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Zakerzonia

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Zakerzonia

Zakerzonia (Ukrainian: Закерзоння, romanized: Zakerzonnia, lit. 'Trans-Curzonia'; Polish: Zakerzonie) is an informal name for the territories of Poland to the west of the Curzon Line which used to have sizeable Ukrainian (and Rusyn) populations, including significant Lemko, Boyko populations, before the invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in 1939, and were claimed as ethnically Ukrainian territories by Ukrainian nationalists in the aftermath of World War II. However, before 1939, the areas of Zakerzonia were mostly inhabited by Poles, who constituted about 70% of the population of this area. Ukrainians lived in a minority in Zakerzonia, constituting about 20% of the area's population.[citation needed]

"Zakerzonia" stands for "territory beyond the Curzon line", or in Ukrainian "Zakerzons'kyi krai".

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), at the height of their control of the territories, claimed plans of creation of Transcurzon Republic.[1]

The demography of Zakerzonia drastically changed by forcible resettlement of the Ukrainians, with ethnic cleansing operations being the resettlement of Ukrainians from Poland to the Soviet Union (1944–1946) and Operation Vistula (1947).[1][2] Therefore, Poles today constitute over 95% of the population of Zakerzonia.

Ukrainians in Zakerzonia in the 1931 census

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The last census before World War II carried out in Zakerzonia was the Polish census of 1931.

The results of the 1931 census (questions about mother tongue and religion) in three voivodeships encompassing Zakerzonia:

Ukrainian/Ruthenian (language) and Greek Catholic/Orthodox (religion) majority minority counties are highlighted with yellow.

Ukrainian and Polish population in voivodeships encompassing Zakerzonia according to the 1931 census
Today part of County part of Voivodeship County Pop. Ukrainian & Ruthenian % Polish % Uniate & Orthodox % Roman Catholic %
Ukraine Lwów Bibrka 97124 60444 62.2% 30762 31.7% 66113 68.1% 22820 23.5%
Ukraine Lwów Drohobych 194456 79214 40.7% 91935 47.3% 110850 57.0% 52172 26.8%
Ukraine Lwów Horodok 85007 47812 56.2% 33228 39.1% 56713 66.7% 22408 26.4%
Ukraine Lwów Lviv City 312231 35137 11.3% 198212 63.5% 50824 16.3% 157490 50.4%
Ukraine Lwów Lviv County 142800 58395 40.9% 80712 56.5% 67592 47.3% 67430 47.2%
Ukraine Lwów Rudky 79170 36254 45.8% 38417 48.5% 45756 57.8% 27674 35.0%
Ukraine Lwów Sambir 133814 68222 51.0% 56818 42.5% 78527 58.7% 43583 32.6%
Ukraine Lwów Zhovkva 95507 56060 58.7% 35816 37.5% 66823 70.0% 20279 21.2%
Total in counties of Lwów Voivodeship which are today entirely in Ukraine 1140109 441538 38.7% 565900 49.6% 543198 47.6% 413856 36.3%
Ukraine Poland Lwów Dobromyl 93970 52463 55.8% 35945 38.3% 59664 63.5% 25941 27.6%
Ukraine Poland Lwów Yavoriv 86762 55868 64.4% 26938 31.0% 62828 72.4% 18394 21.2%
Ukraine Poland Lwów Mostyska 89460 37196 41.6% 49989 55.9% 49230 55.0% 34619 38.7%
Ukraine Poland Lwów Rava-Ruska 122072 82133 67.3% 27376 22.4% 84808 69.5% 22489 18.4%
Ukraine Poland Lwów Sokal 109111 59984 55.0% 42851 39.3% 69963 64.1% 25425 23.3%
Ukraine Poland Lwów Turka 114457 80483 70.3% 26083 22.8% 97339 85.0% 6301 5.5%
Total in counties of Lwów Voivodeship today split between Ukraine and Poland 615832 368127 59.8% 209182 34.0% 423832 68.8% 133169 21.6%
Poland Lwów Brzozów 83205 10677 12.8% 68149 81.9% 12743 15.3% 65813 79.1%
Poland Lwów Jarosław 148028 20993 14.2% 120429 81.4% 52302 35.3% 83652 56.5%
Poland Lwów Kolbuszowa 69565 62 0.1% 65361 94.0% 91 0.1% 63999 92.0%
Poland Lwów Krosno 113387 14666 12.9% 93691 82.6% 15132 13.3% 91189 80.4%
Poland Lwów Lesko 111575 70346 63.0% 31840 28.5% 81588 73.1% 18209 16.3%
Poland Lwów Lubaczów 87266 38237 43.8% 43294 49.6% 44723 51.2% 32994 37.8%
Poland Lwów Łańcut 97679 2690 2.8% 92084 94.3% 4806 4.9% 86066 88.1%
Poland Lwów Nisko 64233 115 0.2% 60602 94.3% 925 1.4% 59069 92.0%
Poland Lwów Przemyśl 162544 60005 36.9% 86393 53.2% 73631 45.3% 67068 41.3%
Poland Lwów Przeworsk 61388 406 0.7% 58634 95.5% 3042 5.0% 54833 89.3%
Poland Lwów Rzeszów 185106 963 0.5% 173897 93.9% 3277 1.8% 164050 88.6%
Poland Lwów Sanok 114195 38192 33.4% 67955 59.5% 54882 48.1% 48968 42.9%
Poland Lwów Tarnobrzeg 73297 93 0.1% 67624 92.3% 194 0.3% 65891 89.9%
Total in counties of Lwów Voivodeship which are today entirely in Poland 1371468 257445 18.8% 1029953 75.1% 347336 25.3% 901801 65.8%
Total in Lwów Voivodeship 3127409 1067110 34.1% 1805035 57.7% 1314366 42.0% 1448826 46.3%
Poland Kraków Biała 139127 48 0.0% 127089 91.3% 197 0.1% 126431 90.9%
Poland Kraków Bochnia 113790 75 0.1% 109717 96.4% 134 0.1% 107399 94.4%
Poland Kraków Brzesko 102226 20 0.0% 100251 98.1% 66 0.1% 97730 95.6%
Poland Kraków Chrzanów 138061 88 0.1% 127078 92.0% 240 0.2% 125016 90.6%
Poland Kraków Dąbrowa 66678 25 0.0% 62620 93.9% 36 0.1% 61584 92.4%
Poland Kraków Gorlice 104805 24881 23.7% 76266 72.8% 25092 23.9% 73788 70.4%
Poland Kraków Jasło 116146 7435 6.4% 103935 89.5% 7659 6.6% 102213 88.0%
Poland Kraków Kraków City 219286 924 0.4% 171206 78.1% 1894 0.9% 159372 72.7%
Poland Kraków Kraków County 187509 97 0.1% 185567 99.0% 309 0.2% 181836 97.0%
Poland Kraków Limanowa 87279 29 0.0% 85238 97.7% 43 0.0% 84048 96.3%
Poland Kraków Mielec 77465 48 0.1% 71272 92.0% 72 0.1% 69737 90.0%
Poland Kraków Myślenice 102692 16 0.0% 101878 99.2% 32 0.0% 99978 97.4%
Poland Kraków Nowy Sącz 183867 24252 13.2% 148329 80.7% 25060 13.6% 141857 77.2%
Poland Kraków Nowy Targ 129489 2156 1.7% 123877 95.7% 2296 1.8% 121767 94.0%
Poland Kraków Ropczyce 110925 60 0.1% 105700 95.3% 136 0.1% 104033 93.8%
Poland Kraków Tarnów 142365 102 0.1% 124817 87.7% 293 0.2% 120610 84.7%
Poland Kraków Wadowice 145143 53 0.0% 142852 98.4% 125 0.1% 140469 96.8%
Poland Kraków Żywiec 130949 19 0.0% 129747 99.1% 71 0.1% 127685 97.5%
Total in Kraków Voivodeship 2297802 60328 2.6% 2097439 91.3% 63755 2.8% 2045553 89.0%
Poland Lublin Biała Podlaska 116266 2250 1.9% 106467 91.6% 18715 16.1% 82647 71.1%
Poland Lublin Biłgoraj 116951 2727 2.3% 106100 90.7% 21055 18.0% 82614 70.6%
Poland Lublin Chełm 162340 13103 8.1% 120805 74.4% 37875 23.3% 88488 54.5%
Poland Lublin Garwolin 159942 68 0.0% 140024 87.5% 147 0.1% 139128 87.0%
Poland Lublin Hrubieszów 129957 19066 14.7% 101394 78.0% 49802 38.3% 63365 48.8%
Poland Lublin Janów 152718 1009 0.7% 142113 93.1% 1206 0.8% 135182 88.5%
Poland Lublin Krasnystaw 134159 1054 0.8% 123204 91.8% 4886 3.6% 113442 84.6%
Poland Lublin Lubartów 107991 628 0.6% 99918 92.5% 1583 1.5% 94356 87.4%
Poland Lublin Lublin City 112285 227 0.2% 73534 65.5% 863 0.8% 71542 63.7%
Poland Lublin Lublin County 163502 57 0.0% 151946 92.9% 186 0.1% 149192 91.2%
Poland Lublin Łuków 129083 28 0.0% 120991 93.7% 118 0.1% 113549 88.0%
Poland Lublin Puławy 172267 133 0.1% 150022 87.1% 308 0.2% 149060 86.5%
Poland Lublin Radzyń 99089 326 0.3% 84174 84.9% 1874 1.9% 80520 81.3%
Poland Lublin Siedlce 151411 132 0.1% 129414 85.5% 709 0.5% 125018 82.6%
Poland Lublin Sokołów 83949 39 0.0% 75376 89.8% 176 0.2% 74941 89.3%
Poland Lublin Tomaszów 121124 20752 17.1% 86612 71.5% 33642 27.8% 73021 60.3%
Poland Lublin Węgrów 88788 34 0.0% 79709 89.8% 83 0.1% 76511 86.2%
Poland Lublin Włodawa 113566 9663 8.5% 86866 76.5% 33585 29.6% 57939 51.0%
Poland Lublin Zamość 149548 2532 1.7% 130530 87.3% 6942 4.6% 125249 83.8%
Total in Lublin Voivodeship 2464936 73828 3.0% 2109199 85.6% 213755 8.7% 1895764 76.9%

In total within Zakerzonia (area which today belongs to Poland) in these three pre-war voivodeships there were in 1931 almost 392,000 people with Ukrainian or Ruthenian mother tongue and about 625,000 people whose religion was either Orthodox or Uniate (Greek Catholic). This does not include some parts of Sokal, Rava-Ruska, Yavoriv, Mostyska, Dobromyl and Turka counties which remained in Poland. Perhaps 1/3 of the population of these counties remained in Poland, which would give an additional almost 123,000 Ukrainian/Ruthenian-speakers and 141,000 Uniate/Orthodox people.

Ukrainians in Poland: 1939–1950

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Piotr Eberhardt estimates that in 1939 the number of Ukrainians between the Curzon Line and Oder–Neisse line was 657,500 people.[3]

Timothy Snyder gives a similar estimate of up to 700,000 Ukrainians or Ukrainian-language speakers living in Poland within its new borders immediately after World War II. They were a "demographic majority in many areas along a long border strip running from Chełm almost to Kraków".[4] His data, however, are not considered reliable, because, for example, the area near Kraków, Tarnów, Rzeszów,and others has been purely Polish for centuries.[citation needed]

In 1946, only 220,200 Ukrainians were left in Poland, and the figure had further decreased to 150,000 by 1950.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Orest Subtelny, "The Fate of Poland's Ukrainians, 1944-1947", in: "Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948", 2001, ISBN 0742510948
  2. ^ Bohdan, Kordan. "Making Borders Stick: Population Transfer and Resettlement in the Trans-Curzon Territories, 1944–1949". International Migration Review Vol. 31, No. 3., 1997, pp. 704-720.
  3. ^ a b Eberhardt, Piotr (2000). "Przemieszczenia ludności na terytorium Polski spowodowane II wojną światową" (PDF). Dokumentacja Geograficzna (in Polish and English). 15. Warsaw: 75–76 – via Repozytorium Cyfrowe Instytutów Naukowych.
  4. ^ Timothy Snyder, "To Resolve the Ukrainian Problem Once and for All": The Ethnic Cleansing of Ukrainians in Poland 1943-1947, pp. 101, 104, 105, in Journal of Cold War Studies Vol. 1, No. 2, Spring 1999. However, his data is not considered reliable. http://www.yale.edu/history/faculty/documents/2ColdWarStudies.pdf Archived 2011-08-15 at the Wayback Machine
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