JANINA STOBNIAK-SMOGORZEWSKA
Osada Krechowiecka, District Równe
Click here to view a map from the book 'The Fate of the Poles in the USSR 1939-1989' by Thomasz Piesakowski
| In memory of Maria Zajdlowa who in the 'inhuman land' with great tenderness cared for my grandmother, Antonina Stobniak |
The military settlers came to the East Borderland in spring 1921 and with the determination of soldiers began the daunting work on the land given them as reward for their fight for Poland's independence in the years of the 1st World War. The legal base for giving land to the soldiers was the act of Sejm (Polish Parliament) of 17 December 1920. The idea behind the soldiers' settlement in the eastern part of the country was to increase the number of Polish people in those territories where the Ukrainian and Byelorussian population prevailed. Soldiers were expected to take part in the economic and cultural life of those backward provinces and to boost modern methods of farming. Their accomplishment over 18 years was considerable. On their farms they introduced new methods of agriculture, popularised the co-operative idea, encouraged the growth of farmers' associations and also took an active role in the agricultural and social affairs of their region. This involvement in local concerns drew the military settlers closer to their Ukrainian and Byelorussian neighbours so obliterating the initial prejudice generated in many cases by the tensions of Borderland politics. Ukrainian and Byelorussian peasants copied the settlers' farming methods and benefited from their help and advice, although - under pressure from their nationalistic organisations - they could not forget that the settlers had been apportioned land which they themselves had hoped to acquire. Actually large parts of the land given to the soldiers were no man's land, which belonged previously to the tsar's family, the Russian government and Russian landlords. This was supplemented by land taken away from Polish landlords in the framework of land reform.
This process of military settlement was stopped after two years in 1923 but throughout the period between the two wars, in those territories which came within the ambit of land reform, civilian settlement by purchase was available. This policy of strengthening the Polish element in the East Borderlands, especially during the thirties, whereby land was sold to Polish settlers, came up against very serious criticism from the Ukrainian and Byelorussian political parties. Their representation in the Sejm spoke against the policy.
The entry of the Red Army into the eastern territories of the Polish Republic on 17th September 1939 and the Soviet-Germany treaty which divided Poland between those two countries was the start of a tragic chapter in the history of the Borderland military settlement.
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After the Invasion by the Red Army
Deportation to the Soviet Union, 10 February 1940
In the Soviet Special Posioleks
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