of Riga](/source/Peace_of_Riga)

- [Poles in the former Soviet Union](/source/Poles_in_the_former_Soviet_Union)

- [Polish historical regions](/source/Polish_historical_regions)

- [Polish National-Territorial Region](/source/Polish_National-Territorial_Region)

- [Polonia](/source/Polish_diaspora)

- [Republic of Central Lithuania](/source/Republic_of_Central_Lithuania)

- [Repatriation of Poles (1955–1959)](/source/Repatriation_of_Poles_(1955%E2%80%931959))

- [Soviet repressions of Polish citizens (1939–1946)](/source/Soviet_repressions_of_Polish_citizens_(1939%E2%80%931946))

- [Suwałki Agreement](/source/Suwa%C5%82ki_Agreement)

- [Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union](/source/Territories_of_Poland_annexed_by_the_Soviet_Union)

- [Treaty of Brest-Litovsk](/source/Treaty_of_Brest-Litovsk)

- [Treaty of Warsaw (1920)](/source/Treaty_of_Warsaw_(1920))

- [Vilnius Region](/source/Vilnius_Region)

- [Volhynia Experiment](/source/Volhynia_Experiment)

- [Wanda Wasilewska](/source/Wanda_Wasilewska)

- [Western Krai](/source/Western_Krai)

- [West Ukrainian People's Republic](/source/West_Ukrainian_People's_Republic)

- [Zakerzonia](/source/Zakerzonia)

- [Żeligowski's Mutiny](/source/%C5%BBeligowski's_Mutiny)

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-47)** Includes German and Czech, etc.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-48)** Includes Protestants, Old Believers, etc.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-54)** Includes Lithuanian and Ukrainian, etc.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-55)** Includes Old Believers, Protestants, etc.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** In Polish, "kresy" means 'borderlands', but there are also "Kresy zachodnie", or [Western Borderlands](/source/Western_Borderlands)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["The 2nd edition of the IPN's educational project "Polish Eastern Borderlands in the 20th century""](https://ipn.gov.pl/en/news/2508,The-2nd-edition-of-the-IPNs-educational-project-Polish-Eastern-Borderlands-in-th.html). *[Institute of National Remembrance](/source/Institute_of_National_Remembrance)*. Retrieved 2021-01-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Böhler, Jochen (2018-11-01). [*Civil War in Central Europe, 1918-1921: The Reconstruction of Poland*](https://books.google.com/books?id=tWJ7DwAAQBAJ). Oxford University Press. p. 130. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-251332-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-251332-8).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Kolonialne i postkolonialne aspekty polskiego dyskursu kresoznawczego (zarys problematyki)](https://rcin.org.pl/Content/51746/PDF/WA248_68418_P-I-2524_bakula-kolonial.pdf)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [The Russian Okrainy (Oкраины) and the Polish Kresy: Objectivity and Historiography](https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/19540/Kamusella_2018_GIH_Okrainy_AAM.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [KRESY AS AN ELEMENT OF NATIONAL IDENTITY: THE CONTEXT OF BORDERLAND](https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/635486-kresy-as-an-element-of-national-identity-7a7a6a02.pdf)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_7-1) Liekis, Šarūnas (2010). [*1939: The Year that Changed Everything in Lithuania's History*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ST3LrBPOM4gC). Rodopi. pp. 257, 361. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-90-420-2762-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-420-2762-6).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_8-1) [Snyder, Timothy](/source/Timothy_D._Snyder); Brandon, Ray (2014). [*Stalin and Europe: Imitation and Domination, 1928-1953*](https://books.google.com/books?id=NpFtAwAAQBAJ). Oxford University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-994558-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-994558-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Wegner-74_9-0)** [Bernd Wegner](/source/Bernd_Wegner) (1997). *[From peace to war: Germany, Soviet Russia, and the world, 1939–1941.](https://books.google.com/books?id=aESBIpIm6UcC&pg=PA74)* Berghahn Books. p. 74. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1-57181-882-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1-57181-882-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Zbigniew Gołąb, "The Origin and Etymology of Old Russian *Kriviči*," *[International Journal of Slavic Linguistics and Poetics](/source/International_Journal_of_Slavic_Linguistics_and_Poetics)* 31/32 (1985, Festschrift H. Birnbaum): 167–174, page 173.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Bremer, T. (2008-04-01). [*Religion and the Conceptual Boundary in Central and Eastern Europe: Encounters of Faiths*](https://books.google.com/books?id=VqWHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA59). Springer. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780230590021](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780230590021).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** "pale, n.1." *OED Online*. Oxford University Press, September 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016. [The Pale](/source/The_Pale_(Ireland)) was the part of medieval [Ireland](/source/Ireland) controlled by the English government.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Lukowski, Jerzy (2014-06-17). [*The Partitions of Poland 1772, 1793, 1795*](https://books.google.com/books?id=sG3XAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT8). Routledge. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781317886938](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781317886938).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Rafał Żebrowski. ["*Rocznica wydania ukazu o ustanowieniu "strefy osiedlenia" dla Żydów*"](http://www.jhi.pl/blog/2016-01-07-rocznica-wydania-ukazu-o-ustanowieniu-strefy-osiedlenia-dla-zydow) (in Polish). Retrieved 2016-01-07. On the anniversary of the institution of the Pale of Settlement

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** *W dodatku Kresy Wschodnie II Rzeczypospolitej były najbiedniejszym regionem kraju* Polska ludność kresowa: rodowód, liczebność, rozmieszczenie Piotr Eberhardt, page 21 Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1998

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Historia gospodarcza Polski Andrzej Jezierski, page 269, 2006

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** ["Jak odrodziła się wolna Polska"](http://www.polityka.pl/historia/272107,1,jak-odrodzila-sie-wolna-polska-.read). 4 November 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:2_18-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:2_18-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:2_18-2) Richter, Klaus (2020-04-02). [*Fragmentation in East Central Europe: Poland and the Baltics, 1915-1929*](https://books.google.com/books?id=YO3eDwAAQBAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 86–87. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-258164-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-258164-8).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Henschel, Christhardt (2014-11-01). "Front-Line Soldiers into Farmers: Military Colonization in Poland after the First and Second World Wars". [*Property in East Central Europe: Notions, Institutions, and Practices of Landownership in the Twentieth Century*](https://books.google.com/books?id=9CQfAwAAQBAJ). Berghahn Books. p. 150. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-78238-462-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-78238-462-5).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Rein, Leonid (2011-03-01). *The Kings and the Pawns: Collaboration in Byelorussia During World War II*. Berghahn Books. p. 61.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Michael Hope, *Polish Deportees in the Soviet Union*, Veritas Foundation, London, 2000, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-948202-76-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-948202-76-9)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-wyborcza1_22-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-wyborcza1_22-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-wyborcza1_22-2) [Gazeta Wyborcza, Kresowianie nie mieli wyboru, musieli jechać na zachód, interview with Professor Grzegorz Hryciuk, 2010-12-20](http://wyborcza.pl/swoiobcy/1,110847,8842882,Kresowianie_nie_mieli_wyboru__musieli_jechac_na_zachod.html)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** ["Gazeta Wrocławska - Wiadomości Wrocław, Informacje Wrocław"](http://www.gazetawroclawska.pl/magazyn/152107,smak-kresow-w-bialej,id,t.html). 14 August 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** ["Obchody 65. rocznicy przybycia Sybiraków i Kresowiaków na Pomorze Zachodnie"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130321194505/http://www.historia.wzp.pl/index.php?treeid=299). Archived from [the original](http://www.historia.wzp.pl/index.php?treeid=299) on 21 March 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** ["Wyborcza.pl"](http://opole.gazeta.pl/opole/1,35086,8917879,Co_czwarty_Opolanin_pochodzi_z_Kresow.html). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** ["Mieszkańcy Jasienia w Hołdzie Repatriantom z Kresów Wschodnich"](https://web.archive.org/web/20131202234159/http://www.nadnysie.pl/tech/technology-news964883477/personal-tech30550243/414-888581318). Archived from [the original](http://www.nadnysie.pl/tech/technology-news964883477/personal-tech30550243/414-888581318) on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-27)** czesmen. ["Trzcińsko-Zdrój nasza mała ojczyzna - Kresowiacy na Ziemi Chojeńskiej"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190321141320/http://www.trzcinsko.com/content/view/455/). Archived from [the original](http://www.trzcinsko.com/content/view/455/) on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-28)** ["Wykaz repatriantów przybyłych do Wschowy z kresów wschodnich II RP z maja 1945 r."](http://dziedzictwo.polska.pl/katalog/skarb,Wykaz_repatriantow_przybylych_do_Wschowy_z_kresow_wschodnich_II_RP_z_maja_1945_r,gid,399318,cid,447.htm?body=desc) Retrieved 2 July 2016.[*[permanent dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]

1. **[^](#cite_ref-29)** [Gazeta Wyborcza, Pierwsza fala przesiedlen](http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/4/8814/m8814144,Pierwsza-fala-przesiedlen-w-latach-1944-46.jpg,)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-30)** ["Wyborcza.pl"](http://wyborcza.pl/swoiobcy/1,110847,8883349,Jedna_bomba_atomowa_i_wrocimy_znow_do_Lwowa.html?as=1&startsz=x). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-31)** ["Nie oddamy Lwowa - Utwory - Cyfrowa Biblioteka Polskiej Piosenki"](https://bibliotekapiosenki.pl/utwory/Nie_oddamy_Lwowa/tekst).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-32)** ["Gazeta Wyborcza, Kresowe życie na walizkach. Interview with Professor Zdzisław Mach, 2010-12-29"](http://wyborcza.pl/swoiobcy/1,110847,8865061,Kresowe_zycie_na_walizkach.html?as=1&startsz=x). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-33)** "Polskie Drogi" by Bogdan Trybuchowski

1. **[^](#cite_ref-34)** Historia 1871–1939 Anna Radziwiłł, Wojciech Roszkowski Warsaw 2000 page 278

1. **[^](#cite_ref-35)** ["Liczba i rozmieszczenie ludności polskiej na części Kresów obecnie w granicach Ukrainy"](https://konsnard.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/liczba-i-rozmieszczenie-ludnosci-polskiej-na-czesci-kresow-obecnie-w-granicach-ukrainy/). *Konsnard*. 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-36)** Eberhardt, Piotr (2003). *Ethnic Groups and Population Changes in Twentieth-century Central-Eastern Europe: History, Data, and Analysis*. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 241, Table 4.45. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780765606655](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780765606655).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:02_37-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:02_37-1) ["Polish census of 1931"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Polish_census_of_1931).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-38)** ["Liczebność Polaków na Kresach w obecnej Białorusi"](https://konsnard.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/liczebnosc-polakow-na-kresach-w-obecnej-bialorusi/). *Konsnard*. 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-39)** ["Liczba i rozmieszczenie ludności polskiej na obszarach obecnej Litwy"](https://konsnard.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/liczba-i-rozmieszczenie-ludnosci-polskiej-na-obszarach-obecnej-litwy/). *Konsnard*. 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-41)** ["Third Population and Housing Census in Latvia in 1930 (in Latvian and in French)"](https://www.csb.gov.lv/en/statistics/statistics-by-theme/population/census/search-in-theme/185-third-population-and-housing-census-latvia-1930). *State Statistical Office*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-42)** ["Plik:Woj.wołyńskie-Polska spis powszechny 1931.pdf – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woj.wo%C5%82y%C5%84skie-Polska_spis_powszechny_1931.pdf) (PDF). *commons.wikimedia.org* (in Polish). 1938. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-43)** ["Plik:Woj.tarnopolskie-Polska spis powszechny 1931.pdf – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woj.tarnopolskie-Polska_spis_powszechny_1931.pdf) (PDF). *commons.wikimedia.org* (in Polish). 1938. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-44)** ["Plik:Woj.stanisławowskie-Polska spis powszechny 1931.pdf – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woj.stanis%C5%82awowskie-Polska_spis_powszechny_1931.pdf) (PDF). *commons.wikimedia.org* (in Polish). 1938. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-45)** ["Plik:Woj.lwowskie-Polska spis powszechny 1931.pdf – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woj.lwowskie-Polska_spis_powszechny_1931.pdf) (PDF). *commons.wikimedia.org* (in Polish). 1938. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-46)** ["Plik:M.Lwów-Polska spis powszechny 1931.pdf – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M.Lw%C3%B3w-Polska_spis_powszechny_1931.pdf) (PDF). *commons.wikimedia.org* (in Polish). 1937. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-49)** ["Plik:Woj.nowogrodzkie-Polska spis powszechny 1931.pdf – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woj.nowogrodzkie-Polska_spis_powszechny_1931.pdf) (PDF). *commons.wikimedia.org* (in Polish). 1938. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-50)** ["Plik:Woj.wileńskie-Polska spis powszechny 1931.pdf – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woj.wile%C5%84skie-Polska_spis_powszechny_1931.pdf) (PDF). *commons.wikimedia.org* (in Polish). 1936. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-51)** Statystyczny, Główny Urząd (1937), [*English: Dane spisu powszechnego 1931 - Miasto Wilno*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M.Wilno-Polska_spis_powszechny_1931.pdf) (PDF), retrieved 2024-06-13

1. **[^](#cite_ref-52)** ["Plik:Woj.poleskie-Polska spis powszechny 1931.pdf – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woj.poleskie-Polska_spis_powszechny_1931.pdf) (PDF). *commons.wikimedia.org* (in Polish). 1938. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-53)** ["Plik:Woj.białostockie-Polska spis powszechny 1931.pdf – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woj.bia%C5%82ostockie-Polska_spis_powszechny_1931.pdf) (PDF). *commons.wikimedia.org* (in Polish). 1938. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-56)** Eberhardt, Piotr (1998). ["Problematyka narodowościowa Łotwy"](https://rcin.org.pl/Content/34420/PDF/WA51_44706_r1998-nr54_Zeszyty-IGiPZ.pdf) (PDF). *Zeszyty IGiPZ PAN*. **54**: 30, Tabela 7 – via Repozytorium Cyfrowe Instytutów Naukowych.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2009census2_57-0)** ["Population census 2009"](https://web.archive.org/web/20131004231628/http://belstat.gov.by/homep/en/census/2009/pc2009.php). belstat.gov.by. Archived from [the original](http://belstat.gov.by/homep/en/census/2009/pc2009.php) on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-58)** ["Bronisław Komorowski na Litwie: Jestem stąd :: społeczeństwo"](http://www.kresy.pl/wydarzenia,spoleczenstwo?zobacz/bronislaw-komorowski-na-litwie-jestem-stad). 17 February 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-59)** dook.pl. ["Bogdan Zdrojewski - Rodzina"](http://zdrojewski.info/pl/z-bliska/rodzina/) (in Polish). Zdrojewski.info. Retrieved 2014-05-15.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-60)** ["Ojciec Jolanty Kwaśniewskiej nie żyje - Wiadomości i informacje z kraju - wydarzenia, komentarze - Dziennik.pl"](http://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/wydarzenia/artykuly/211943,ojciec-jolanty-kwasniewskiej-nie-zyje.html). Wiadomosci.dziennik.pl. 13 October 2007. Retrieved 2014-05-15.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-61)** Maciej Matwijów (2017). "Włodzimierz Roman Aftanazy (1914-2004). Szkic biograficzny". *Kustosz i samotnik* (in Polish). Wrocław: Ossolineum. pp. 13, 14.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-62)** ["Jan Beyzym (1850-1912)"](https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20080818_beyzym_en.html). Holy See. Retrieved 23 November 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-63)** Borowski, Tadeusz (2007). *Postal indiscretions: the correspondence of Tadeusz Borowski - (*Niedyskrecje pocztowe: korespondencja Tadeusza Borowskiego*)*. [Northwestern University Press](/source/Northwestern_University_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8101-2203-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8101-2203-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-64)** [Brzechwa, Jan (1898–1966)](https://books.google.com/books?id=OL9tAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Jan+Brzechwa%22) *The YIVO encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe*, Volume 1. *[Yale University Press](/source/Yale_University_Press)*, 2008. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-300-11903-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-300-11903-8).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-65)** Yla, Stasys (Summer 1981). ["The Clash Of Nationalities At The University Of Vilnius, 1803-1832"](http://www.lituanus.org/1981_2/81_2_03.htm). *[Lituanus](/source/Lituanus)*. **27** (1). Retrieved 2008-07-06.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-66)** J. H. Stape, *The New Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad*. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014, p. 103–04.[\[1\]](https://books.google.com/books?id=XSHRCAURGIAC&q=conrad+and+modernism&pg=PA203)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-67)** [Zbigniew Cybulski](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0194193/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-68)** Hutchison, Elizabeth Quay; Klubock, Thomas Miller, eds. (2014). "A Polish scientist among the Mapuche, Ignacio Domeyko". *The Chile Reader: History, Culture, Politics*. [Duke University Press](/source/Duke_University_Press). p. 157. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0822353607](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0822353607).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-69)** "Opinion 105. Dybowski's (1926) Names of Crustacea Suppressed". *Opinions Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature: Opinions 105 to 114*. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Vol. 73. 1929. pp. 1–3. [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[10088/23619](https://hdl.handle.net/10088%2F23619). [BHL](/source/Biodiversity_Heritage_Library) [page 8911139](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8911139).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-70)** [Feliks Falk](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0266138/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-71)** Janusz Maciej Michałowski (1984). ["Profesor Mieczysław Gębarowicz. Uczony, Strażnik Dóbr Narodowych, Obywatel Miasta "Zawsze Wiernego""](http://www.lwow.com.pl/rocznik/gebarowicz.html) (in Polish). Retrieved 5 November 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-lomza_72-0)** [Zygmunt Gloger - Starożytnik z Jeżewa.](https://web.archive.org/web/20070401173336/http://www.lomza.friko.pl/ciekawostki/ludzie_gloger.htm) Internet Archive. (in Polish)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-73)** [The Polish Biographical Dictionary](/source/The_Polish_Biographical_Dictionary), Vol. XX (Maria Józefa – Mathy Ignacy), ed. Polska Akademia Nauk, print. Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wroclaw-Warsaw-Cracow-Danzig, 1975, p. 154.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-74)** ["Hermaszewski wspomina historię swojej rodziny podczas rzezi wołyńskiej"](http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/kraj/hermaszewski-wspomina-historie-swojej-rodziny-podczas-rzezi-wolynskiej/yqs2n) [Hermaszewski recalls history of his family during Volhynian slaughter] (in Polish). 11 July 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-75)** [Czesław Miłosz](/source/Czes%C5%82aw_Mi%C5%82osz) (1983). [The history of Polish literature](https://books.google.com/books?id=R-MkT9vavwIC&q=Iwaszkiewicz). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 389, 390, 487. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-520-04477-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-520-04477-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-76)** Adam Redzik, [Polish Universities During the Second World War](http://www.gomezurdanez.com/polonia/adamredzikpolishuniversitas.pdf), *Encuentros de Historia Comparada Hispano-Polaca / Spotkania poświęcone historii porównawczej hiszpańsko-polskiej* conference, 2004

1. **[^](#cite_ref-77)** Aleksander, Jełowicki. ["Letter to Ksawera Grocholska"](https://chopin.nifc.pl/en/chopin/list/401_priest-aleksander-jelowicki-to-ksawera-grocholska). *chopin.nifc.pl*. Retrieved 2022-06-29.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-78)** [Jerzy Kawalerowicz](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0442819/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-79)** ["The Year of Hugo Kołłątaj"](http://www.uj.edu.pl/documents/10172/30ba9fc6-3eca-49ff-8ae0-cc084c2ab226). [Jagiellonian University](/source/Jagiellonian_University). pp. 12–14. Retrieved 14 May 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-80)** [Tadeusz Konwicki](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0465461/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-81)** Luis Sepúlveda (2008). ["Ryszard Kapuscinski: Simplemente un Maestro"](http://www.lemondediplomatique.cl/Ryszard-Kapuscinski-Simplemente-un.html). *Le Monde Diplomatique*. Retrieved January 4, 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-82)** ["U.S. Embassy Marks Birthday of Tadeusz Kościuszko With Donation to Museum"](https://web.archive.org/web/20151117024931/http://minsk.usembassy.gov/kosciuszko2015.html). U.S. Department of State. February 5, 2015. Archived from [the original](https://minsk.usembassy.gov/kosciuszko2015.html) on November 17, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-At_Ks_83-0)** Szukała, Michał (2016-09-30). ["Atakować książką"](https://dzieje.pl/ksiazki/atakowac-ksiazka). *dzieje.pl* (in Polish). Retrieved 2022-01-25.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-84)** [Tadeusz Łomnicki](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0518591/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-85)** McGilvray, Evan. Stanisław Maczek, Chapter 6, in Stachura, Peter. ed. *The Poles in Britain 1940–2000*, p. 64. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7146-8444-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7146-8444-9)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-86)** [Kornel Makuszyński](http://culture.pl/en/artist/kornel-makuszynski) at Culture.pl

1. **[^](#cite_ref-87)** Davies, Norman. *God's Playground A History of Poland: Volume II: 1795 to the Present*. Oxford University Press. 2005. p. 213.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-88)** Paul W. Knoll (1982). *"Forward: Tadeusz Manteuffel, The Man, The Historian, and Historiography," in Tadeusz Manteuffel, The Formation of the Polish State, The Period of Ducal Rule 963-1194*. Translated by Andrew Gorski. Detroit: [Wayne State University Press](/source/Wayne_State_University_Press). pp. 7–20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-89)** Roman Robert Koropeckyj (2008). [*Adam Mickiewicz: The Life of a Romantic*](https://archive.org/details/adammickiewiczli00koro_0). Cornell University Press. pp. [93](https://archive.org/details/adammickiewiczli00koro_0/page/93)–95. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8014-4471-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8014-4471-5). Retrieved 24 March 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-90)** Drabble, Margaret, ed. (1985). [*The Oxford Companion to English Literature*](https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00drab/page/652). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. [652](https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00drab/page/652). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-866130-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-866130-6).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-91)** [University of Southern California: Polish Music Center |Stanisław Moniuszko](http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/composer/moniuszko.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20060410181303/http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/composer/moniuszko.html) 2006-04-10 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) Retrieved February 18, 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-92)** Watt, Richard M. *Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate, 1918 to 1939*, New York, [Simon & Schuster](/source/Simon_%26_Schuster), 1979, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-671-22625-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-671-22625-8) p.168

1. **[^](#cite_ref-93)** ["Adam Naruszewicz | Polish bishop and historian"](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adam-Naruszewicz). *Encyclopedia Britannica*. Retrieved 2018-10-08.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-94)** ["To George Washington from Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, 14 June 1798"](https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0253). *founders.archives.gov*. Founders Online. Retrieved 2 April 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-95)** [Czesław Niemen at ProgArchives.com](http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2491) – photographs, reviews, music, discography

1. **[^](#cite_ref-96)** Vytautas Levandauskas. [Joneliūnas. Napoleonas Orda: nors garsino Lietuvą, čia beveik nežinomas](http://www.bernardinai.lt/index.php?url=articles/59120%C2%A0%3C/div%3E%7CVituolis). (in Lithuanian) Retrieved on 2007-12-13

1. **[^](#cite_ref-97)** ["Eliza Orzeszkowa" from the Encyclopædia Britannica.](http://www.britannica.com/biography/Eliza-Orzeszkowa) Retrieved September 22, 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-98)** Ostroróg, Aneta. (2005). "Zapomniany fotograf Stanisław Julian Ostroróg (1834-1890) *Pamiętnik Biblioteki Kórnickiej* 27, 217-225 ("The forgotten Photographer Stanisław Julian Ostroróg (1834-1890) - *Journal of the Kórnik Library*) [http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Pamietnik_Biblioteki_Kornickiej/Pamietnik_Biblioteki_Kornickiej-r2005-t27/Pamietnik_Biblioteki_Kornickiej-r2005-t27-s217-225/Pamietnik_Biblioteki_Kornickiej-r2005-t27-s217-225.pdf](http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Pamietnik_Biblioteki_Kornickiej/Pamietnik_Biblioteki_Kornickiej-r2005-t27/Pamietnik_Biblioteki_Kornickiej-r2005-t27-s217-225/Pamietnik_Biblioteki_Kornickiej-r2005-t27-s217-225.pdf) (in Polish) retrieved 1-2-2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-99)** Carol R. Ember; Melvin Ember; Ian Skoggard (2005). [*Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World*](https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC&q=%22Polish+Central+Relief+Committee%22). Springer. p. 260. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0306483211](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0306483211).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-100)** ["Lela Pawlikowska. Drawings](https://mnk.pl/exhibitions/lela-pawlikowska-drawings)", Pawlikowska Exhibition in [Kraków Cloth Hall](/source/Krak%C3%B3w_Cloth_Hall), 16-23.11.2016. in English

1. **[^](#cite_ref-101)** Cienciala, Anna M. (2011). "The Foreign Policy of Józef Pi£sudski and Józef Beck, 1926–1939: Misconceptions and Interpretations". *[The Polish Review](/source/The_Polish_Review)*. **56** (1/2): 111–51. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/41549951](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F41549951). [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[1808/10043](https://hdl.handle.net/1808%2F10043). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [41549951](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41549951).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-102)** Daniel Stone (1 September 2001), [*The Polish-Lithuanian state, 1386–1795*](https://books.google.com/books?id=LFgB_l4SdHAC&pg=PA274), University of Washington Press, pp. 274–275, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-295-98093-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-295-98093-5), retrieved 5 September 2011

1. **[^](#cite_ref-103)** Howe, Justin (2009-03-10). ["Jan Potocki and the Manuscript Found in Saragossa"](http://www.tor.com/blogs/2009/03/jan-potocki-and-the-manuscript-found-in-saragossa). *Tor.com*. Retrieved 2018-11-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-104)** ["Potocki, Stanisław Rewera"](http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\P\O\PotockiStanisK5awRewera.htm).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-105)** [Mikołaj Rej collection (with biography and body of works), *National Digital Library* (Cyfrowa Biblioteka Narodowa *Polona*), 2006.](http://www.polona.pl/dlibra/collectiondescription2?dirids=22) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20110903123328/http://www.polona.pl/dlibra/collectiondescription2?dirids=22) September 3, 2011, at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) (in English)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-106)** Seidner, Stanley S., "Reflections from Rumania and Beyond: Marshal Śmigły-Rydz Rydz in Exile," The Polish Review vol. xxii, no. 2, 1977, pp. 29–51

1. **[^](#cite_ref-107)** Pierrot, Roger. *Ève de Balzac*. Paris: Éditions Stock, 1999. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [2-234-05050-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/2-234-05050-2). French. Page 3.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-108)** Carole Fink; Axel Frohn; Jürgen Heideking, eds. (2002). *Genoa, Rapallo, and European Reconstruction in 1922*. Papers of The German historical Institute. Cambridge University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780521522809](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780521522809).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-109)** Charles Dudley Warner; Lucia Isabella Gilbert Runkle; Hamilton Wright Mabie; George H. Warner (1902). [*Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern: A-Z*](https://books.google.com/books?id=SuYpAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA13508). J. A. Hill & company. pp. 13508–13510. Retrieved 14 February 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-110)** Oskar Halecki; W: F. Reddaway; J. H. Penson. [*The Cambridge History of Poland*](https://books.google.com/books?id=N883AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA547). CUP Archive. pp. 547–548. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-00-128802-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-00-128802-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-111)** Wightman, Alistair. *Karol Szymanowski. His Life and Work*, Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Company, 1999

1. **[^](#cite_ref-112)** Henryk Świebocki, Wacław Długoborski, Franciscek Piper The resistance movement Page 188 2000 "534, account by F. Szlachcic. 513 APMAB, Mat. RO, vol. 1, p. 38, secret message of July 14, 1943, from Stanisław Kłodziński. The message is about the planned escape of five prisoners, including Roman Cieliczko and Jerzy Tabeau ("Jerzy ...)"

1. **[^](#cite_ref-113)** Jacek Macyszyn (1999). *Generałowie polscy* (in Polish). Pruszków, Ajaks. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [83-87103-72-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/83-87103-72-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-114)** [Józef Jarzębowski](/source/J%C3%B3zef_Jarz%C4%99bowski). *Traugutt: dokumenty, listy, wspomnienia, wypisy*. London: Veritas, 1970. Traugutt's edited correspondence and memoirs (in Polish)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-115)** [Leszek Zinkow](http://www.egiptologia.pl/epr_ebi.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070818164439/http://www.egiptologia.pl/epr_ebi.html) 2007-08-18 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-116)** Szporer, Michael. ["Anna Walentynowicz and the Legacy of Solidarity in Poland"](http://www.wyszkowski.com.pl/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1797:anna-walentynowicz-and-the-legacy-ofsolidarity-in-poland). *wyszkowski.com.pl*. Retrieved 29 December 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-117)** ["Michael Wisniowiecki – biography – king of Poland"](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/379905/Michael-Wisniowiecki). *Encyclopædia Britannica*. Retrieved 5 November 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-118)** [Gabriela Zapolska](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0953250/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-119)** Konieczny, Jerzy; Tadeusz Malinowski (1983). *Mała encyklopedia lotników polskich*. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Komunikacji i Łączności. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [83-206-0337-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/83-206-0337-4). Polish Encyclopaedia of Pilots (in Polish)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-120)** ["Jozef John Zwislocki"](http://www.isr.syr.edu/faculty/zwislocki.html). Institute for Sensory Research. Retrieved June 4, 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-121)** ["Gazeta Wrocławska - Wiadomości Wrocław, Informacje Wrocław"](http://www.gazetawroclawska.pl/magazyn/163550,pamiec-o-kresach,id,t.html). 18 September 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-122)** ["Wyborcza.pl"](http://lublin.gazeta.pl/lublin/1,35640,7843046,Kresy_wschodnie_na_214_przedwojennych_zdjeciach.html). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-123)** ["Dom Spotkań z Historią | "Świat Kresów" – drugie wydanie"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140524153437/http://www.dsh.waw.pl/pl/8_832). Dsh.waw.pl. Archived from [the original](http://www.dsh.waw.pl/pl/8_832) on 2014-05-24. Retrieved 2014-05-15.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-124)** ["Przedszkole pięciolatka pakiet - Kopała Jolanta, Tokarska Elż"](http://selkar.pl/podroze_sentymentalne_podrozuj_po_kresach_z_andrzejem_wajda_i_danielem_olbrychskim_czarnowski_jakub_p_201299.html). Selkar.pl. Retrieved 2014-05-15.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-125)** ["Książka Encyklopedia kresów - Ceny i opinie - Ceneo.pl"](http://www.ceneo.pl/32612). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-126)** [*Wydania*](http://www.rp.pl/ksiegakresow) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20110608220036/http://www.rp.pl/ksiegakresow) 2011-06-08 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) rp.pl

1. **[^](#cite_ref-127)** [Uważam Rze Historia (supplement), lipiec 2012](https://pliki.ebookoo.pl/index.php?sample=141488&token=9b11833f609225628c95c2206e785399201603061732) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170518154026/https://pliki.ebookoo.pl/index.php?sample=141488&token=9b11833f609225628c95c2206e785399201603061732) 2017-05-18 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-128)** ["2 miliony czy 146 tysięcy?"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150427054658/http://www.rp.pl/artykul/412422.html?print=tak). Archived from [the original](http://www.rp.pl/artykul/412422.html?print=tak) on 27 April 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-129)** Ther, Philipp; Siljak, Ana (2001). [*Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948*](https://books.google.com/books?id=oGmTs2SceAgC&q=%22expulsion+of+Poles%22+USSR&pg=PA135). Rowman & Littlefield. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780742510944](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780742510944).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-130)** Meksa, Michał (28 July 2011). ["Dzieci z Kresów zwiedzają Łódź \[ZDJĘCIA\]"](http://www.dzienniklodzki.pl/wakacje/432777,dzieci-z-kresow-zwiedzaja-lodz-zdjecia,id,t.html). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-131)** ["Zostań polskim świętym Mikołajem - podaruj książkę polskiemu dziecku na Kresach"](http://www.ksiazka.net.pl/index.php?id=4&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6825&cHash=0882d0da2f). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-132)** ["Łopatyn - nyskie serca na kresach"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120425083028/http://www.nysa24.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=214:opatyn-nyskie-serca-na-kresach&catid=1:nysa&Itemid=307). Archived from [the original](http://www.nysa24.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=214:opatyn-nyskie-serca-na-kresach&catid=1:nysa&Itemid=307) on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-10-22.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-133)** [Aby nie zapomnieć gdzie są nasze korzenie...](http://www.gazeta-olawa.pl/artykul-1144-aby-nie-zapomniec-gdzie-sa-nasze-korzenie.html)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-134)** ["700 kresowych nauczycieli"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150427072602/http://www.rp.pl/artykul/428213,674323-700-kresowych-nauczycieli.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.rp.pl/artykul/428213,674323-700-kresowych-nauczycieli.html) on 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2011-10-22.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-135)** ["TVP3 Wrocław - Telewizja Polska S.A."](http://www.tvp.pl/wroclaw/publicystyczne/studio-wschod/mogile-pradziada-ocal-od-zapomnienia/wakacje-na-kresowych-cmentarzach/4965266) Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-136)** ["Gazeta Wyborcza, Jak przesiedlić kulturę pozostawioną na Kresach, interview with Adolf Juzwenko, 2010-12-23"](http://wyborcza.pl/swoiobcy/1,110847,8859059,Jak_przesiedlic_kulture_pozostawiona_na_Kresach.html). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-137)** ["Kresowiacy na nowym miejscu, Rzeczpospolita daily"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150427053112/http://www.rp.pl/artykul/55362,582777-Kresowiacy--na-nowym-miejscu.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.rp.pl/artykul/55362,582777-Kresowiacy--na-nowym-miejscu.html) on 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2011-10-19.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-138)** ["Światowy Kongres Kresowian"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035734/http://www.kresowianie.com/article.php?id=121&d=15). Archived from [the original](http://www.kresowianie.com/article.php?id=121&d=15) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-139)** ["Festiwal Kultury Kresowej - Informacja Turystyczna w Mrągowie"](http://www.it.mragowo.pl/imprezy-festiwal-kultury-kresowej,23,1621,pl.html). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-140)** ["Kaziuki w Gdańsku - litewskie święto nad Motławą"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160817162946/http://www.gdansk.pl/sport,512,2399.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.gdansk.pl/sport,512,2399.html) on 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2011-10-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-141)** Wacław. ["Olsztyn24 - Kaziuki w Olsztynie"](http://www.olsztyn24.com/news/8910-kaziuki-w-olsztynie.html). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-142)** profile (1 March 2011). ["Wileńskie Kaziuki w Poznaniu"](http://warszawa.naszemiasto.pl/artykul/wilenskie-kaziuki-w-poznaniu,3203575,art,t,id,tm.html). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-143)** Sikorska, Fot. K. (2 March 2009). ["Kaziuki w Suwałkach"](http://www.wspolczesna.pl/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090302/REG10/308402809). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-144)** o.o., Avigail Holdings Sp. z. ["Kaziuki w Warszawie"](http://www.niam.pl/pl/artykul/1014-kaziuki_w_warszawie). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-145)** ["Wyborcza.pl"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120401132922/http://wroclaw.gazeta.pl/wroclaw/1,78999,9033220,Czy_we_Wroclawiu_powstanie_Muzeum_Kresow_Wschodnich_.html). Archived from [the original](http://wroclaw.gazeta.pl/wroclaw/1,78999,9033220,Czy_we_Wroclawiu_powstanie_Muzeum_Kresow_Wschodnich_.html) on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-146)** MGE (8 April 2011). ["Wrocław: Medal dla kardynała Gubinowicza"](http://www.gazetawroclawska.pl/aktualnosci/390083,wroclaw-medal-dla-kardynala-gubinowicza,id,t.html). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-147)** ["Komandor Rajdu Katyńskiego: kresy to nasza historia"](http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,114877,10385943,Komandor_Rajdu_Katynskiego__kresy_to_nasza_historia.html). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-148)** ["panorama.info.pl"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160914064137/http://panorama.info.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4046:kresowiacy-spotkajmy-si-w-brzegu&catid=1:z-ostatnich-dni). Archived from [the original](http://panorama.info.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4046:kresowiacy-spotkajmy-si-w-brzegu&catid=1:z-ostatnich-dni) on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-149)** [CBOS: co siódmy Polak pochodzi z Kresów, onet.pl](http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/kraj/cbos-co-siodmy-polak-pochodzi-z-kresow,1,5105040,wiadomosc.html) Retrieved April 16, 2012

1. **[^](#cite_ref-150)** Karaś, Halina. ["Gwary polskie - Kresowe odmiany polszczyzny"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160630001316/http://www.gwarypolskie.uw.edu.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=181). Archived from [the original](http://www.gwarypolskie.uw.edu.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=181) on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-151)** USA, Translation Services. ["Polish Translation. Polish Dialects"](http://www.translation-services-usa.com/polish-dialects.php). Retrieved 2 July 2016.

## Bibliography

- Beauvois, Daniel *Trójkąt ukraiński, szlachta, carat i lud na Wołyniu, Podolu i Kijowszczyźnie 1793–1914*, [University of Maria Curie-Sklodowska](/source/University_of_Maria_Curie-Sklodowska), [Lublin](/source/Lublin), 2005, 2011 and 2016 (in Polish)

- Mały rocznik statystyczny 1939, [Central Statistical Office of Poland](/source/Central_Statistical_Office%2C_Poland), [Warsaw](/source/Warsaw) 1939 (in Polish)

## External links

- [Kresy.pl - The Biggest Polish Kresy Portal](http://www.kresy.pl/)

- [Commonwealth of Diverse Cultures: Poland's Heritage](http://commonwealth.pl) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20110624022527/http://www.commonwealth.pl/) 2011-06-24 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

- [Eastern Borderlands of Poland (in English)](https://web.archive.org/web/20050822115358/http://www.kresy.co.uk/)

- [Polish maps of present-day Western Ukraine and Belarus (1930s)](http://maps.vlasenko.net/mapa-taktyczna-polski.html)

- [Virtual Commonwealth - Eastern Borderlands](http://rzecz-pospolita.com/)

- [Virtual Tour of Kresy](http://www.fotojohny.republika.pl/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180226105715/http://www.fotojohny.republika.pl/) 2018-02-26 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

- [Volhynia in the Interwar Period](https://web.archive.org/web/20060504193757/http://wolyn.ovh.org/)

- [An extensive digital collection of Kresy-oriented historic publications](https://web.archive.org/web/20130116023434/http://www.polona.pl/dlibra/collectiondescription2?dirids=27)

- [MojeKresy.pl The newest Polish Kresy Portal](http://www.mojekresy.pl/)

v t e Irredentism Africa Mauritania Morocco Somalia South Africa Asia Eastern China unification with Taiwan annexation of Tibet Japan Korea Mongolia Central Afghanistan (Pashtunistan) Southern Balochistan Akhand Bharat Indian reunification India–Pakistan Confederation Nepal Pakistan East Pakistan Kashmir Afghanistan Tamil Nadu Southeastern Cambodia Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Thailand Timor Vietnam Western Armenia Miatsum Assyria Azerbaijan Western Azerbaijan Cyprus Kurdistan Iran Iraq Israel Gathering of Israel Golan Heights Syria Turkey Aegean dispute Cyprus Pan-Turkism Yemen Europe Eastern Belarus Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Hungary Moldova Poland Kresy Kresy myth Intermarium Piast Concept Romania unification with Moldova Russia annexation and occupation of Crimea proposed annexation of South Ossetia invasion and occupation of Ukraine Ukraine Northern Finland Karelia Lithuania Kaliningrad Southern Albania unification with Kosovo Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Greece Aegean dispute Cyprus Enosis Megali Idea Italy Corfu Corsica Dalmatia Istria Italian Grisons Malta Nice Savoy Ticino North Macedonia Portugal Olivença Serbia Kosovo Myth partition of Kosovo Spain Gibraltar Slovenia Yugoslavia Western Belgium Celtics France Wallonia Germany Austria annexation of Austria Pan-Germanism Greater Germanic Reich Lebensraum Ireland Netherlands Switzerland North America Canada Turks and Caicos Islands Central America Mexico Saint Martin United States 51st state Canada Golden Circle Greenland Mexico Cuba Dominican Republic under Trump Oceania Australia Papua New Guinea Samoa South America Argentina Chile Colombia Venezuela Related concepts: Border changes since 1914 · Partitionism · Reunification · Revanchism · Revisionism · Rump state

Authority control databases International VIAF GND WorldCat National Czech Republic Poland Other IdRef

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kresy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kresy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kresy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.