Putting an end to ethnocide

What prevented the implementation of the anti-Belarusian policy during the second Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

The situation of Western Byelorussia under Polish rule from 1921 to 1939 is given various definitions, including ‘national and social oppression’ and ‘occupation’. Recently, the term ‘ethnocide’ has been used more frequently — and there is every reason for that.

Exterior of poor peasant’s dwelling on outskirts of Glubokoye in Western Byelorussia

Eloquent figures

The policy of interwar Poland (the so-called second Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) towards Belarusians aimed at the gradual assimilation of the Belarusian nation among Poles. It was systematic and constituted a strategic line of the Polish state authorities, especially after the May Coup of 1926, when an authoritarian regime of ‘ethnic cleansing’ was established. Effectively it was a dictatorship of Józef Piłsudski, who after his death in 1935 was replaced by a clique of his closest associates.
One of the key areas was language and school policy. In 1919, about 400 Belarusian schools were established in Western Byelorussia. However, in 1935, only 16 Belarusian schools remained for nearly four million Belarusians, and by 1937 they had all been closed.

As early as 1923, an interpellation (complaint) by Belarusian ambassadors of the Polish Sejm [lower house of Polish parliament] stated, “Belarusian schools — due to the Polonising and anti-constitutional policy of the school and administrative authorities — are in an even more difficult situation and not only do not have the necessary assistance from the government, but also encounter difficulties and persecution at every step. The Belarusian population, for the most part, refrains from sending children to Polish schools, increasing the number of illiterate people, and faces the threat of moral and intellectual savagery.” 

Arrests based on linguistic grounds

The Polish Language Act, adopted on July 31st, 1924, was frankly discriminatory. It was possible to open a Belarusian school in an area where Belarusians made (according to official data) at least 25 percent of the population. This required the submission of applications from no fewer than 40 parents. If at least 25 parents applied for their children to be taught in Polish, the school became Polish-Belarusian. In practice, however, the situation was even worse. It was soon clarified that Belarusian parents had to have their signatures certified by the Polish administration. This instantly served as a pretext for persecution. In Novogrudok Voivodeship alone, 1,380 people were arrested for submitting such applications. When similar applications were submitted to the school inspector in Kossovo, local peasants were fined 100 złoty or received five days’ imprisonment.
The Polish authorities did not even conceal their aims. The Białystok voivode, Henryk Ostaszewski, in a report addressed to the Interior Ministry on July 23rd, 1939, wrote: ‘In short, our attitude towards Belarusians is as follows: we want one thing and insistently demand that this national minority think in Polish, giving them nothing in return and doing nothing in any other direction. Wishing to accelerate this process — otherwise it may lead to various misunderstandings — we must defeat the ancient Belarusian culture’. Other high-ranking officials echoed his rhetoric. A well-known persecutor of Belarusian culture was Wacław Kostek-Biernacki — the Novogrudok and Polesie voivode and the organiser of the Bereza-Kartuzskaya concentration camp.

Politics akin to fascism

However, the Polish authorities did not succeed in quickly assimilating the local Belarusian population. They then resorted to outright falsification to convince the world community of the success of their policies and that Belarusians constituted a small part of the population. By decision of the Sejm dated October 14th, 1931, a population census was conducted. It did not take nationalities into account, but only asked about native language. Only 989,852 people supposedly named Belarusian as their native language. At the same time, the authorities came up with the ‘tutejszy’ (Polesian) language, which was allegedly named by 707,088 people. As a result, they found that in Vilno, Novogrudok and Polesie Voivodeships, Belarusians made up only 22.5 percent, and Poles — 42 percent. For comparison: according to the All-Russian Population Census, the objectivity of which is recognised by scientists, Poles in these areas numbered 5.5 percent. Even taking into account immigrants,  the number of Polish people could not exceed 12–13 percent.
The fact that Belarusians in the Kresy Wschodnie [eastern borderlands] constituted the majority was not in doubt among the Polish authorities themselves. Therefore, they deliberately limited the admission of Belarusians to the civil service and the officer corps.
During the elections in 1922, eleven Belarusian ambassadors (deputies) were elected to the Sejm, and three to the Senate, out of a total of 444 deputies and 111 senators, respectively. In 1928, these numbers were already ten deputies and two senators. And in the elections of 1935 and 1938 — not a single one! 

The second Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth pursued an openly anti-Belarusian policy, which could be characterised as fascist in terms of its aims and methods. The authorities set goals for the complete assimilation of Belarusians, eroding the ethnic characteristics of our people. Only persistent, long-term struggle and the liberation that came with the Red Army troops in September 1939 saved our people from oppression and disappearance as a unified nation.

Attitude to history — Poles turned Lida Castle into football stadium

RISING ILLITERACY LEVELS 

Official Warsaw sent individuals from ethnic Poland to work as officials, police officers and teachers in the Kresy Wschodnie. In 1928, according to local administration data, in Polesie Voivodeship (excluding the Kamień Koszyrski district), Belarusians accounted for 2.5 percent of the intelligentsia, while Poles accounted for 75 percent. At the same time, Belarusians made up 2/3 of the population, and Poles only eight percent. Officials and even ‘teachers’ often brutally beat schoolchildren and adult citizens for Russian or Belarusian words spoken in schools and official institutions. The result of deliberate Polonisation and the absence of education in their native language was a high level of illiteracy in Western Byelorussia. By 1939, in Polesie Voivodeship, among residents over the age of ten, 70 percent were illiterate, and in Novogrudok Voivodeship — 60 percent. About 13 percent of school-age children did not attend school.

TO THE POINT  

Ethnocide is understood as a policy aimed at the deliberate destruction of national identity and self-awareness of a people. As a rule, it includes a whole set of measures designed to effectively erase any common features or traits of people belonging to the same ethno-cultural community. History knows many examples of this. One of the most classic is the Japanese colonial policy in Korea, carried out in 1910–1945. Its symbol was the order on the change of names, according to which more than 80 percent of Koreans were forced to change their first and last names. Only Japan’s defeat in the Second World War put an end to this assimilation practice.

By Vadim Gigin, deputy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, Candidate of Historical Sciences