Eastern Borderlands (1918-1939)
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The spring and summer of 1939 were very uncertain months for the citizens of the Second Polish Republic, and the Eastern Borderlands. The uncertainty was linked with the ever increasing news that war was imminent. But the summer months were also linked with the rest and relaxation of vacation time, family visits, outings to the lake and to the Carpathian mountains. As late as August 1939, scouting camps were in full swing, with swimming, kayaking and regular summer activities being enjoyed there. The majority of the citizens of the Second Republic believed that the situation would end in mutual threats, but would resolve itself diplomatically. Meanwhile, tensions regarding the ever-approaching spectre of war were rising within the diplomatic corps, government circles, and most of all within the armed forces. Many Kresy families felt this tension; particularly those witnessing the ever-increasing army and border guard presence near the German and Slowak borders. All this was intensifying from the onset of spring in 1939.
The Press and Radio programs kept the public informed about each signed agreement, each discussion, and each diplomatic visit. What caused the greatest concern was the Polish-German situation, which became increasingly tense as the year progressed. It was felt that the greatest danger would come from this direction. However, the citizens of the Borderlands, remembering the recent Polish-Bolshevik war, worried about deteriorating Polish-Soviet relations. The children of the first Kresy settlers were still in their teens at this time, and had not yet reached adulthood.
On April 28th, 1939, when Adolf Hitler gave a hysterical speech in the Reichstag, mentioning the Polish non aggression pact of 1934, the entire Polish nation became aware of his hostile intentions. Several days later, Jozef Beck also spoke of this when, on May 5th, 1939, he made his famous speech in the Parliament of the Second Republic. Refuting the German demands concerning the Gdansk corridor, he concluded by saying: We in Poland do not live by the notion of peace at any cost. There is only one thing in the lives of people, nations and states that is without price. That thing is honour. For the citizens of the Second Republic, as well as the Eastern Borderlands, these were words with which they truly identified.
Concrete support for Poland’s preparations for war was particularly evident at fundraising events for the National Defence Fund, thanks to which military units were equipped with modern gear. In the Borderlands, like in the rest of the country, patriotic events were organized, and were attended by donors, citizens, and entire military units. One of these events took place in Grodno, where in May 1939 the local 76th Infantry Regiment received two heavy machine guns, while in Lwow, two RWD-2 aircraft were gifted.
In May, the Soviet Union joined the diplomatic war game conducted by Germany, and initiated talks with England, France, and Germany who wanted assurances of Stalin’s neutrality as they prepared to attack Poland. While Poland’s treaty with Germany was already obsolete, its treaty with the Soviet Union was set to remain in effect during Pilsudski’s life, as it only expired in 1945. Warsaw optimistically welcomed the return of the Soviet ambassador, after an absence of 18 months. On June 2nd 1939 the new ambassador, Mikołaj Szaronow, presented his credentials to the President of the Second Polish Republic. This meeting took place with pomp and ceremony, at the King’s Palace in Warsaw. What aroused concern was the fact that one month earlier, the new Soviet Foreign Minister, a supporter of closer relations with Germany, was appointed. Moreover, a new Soviet premier, Wiaczesław Mołotow, replaced Maksym Litwinow, who had been a keen critic of fascism and an advocate of cooperation with the West. This new political approach of Stalin and Molotow led to a rapid denouement. After numerous consultations, Hitler and Stalin reached an agreement on August 19th, 1939 – this was to become known as the Ribbentrop-Molotow agreement, and was signed by the respective Foreign Ministers in Moscow on August 23rd, 1939. The Soviets agreed to the attack of the Third Reich on Poland, and declared itself willing to join the war. The secret protocols of this agreement identified the zones of influence of the Soviet Union and the Third Reich. This included the area of the Eastern Borderlands, which ended up almost entirely within the territory of the Soviet Union. The border between the two followed the San, the Narwi and the Wistula rivers. The fate of the Eastern Borderlands was sealed, before the first shot was ever fired. The public had learned of the secret protocol of the Ribbentrop-Molotow agreement on August 17th, 1939. However, just as the attack by Nazi Germany was expected, no one expected the Soviet attack. The Second Polish Republic was in no way equipped to withstand a simultaneous attack by two so well-equipped military regimes. On August 25th, the Polish public received the news of the signing of an agreement with Great Britain with great enthusiasm, while along the eastern border, the Soviets were already poised and ready to attack.
It should be noted that, as Polish-German relations worsened and war became more and more inevitable, the Ukrainian minority became increasingly active, as they looked forward to their own independent state in the shadow of Poland’s demise.
Having to defend the eastern region of the Republic, the Border Protection Corps had been significantly weakened by redeployments which had taken place during the spring and summer. At the moment that the Soviet’s invaded, on Sept. 17th, the Border Protection Corps in the Kresy area included some 12,000 soldiers. The previous February, the Border Protection Corps (BPC) had been further diluted by accepting the additional responsibility of protecting the border with Rumania. At the same time, in conjunction with the preparations for war, the BPC went through its first reorganization. In March, certain formations were mobilized, and four infantry battalions were sent to the southern border, and three companies of sappers were sent to the western border
In the following months the BPC called for reservists, and these came largely from the ethnic minorities, especially the Ukrainians and Byelorussians, who numbered around 170 thousand, and Jews who numbered about 100 thousand. The number of minorities within the BPC was restricted by the guidelines developed by the Ministry of War, and could not exceed 10% of officers, and NCOs, 35% of privates in the Infantry units, and 5% and 30% respectively in the Cavalry units. At the moment of mobilization on Sept. 30th, 1939 the structure of the BPC was as follows: Four Infantry Divisions (WP 33, 35, 36, 38), as well as three mountain brigades (nr 1, 2, 3) The commander was Brigadier General Wilhelm Orlik-Rückemann. When war broke out, command headquarters had to be quickly moved from Warsaw to Pinsk.
In July 1939, Polish military plans for the Eastern Borderlands had to take into account the fact that Germany could force Lithuania to be against Poland and to support German troops on its territory. Moreover, Ukrainian separatism, supported by the Germans, was another danger in this area. Nonetheless, none of the military officers predicted the eventual disastrous outcome of the war for Poland.
Almost from the beginning, the military campaign of September 1939 was a disaster for the Polish Armed Forces. The population of the Eastern Borderlands witnessed the retreat of Polish troops, state authorities, and finally, civilian populations. It was a depressing sight, and one that remained a vivid memory for the citizens of Lwow, Stanislawow, Wolyn and Tarnopol provinces. The residents of the central and western parts of Poland frequently fled to the Eastern Borderlands, thinking that this will shelter them from German air raids and persecution.
On September 10th, 1939 the Soviet ambassador, Michal Szaronow, the same one who had presented his credentials to the President of the Second Republic of Poland Ignacy Mościcki three months earlier, left a delegation of diplomats accompanying Minister Jozef Beck in Krzemieniec, on the pretext of placing an urgent call to Moscow. He was keenly aware of the eminent second attack on the Polish Republic.
At three o’clock on the morning of September 17th, Soviet troops invaded the Eastern Borderlands, effectively stabbing Poland in the back, thereby preventing a regrouping of Polish forces trying to fend off the Germans. In a famous Soviet memo dated 1939.09.17 signed by Minister Molotow, one can read the fragment that directly involves the Eastern Borderlands and its residents: (…) the Soviet government cannot remain neutral when our blood brothers, Ukrainians and Byelorussians, living in Polish territory, are left to their own devices and are defenceless. Taking this into account, the Soviet government has issued an order to the High Command of the Red Army to cross the border and secure the lives and goods of the citizens of western Ukraine and western Belarus (…) For many years, propaganda and school text books in Communist Poland presented the Soviet invasion as an attempt to protect Ukrainian and Byelorussian citizens against the German forces. This was a direct reflection of the Soviet memo quoted above.
As the Soviet invasion was unfolding, Polish authorities, who were in the vicinity of the Polish-Rumanian border, addressed the citizens and soldiers of the Polish Republic for the last time on Polish soil. President Ignacy Mościcki issued a proclamation to the nation from Kossow, on the Rybnica river in Stanislawow province.
Citizens!
While our army faced the violent onslaught of the enemy from the first day to the present, and withstood the pressure exerted by nearly the entirety of Germany’s Armed Forces with unprecedented courage, our eastern neighbour has invaded our land, violating existing agreements and the eternal principles of morality.
We stand now, not for the first time in our history, facing the storm flooding our country from the west and the east. Poland, allied with France and England, fights for the rule of law against lawlessness, for faith and civilization against soulless barbarity, for the domination of good against evil throughout the world. We believe that we must come out victorious in this fight.
Citizens! From this passing flood we must protect the representatives of the Republic and the source of our constitutional power. For this reason, with heavy heart, I have decided to move the seat of Presidential Power and the Supreme Bodies of State to the territory of one of our neighbours. From a location that will ensure their full sovereignty, they will stand guard over the interests of the Republic and continue to fight the war alongside our allies.
Citizens! I know that in these most difficult circumstances, you will maintain, as you have to date, the fortitude, dignity and pride with which you have amazed the world. Each of you now has the responsibility of ensuring the honour of our Nation. In these difficult times. Providence will bring us justice. Kossów, September 17, 1939.
The directives from the Chief of State, Marshal Rydza-Śmigły, to the divisions reporting to him, were far more dramatic. Declared during the afternoon of September 17th, after consultations concerning the true intentions of the Soviet forces, he said: The Soviets have invaded. I order your immediate retreat through Hungary and Rumania, using the quickest routes. Do not engage the Bolsheviks, except in the event of an attack on their part, or attempts to disarm the troops. Orders to Warsaw and the other cities, who are poised to defend themselves against the Germans, are unchanged. Cities into which the Bolsheviks will penetrate, should negotiate the removal of garrisons to Hungary or Rumania.
What the population of the Eastern Borderlands endured during September of 1939 was only the beginning of their dramatic fate during the rest of the war, and beyond. The day of September 17th erased everything that had so laboriously been rebuilt during the interwar period. The Soviet cataclysm ruined not only the cultural icons of a material nature, as well as industrial works and places of worship, but led to the massive elimination of residents of the Eastern Borderlands, on a scale that had never been seen before. The date of September 17th affected all these people far more than the date of September 1st, and was to stay with them for the rest of their lives. Especially those Kresowians still alive today, who were suddenly cast from the innocent world of childhood into the brutality of adult life. On a daily basis they observed the fear and horror expressed by their mothers, friends and neighbours, and frequently experienced the tragic loss of their fathers in combat. In the end, death began to also look them directly in the eye. The initial invasion of the Soviet troops brought with them murders and robberies on a massive scale. Local bands were formed, who were staunchly against the Polish minorities. The participants were, for the most part, members of the Communist party, but also included people on the fringes of society.
After this initial shock, came the onset of the systematic deportation of the populace to the east, as well as daily hunger, illness, the wartime destruction of homesteads, and the constant scrutiny aimed at people for the sole reason that they were Polish. Those who were subjected to the highest degree of scrutiny were the families of civil servants – officers, policemen, judges, teachers, social and political activists, as well as landowners and settlers who, as “class enemies” were the first targets of Soviet crimes. Those who managed to survive all of this and return to Poland many years after the end of WWII, returned not to their homes, but to the territory of Communist Poland.
The war that started so dramatically looked different to the political and military leaders, than it did to the residents of the Eastern Borderland cities, towns and villages. To understand how the residents lived through these experiences, we direct you to read the memoirs of Father Jakub Dymitrowski, the pastor of a church in Belz, who observed the routing of Polish troops, as well as the behaviour of the minorities and the arrival of the Germans and the Soviets. These memoirs are included in the next Museum Gallery titled “German and Soviet Invasion”
At the birth of the Second Polish Republic the Eastern Borderlands constituted a civilizational backwater compared to the western and central parts of the country. This situation become even worse after the war of 1920-21, when the civilian and industrial infrastructure spared by World War I was further destroyed, along with crops and livestock. This led to the depopulation of some of the eastern administrative units (powiats). Under such conditions the independent Polish Republic had to undertake suitable steps to consolidate the eastern regions with the rest of the Polish lands. An important issue in these Eastern Borderlands was the national minorities whose rights were guaranteed by a “little Versailles Treaty” from June of 1919. Additionally, in 1922 the Polish Parliament decided, in the autonomy statute for the provinces of Lwów, Stanisławow and Tarnopol, that their regional councils will be composed of two chambers, i.e. Polish and Ruthenian. Similarly, there was to be no Polish colonization in these provinces and a Ukrainian University was to be formed in Lwów.
After the Versailles agreements and the decisions of 1922 and 1923, the policy regarding the minorities became more firm. Its primary goal was to curtail the range and development of Ukrainian and Belorussian education, and no support was offered to the minorities’ publications and printed matter.
Nevertheless, throughout the period of the Second Polish Republic, elementary education was conducted in the minorities’ languages. For the Eastern Borderlands it looked as follows: in the school year of 1937/1938 out of 28,723 schools and 4,851 thousand pupils, 4,174 thousand in 24,047 schools were instructed in Polish; 473.4 thousand in 3,064 schools were instructed in Polish and Ruthenian (Ukrainian); 800 in 5 schools in Polish and Belorussian; 36.5 thousand in 203 schools in Polish and German; 28.5 thousand in 226 schools in Polish and Hebrew; 2.7 thousand in 44 schools in Polish and Lithuanian; 200 in 4 schools in Polish and Czech; 600 in one school in Polish and Russian; 200 in 2 schools in Polish and French. Ruthenian (Ukrainian) -only instruction was given to 58.8 thousand pupils in 461 schools; German-only, to 36.3 thousand in 394 schools; Hebrew-only, to 36.4 thousand in 226 schools; Lithuanian-only, to 1100 in 23 schools; Czech-only, to 900 in 18 schools; and Russian-only, to 600 in 5 schools. Among provinces of the Second Polish Republic, the largest numbers (214) of schools with the language of instruction other than Polish were located in Lwów province. In these schools Ruthenian (Ukrainian)-only education was conducted.
In an attempt to limit the influence of minorities in higher education, some universities adopted a principle of proportionality in enrollment during the 30′s, intended to limit the participation of Jews and to increase opportunities for, among others, Polish youth from small towns. At the same time, linguistic and ethnic distinctions among the minorities were emphasized by drawing attention to the rights of Huculs and Lemkos.
A problem for the Second Polish Republic was also posed by the need to protect the eastern border, inhabited in large part by minorities, and stretching over 1412 km. The border was shared with Soviet Russia, a country which did not renounce its intention to conquer Capitalist Europe, including Poland. Towards that goal Russia supported activists, organizations and movements that were destructive to the Second Polish Republic. The influence of the communist party was particularly strong in the eastern regions and Soviet intelligence services were highly active in their attempts to gather a maximal amount of information on the functioning of government agencies, deliberately exploiting the dissatisfaction of the minorities. These threats were overwhelming the tasks of the Border Guard that had been formed in 1918.
For these reasons, shortly after the cessation of hostilities, a reorganization of the Polish Military and Police forces in the Eastern Borderlands was undertaken. In 1924, a year after the eastern border of the Second Polish Republic was recognized by the Council of Ambassadors, a Border Protection Corps (KOP) was formed, tasked with protecting the eastern regions and border. Even though KOP was composed of regular military units, its peacetime goals included, beyond the protection of the eastern border, protecting the Eastern Borderlands from the activities of Soviet agents, Soviet intelligence, and sabotage groups connected to the minorities. KOP also organized intelligence activities in the Soviet Union, Lithuania and West Prussia. Cooperation with the Second Division of the General Staff of the Polish Army included, among other things that the First Branch of the Second Division reported to the commander of the KOP. This branch was responsible for active intelligence and managed the KOP intelligence stations in Grodno, Wilno, Głębokie, Mołodeczno, Stołpce and Łunieniec.
Seven years after its formation, the KOP, under the command of gen. Jan Kruszewski, included six brigades located as follows: KOP Brigade “Grodno”, KOP Brigade “Wilno” (KOP regiments ” Głębokie” and “Wilejka”), KOP Brigade “Nowogródek” (KOP regiment “Wołożyn”), KOP Brigade “Polesie” (KOP regiment “Sarny”), KOP Brigade “Wołyń”, KOP Brigade “Podole” (KOP regiment “Czortków”). Immediately before WWII, KOP regiment “Snów” and 1 and 2 KOP regiment of the infantry “Karpaty” were formed. This is the KOP structure that functioned during peacetime. During the 1939 mobilization, all these units were formed into four infantry divisions – 33, 35, 36, 38 Infantry Divisions, and three Mountain Brigades – 1,2, 3 Mountain Brigade. Their defensive efforts were to be supported by a chain of reinforced concrete fortifications erected on the eastern border.
Units of the Polish Army were also stationed on the Eastern Borderlands. It is difficult to describe all the changes that took place during the Second Republic of Poland, in the structure and location of the units of the Polish Army, or the KOP, in the Eastern Borderlands. The Corps Circuit Nr. II, commanded from Lublin, included the 13th “Kresowa” Infantry Division with command in Równe, the 27th Infantry Division in Kowle, the “Wołyńska” Cavalry Brigade in Równe, the 12th Anti-aircraft Artillery Unit in Kowle, the 12th Armored Battalion in Łuck, as well as a medical support in the form of a Branch of the Regional Hospital and Infirmary in Kowle, the Regional Hospital in Włodzimierz Wołyński and a hospital in Łuck. In the Corps Circuit Nr. III, commanded from Grodno, there was the famous 1st Infantry Division in Wilno, the 3rd Artillery Group in Grodno, the 7th Armored Battalion in Grodno and the 3rd Military Police Division in Grodno. All these units were supported by a hospital base composed of the 3rd Regional Hospital in Grodno, the Garrison Hospital in Wilno, and the Infirmaries in Lida, Suwałki and Białystok. Among other Corps Circuits located in the Eastern Borderlands were the Command of the Corps Circuit Nr. VI, which was a branch of the Ministry of Military Affairs, located in Lwów, as well as, the Corps Circuit Nr. IX commanded from Brześć-on-Bug.
The Eastern Borderlands were also home to other military units. Among the best known was the Pińsk Fleet, from 1931 known as the River Fleet of the Navy. The Fleet operated in the Pripyat estuary, and was equipped with monitors, gunboats and cutters, all of which took part in the war in 1939. Famous throughout the Second Polish Republic was the Marcin Kątski Military College of the Artillery Reserve in Włodzimierz Wołyński.
An important element in the Eastern Borderland policy of the time was the military settlement. After the demobilization in 1920, many soldiers found themselves jobless and unable to support themselves. By December 1920, the legislature passed a law granting land to the soldiers of the Polish Army. This law also allowed for the acquisition of land in the eastern provinces, e.g., land formerly belonging to the Russian Government; this land was in turn granted to the soldiers returning from the front. Part of the land was also granted by the Polish nobility, e.g. Radziwiłłs and Sapiehas. Farmland was offered to soldiers and volunteers who had particularly distinguished themselves, and later to those with farming skills. Within the Central Land Management Office, a committee was formed to coordinate current works connected to the settlements. In total, the military and civilian settlers (who could buy the parceled out land at discount prices) received over 9000 plots of land in the Eastern Borderlands. This continued until 1925, when the last of the laws facilitating military settlements were cancelled. When the Eastern Borderlands were occupied by Soviet troops, expulsions of the settlers and their families to Siberia began.
The Soviet government, realizing that these settlers constituted a formidable Polish community, undertook this action on a large scale. As a result, over 80% of the families were brutally expelled to the east. These families now form the Association of Military and Civilian Settler’s Families, which was founded in 1996.
One of the approaches to integrating the eastern lands with the rest of the country was the development of the communication infrastructure, especially the road and rail connections. In 1918, these were generally in a miserable state throughout the Polish Republic; in the east, they were further damaged by the Polish-Soviet War.
In the area of the former Russian partition, the railroads along with the entire infrastructure became the property of the Polish State, without payment of any reparations toward Russia. However, the war damage to all the railroad divisions was immense. In the Wilno, Lwów, Stanisławów and Warsaw divisions, 63% of railway stations, 48% of roundhouses and repair stations, and 81% of water-towers were destroyed. Immediately after the war, railroad communication between Warsaw and a large part of the Eastern Borderlands was cut off. Even though a direct connection to Wilno existed, a connection to Lwów did not, despite the fact that that the Lwów-Przemyśl railroad had been built in 1861. Similarly, there was no connection between the Eastern Borderlands and Silesia.
The difficulties extended to rolling-stock and rails which, depending on the region, frequently used different technology. Among the multiple types of railroads existing in the Eastern Borderlands, the only large stretch of standardized railroad was the 85km-long Łuck-Stojanów line that was inaugurated in 1928. The majority of rail construction took part in central and western Poland. An attempt to fill the gaps by narrow-gauge lines, included the line operating near Baranowicze and Brześć and between Sarny and Kowle. The key railroad junctions in the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Polish Republic were Lwów, Wilno, Stanisławów, Sarny, Lida, Wołkowyjsk, Kowel, Baranowicze and Mołodeczno. Among the most popular railway connections was a “night” train from Warsaw Central to Zaleszczyki, or the approximately 5-hour ride from Warsaw Central to Wilno. One could also travel by train from Hel to Lwów, via Poznań, Katowice, Krakow, which covered close to 1200km in 22 hours. Similar trains connected Warsaw Central with Lwów, via Sandomierz and Skarżysko, or via Lublin.
Much less popular in Poland of the time, and particularly in the Eastern Borderlands, was transportation by automobile. This was a result of poor roads, as well as the small number of cars. However, the situation was improving yearly. In 1935 there were 58.4 thousand km. of paved roads in all of the Second Polish Republic, but by 1938 this had increased to 63.2 thousand km.
These were predominantly road-metal roads, although some were cobblestone roads. Less than 2% were paved with paver, asphalt or concrete. In the province of Polesie the roads were predominantly dirt, and were usable only in the summer. As in the case of the railroads, road construction was concentrated primarily in the central and western provinces.
In connection with the building of the Central Industrial Region (COP), steps were taken to improve communication and connections in the western and southern provinces. Larger projects included the building and expansion of the Warsaw- Lwów route, while important bridges were built in Zaleszczyki on Dniester and in Mosty on Niemen (Memel). Automobile transport was not common at that time. In 1924, of a total of 7,501 cars, only 8 were located in Tarnopol province, 41 in Wilno province, and 68 in Wołyń province. In 1939, of a total of 41,948 cars, 350 were located in Tarnopol, 546 in in Wilno, and the largest number – 2461 – in Lwów province. Meanwhile, air travel was in its infancy. In 1922 an air-transportation company called “Aerolloyd” opened the first route between Warsaw and Lwów.
The importance of the integration policy for the Eastern Borderlands can be attested by the activity of the communist parties acting in this area, and membership in the Polish Communist Party. In 1923 a Communist Party of Eastern Belarus was formed in Wilno. In the same year a Communist Party of Western Ukraine was also formed. Their primary task, apart from struggling for the rights of Belarusians and Ukrainians, was to connect the eastern lands of the Second Polish Republic to the Belarusian and Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republics, respectively. These parties directed their activities against the independent Polish Republic and were considered to be working for the Soviet Union. This activity was combated by the State Police, whose regional headquarters maintained registers of communist activists, monitoring their anti-State activities. In addition, the Border Guard of the Second Polish Republic protected the state border from the threat of contraband, as well as from foreign intelligence penetration. It was in the Eastern Borderlands, in Rawa Ruska, that the Central School of the Border Guard operated from 1933. In 1939, during mobilization, the Border Guard and the KOP were incorporated into the Polish Army.
The former Kresy region (also known as the Kresy borderlands) of the Second Republic of Poland covered an extensive area which included many varying and attractive landscapes. This region was also an extraordinarily important part of the Second Republic. It included the provinces of Wilno, Nowogrod, Polesia, Wolyn, Tarnopol, Stanislawow, Lwow and eastern Bialystok. Throughout its history the Kresy region was a place where Western-Latin and Eastern Russo-Byzantine civilisations interacted and intertwined to a degree which was exceptional in Europe; creating, as a consequence, a veritable crucible of cultures, languages and religions. The Kresy was common territory for Poles, Lithuanians, White Russians, Ukrainians, Ormians and Tartars, and also in more distant times for Greeks, French and Italians. It was a place where the Polish ‘element’ assumed an elite role.
The adoption of Christianity and the creation of the many-centuries-old Polish-Lithuanian union enabled the introduction of architectural forms and cultural diversity from the West on a grand scale. It also enabled the growth of tolerance for coexistence and a multi-faith society – something that was quite exceptional in a Europe ravaged, at that time, by national and religious conflicts. Only in the Kresy region could the sacred buildings of many religions exist side-by-side as neighbours: Catholic churches, Orthodox Cerkiews (Orthodox place of worship), Jewish Synagogues, Mosques, German Kirches (churches) and Kienesy (temples of the Karaims, a people of Turkish descent). Renaissance culture developed during the reign of Zigismund I, during which time Wilno and Lwow grew into important metropolitan centres in Eastern Europe. The Jesuits introduced architects and sculptors from France, Italy and German-speaking countries, to create and develop Baroque architecture, resulting in the appearance, in the later Baroque period, of the Wilenski Baroque architectural style. Following the fashion in Western Europe, classical architecture began to re-appear in the Kresy, where there was a strong trend to return to the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.
The legend that the Kresy region acted as a bulwark for Christianity was very deeply embedded in the culture of the eastern lands of the Republic. Throughout history, political and historical events strengthened the perception that the Kresy was a fortress – a border redoubt dividing the Christian world and Christian civilisation from the wild pagan world: a point of view reinforced by the geography and architecture of the region. A chain of border watchtowers was constructed, mainly on the outer rim of the district of Podola, guarding access into Poland and Western Europe. Additionally, densely located centres of the Maryan cult provided a ‘spiritual’ defensive network for the ‘Fortress Republic’.
The multi-coloured mixture of nationalities and religions was most noticeable in Wilno and Lwow, where stylish places of worship complemented the unique panoramas presented by these towns. The churches of St. Peter and St. Paul in Antokol and the Orthodox Cerkiew of the Holy Spirit were built in the Wilenski Baroque style, with soaring tall slender steeples, elaborately structured altars and rich internal ornaments and decorations. S t. Peter’s and St. Paul’s church was funded by the Hetman Michal Kazimierz Paca as a token of thanks for winning the war against Moscow. The interior of the church was covered with hundreds of figures of the apostles and martyrs, with scenes of the New Testament, lives of the saints, angels playing musical instruments and animals sculptured by Italian artists. During the interwar period, one of four spring fairs was held in front of the church – the so-called Kaziuki. A special feature of this fair was a weaving event in which ornate and richly decorated geometrically-shaped Wilno rugs and bed covers were produced.
The Cierkiew of the Holy Spirit was erected by the Orthodox Brotherhood, which did not recognise the Union of Brest. It was laid out in the form of a Latin cross, with three aisles and side altars, and harboured a beautiful Rococo icon.
In turn the Basilica Cathedral of The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Latin Cathedral in Lwow, was built in Gothic style at the turn of the 15th century. It was the seat of the Lwow bishops belonging to the Latin Rite. In the 18th century it was rebuilt in the late Baroque style. On 1st April 1656, in front of the miraculous painting of Our Lady of Graces, King Jan Kazimierz performed the famous Lwow weddings, whereby he entrusted the Republic (recently invaded by the Swedes) into the care of the Mother of God.
Classical architecture in Wilno is represented by the Cathedral of St Stanislaw. Funded in the 14th century by Wladyslaw Jagiello, it was rebuilt several times and finally completed in the classical style in the 18th century.
The Orthodox Church (Cerkiew) of the Transfiguration in Lwow was also built in the classical style. This memorial to troubled times between nations was built at the end of the 19th century on the foundations and ruins of the Church of the Trinity and its associated monastery which had been destroyed by the Austrians.
The beautiful church of St Ann in Wilno is another prominent Gothic building. A delicate lace-like structure built with more then 30 different types of brick, it incorporates slender rod-shaped spiral towers, intricate pinnacles, and delicate buttresses.
Of the important non-Catholic churches, the Karaim Kienese in Zwierzyn in the Wilno district was built in the Oriental style and dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. Two great Synagogues, the Mieska and the Chasydzka Jankiela Glanzera, could be found in Lwow. The first Calvinist church was established in Wilno, built in classical style, it incorporated a small six-column portico supporting sculptures of a preaching Christ. The first wooden Lutheran church in Wilno was built in the 17th century, in a courtyard on German Street.
More religious architectural gems could be found in other towns, villages and hamlets. In the Baroque parish church of the Transfiguration in Nowogrod, King Wladyslaw Jagiello married Sonka Holszanka. Adam Miczkiewicz was baptised there. In one of the oldest medieval castle towns in the Wolyn district, namely Wlodzimierz Wolynski, was one of the oldest Russian churches (Sobor Uspienski) the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, dating from 1165, may still be found. This is a stone church, with a nave, built on linear architectural lines. Its facades are articulated with pilasters and half-columns. Next to the Cathedral is the Palace of the Uniate Bishops, dating from the end of the 15th century. Originally this building also had a four-storey bell tower which was intended for defence purposes, as evidenced by the width of the walls and substantial external buttresses. In the town of Horodenka in the County of Stanislawow, is the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a monastery of missionary fathers, funded by Mikolaj Potocki. This church and its sculptures are regarded as some of the most valuable buildings and relics of the late Baroque period of the 18th century, in the whole of the Second Republic. Many valuable religious relics, made wholly of wood, are to be found in the charming town of Drohobycz in the district of Lwow. The Orthodox church or Cerkiew of St. Jura is one such example. It is built in the shape of a square and is divided into three sections with a nave. On both sides of the nave there are wooden outbuildings crowned with sharp pinnacles. The church building is covered by a roof supported by arcades and topped with onion-shaped domes and shingles. It is also worth mentioning the great 19th century Synagogue of Choralna in Drohobycz.
The Lavra Poczajowska monastery is picturesquely situated on the Poczajowie Hill and is famous in legend because of a miraculous appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a flame of fire. Thanks to the miraculous icon of Our Lady it was and remains a famous Orthodox and Greek-Catholic pilgrimage centre.
The Karaim Kienesa in Troki bears witness to the multiethnic past of the Kresy. Here the Karaims settled, having been brought to Lithuania by Price Witold to assist in the defence of the Republic from the Teutonic Knights. The Kienesa in Troki is a one-storey building with a mansard roof topped with a quadrangle tower and a beautiful wooden skylight and very modest internal and external appearance. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Troki was the most important Karaim centre in Poland.
Religious works of art and sculpture are among the treasures of the Second Republic of Poland. They formed not only part of the theological wealth of these lands, but also helped to create their mystical and spiritual climate and environment. They could be found in churches of all denominations, in defensive walls, in town courtyards and roadside chapels.
In this respect, the ancient Polish Maryan cult favoured paintings and icons of the Mother of God. This was particularly noticeable in the ancient Borderlands. In a concealed gate in Wilno is a chapel containing one of the most valuable and well-known symbols of Christianity – the miraculous painting of The Mother of God of Ostra Brama. Using the technology and techniques available in the 17th century, it was painted on several two-metre-long oak panels. The painter is unknown. A painting of Mary Mother of God in a red garment and green cloak, sitting on a throne amongst the clouds and holding on her right knee a standing Jesus Christ as a small child can be found in Lwow Cathedral. It was painted in 1598 by a Lwow Burgher named Josef Wolfowicz. It was here that, standing before this painting, King Jan Kazimierz performed the famous Lwow weddings. On the main altar of the Cathedral of St. Stanislaw Biskupa and St Kazimierz may be found a painting by Francisz Smuglewcz ‘The murder of St. Stanislaw by Boleslaw Smialy’. Figures of St Kazimierz and St. Stanislaw are located at the top of the church façade.
The rich Kresy landscape provides numerous non-religious architectural gems: rural cottages, mansions, palaces and town buildings. Peasants’ homes comprised of chimneyless thatched or lath roofs – a design that hasn’t changed for centuries. Small villages and towns merged naturally into the many-faceted Kresy landscape, where plains alternated with hills and meadows, and rivers linked with extended lakes. In the north the landscape changed to open spaces and flat fields. All this created a harmony not to be found anywhere else in Poland. Town life and country life co-existed and accommodated the multi-ethnic and multi-religious population.
In almost every town one could find a Catholic church, an Orthodox Cerkiew and a town hall, sometimes also a Synagogue, a Lutheran Kirche or a Karaim Kienesa. Every town also had a market surrounded by buildings and shops. This landscape was complemented by the typically Polish, brick mansions of the landed gentry – these were also a refuge, providing an atmosphere of homeliness and family warmth. They were places where national traditions assumed a private dimension.
This idyllic view of the Kresy – exotic and bewitching – couldn’t hide the poverty and backwardness of the provinces, especially in the Polesie countryside. However it is important to realize that, in the early years of the Second Republic, the landowners found themselves in a difficult position. Many palaces and mansions had been neglected or destroyed as a result of military action. Only town houses bore witness to the former splendor of this social group, and they were often a form of rivalry between the most prominent families.
As a result of the destruction following the First World War, urban architecture began to change and blossom by degrees. Despite this, regular and orderly urban buildings were not created. Instead, new and wealthy tenements appeared and wooden homes were replaced by brick ones. Main communication routes began to develop rapidly (e.g. Miczkiewicz Street in Wilno). More public buildings also began to appear in the towns, such as banks, hospitals and hotels. On a wider scale, parks and gardens were also being laid out, and walking routes were being established, especially in the forested areas.
Especially in Podola, the Kresy landscape includes castles, monasteries and the ancient remains of buildings erected for the defence of the Republic. They provided defense against the invasions of the Tartars, Turks, Cossacks and Teutonic Knights. These structures are viewed, even in contemporary consciousness, as the legendary inheritance of the Kresy region, where they fulfilled the role of guardians of Christianity. The biggest castles, such as Chocin or Kamieniec-Podolski, were not included within the newly-established borders of the Second Republic. It was mostly the smaller castles and palaces, surrounded by fortifications and often by a moat, usually built for defensive purposes, that survived. More often than not they were in ruins. In the 1930s the castle at Olesk – the birthplace of Jan Sobieski III – was renovated.
The fortress in Zbarazh, (a town located in what is now western Ukraine) that was destroyed during the war, was rebuilt in 1935 by the Polish Officer Reserve. Around 1928 the defensive character of the historic Okopy Holy Trinity (Okopy is a village in what is now western Ukraine) was restored. The Okopy Holy Trinity is translated as the Ramparts of the Holy Trinity.
This was a fortress built towards the end of the 17th century, with the objective of maintaining a safe distance between the town of Okopy and Turkish military formations temporarily stationed in nearby Kamienica and Chocim. Watchtowers were also built for the Border Protection Corps. In Troki, in the county of Wilno, the ruins of a defensive castle called Little Malbork were located. During its heyday this was a solid fortress which effectively resisted the onslaught of the Teutonic Knights on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From the 17th Century, the castle was allowed to fall into ruin, until the interwar years when Polish conservators prevented further deterioration. However, it was only after the Second World War that the castle was restored to its former state. The centre for the Border Defence Corps was re-located to the renovated Dominican monastery, built on the ruins of the castle in Troki. Rather like the case of the Okopy Holy Trinity, soldiers stationed there reinforced the legend that the exceptionally beautiful lands of the Kresy region of the Second Republic of Poland were a bulwark for Christian civilisation, and a place where the spirit of history remains ever present.
When Poland regained her independence, the authorities quickly realized that there was a need for a uniform system of education. In the first years, this was not easily accomplished, and in the case of the Eastern Borderlands (Kresy) during military operations, this proved impossible. It was problematic to adjust the system to the various nationalities and, in particular, to the language in which it was to be taught. It was only during 1922-1929 that this uniform system was brought into the entire territory of the Second Republic of Poland. Nevertheless, it did not encompass all, since in the eastern provinces only 35% of the children attended school, whereas in central Poland 66% attended and in Śląsk 86%. In villages, primary schools had only one teacher. The average level of education consisted of an eight class school.
In the case of higher education, there were five Polish universities, and two of them were found in the Eastern Borderlands – in Wilno and in Lwów. But there were also two polytechnic schools, one of which was located in Lwów. There were also higher schools of higher education dedicated to various specialties, such as SGGW in Warsaw, or the Highlander Academy in Kraków. There were also private schools, such as the ASP in Kraków, and the Free University in Warsaw.
One of the Second Republic’s achievements was the development of education in the Eastern Borderlands. Although in the early 20’s, the educational authorities acquainted themselves with merely a portion of the system several years prior to the war, nonetheless they were able to create a well functioning educational system which encompassed many of the Rzeczypospolita’s (Poland’s) minorities. In truth, there remained an inequity between central and western Poland and the less urban Eastern Borderlands, but such advances on this territory had not been made in several decades.
In the years 1937-1938, the following were primary school in the provinces of the Eastern Borderlands: Wilno = 1,449 (168 000 students); Nowogrod – 1,227 (159 000); Polesie – 1,167 (181 000); Wołyń – 1,934 (278 000); Lwów – 2,531 (417 000); Stanisławów – 1,119 (184 000); Tarnopol – 1,348 (200 000). It is important to note that in 3,064 primary schools, Polish and Ukrainian languages were taught simultaneously, and in 226 both Polish and Hebrew languages.
In 461 schools, only Ukrainian was taught and in 14 others, only Lithuanian. Appropriately, in Lwów province only Russian was used in 214 schools, and in 34 others, only German. In turn, in Wołyń province, only Russian (Ukrainian) was used in 8 schools, in 27 others, German, in 37 more, the Hebrew language was used and, surprisingly, in 18 others, Czech was used. In Wilno province, only Hebrew was used in 62 schools and in 22 others, only Lithuanian.
The two largest agglomerations of Wilno and Lwów were the centers of education and culture in the Polish Borderlands. Within them one could find many centers of higher education focused on the humanistic, technical, educational research, and publishing areas of study. Moreover, the teachers and researchers who lived here constituted the elite of Borderland intelligencia. Educators of world-wide fame also arose from other centers: from Grodno, for instance, Zygmunt Wróbelski (1845-1888) who was the first in the world to liquefy oxygen.
The third center of education in the Second Republic of Poland was doubtless located in Wilno, where in 1579 the Stefan Batory University came into being. It acquired that name in 1919 when it reopened, after having being closed by Tsar Michael I after the November Uprising. The language of study used was and remained Polish. Along with the expansion of the University, arose the university’s library, which functioned as the public library of the town of Wilno. Other developments included the Botanical Garden, Ethnographic Museum, Nature Museum and the famous Observatory of Astronomy under the direction of Władysław Dziewulski. Eminent lecturers were the Second Republic of Poland’s professors: literary historian Stanisław Pigoń (1885-1968), historian Stanisław Kościałkowski (1881-1960), historian Henryk Łowmiański (1898-1984), astronomer Władysław Dziewulski (1878-1962), historian of ideology Marian Zdziechowski (1861-1938), historian Feliks Karol Konieczny (1862-1949), painter Ferdynand Ruszczyc (1870-1936), theologian and medieval expert Father Walerian Meysztowicz (1893-1982), historian of law Stanisław Ehrenkreutz (1880-1945), philosopher Henryk Józef Maria Elzenberg (1887-1967) and historian Stanisław Lorentz (1899-1991), philosopher Władysław Tatarkiewicz (1886-1980). Their students were, among others, historian Leon Lech Beynar (1909-1970) (known later as Paweł Jasienica), as well as Teodor Bujnicki (1907-1944) and Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004), connected with Wilno’s Żagarami poets. The University came to an end when, first the Russians, then the Germans, invaded the area. On December 15, 1939, Rektor Ehrenkreutz, organized the last meeting of the educators and university students.
Other centers of education and research were also active in Wilno. Among them was the Museum of Antiquity, established in 1855 by Eutach Tyszkiewicz which functioned alongside the University as the first museum in Lithuania, and the second in Poland. This museum had been liquidated by Murawiew in 1865, and then again in 1941 by the Lithuanian authorities.
Lwów, as the “semper fidelis” (always faithful) town of the Second Republic of Poland fulfilled a similar role for the southwestern Borderlands, as Wilno did for the northern part. Here the main educational center was the Jan Kazimierz University which came to being in 1661, and named for its founder from 1919 to 1940. The high standards of the professorial cadre caused Lwów to shine not only in the Borderlands, but also in Europe. Their achievements in anthropology, philosophy, geography, mathematics and zoology were well known. Each of these accomplishments was known to have been achieved in the “Lwów School”. In the period between the wars, the university had five divisions – theological, law, medical, humanistic and natural mathematics. Among the professors, was the historian of church law Władysław Abraham (1860-1941), geographer Henryk Arctowski (1871-1958), Szymon Askenazy (1866-1935), mathematician Stefan Banach (1892-1945), mathematician Hugo Steinhaus (1887-1972), politician and economist Stanisław Grabski (1871-1949), poet Jan Kasprowicz (1860-1926), historian of theatrical plays Karolina Lanckorońska (1898-2002), lawyer Roman Longchamps de Bérier (1883-1941), cartographer Eugeniusz Romer (1871-1954), philosopher Bohdan Suchodolski (1903-1992) and economist Wincenty Styś (1903-1960). They themselves were often graduates of Lwów University. Among its students were Jan Parandowski (1895-1978), poet and writer Kornel Makuszyński (1884-1953), and historian Karol Maleczyński (1897-1968). Many of the above-mentioned tied their post-war fates with Wrocław. Among them was the earlier mentioned Professor at the Jan Kazimierz University, Hugo Steinhaus, who together with Stefan Banach, was one of the main creators of the so-called Lwów school of mathematics – groups of Polish mathematicians centered around the periodical “Studia Mathematica” focused on the mathematics of functional analysis. To this world-acclaimed group belong the following: Leon Chwistek, Stefan Kaczmarz, Władysław Orlicz, Antoni Łomnicki, Herman Auerbach, Juliusz Paweł Schauder and Stanisław Saks. The majority of these mathematicians from the Lwów School of Mathematics perished during the Second World War.
Equally famous was the second Lwowian center for higher education, the Lwowian Polytechnic established in 1843, a Polish educational center within the Second Republic. Among those tied to this school was the previously-named lecturer Stefan Banach, as well as the precursor of welding Stefan Bryła (1886-1943), and lawyer Antoni Wereszczyński (1878-1948). A number of prominent graduates in politics and education were: Władysław Sikorski (1881-1943), Kazimierz Sosnkowski (1885-1969), Kazimierz Bartel (1882-1941), Józef Beck (1894-1944), Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski (1888-1974), nature photographer Włodzimierz Puchalski (1909-1979) and Lwówian historian AK Jerzy Węgierski (born in 1915). As Lwów had its Polytechnic academy, so Wilno had a Government Technical School, established in 1922 and which had the status of higher education.
Another school of higher education in Lwów was the Academy of Veterinary Medicine, which was established in 1881, and included 17 divisions in the 1930’s.
The last of the four Lwowian schools of higher education was the Academy of Foreign Trade operating from 1922 to 1939, previously called “Higher School of Foreign Trade”.
The history of Polish Aviation is tied with the Polytechnic School in Lwów. In 1909 the Lwówian „Związek Awiatyczny Słuchaczów Politechniki” was established. When independence came about, the first combat flight of a Polish airplane took place in Lwów in November of 1918 – the Aerodynamics Laboratory and Flight Section, a part of the Polytechnic, was born. With that, there was a need for the establishment of the Institute of Glider Technology and the organization of the Polish Flight Exhibition and, several months prior to the war, the International Committee for the Study of Engineless Flight came about. One of the famous Lwowian songs begins with the words: „Lwowians, are Haughty Eaglets…”
The pride of Lwów, next to mathematicians and pilots, was Ignacy Mościcki (1867-1946), known more for nurturing the dignity of the President of the Second Republic of Poland than for being an outstanding chemist, inventor and professor of the Polytechnic of Lwów. Mościcki was the creator of the method of production of Nitrate, the builder of the public storage of Nitrate in Mościca and possessor of 40 patents.
The genius of Jan Szczepaniak (1872-1926), who was also often known as the “Polish Edison” and as the “Genius of Galicia”, must also be mentioned here. He was tied to the discovery of color photography, color weaving, but mostly as having an impact on an influential item in XX century civilization, the television. In 1897, he was granted a patent on the telekroskop – an important element in a monochrome television. He continued in that direction and during 1918-1925, he worked out a system for color film. These discoveries led to the eventual construction of the bulletproof vest.
Closely associated with Lwów is the Ossoliński National Institute founded by Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński in 1817 and opened ten years later – known as one of the Lwowian face of Polish culture. The accumulated librarian and archival collections present in that Institute were priceless to Poland’s identity and culture. It was here that the legacy of Eastern Borderlands aristocracy were enumerated – Lubomirski, Poniński, Sapieha and Skarbko. Here the handwritten manuscripts of Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Żeromski, Reymont, Sienkiewicz and many other Polish authors were preserved. In 1939, over 220,000 different manuscripts, autographs, maps, etc. were housed here. Moreover, in the Ossolinian collections, were the largest accumulation of Polish press from the XIX and XX centuries. After World War II, these collections can be found in Lwów and, to a lesser extent, in Wrocław.
Another important library collection in Lwów was the Baworowskich Library, which preserved not only the old printed materials and manuscripts, but also furniture and sculptures. That collection included the Chronicle of Wincent Kadłubka, statues of Casimir the Great, as well as the manuscripts of Niemcewicz, Fredry, and Konarski.
The Dzieduszyckie Museum of Nature was a major educational center, opened in Lwów in 1880, which presented exhibits of natural history, thanks to the founder the honorable Włodzimierz Dzieduszycki, who donated his collection to the nation of Poland. There were natural, zoological, botanical, geological and ethnographic exhibits, which presented the complete history of nature in the Polish lands.
Another important center in Lwów was the Lwów Art Gallery which was established in 1897, preserving the paintings of Jan Mateja (for example, Lwowian Wedding), as well as the paintings of Juliusz Kossak and Artur Grottgera.
Lwów was not the only place responsible for the impact of Polish education in the Southwestern Borderlands. An important center was the Institute of Education of the Jesuits of Chyrow, operating during the period of 1883-1939, and renowned as the best higher education school on the territory of the Second Polish Republic. Among its graduates were Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, Roman Abraham, Jerzy Kirchmayer, Andrzej Rostworowski, Adam Styka and Anton Wiwulski.
Similar, if not of greater fame than the Institute in Chyrow, was the Liceum Krzemienickie, founded by Tadeusz Czacki in Krzemieniec, Wołyń, and rightly known as the “Wołyń Antenna”. It operated during 1805-1831 was reactivated in 1922, and continued to function until World War II. Among its teachers were Joachim Lelewel and Józef Korzeniowski, and among the graduates were Narcyza and Gustawa Olizarów, amd poets Tymon Zaborowski and Antoni Malczewski.
In Lwów proper, there was the Cadet Corps of young elite students subordinate to the Department of Infantry of the Military Ministry. It was transferred to Lwów in 1921.
Great success in the development of science and technology in the Borderlands was opened a year before the start of WWII – the Astronomical and Meteorological Observatory in Czrnohory in Eastern Beskidach, situated on the peak of Pop Iwan at a height of 2,200 meters. Built in the form of the letter “L” and patterned after the castle in Przemyśl, the building possessed the newest astrological instruments. These were removed in September of 1939 by educators from the University of Warsaw, its affiliate.
As the Second Republic of Poland was being born, it quickly became obvious that the builders of Polish statehood had to contend with not only the problem of defending the newly-attained independence of their homeland, but also the problem of uniting the geographic regions, diverse in many ways, into one economic entity. Each of the provinces was at varying levels of economic development, had different currencies, and had different social and ethnic structures. In particular, there was a large disproportion in the numbers of landowners between Western and Central Poland and the Eastern Borderlands, where large industry was almost non-existent. It is important to note that some of the exiting factories and plants had been dismantled and transported east by the Russians. Other factories were destroyed during the Polish-Bolshevik War in 1920. Consequently, the Eastern Borderlands were not only proportionately less industrialized, poorer and less advanced economically; they were also impacted by war. Not only was industry affected, but so was agriculture. For example, during the war in 1920, it was not possible to cultivate more than 3.5 million hectares of land in the Eastern Borderlands. In total, 1.7 million buildings in the Polish countryside were destroyed, 75% of which were agricultural buildings. It was estimated that 456 agricultural buildings were destroyed in a part of the province of Wilno. To that, one must add the slaughter or confiscation of livestock by military units, particularly cattle and pigs. The destruction of whole areas of the countryside deprived the population of infrastructures such as drainage systems, which were indispensable to cultivation.
When the first crops were planted after the end of the WWI, the harvest was impeded due to military operations and the moving front. In turn, the crops of those farmers who managed to harvest, were often commandeered. It was later calculated that, in the areas of Galicia and Baiłystok Province, only 30% of the total prewar harvest was collected. The situation was similar in industrial production, which in 1919 was only 30% of that in 1913.
In Eastern Galicia, in comparison with other areas, there was the added problem of shrinkage of the size of farms due to constant subdivision. Even the livelihood of the villages was not secure. The phrase „Galician Poverty” – which has remained a symbol of the poverty of that time to the present day – became a direct cause of emigration of much of the rural population. Just how great the disparity was is borne out by the fact that within one economic entity was the highly developed economy of Greater Poland, and the situation of Polesie, where examples of pre-industrial economies were to be found.
One of the solutions intended to help the organization of industry as well as agriculture in the first years of the existence of the Second Republic of Poland, was the institution of central offices with the mandate of continuous regulation of the market. In the case of industry, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce were the following examples: The National Coal Office, The Main Armed Forces Supply Office, and responsible for agriculture: The National Grain Office, the National Purchase of Essential Commodities Office, The Office for the Battle Against Extortion and Speculation. One of the main tools used to correct the situation was the initiation of Public Works which employed almost 100,000 people shortly after the war.
After several years of the peaceful development of industry and the resurgence of Polish rural life, the world economy entered a major crisis in 1929 that resulted in a depression which also impacted the Second Republic of Poland. Even though there was no reduction in Polish agricultural production, thanks to the increase of agricultural land, the significant drop in consumption deepened the poverty of the Polish countryside. The drop in production impacted industry, which was plunged into the Great Depression. Production fell to 60-70% of that of 1929, only returning to the previous state in 1934. All of this caused a delay in bringing the Eastern Borderlands up to the economic level of the rest of Poland.
However, by 1935 the opportunity for development materialized, when Poland’s economic situation improved enough to allow more resources to be designated for structural investment. Being a part of the four-year plan for the establishment of the Central Industrial District (CID), the Province of Lwów, whose western border reached as far as the Vistula River during the years of the Second Republic of Poland, was part of a project for the creation of a military industrial centre in the area of the so-called Triangle of Security. The concept of the CID of 1937 encompassed 4 provinces: Kelce, Kraków, Lublin, and of course the Province of Lwów of the Eastern Borderlands. This was to involve 48 powiats , occupying a total of 15% of the area of Second Republic of Poland and 18% of her population. This encompassed the following powiats and cities within the area of the western part of the Province of Lwów (in alphabetical order): Brzozów, Dobromil, Jarosław, Kolbuszowa, Krosno, Lesko, Lubaczów, Łańcut, Przemyśl, Przeworsk, Rzeszów, Nisko, Tarnobrzeg and Sanok. Although the Province of Lwów was not central to the development of the CID, nevertheless a series of important investments were planned and realized within her territories.
Among them were the building and expansion of nitrogen production facilities on Mościski, aeroplane engines in Rrzeszów, headlight and machine tool factories also in Rzeszów where anti-tank artillery was ultimately to be produced, and munitions plants in Sanok. Similarly, the CID was to be connected with Warsaw by high voltage hydro, and also with Lwów through Rzeszów. The electric network was to be supplemented by a gas network. The pace of the work was lighting speed. The above-mentioned factory in Rzeszów was erected within seven months. The first machine tool was put into use in December 1937, and the first canon within five additional months.
Indeed, while the CID was the most ambitious economic project executed in the Second Republic of Poland, the approaching war thwarted the realization of a large part of its plans.
The development of industry would not be possible without access to natural resources. These were also to be found in the Eastern Borderlands. One of the most important was the strategic natural resource of the 20th Century, crude oil.
A very important centre of the oil industry, not only within the Second Republic of Poland but all of Europe, was the Borysław Oil Basin, encompassing among others, the towns of Borysław, Drohobycz, and Stary Sambor. Between 10 and 20 thousand people were employed in the oil industry in Foresaw. Suffice it to say, that Borysław was the third largest city of the Second Republic of Poland, after Warsaw and Łódź. Not only crude oil but ozokerite, used for insulation in industry and as a sealant in the shipbuilding and electromechanical industries, were being mined here by the 19th Century. This very ozokerite paraffin was used to seal and insulate the first transatlantic telegraph cable. With time, a series of drill holes were completed, thereby increasing the amount of oil extracted. Moreover, the main centers of extraction were connected to Lwów by a railway line. At the beginning of the 20th Century, it was the 4th largest producer of crude oil in the World. With the discovery of oil in the Near East and in South America its significance on a global scale dropped. Nevertheless, it continued to have a major importance in the economy of the new-born Second Republic of Poland, whose needs it met entirely, enabling export of the resource to neighbouring countries. In the period 1886-1939 a total of 2,437,694 barrels of oil were extracted here, and about 10 billion m3 of natural gas.
The capitals of the Eastern Borderland provinces were also centres of industry. For example, in Stanisławów, in addition to an oil refinery, there was a brickyard, a candle factory, an asphalt factory, a scale factory, a carriage factory, an alcohol factory, a brewery, a weaving plant and also tanning, lumber and metal plants. Grodno, located on the opposite side of the Eastern Borderlands, also had many factories, among them the “Niemen” bicycle and motorcycle factory (well-known throughout the country), graphics plants, a bookbinding business and the Margolis Brewery.
In smaller centres, the number of industrial plants was proportionately smaller. Nevertheless, as the country developed, trade, commerce and processing grew in strength; new pharmacies and cafes opened, and the transportation network expanded. This swift expansion was made possible by the operations of local communities under the auspices of a now free government.
As proficient as the Poles in the Second Republic of Poland were in rebuilding their homeland, they also knew how to play and rest. The best known spas and health resorts in the Second Republic of Poland came into being in the Eastern Borderlands. Probably the most famous of them all was the Lithuanian Druskienniki, the beloved Holiday resort of Marshall Józef Piłsudski. With its brine springs, it is a very popular health resort among Poles to this day. The healing properties of the springs were discovered in the 18th Century, and it officially became a health resort in the 1830’s. During the time of the Second Republic of Poland, Druskienniki was significantly expanded, primarily by the building of a railway line and station, a new pump room for the mineral waters, new pools and other buildings for the spa complex.
Relatively close to Druskiennik lay the largest lake in the Second Republic of Poland, called Narocz at that time (somewhat smaller than Lake Mamra). Masses of Eastern Borderlanders, as well as guests from all over Poland, relaxed in summer places on this lake. Sojourns on the stores of this „Eastern Borderland Sea” as it was once called, were made more pleasant by summer cottages and health resorts, as well as the beautiful forest scenery.
The Zaleszczyki Resort was certainly competion for Druskienniki, situated as it was in the Podole area, on a beautiful river bend which cut through the high banks of a ravine on the Dniester River. Before September 1939, the average inhabitant of the Eastern Borderlands thought of it primarily as a popular health resort. This was primarily due to having the warmest climate in the Second Republic, allowing viticulture and the cultivation of melons and peaches. Summer villas and cottages quickly sprang up along the beautiful beaches along the Dniester River. Because of the popularity of this place, a special train with sleeping berths began to run here from Warsaw. Józef Piłsudski spent holidays here several times. The precursor of the Polish Nudists also took advantage of the climate here, establishing the first unofficial nudist Beach on the Dniester River. After September 1939, Zaleszczyki unfortu
