The Fractured Legacy of Interwar Poland

Between the world wars, Poland emerged as a newly independent nation carrying the heavy burden of its partitioned past and complex ethnic composition. The nationalist vision that dominated Polish politics viewed the country’s Slavic minorities – particularly Ukrainians – as material for assimilation rather than equal citizens. This perspective gained even greater traction following the death of Józef Piłsudski in 1935, when Roman Dmowski’s integral nationalism triumphed in political discourse. Piłsudski’s authoritarian successors largely adopted this worldview, setting the stage for the ethnic tensions that would explode during World War II.

The interwar Polish state contained significant Ukrainian, Jewish, Belarusian, and German populations, with Ukrainians constituting the largest minority at approximately 15% of the population. These demographic realities clashed with the nationalist ideal of an ethnically homogeneous Polish state. The stage was set for conflict when German and Soviet occupation in 1939 introduced extreme solutions to Poland’s “nationality question” into mainstream political consideration.

The Radicalization of Ethnic Politics During Occupation

The Nazi and Soviet occupations from 1939-1941 fundamentally transformed ethnic relations in Polish territories. Even before the 1943 wave of Ukrainian nationalist violence against Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, Polish nationalists of Dmowski’s National Democratic tradition advocated for the complete removal of Ukrainians from Polish lands. The horrific mutual ethnic cleansing between 1943-1944 only reinforced these views across the political spectrum.

Remarkably, this vision of ethnic homogeneity attracted support from across Poland’s political landscape – from far-right nationalists to communists who had previously championed internationalism. The extreme conditions of Poland’s devastation created this unlikely convergence between left and right. By 1944, both Polish communists and nationalists agreed that nationality resided in the people themselves rather than in elite-preserved traditions – a dangerous conceptual shift that made population transfers seem logical.

The Moscow Negotiations and Postwar Planning

The critical negotiations occurred in Moscow during August and October 1944, when Stanisław Grabski – a veteran nationalist politician who had helped determine Poland’s borders after World War I – met with Stalin alongside representatives of the London-based Polish government-in-exile. Grabski, viewing Stalin as a “great realist,” hoped to create a compact, homogeneous Polish state through population exchanges. Stalin, recognizing Grabski’s usefulness in legitimizing his plans, played along.

These discussions revealed the failure of Poland’s interwar traditions of federalism and minority rights. Even Wanda Wasilewska, a prominent Polish communist close to Stalin and daughter of Piłsudski’s federalist ally Leon Wasilewski, abandoned her father’s ideals to support ethnic homogenization policies. The tragic irony wasn’t lost on Stalin, who cynically called this reversal “dialectics.”

The Mechanics of Ethnic Unmixing

The postwar ethnic reorganization occurred through several coordinated mechanisms:

1. Border Changes: Poland’s eastern territories (approximately 47% of its prewar area) were annexed by the Soviet Union, while it gained former German lands in the west.

2. Population Transfers:
– 780,000 Poles and Jews were “repatriated” from Soviet Ukraine to Poland (1944-1946)
– 482,661 Ukrainians were forcibly transferred from Poland to Soviet Ukraine (1944-1946)
– Approximately 140,000 remaining Ukrainians were dispersed within Poland during Operation Vistula (1947)

3. Violent Cleansing: Both Polish and Ukrainian nationalist forces engaged in ethnic cleansing, with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) killing tens of thousands of Polish civilians and Polish forces retaliating against Ukrainian communities.

The Ideological Convergence

This process represented a remarkable ideological convergence. Communist authorities adopted nationalist rhetoric about creating an ethnically homogeneous state, while implementing policies that nationalists had long advocated. As Polish communist leader Władysław Gomułka bluntly stated in 1945 regarding the expulsion of Germans: “We must expel them because all states are based on the national principle, not the principle of nationalities.”

The Soviet Union facilitated this homogenization not out of ideological commitment but pragmatic calculation. Stalin saw ethnic homogeneity as stabilizing for his new satellite states, particularly along strategically vital borders. However, his interest varied by region – he invested most heavily in “solving” Polish-Ukrainian tensions while showing less concern for ethnic issues further south.

Operation Vistula and the Final “Solution”

The culmination came in 1947 with Operation Vistula (Akcja Wisła), which forcibly dispersed approximately 140,000 remaining Ukrainians across Poland’s newly acquired western territories. This operation, launched after the assassination of Polish defense minister Karol Świerczewski by UPA forces, aimed to:

1. Destroy UPA’s support base
2. Prevent formation of Ukrainian communities
3. Accelerate assimilation through dispersal

The operation involved nearly 20,000 soldiers systematically clearing villages, often with brutal methods. About 3,936 Ukrainians were sent to the Jaworzno concentration camp, while others were scattered across former German territories where they constituted small minorities.

The Long Shadow of Homogenization

The ethnic homogenization of Poland had profound consequences:

1. Demographic Transformation: By 1947, Poland was approximately 98% ethnically Polish, compared to about 69% before the war.

2. Cultural Loss: The rich multicultural heritage of Poland’s eastern borderlands was largely erased.

3. Political Legacy: The communist regime gained nationalist legitimacy through these policies while suppressing discussion of their human costs.

4. Historical Memory: The trauma of forced migrations and ethnic violence created competing victimhood narratives that continue to affect Polish-Ukrainian relations.

This tragic chapter demonstrates how war and occupation radicalized ethnic politics, creating conditions where population transfers appeared as logical solutions. The convergence between nationalist and communist visions of homogeneity reshaped Central Europe in ways that still resonate today. The “success” of ethnic homogenization came at tremendous human cost and left lasting scars on the region’s collective memory.