EASTERN GALYCHYNА AND WESTERN VOLYN: PECULIARITIES OF THE CULTURAL, EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION IN INTERWAR POLAND

Abstract

After the First World War, with the collapse of the empires, the Western Ukrainian lands went to Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia. As part of interwar Poland, they made up a third of the entire territory. On the one hand, they became sources of raw materials, cheap labor and markets for goods, on the other hand, they caused the appearance and exacerbation of external and internal problems, which significantly destabilized the situation. Among Ukrainians living in different regions, there were differences in the level of national consciousness, political and cultural activity, which was actually used by the authorities, separating Eastern Galychynа from Western Volyn by the so-called “Sokal border”, the existence of which was the result of religious, cultural, economic and especially political reasons. The vindication reform was one of the forms of assimilation of Ukrainians, which used their ethnic diversity, provided for the “artificial” inclusion of Lemkos, Hutsuls, Polishchuks, who did not have a clear national affiliation, into the Polish religious and cultural system. Actually, the action of the organization of the so-called “countryside gentry” under the slogan of “conversion” to the Polish nation of Ukrainians, primarily peasants, who allegedly left their people as a result of the offensive of the Greek Catholic Church, the lack of churches, etc., is connected with this. It was marked by the activity of “People’s Party”, taking into account the apolitical nature of the local peasantry, putting forward false slogans “for your and our boys’ freedom”. However, the Polish state institutions were the most consistent in eliminating the Ukrainian language, culture and schooling, introducing Utraquist educational institutions. The socio-economic policy of interwar Poland inhibited the development of Eastern Galychynа and Western Volhynia, turning them into an agrarian and raw material appendage to native Polish lands. The basis of industrial production was raw materials - oil-ozokerite and forestry. The processing of agricultural and mineral raw materials was of some importance. The provisions of the government’s land reform required the annual parceling of significant amounts of land, but instead, the authorities carried out minor parceling of native Polish lands, introduced civilian colonization and military settlement on the “borders”, when the best lands were given to Poles, mostly retired soldiers. The settlers were supposed to promote the Polonization of Ukrainians and, if necessary, perform punitive functions. The harsh socio-economic policy pursued by the government led to strikes and even armed riots. The government’s response was a campaign of pacification, the so-called “pacification”, with the help of the police and the army, which caused the Ukrainians to use more radical means of resisting the authorities.