"to f fce « d w ^ i i W W H 

A3 KJ Sé <i ST 

r ^ T i U 

DOCUMENTS 
Relating to the 

ADMINISTRATION OF 
OCCUPIED COUNTRIES 
in 

E A S T E R N E U R O P E 

No. 5 

The Soviet Occupation 

of Poland 





The Soviet Occupation 
of Poland 

POLISH INFORMATION CENTER 
151 East 67th Street 

New York, N. Y. 



• g 



C O N T E N T S 

PAGE 

Preface 7 

Territory and Population 1 1 

The First Months of Occupation 1 3 

Organized Plunder 16 

Nationalization of Property 17 

Position of The Workers 21 

The Position of The Peasants .24 

Church and Religion 26 

Propaganda and Education 29 

Forced Labor and Political Persecution 33 

Wholesale Deportation 35 

The Racial Policies of The Soviets 38 

General Conditions 40 

Appendix (Letters From Deportees) 43 





P R E F A C E . 

On September 17th, 1939 the Polish Ambassador to 
the U.S.S.R., M r . Grzybowski, was summoned to the 
Soviet Foreign Office. On arriving at the Kremlin, he 
was received by Mr . Potemkin who read him a Note to 
the effect that the Soviets regarded the Polish Govern-
ment as disintegrated, and the Polish State as having 
ceased to exist. All agreements concluded between 
Poland and the U.S.S.R. were in consequence declared 
to have ceased to operate. Poland bereft of leadership 
had become a suitable field for all manner of hazard and 
surprises constituting a threat to the U.S.S.R. Further-
more, the Soviet Government could not view with indiffer-
ence the fate of the kindred Ukrainian and White Russian 
people living on Polish territory, and, in existing circum-
stances, left defenceless. Accordingly, the Soviet Gov-
ernment had ordered its troops to cross the Polish border 
and take under their protection the life and property of 
the population of Western Ukraine and Western White 
Russia. A t the same time, the Soviet Government pro-
posed to extricate the Polish people from the unfortunate 
war into which they were dragged by their unwise leaders, 
and enable them to live a peaceful life 1 . 

There existed between Poland and the Soviet Republic 
a pact of non-aggression dated July 25, 1932, which on 
M a y 5, 1934 was extended until December 3 1 , 1945. 

Notwithstanding the strong misgivings aroused in all 
quarters by the new pact concluded on August 23, 1939, 
between the Soviets and Germany, in the first days of the 
war between Poland and Germany a general impression 

1 The Polish White Book pp. 189-190. 

[7 ] 



prevailed of a certain good will on the part of the Soviets 
towards Poland. On August 27th the I Z V I E S T I A pub-
lished an interview with marshal Voroshilov who stated 
that the new understanding with Germany would not 
prevent Russia from supplying raw materials and even 
war materials to Poland. 

Along the entire Russian border it had been noticed 
that the tone of Russian broadcasts was not at all un-
friendly towards Poland, and on certain frontier stations 
—much to the amazement of those who were informed— 
special arrangements were being made in great haste in 
order to facilitate the transport of goods into Poland. At 
Molodeczno it was rumored, a large convoy of lorries 
had been rushed over the frontier by night early in 
September. The Polish Government certainly had diffi-
culties in keeping in touch with its local representatives. 
Since September 5 it was constantly moving owing to 
German bombing. But complete tranquility reigned in 
the Eastern provinces of Poland. Mobilisation had taken 
place under normal conditions and perfectly smoothly; 
all public authorities were functioning without 
interruption. 

In the light of events it is unnecessary to stress the 
evident bad faith of the Soviets. The perfidy of 
Moscow's diplomatic language was vividly reminiscent 
of many similar documents of the XVI I th Century, when 
•Russia, with Berlin as chief accomplice, undermined the 
old monarchic Commonwealth of Poland. 

In any event, the entrance of the Russian troops was 
such a surprise, not only to the population but also to 
the civil and military authorities, that in many places it 
was thought that the Bolsheviks had entered Poland as 

[8 ] 



allies against Nazi Germany. These doubts were, of 
course, very soon dispelled. In many places communist 
"fifth columns" made their appearance with accompany-
ing incidents of violence and plunder. The more 
determined Polish commanders swerved Eastwards, and 
a new phase of warfare began between the Carpathian 
mountains and the Dzvina River, which lasted another 
three weeks. 

[9 ] 





I—Territory and Population. 

The northern provinces involved in the invasion knew 
the Russians well. The provinces of Volhynia, Polesie, 
Novogrodek, Wilno and Bialystok had been incorporated 
into Russia after the partitions of Poland in the end of 
the X V I I I Century and remained so until the First World 
War. But Lwow, Stanislavov and Tarnopol had seen the 
Russians but once, in 19 14 , and had never been under 
Russian rule: they had been annexed by Austria after the 
first partition of Poland in 1772 . 

The territory invaded and incorporated into Russia 
after the farcical referendum of October 29, 1939 was 
the poorer and more backward part of Poland. Its 
mineral resources are smaller than those of Silesia; in 
Polesie the vast Prypec marshqs exclude the possibility 
of cultivation of large tracts of land. The soil there is 
rather poor too. The South-Eastern provinces wedged 
between the Carpathian mountains and the Russian 
border were always the most neglected of the provinces 
of the Austrian empire. Af ter the reestablishment of 
Poland in 1 9 1 8 conditions in the Eastern provinces had 
greatly improved. Artificial frontiers had disappeared 
and a natural exchange of goods between neighboring 
territories had developed. Roads were built, railway 
lines improved. Education was promoted. About eleven 
thousand public schools were opened. The Wilno uni-
versity was reinstated. Owing to the new outlet on the 
Baltic there was a remarkable development of the timber 
industry. Marshlands were drained, pastures recondi-
tioned and fisheries established. In the northern section 
the production of flax and the manufacture of linen re-
ceived a potent stimulus. The oil-fields of Boryslav in 
the South were developed; oil refineries built and mineral 
gasses rationally exploited. The textile industry of 
Bialystok underwent a considerable revival. Agriculture 
started to progress. The development of dairy produce 

[11 ] 



was remarkable. A wide system of cooperative organi-
sations was established and the standard of living of the 
population was rising slowly but steadily. In short, the 
Eastern provinces of Poland, when the war broke out 
on September i , 1939, represented a vast agricultural 
area dotted here and there with industrial centres, not 
devoid of decided elementary prosperity, though ham-
pered to some extent, as the rest of Poland by lack of 
investment capital. 

The present condition of these provinces cannot be 
understood and equitably judged without reference to 
their political history. This must be kept in mind when 
considering the ethnographical aspect and the psychology 
of the population. 

Of the territory at present occupied by the Soviets 
every square mile had belonged to the Polish Common-
wealth ever since the X I V Century. The Southern part 
was conquered from the Hungarians by King Casimir 
the Great ( 1 3 4 0 - 1 3 5 2 ) . The Northern was included in 
the union of Poland and Lithuania in 1386. 

The two countries after a period of purely personal 
union became a homogeneous state in 1569. For cen-
turies the whole political and cultural life of these coun-
tries has therefore been essentially Polish. It is an 
anachronism to speak of nationalist movements when re-
ferring to bygone centuries, as Poland was ever a coun-
try of outstanding tolerance. Whereas the religious 
conflicts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries led to 
bloody wars in the whole of Western Europe, in Poland 
they remained entirely within the spiritual sphere. It is 
largely to be attributed to this tolerance that in the south-
eastern provinces of Poland adherents of the Greek-
Orthodox Church remained very numerous. 

The Polish territory at present under Soviet occupa-
tion represents some 74,700 square miles, with about 

[12 ] 



twelve million inhabitants, thus almost exactly one half 
of the area of pre-war Poland and roughly one third of 
her population. 

According to the census of 1 9 3 1 , 5 million of the in-
habitants were Poles, 5 million Ruthenians and Ukrain-
ians, over 1 million White Russians, over 1 million Jews, 
about 150,000 Russians, 90,000 Germans, about 40,000 
Czechs and about 40,000 Lithuanians. 

The entire Ruthenian and Ukrainian population is 
grouped in the four provinces of the South-East, whereas 
the largest part of White Russians is to be found in the 
provinces of Polesie and Nowogrodek and in the Eastern 
part of the province of Bialystok. The northern terri-
tories adjoining the district of Wilno (handed over to the 
Lithuanians), though eccentrically situated, contain a 
very high pe rcentage of Poles, reaching 90% in some 
parishes. The whole Polish population is Roman 
Catholic. The White Russians are mostly followers of 
the Greek Orthodox Church. The Ruthenians in Vol-
hynia are also on the whole Greek Orthodox, while in 
the former Austrian territories the Ruthenians belong 
almost exclusively to the Greek Catholic (or so-called 
Uniate) Church. It is therefore an outstanding feature 
of the situation that not less than eight million Catholics 
of both rites are to be found today under Soviet 
domination. 

The Jews are fairly uniformly scattered over the whole 
Soviet-occupied territory, but chiefly in cities and small 
towns. 

II—The First Months of Occupation. 

The first contacts between the population of Poland 
and the Red invaders aroused mutual astonishment. The 
Bolshevik troops entering this part of Poland (admittedly 
much poorer than the Western provinces seized by the 

[13 ] 



Germans) were amazed at the wealth and abundance of 
the country. On the other hand even the poorest 
peasants were startled by the appearance of extreme 
misery of the invading troops. They possessed many 
tanks, long columns of lorries, numerous anti-tank and 
anti-aircraft guns, the troops themselves were generally 
well disciplined—but the soldiers were in rags, they 
looked underfed and were rather low-spirited. The 
shops in the invaded area—three weeks after the mobil-
isation and diverse passages of troops and refugees— 
were certainly not well supplied, but watches, sweets and 
various trifling objects as fly-paper, etc., seemed to delight 
the invaders particularly. Yet though limited If com-
pared with normal times, the supplies were sufficient, in 
the first two months at least. Scarcity appeared and 
grew steadily worse with the nationalization of large 
stores, reglementation of the stock in smaller shops, 
Soviet requisitions of food without any imports from 
Russia and the increasing demands on the part of 
Germany. The situation was quickly becoming acute, 
and when winter came Lwow was facing famine. The 
prices were soaring. A kilogram of sugar cost 75 rubles, 
a liter of milk 5 to 6 rubles. Bootlegging trade de-
veloped. Af ter several months of such conditions the 
soviet authorities were compelled to give up their methods 
and tolerate private trade to some extent at least. This 
concession on the part of the Bolsheviks brought quick 
though partial relief. 

The first period of the Soviet occupation was one of 
preponderant military influences in the administration. 
There was a relative tolerance in administrative and 
political matters. Even a few cultural organizations 
were permitted—to exist. State and municipal offices 
followed Polish administrative methods. They were, 
of course, headed by local communists or by men sent 
from the Kieff area. A workers militia replaced the 
former police. Schools were temporarily permitted to 

[14 ] 



work. Al l languages: Polish, Ukrainian, Jewish and 
Russian enjoyed equal rights. Later in the fall things 
began to change. Elections were ordered—a farcical 
referendum, open and compulsory, in which people of 
the so-called Western Ukraine were ordered to express 
their desire to be incorporated into Soviet Russia. From 
that time on Soviet pressure and Soviet methods in all 
walks of public and private life became gradually more 
severe. People who, in the beginning, had nourished 
the hope that the Russian invasion will be limited to a 
military occupation, leaving country and people more or 
less in the situation which had previously existed, were 
soon disappointed. Officers' families, civil administrators, 
commissars of various ranks, made their appearance, and 
above all the O G P U , the dreaded political police, under-
took its familiar tasks. Trouble started when accom-
modation for the newcomers had to be found. For the 
use of the Soviet bureaucracy lodgings were seized, 
already overcrowded. The Bolsheviks applied their 
doctrine that every room should accommodate at least 
two persons. The inhabitants were also subject to strict 
regulations concerning their clothes and underwear. One 
change was enough. Everything in excess of this was 
liable to be confiscated. The Soviet officials and their 
families produced an impression of extreme poverty. 
Women wore rags wrapped around their feet or slippers 
instead of shoes. Bedding was an unknown luxury to 
th em. Bathrooms and kitchens they considered uncanny 
inventions. The population of the occupied provinces 
especially that of the cities looked at them with contempt. 
People slighted even army officers and civil officials in 
public. This happened especially after the outbreak of 
the invasion of Finland when news of Soviet defeats were 
coming daily. A panic had seized the Red soldiers and 
officers when transfers to the Finnish front grew more 
frequent. Desertions of Soviet army officers, sporadic 
before the war, became now a mass phenomenon. They 
were buying civilian clothes and disappearing often with 

[15 ] 



their wives. The situation changed radically after the 
peace with Finland. The invaders, thus far rather meek, 
became arrogant and insolent. A new era of oppression 
and persecution had begun. 

Ill—Organized Plunder. 

As time went on, under the pretext of reorganisation, 
nationalisation or any other formula in which Bolshevik 
terminology abounds, the occupied territory was subject 
to a most ruthless plunder. Public property as well as 
personal belongings were seized. Everything transport-
able was carried away into Soviet Russia. In the town 
of Czortkow iron beds were taken away from hospitals 
and military barracks. From hotels furniture, from 
banks and business offices all fixtures were removed. 
Apartments and even poor dwellings were pillaged. From 
the city of Luck in one day 180 carloads of furniture 
were shipped to Russia. 

Poland had experienced Red pillage in 1920. In those 
days however, it was common robbery performed by a 
barbarian soldateska. Now it was a systematic, legalized 
confiscation. 

The destruction of works of Art , of Museums and 
Archives was another phase of that war against Western 
civilization. When winter came the Russians used books 
from Polish scientific libraries as fuel. Archives had 
their unique documents frequently bearing the signatures 
of Poland's kings, sold by the pound as old paper. 

Poland had to be brought to the same level as Soviet 
Russia culturally and economically. 

Most Polish State employees had received three 
months salary in advance before the withdrawal of the 
army. Here then the Soviets considered themselves as 
having simply taken the place of the former authorities. 
They made these people work without pay for three 
months at the expiration of which they were dismissed. 

[16 ] 



Trade was allowed to be carried on as long as stocks 
lasted and Polish currency was maintained as legal tender, 
the zloty having been given par value with the Soviet 
rouble. As the current rate was 12 to 1 , all transactions 
were carried on in zlotys and the merchants came into 
possession of considerable cash. Then suddenly—on 
December 2 1 , 1939—the zloty was declared as with-
drawn from circulation, no equivalent whatever being 
provided for the unfortunate possessors. Simultaneously 
all bank deposits above 300 zlotys ( $56) were seized. 
The amount thus wantonly suppressed reached 1,500,-
000,000 zlotys or about 290 million dollars. The sudden 
abolition of the zloty meant the destruction of such 
humble remnants of well-being as still existed in the 
country. Prices soared and the markets showed a sudden 
lack of many commodities as the people would not sell 
their produce for a currency which they distrusted. It 
was then that a system of barter began to develop on a 
large scale, and the standard of living experienced a 
violent depression. 

The United States dollar was officially quoted as five 
roubles. It could be bought in the Soviet "Gesbank." 
In the Spring 1940 it was sold on the so called "black 
stock-exchange" for 400 roubles. It is now obtainable 
for 60-70 roubles, which results from the utter destitu-
tion of the people. No saving is possible. Even if it 
were, it would be against Soviet laws. The Soviet cur-
rency loses its value about every three years, and a new 
currency is being issued. People have no trust in roubles 
and chervonetz. Peasants refuse to accept Soviet money 
and only barter trade is possible. 

IV—Nationalization of Property. 

More or less simultaneously the process of nationali-
zation of commerce was put into practice. In reality it 
amounted to the seizure of all available stocks of goods, 
especially in the wholesale trade where some supplies 

[17 ] 



still existed. And these were promptly carried off to 
Russia. The value of merchandise thus seized in the 
city of Lwow alone amounted to about 400 million zlotys 
or $75,500,000, and in the whole Soviet occupied area 
to 320,000,000 dollars. Of the 8,500 shops of Lwow 
6,500 were closed. Of the remaining 2,000—500 were 
left in the proprietor's hands, and 1,500 were trans-
formed into cooperative societies of all kinds subject to 
incessant inroads by the Soviet authorities, and carrying 
on in a most precarious way. At the same time all 
buildings were declared to be the property of the people. 
Only in exceptional cases the owners of small houses suc-
ceeded in preserving the use of them. All dwelling 
houses were subjected to district supervision called 
"rajrady." There is a special manager for small groups 
of houses. He collects the rentals and the dwelling as 
well as eventual luxury taxes (if any one occupies more 
rooms than foreseen by the Soviet regulations.) Apart-
ments are allotted by the aforesaid "rajrady." Only 
working persons may obtain such an allotment. The 
size of the apartment depends upon the character of the 
work done by the tenant, by the number of members of 
his family, etc. The "ra jrady" allot also wood for fuel. 
Coal is unobtainable. 

The position of the house janitor has been declared 
an official one. He belongs to the lowest rank of state 
employees. Special lectures for janitors are being given 
in the individual city districts, where they receive political 
as well as spying instructions. Thus the janitor is under 
orders to control strictly who enters his house. In case 
a person enters more than once a house not inhabited by 
him, the janitor must report the fact at once to the police. 
He .is also instructed to enter under some pretext the 
apartments of the tenants, to observe their attitude, to 
make notes of their conversations and of the objects 
they possess. Special rewards are given janitors for the 
discovery of any counter-revolutionary activities or 
sabotaging plots. 

[18 ] 



Not all houseowners, however, have been expropriated. 
But those that were permitted to keep their houses have 
been so heavily taxed that they cannot pay those imposts. 
And for non-payment they are threatened with heavy 
penalties. Besides, the rumor is being spread by the 
Soviets that the names of house-owners will be placed 
first on the list of persons to be deported. N o wonder 
that applications for expropriation are daily growing. 

A woman who left Lwow in September 1940 reports 
what follows on the methods used by the Soviets to 
liquidate private property. Thus for instance, the owner 
of a tinkers-workshop had been ordered to pay a daily 
income tax of ten roubles. The owner of a locksmith-
shop must pay four roubles daily. An average city 
dwelling house is burdened with a yearly tax of 10,000 
roubles. The lot of the farmers is by no means differ-
ent. A peasant owner of an average size farm had a 
yearly tax of 25,000 roubles imposed upon him. And 
besides he must pay in kind. 

T o make bad things worse the Soviet have introduced 
compulsory insurance, in cities as well as in the country, 
against fire and other elementary disasters. The insur-
ance rates are simply exorbitant. 

Industrial establishments fare no better. But they 
are subjected to special proceedings. Thus in Wilno the 
workmen employed in the well-known factory of wireless 
receivers "Electrit" were induced to carry unanimously 
a resolution that the whole establishment be transferred 
to Smolensk. The same thing happened in the Courland 
Oil factory. The plant was actually removed to Russia. 

In accordance with a motion passed by the "National 
Assembly of Western Ukraine and White Russia" a 
similar fate was in store for many of the 9,000 factories 
of different kind and sizes in the occupied area. Natur-
ally the largest and best-equipped establishments were 
first to attract the attention of the Soviets. The plants 
of the up-to-date and important sugar factories of 

[19 ] 



Chodorow and Horodenka, those of the electric works 
in Czortkov, Kolomyja and Stanislavov, the fine spinning 
jennies and looms of many concerns in Bialystok have 
disappeared. The railway workshops in Lwow, Stanis-
lavov and Przemysl were emptied and not even the 
equipment and furniture of the Agrarian Bank in Lwow 
and of many other public institutions were permitted 
to remain. 

The independent craftsmen of different trades who 
possessed 67,000 workshops in the Soviet-occupied 
provinces with an annual output estimated at over 200 
million dollars, were ruined. The currency they pos-
sessed was suddenly abolished and they were thrown out 
of work because they were unable to replenish their 
stocks. In exchange for the goods carried away from 
Poland the Soviet national stores contrived after four 
months' intense efforts to offer the public some very in-
ferior matches, dirty salt and soap and herrings reeking 
with cod liver oil. 

The food stuff trade has been centralized in the Soviet 
chain stores called "Bakalie" and "Gastronomia." The 
prices there are lower than in the few remaining private 
stores. Long lines of would-be-buyers are awaiting their 
turn day and night. A card system has not been intro-
duced. Goods, however, are often missing—some 
articles are unobtainable for months. This is especially 
true of sugar. Bread is plentiful. A two kilogram loaf 
costs 1 ,60 roubles. Meat in Soviet stores costs 7 roubles 
per kilogram; fifteen in private butcher stores. Butter 
is 30 roubles a kilogram. Coffee is not for sale. If a 
supply of it unexpectedly appears it costs 150 roubles 
per kilogram. "Ersa tz " coffee is being generally used. 
Hides and leather are lacking. Local shoemakers some-
times succeed in finding a piece of leather from pre-war 
stocks. They ask for a pair of shoes 600 roubles. 

Coffeehouses and restaurants have also been national-
ized. They are being managed by directors appointed 

[20 ] 



by the Soviets. The same was done with barber shops. 
Here the former owner is permitted to work with 
scissors and razor but receives a lesser percentage from 
the daily revenues than the other workers, and does not 
belong to the "Prospilka" (trade union) which entitles 
them to social insurance. 

Among all the nationalized enterprises there is but 
one which met with the general approval of the popula-
tion and these are the so-called "policlinics." Anybody 
is entitled to avail himself of them, without any limita-
tions, even without showing his papers. Polish physicians 
are serving in the policlinics. Medical advice is free. 
The doctors are paid. Independently from the policlinics 
Polish physicians are permitted to practice as before. 
Soviet authorities do not apply any special repressions 
against doctors. On the contrary they are in great 
demand and if they wish, they always may obtain pro-
fessional positions in the interior of Russia. Quite re-
cently news was received from physicians who had been 
deported shortly after the Soviet invasion, that they 
have been permitted to practice. 

V—Position of The Workers. 

The 120,000 workmen employed in the few industrial 
centres of the Soviet-occupied provinces may have ex-
pected that they would be a favored group of society 
since a "government of peasants and workmen" had 
taken over control. But even this minority met with 
bitter disappointment. The Soviets boasted that they 
were going to suppress unemployment and raise produc-
tion. As a rule workmen were not dismissed unless they 
happened to displease their new masters. On the con-
trary, the hours of labor were at first reduced to six or 
seven and considerable numbers of hands were taken on. 
Theoretically there is no unemployment under Soviet 
rule. The Bolsheviks have created many new positions, 
engaging several workers where there was one before 

[21 ] 



the invasion. Thus for instance in the domain of rail-
roads, every passenger car has its conductor. In one 
train there may be a score or more of them. The wages 
are very low and quite out of proportion with the prevail-
ing prices. The Soviets employ many women too, to 
demonstrate their adherence to the principle of equal 
rights for both sexes. The average wages of a worker 
amount to some four roubles daily. 

T o be entitled to any rights, that to live not excluded, 
one must possess a certificate of employment. T o obtain 
such certificate new positions must be created and this 
is why, officially, unemployment does not exist. T o have 
been imprisoned by the Polish government on the charge 
of Communist propaganda was a first-class qualification 
regardless of knowledge and ability. Soon it became 
evident that the much advertised achievements of "shock 
workers" "order wearers" and other "heroes of labor" 
in Soviet Russia were considerably inferior in their 
efficiency than those of the less pretentious workers in 
other countries. 

In any case the general collapse of trade could scarcely 
result in any benefit to the working class. What happened 
in reality was a precipitate decline in the standard of 
living to a level which people in other countries can 
hardly imagine. As a result of the substitution of the 
rouble for the zloty, the monthly earnings of workmen 
in Soviet-occupied Poland amount to 100-150 roubles, 
whereas all prices have reached an unprecedently high 
level. 

In February 1940 the free market price in Lvov of 
one kilogram of potatoes was 5-6 roubles, that of bread 
5 roubles, of meat 30-50 roubles, of butter and lard 
70 roubles. In Bialystok 50 kilograms (about 100 lbs.) 
of rye cost 700 roubles, one kilogram (2,25 lbs.) of sugar 
50-75 roubles; one kilogram of tea 700 roubles. One 
kilogram of butter cost in Luck 30 roubles, in Bialystok 
75 roubles. A pair of shoes can easily be sold in Lwow 

[22 ] 



for 500 roubles. Of course, the official prices in the 
"national" stores are considerably lower, but there the 
supply is so insufficient that it never satisfies the demand. 
Nothing can be purchased without the drudgery of stand-
ing endlessly in queues. 

The life of a working-man's family may be easily 
imagined when they must live on his earnings of 1 5 0 
roubles a month. Women have to secure jobs at all 
c o s t — a n additional hardship which the Soviet regime 
entails. 

The exploitation of the worker under Soviet rule and 
notwithstanding the phraseology of its propaganda, is 
evident. Of late, working hours were raised to eight. 
This is however but a theoretical norm for the 
"Stachanoff" minimum can not be achieved within those 
eight hours and the workingmen are compelled to work 
longer. Independently from that work the workers, 
especially in larger industrial establishments, have to at-
tend political meetings in the shops and factories. These 
meetings last often as long as four or five hours, so that 
the workingman returns home in a state of utter exhaus-
tion. Rules and regulations in the factories are very 
stern. For being late a worker may be sentenced to jail. 

A refugee who recently left Soviet-occupied Poland, 
tells of a woman who having a sick child had to wait in 
line before a drug store for the much needed medicine. 
She reported to work twenty minutes late. She was 
punished by having her earnings of 125 roubles monthly 
reduced by 30 roubles, and she was ordered to work 
longer hours. The punishment was comparatively mild 
because she had been only twenty minutes late. 

In November 1939 in the city of Lwow posters ap-
pealed to skilled workers to register for work, especially 
in the metallurgical line, in the Caucasus and the Don 
River basin. Within a month about 3,000 went, Poles as 
well as Jews. Only local workers were accepted. Refugees 
were excluded. A f te r two months one by one these men 

[23 ] 



began to return bringing hair-raising reports on the work-
ing conditions, lack of most primitive hygiene, lack of 
housing facilities, inimical attitude of the local popula-
tion towards the new arrivals. The word "Don basin" 
became a nightmare. No one volunteered anymore. 
The "Don basin" had utterly discredited the Soviet 
regime with the workingmen in Lwow. 

V I — T h e Position of The Peasants. 

According to current ideas the workmen and the 
peasants should have drawn some benefit from the Soviet 
occupation. Nothing of that sort happened. The dis-
appointment of the peasants was as complete as that of 
the workingmen. It is a great mistake to over-estimate 
the area of agricultural land in Poland, belonging to 
large estates. As a matter of fact, it averaged in 1939 
at about 16% of the entire cultivable area and it was 
still being parcelled out rapidly. Even a complete dis-
tribution of this land among the peasants could not 
have had a decisive influence on the state of the peasants 
as a whole. Their holdings numbered about three million 
farms, half of which is under Soviet occupation. The 
destruction of large agricultural enterprises by the 
Soviets was an additional blow to the welfare of the 
countryside. Not only did many laborers lose their 
work, but tremendous waste occurred. Horses are 
scarce where armies have passed; the harvest was 
destroyed or confiscated by the Bolsheviks. Livestock 
was actually distributed among the peasants, but was 
killed by them before the winter set in, partly owing to 
lack of fodder, partly to forestall Bolshevik regulations 
which were soon to be enforced. All livestock was regis-
tered and the sale of it forbidden without the consent 
of the local committee which was in its turn subject to 
control of higher authorities. 

It also became clear soon that the distribution of land 
was in fact illusory. The greatest pressure was being 

[24 ] 



exercised on the peasants to pool their allotments and 
go in for collective farming along "Kolkhoz" lines. All 
reports agree that many estates have remained in the 
hands of the administration and become State enterprises. 

But the actual condition of the country people was in-
fluenced for the worse by the ruin of the natural and 
necessary exchange between town and country, even more 
than by the effect of these chaotic measures. The coun-
try folks had nothing to sell, and there was nothing to 
buy in the city. Clothes, shoes, underwear had become an 
unattainable luxury, ironware an expensive and rare 
thing. 

Apart from purely material wants the life of the Polish 
country population has been profoundly troubled by many 
other causes. Lavish words and fine promises have not 
prevented the Soviets from imposing enormous taxes ex-
ceeding by far the taxpayers possibilities, taxes which in 
some cases amount to 230 roubles per acre. Among other 
the peasant has been ordered to deliver to Soviet 
agencies 44-62 lbs. of meat per acre, 200 quarts of milk 
per cow annually, and 150 eggs per hen! 

Having killed most of their cattle for fear of Soviet 
requisitions the peasants were able to till but parts of 
their farms. The result was a decrease of more than 
50% in grain production. 

Not satisfied with the ruin of the landlords and the 
intellectual classes the Soviets have made the extermina-
tion of the richer peasants (kulaks) one of their aims. 
T o achieve that end they do not refrain from using the 
most drastic methods. The "kulaks" wantonly accused 
of sabotaging the Soviets' plans for the formation of 
large collective farms were seized and deported to distant 
districts in Russia. 

The radical agricultural " re form" was inaugurated 
simultaneously in all Polish Eastern provinces—in the 
South as well as in the North where the Wilno voyvod-

[25 ] 



ship was incorporated into a Lithuanian Soviet republic. 
Here too the soil became State property. Individual 
estates known for their progressive managements have 
been converted into "Sovkhozy"—some others into 
"kolkhozy," and the rest was to be distributed among 
poorer farmers and agricultural laborers at 15-25 acres 
per head. But that parcellation was delayed. Owners 
of farms which they had inherited, were evicted. Those 
who had bought them, could retain the usufruct of a 
maximum of 75 acres upon recommendation of com-
munal committees approved by county committees and 
by Soviet authorities in Kovno. They were however 
obliged to repay the entire indebtedness of their estates 
in their previous size and increase the wages of their 
agricultural laborers by 200%. It goes without saying 
that even these "fortunate" ones will not be able to stand 
the economic pressure and will have to surrender. 

VII—Church and Religion. 

In the first months of occupation the Soviets attempted 
to use the most brutal methods in their fight against 
religion. Communist agitators were conducting a violent 
propaganda especially against exterior symbols of re-
ligious faith. Churches and chapels were then frequently 
converted into restaurants, moving-picture theatres, clubs, 
arsenals, etc. But the Communists soon became aware 
that their methods will not amount to much. Under the 
influence of the national disaster crowds were filling 
Catholic and Greek-Orthodox churches, listening to 
sermons and looking for hope and solace in religious 
practices. The population defended its churches with 
great courage. In the city of Kolomyja in December 
1939 when the Soviet authorities attempted to close the 
church of the Jesuit Fathers, people began singing the 
hymn "God Preserve Poland" and assumed such a 
threatening attitude (especially the women) that the Red 
militia withdrew and left the church open. In the village 
of Michalovka peasants opposed the closing of an Ortho-

[26 ] 



dox monastery. A battle ensued wherein four peasants 
and three soldiers of the Red army were killed. 

A f t e r a series of such failures the Soviets changed their 
tactics and inaugurated an indirect struggle against re-
ligion. T o make the maintenance of churches impossible 
they raised their taxes to an unheard of level. Yet the 
faithful contributed the needed sums with great self-
sacrifice. A tax of 36,000 zlotys (about $7,000) was 
imposed on the church in the Lwow suburb Brzuchowice, 
one of 80,000 zlotys (about $ 1 5 ,000) on the Mary 
Magdalene Church in Lwow. Yet the taxes were paid. 

All monasteries were closed and monks and nuns dis-
persed. One often meets them doing physical work in 
civilian clothes. Sermons in churches are permitted. 
The attitude of the Soviets is the same towards all 
denominations. When proposing to close a church the 
Soviet authorities attempt to lay the blame upon the 
church committee, apparently elected by the population, 
but in reality formed by communists and even criminals. 
Yet even such committees are afraid to assume the 
responsibility for closing a church. In some cases they 
have made investigations among the parishioners with 
most unfavorable results to the Reds. T o prevent the 
schooling of a young generation of priests the Bolsheviks 
have closed all theological seminaries of the Latin as 
well as of the Greek-Catholic rite. The seminarists were 
deported wholesale except those who succeeded to hide 
themselves. The situation of the regular clergy has been 
made worse by the confiscation of all monasteries and 
cloisters. Nuns were particularly exposed to chicanes 
and vexations. 

All ecclesiastical acts like marriages, the issuing of 
birth certificates, etc., have been declared legally invalid. 
All churches of all rites were ordered in April to deposit 
all marriage, death and birth registers before the 5th of 
May with the Soviet authorities. Af ter that date the 
clergy was forbidden to baptize, to perform marriages, 

[27 ] 



etc. A further laïcisation of public life was achieved by 
an oukase abolishing Sunday as a holiday and day of 
rest. A day of rest is now obligatory every six days. 

Simultaneously the powers in Moscow have allotted 
three million roubles for the spreading of atheist propa-
ganda among the population of the occupied provinces. 
The propaganda busies itself mainly with schools. 
School programs have been entirely changed and their 
character, previously national and religious, has become 
communistic and atheistic. Religious teachings and 
prayers in schools have been abolished. Pupils are for-
bidden to attend mass on Sunday which has become an 
ordinary working day. A co-educational system has been 
introduced in all schools. Crosses in schoolrooms have 
been replaced by pictures of Lenin, Stalin and Voroshiloff. 
In some schools,—especially in high schools—the pupils 
have strongly reacted against that "new order" and have 
again suspended crosses between those pictures. The 
saying went around on this occasion that "Christ has 
been again hung between two bandits." 

Instead of religion atheism is now being taught. 
Children in public schools are being told that God does 
not exist and that it is Stalin who rules the world. The 
teaching methods are most rudimentary. Thus, for 
instance, it is being shown that a prayer to Stalin for a 
candy is being immediately granted while a prayer to 
God does not bring any results. The child is told to pray 
God and gets nothing. Then it prays Stalin and 
immediately after Stalin sends him a candy through 
the teacher. 

T o demoralize youth, marriages between school boys 
and school girls have been introduced. It has been long 
ago-abandoned in Russia but was reintroduced in Poland 
to demoralize youth and break down its moral force 
of resistance. 

As a matter of fact, atheist propaganda meets with 
a furious opposition on the part of the population. In 

[28 ] 



the city of Tlomacz, to quote an example, the Reds an-
nounced a series of lectures on atheism in the local monas-
tery building. In the night preceding the inauguration 
of the courses the population burned down all buildings 
of the monastery. 

It often happens that pupils recite prayers before a 
lecture on atheism begins. 

In Kolomyja all participants of a meeting of the 
Catholic Association for boys were arrested and 
sentenced to prison terms from two to eight years. Their 
parents were deported to Siberia. 

T o make a long story short, one may say that under 
Soviet occupation adults are being sentenced to physical 
death, and the youth to moral destruction. 

It is most characteristic, however, that these very same 
Bolsheviks who make boast of the aforesaid theories, 
are being married in churches, baptize their children in 
churches and sentimentally relate the fact that the homes 
of their parents were adorned with holy icons. 

VIII—Propaganda and Education. 

Culture as understood in the Western world does not 
exist under the Soviet regime. The communist policies 
are based before all upon liquidating existing cultural 
institutions, or at least upon depriving museums, libraries, 
theatres, etc. of their "counter-revolutionary" character. 
All of them were subsequently subordinated to the Soviet 
Academy of Science. The Politechnical Institute and the 
faculty of medicine of Lwow are subordinated to Moscow 
—other schools to the Ukraine. The educational level 
is very low. The salaries of the professors amount to 
1,000 roubles monthly, those of assistant professors to 
400 roubles. The Soviets want to have an average of 
one thousand medical students matriculated every scholar 
year. They have appointed an undergraduate student 

[29 ] 



and a Soviet army sergeant as heads of the Politechnical 
Institute. A few former Polish professors continue 
teaching, many more were deported. 

The departments of law, of philosophy and of theology 
of the Lwow university were closed. A new law depart-
ment was established where the Stalin constitution, 
Soviet civics and Soviet penal law are being taught. 
Russian and Ukrainian are the official languages at the 
Politechnicum and at the university but inasmuch as they 
are understood by a minority of students only, the Polish 
language is tacitly admitted. Anybody who can read 
and write is permitted to register as a student, of the 
aforesaid two institutions. 

Public and high schools are in a state of complete 
disorganization. The pupils have their own "rady" 
(councils) and committees, and have the right to criticize 
their teachers and to ask for their removal. It is an 
aprioristic Soviet conception that every student is capable 
and that it is the teacher's fault if he does not progress. 
A great deal of time is being wasted in preparing and 
celebrating various revolutionary holidays. General and 
Polish history is not being taught. The teaching of 
foreign languages, according to the published school 
program, will soon be entirely abolished. 

Al l schools are under the supervision of a Soviet 
director who is being assisted by "politruks" or political 
commissaries watching the orthodoxy of the teachers and 
of the pupils. 

The school children are being demoralized—so to say, 
officially—by a continuous political agitation, by deriding 
of ethical principles, by an intended awakening of sexual 
instincts. 

The public school in the country is of the seven years 
type, that in cities of ten years. All meetings of pupils 
are forbidden unless convoked by the teachers for the 
reading of communist papers. Children showing special 

[30 ] 



communist ardor are being rewarded by 150 roubles 
scholarships. 

Seeing their incapacity of making headway in their 
endeavors to win over the adult population the Soviets 
direct their main effort towards inculcating their prin-
ciples in the young generation. As they have absolute 
power and no scruples, their methods may easily be 
imagined. The teaching is intended to destroy in the 
children's minds their faith in anything they had hitherto 
been taught to love and to respect. Immediate im-
pressions and recent experiences did not appeal very 
strongly to the children in favor of Bolshevism as the 
shortest cut to happiness, and they often gave spirited 
answers or put embarassing questions to their teachers. 
But fair play is not something to be expected from a 
totalitarian regime. Courageous boys and girls were 
often arrested. Boys of eight are known to have been 
flogged in prison to induce them to give away their school-
fellows who inspired them in their opposition. It is not 
uncommon for school children to disappear like any 
adult suspected of political heterodoxy. Not only is 
every imaginable method of spying and trapping applied 
to the children themselves, but the greatest efforts are 
being made to induce them to spy and denounce each 
other or members of their families. Apart from more 
drastic methods employed, this is represented to the 
children as "heroism in the service of the working class." 

But the Soviet propaganda is not limited to children. 
It embraces just as well peasants and factory workers. 
In a recent letter from Soviet-occupied Poland we read: 

" In the initial stage, local factory committees were 
formed to win the workers over. But very soon, after 
a short period of demonstrations, the workers who were 
to assume control themselves were assigned to their real 
task of keeping the zeal and the state of mind of their 
comrades under observation. Actual control was taken 
over by Party commissars sent from distant parts, men 

[31 ] 



who never work themselves and form a sort of a privi-
leged upper class in the Soviets. Lavish of attractive 
sounding catchwords, they were in unrestrained control 
of the toil and way of thinking of the workers and could 
interfere even with their outward appearance. It was 
highly characteristic that in one of the Lwow factories 
the first order of the commissar was that all men had 
to shave off their moustaches." 

In a short time people came to see that although under 
the Soviets the working classes are declared to occupy 
a privileged position, their privileges in reality are 
limited to forming delegations to various unions and 
councils, where they are called upon noisily to approve 
the decisions of the governing group and to give them 
wide publicity as truly revolutionary measures. Labor 
meetings have no other choice than to express opinions 
in strict keeping with the course steered by those in 
power, and to carry motions for raising the output of 
work for the benefit of "socialist construction." Any 
attempt at true independence of judgment and genuine 
criticism is soon stifled. The ordinary workman is, as a 
matter of fact, much less important than in any country 
governed by the "middle classes." 

The peasant is even worse off. There is no question 
of any self-government for him. The collective farms 
are made to work for the delivery of assigned quotas, 
and the country committees take orders from the bureau-
crats without having the slightest chance of discussing 
them beforehand. 

As the intellectual worker does not belong to a privi-
leged group, his lot is, if possible, even harder and the 
claims on the complete surrender of his critical faculties 
are more absolute. Flattery and servility are prevalent 
everywhere, and anybody wishing to succeed and secure 
any position has to resort to them. "Our life is happy 
and joyful ," "Our army is heroic and invincible," 
"Comrade Stalin is the leader of the proletariat, the sun 

[32 ] 



of humanity," "Nothing can be happier than to live under 
the Stalin constitution, the most democratic in the world" 
—these phrases have to be repeated on every occasion. 
Otherwise one is immediately suspected of being a 
"Trotskyist dog," or "an agent of the criminal West 
European capitalism." T o secure or to retain a job, 
one must submit to the ordeal of being schooled in Com-
munist doctrines, generally in the form of evening classes. 
These are mainly concerned with the defilement of every-
thing Polish, everything connected with democratic cul-
ture or the Christian faith—as well as blasphemy and 
atheism. 

In general it must be stated that there is no education 
under the Soviet regime, which is not reduced to propa-
ganda. A person who recently managed to send a letter 
abroad says: 

"The Red circles and clubs, the new posters, the 
debating societies for promoting education, the work-
men's universities, the different ways of raising and de-
veloping the masses intellectually—all these lead in 
reality to nothing more than the obliteration of truth and 
a distorted picture of real life by putting it into the 
frame of officially organized opinion. As a result of 
this kind of education the Bolsheviks strike one as being 
like little children, monkeys or parrots, who have ac-
quired mechanically the art of reading and certain 
strangely contorted pieces of knowledge. They give the 
impression of being absolutely incapable of reasoning in 
the simplest way, of criticising intelligently, of drawing a 
logical conclusion or of associating ideas in a way familiar 
to any brain which functions normally." 

IX—Forced Labor and Political Persecution. 

It was generally remarked that on first entering Poland 
the Bolsheviks proceeded with relative gentleness and 
moderation. The army was not used for measures of 
political repression. It was only when they got a strong 

[33 ] 



grip on everything, when the entire personnel of their 
administrative offices had arrived from Russia, when 
local elements, well adapted to the job they were to carry 
out, were sufficiently organized and above all, when the 
dreaded political police was well in control, that the full 
blessings of the new order began to be showered on the 
population. The first step was the arrest of many 
persons active in public life. In Lwow the mayor, the 
deputy mayor (a J e w ) two other members of the muni-
cipality, three members of the Polish Diet (one Jew and 
two Ukrainians), and two old university professors who 
had been the leaders of the Polish National Party, were 
among the first to be arrested. Some of them have died 
in prisons since. In Wilno the proceedings were similar. 
A former rector of the university, a director of the 
Agrarian Bank, the president of the Court of Appeal, 
a well-known member of agricultural organizations, a 
barrister of repute and the director of a large fishery 
concern were among the first victims. It was also a 
striking feature of the Soviet methods that they turned 
with special malice against persons who had been known 
for their Communist sympathies. It appears that the 
divergence between the creed of Stalin and Trotsky was 
the underlying cause. 

A f t e r that in many places strong pressure equivalent 
to constraint was brought to bear on specialists of all 
kinds, doctors and nurses, engineers and fitters, university 
professors and assistants, to prevail upon them to offer 
their services to the Soviet government. At the same 
time certain categories of people were singled out for 
reprisals. In this way the remnants of the Polish police 
were exterminated, while the whole personnel of the 
administration of justice—judges, public prosecutors and 
prison inspectors—were carried off to unknown places. 
The same fate overtook the entire forestry service, 
whether private or State, although at first these men had 
been encouraged to remain at their posts. Soon it 
became known that any person suspected by the Soviets 

[34 ] 



would disappear in this way. T o be suspected it sufficed 
to be prominent in any sphere. And this appears to be 
a method which Bolshevists and Nazis have in common: 
—to paralyze the community they want to enslave by 
striking at the nerve centres even of a local or sub-
ordinate type. 

The persecution in villages and cities grew relentlessly. 
People were arrested under the slightest suspicion. 
Among those subject to imprisonment were especially: 
Jewish political leaders and speculators, people suspected 
of anti-soviet feelings or denounced as such, former 
prominent merchants, industrialists, bankers, Polish State 
officials, army officers, policemen, Polish and Ukrainian 
former political leaders, and finally those suspected of 
being eager to escape abroad. 

Those arrested were kept in jails for months. Twenty 
or thirty people were crammed into cells which formerly 
were used for two or three prisoners. The hygienic 
conditions in the prisons thus packed were beyond any 
description. 

Although circulation in the interior of the Soviet-
occupied area was not subject to any limitations, no one 
was permitted to visit the border areas abutting to 
German-occupied Poland where fortifications were being 
constructed and whence the population had been either 
deported or compelled to dig trenches and moats. A 
special permit was required to travel to Russia. Even 
civil and army officers were bound to have it unless 
traveling on official business. 

X—Wholesale Deportation. 

The Soviet authorities were aware that the Soviet 
regime and mode of life will not be willingly accepted 
by a population of much higher cultural and living stand-
ards than their own. They therefore decided to ex-
terminate that population or at least its elite, especially 

[35 ] 



people possessing political and social influences, Poles as 
well as Ukrainians,—more than that, even those local 
communists and communist sympathizers who were not 
brought up in the Soviet school of poverty and human 
degradation. A s a matter of fact the disappointment of 
the latters was great. One of them speaking of his im-
prisonment by the Poles said: "Instead of imprisoning 
us the Polish Government should have sent us to Russia 
for a brief sojourn. This would have been for us a 
radical cure." 

The Ukrainian nationalists are persecuted too. The 
Soviet invasion under the slogan: " W e are bringing you 
liberty"—quickly proved a cruel bluff. Ukrainian mem-
bers of the nationalist party "Undo" were arrested and 
their leaders shot. 

In December 1939 and January 1940 deportations 
were of a sporadic character. Wholesale deportations 
started in the memorable night of February 8-9th. 
Hundreds of villages were surrounded by the O.G.P.U. 
and Soviet militia, and old people, women, children were 
not more spared than able-bodied men. Trains after 
trains carrying separate loads of men, women and chil-
dren were running East. Thousands of families had 
been torn asunder. 

The motives of such wholesale deportations were 
purely political. T o the wild steppes of Kazakstan not 
agriculturists were exiled but the intelligentsia of the 
cities, white collar men, aged people, women and children, 
Poles as well as Ukrainians, unable to till the soil. It is 
being estimated that in February 1940 alone over 100,000 
have been removed from their native country. Some 
2,000 priests have voluntarily accompanied the exiles. 

People crammed in cattle cars, suffering from heat and 
hunger in the summer months, from hunger and cold in 
the winter, were transported into Asiatic Russia. The 
trip took weeks. Often trains were left standing for 

[36 ] 



five or six days on a side track in some desolate station. 
People were ill, a great many were dying—according to 
some estimate 35 percent of those unfortunate people 
died before reaching their destination. The bodies of 
the dead were thrown out of the car windows. 

At the station of departure parents were separated 
from their children, husbands, from wives. They were 
forbidden to communicate with each other. One of the 
Soviet employees seeing the despair of thus separated 
deportees tried to console them:—"Why do you cry?" 
he said, " W e are being transported every five years or 
even more often from one end of the Soviet Union to 
the other. We have no houses of our own, no business 
retains us; wherever we arrive we get the flat of some 
one who went somewhere else. And after some time we 
too go elsewhere. One gets used to it. True, you are 
being separated from your wife. You will find another 
one. You abandon your children—well, you will have 
others. . . 1 

This is the psychology, the resignation of the people 
of Soviet Russia, incomprehensible to Westerners. 

But the trains run Eastward. Their tracks are marked 
by frozen corpses. Four hundred of them have been 
buried in one of the Lwow cemeteries alone. 

The trains run. They go to the North, to Arch-
angelsk, to Siberia, to Irkuck, to Central Asia, to Kazak-
stan and Turkestan. The voyagers are unloaded in the 
Asiatic steppes hundreds of miles from any larger in-
habited centers. 

The prisoners of war and those arrested for political 
reasons are confined in forced-labor camps. The other 
deportees have to till the soil or cut timber in the Siberian 
forests. They get 3 to 5 roubles per head daily, while 
the minimum required for meagre subsistence is fifteen 
roubles. They live in mud hovels—several families in 
one. They sleep on the bare floor without undressing. 

[37 ] 



The mortality among them is very high. They lack 
proper nourishment and clothing. In the Asiatic steppe 
they have no wood. They use dried manure for fuel. 

Deportation which started on a large scale in February 
and was interrupted but for the short period of com-
pulsory elections—continued again after the people had 
voted for whom they had been ordered to vote. The 
climax came in June, when in one night, the 29th of that 
month, 60,000 people were deported. These were mostly 
refugees from Western Poland, who could not return to 
their homes. They were shipped to the Turkestan region 
where they work in "kolchozes" under the most pathetic 
conditions. Mass deportation lasted until the first half 
of July 1940. In its last phase it embraced many Jews 
and Ukrainians. According to the latest reports over 
one million and a half people have been deported thus 
far. 

XI—The Racial Policies of The Soviets. 

The racial policies of the Soviets in occupied Poland 
had three distinct phases. 

The first two months of the occupation were a period 
of a relative political tolerance. The administration of 
the occupied territory was almost entirely in military 
hands. Municipal and State offices were working along 
the lines of the former Polish administration. Polish 
employees of lower rank were kept in their positions. 
Higher officials were recruited mostly from among the 
local Communists. 

A f te r the 15th of November and up to January 1940 
the occupied provinces went through a period of Ukraini-
zation. These were the days of elections to the Supreme 
Council of Western Ukraine under the slogan of an in-
corporation into the U.S.S.R. The election was a farce. 
It was public and compulsory. Immediately after that 
a violent Ukrainization began. Poles were removed 

[38 ] 



from offices which were now filled by men from Russia. 
The Russian and Ukrainian languages were declared 
official. Yiddish was tolerated, Polish barred. 

The Ukrainization was carried into effect with the 
active assistance of Russophile Ukrainians and Soviet 
sympathizers. Their attitude towards the Poles was less 
tolerant than that of the Russian Bolsheviks imported 
from Russia. Polish signs disappeared from offices and 
thoroughfares. 

Ukrainian became the teaching language in schools. 
The few Polish schools which were left had in their pro-
gram compulsory teaching of the Ukrainian language. 

That Ukrainization period was however of short 
duration. 

For political reasons—chiefly because of the growth 
of Nazi influences among the Ukrainians—the Soviets 
changed their tactics and their policies. Civil adminis-
tration was reorganized; Ukrainian officers were dis-
charged and replaced by Russians. Soviet economic 
policies, the collectivization of agriculture, were inaugu-
rated and a general ruthless era of russification began. 
The frontier between Soviet-occupied and German-
occupied Poland was closed. All inhabitants were ordered 
to apply for Soviet passports. Without that document 
no one could obtain work. Many people however were 
refused passports—mostly former Polish State employees 
and members of the bourgeoisie and the once well-to-do 
classes. Thus a new proletarian class was created, 
deprived of any civil rights. The problem was quickly 
solved: by mass deportation of those people to the 
interior of Russia, chiefly to Siberia. But terroristic 
methods were applied to Ukrainians too. The change 
of Soviet policies did not put an end to Nazi sympathies 
among the Ukrainians. On the contrary it made them 
stronger. Actually but few Ukrainians collaborate with 
the Soviets. Those who do, have opportunistic motives. 
The Ukrainian peasants oppose the nationalization of 

[39 ] 



the land and the organization of "Kolkhozes." They 
are being promptly eliminated by mass deportation. 

Deported too were several hundred Ukrainian nation-
alists known for their pro-Nazi sympathies—and several 
scores of wealthy Jews, mostly Zionists. 

It must, however, be stressed that while the deporta-
tion of Ukrainians and Jews has the character of a pre-
ventive measure, that of the Poles, many times more 
numerous, is aimed at the denationalization of the coun-
try, at the destruction of the nation's very substance. 

The political and economic policies of the Soviets are 
subject to frequent changes. One part of their program 
however remains unchanged. It is analogous to the 
German "ausrotten." It is immutable:— extermination of 
the Poles. 

XII—General Conditions. 

The Soviet army which occupies Eastern Poland is 
controlled by political commissars. The officers and the 
soldiers are a passive element. They are afraid to 
express their opinion. They do not feel well, especially 
in larger Polish Cities like Lwow. They are conscious 
that they are being despised by a population which is 
culturally their superior. 

The Red army makes a rather poor impression. The 
soldiers are badly fed and badly clad. Equipment is con-
sidered good by experts but they lack technical knowl-
edge. Recruits brought from Turkestan, Mongolia and 
Trans-Caucasian republics are wearing rags. Imme-
diately after their arrival in Poland they are submitted 
to delousing and to a compulsory bath. These transports 
from the interior of Russia speak volumes about the 
conditions prevailing in the U.S.S.R. The Russians have 
a panicky fear of the Germans. They are aware that in 
case of a clash with them the Russian army would go 
to pieces. 

[40 ] 



The relations between officers and soldiers are rather 
cold. The officers form their own social class, though 
their general education is much below that of the Polish 
non-comms. 

It is most characteristic that the families of army 
officers are often being influenced by what they hear and 
see in Poland. There have been cases of army officers' 
wives being denounced by their husbands of counter-
revolutionary views. 

The attitude of the Red army towards the population 
is not inimical. The reprisals and persecution are the 
work of the Soviet bureaucracy and of the dreaded 
O G P U . 

Polish administration of justice having been abolished, 
Soviet judiciary methods are absolutely arbitrary. A s a 
rule any accused man is being found guilty. The Soviet 
judge is a puppet. His only duty is to pronounce the 
sentence. The prosecuting attorney is the deciding factor 
in Soviet courts. People are arrested by him, accused by 
him and sentenced according to his demands. He works 
hand in hand with the O G P U who mark out the victims 
to be arrested. 

Persecution and destitution is what the Communist in-
vaders have brought to Poland. 

The whole population of the country is now beggared. 
And still it is a fact that great many Poles who have 
found themselves in Russia have used every possible 
device to return to Poland, preferring a shattered ex-
istence at home to life in a country laid waste by twenty 
years of Bolshevik sway. 

A newspaperman who was one of them and had suc-
ceeded in returning to occupied Poland, writes : 

" . . . A man accustomed to a certain measure of liberty 
cannot endure existence in a totalitarian country. . . In 
Warsaw we had no adequate idea of the horror of life 

[41 ] 



in such countries. We wrote about it, we talked about 
it, but we were far from understanding the real state of 
things. We did not know how totalitarianism can debase 
a human being. Spies at every corner, arrests, the ever-
lasting threat of being sent into the depths of Russia, 
being searched in the streets, endlessly standing in queues 
to get bread, sugar, shoelaces—that was a normal work-
ing day of our 'happy and joyous life.' And what is 
worse, the everlasting declarations, the applause, the 
greetings, the carrying of motions! When certain words 
were pronounced one had to rise and applaud. And then 
the Press wrote of 'frantic applause.' Under these con-
ditions there is not a sound instinct in human nature, 
which is not made to suffer, not a nerve which is not put 
to special agony. . . " 

The plight of Poland, as all available information 
shows, is pathetic beyond expression. Not only has she 
again been torn in two by hostile and aggressive neigh-
bors, but she exemplifies before the world the effect of 
the gigantic but soulless machinery contrived by totali-
tarian states, when directed against the body and the soul 
of a living people. On the German side there is the 
monstrous conception of national interest which has 
turned the German nation into a savage horde coveting 
the spoils of an enslaved world. On the Russian side a 
relentless system built up on ruins and blood for the 
alleged happiness of mankind, is blindly crushing all 
human happiness, and waging a fierce war on those very 
things which heretofore have been looked upon as the 
honor and nobility of man. 

There is something fatal—or providential—in the 
history of nations. Long ago, the great poets of Poland 
announced that she would have to suffer cruelly for a 
better future of the world. Generations of Poles have 
striven to convince the Western statesmen that her cause 
and the cause of European freedom were one. This point 
at least seems to be clearly established by now. 

[42 ] 



A P P E N D I X . 

(Excerpts from letters written by Poles deported into 
Asiatic Russia). 

Palatinskaya Oblast M a y 15th. 
( 1 ) . . . Please let all our friends know that we are 

alive. Alive—that 's all. A f t e r 22 days of an infernal 
journey they ordered us to alight in Central Asia in the 
Khirgiz steps. . . Hundreds of kilometers of a grey 
desert, no grass, not a tree. W e have already moved 
three times. Now we have just arrived to this farm 
having travelled two days in an ox-driven cart. W e 
spent four nights in the open air. In day time the sun 
is scorching and the wind cuts one's skin. W e have here 
a few mud-hovels in the steppe- W e live in one of them 
which is very damp. W e sleep on the bare floor. Our 
poverty is terrible. N o vegetables, no potatoes. One 
may get in barter a few eggs. But we have nothing to 
exchange. . . Anything I could write you would seem pale 
when compared with the ghastly reality. When it rains 
our hovel is inundated. N o chair, no table. It is very 
f a r to the nearest city from here and besides we are not 
permitted to go there. One drudges all day long and 
comes home at night utterly exhausted. But fleas and 
bedbugs do not let one sleep. Mrs . X . went to work at 
gathering manure. She has to carry it in her own hands 
for eight hours. N o wages. Every ten days one kilo-
gram of a very dark and bitter flour. I cook the meals 
for five people, do the washing and scrubbing. W e have 
no linen, no summer clothes and the summer heat is 
approaching. Since we came here we did not see bread, 
sugar, tea, fats, candles, cereals, soap. W e can't get 
anything here. Should you not succeed in sending us a 
food parcel, then, perhaps you could send some linen, 
some summer clothes, some old slippers. I have no shoes 
and my feet are swollen and bleeding. . . 

( 2 ) . . . W e are in Asia, in Kazakstan. The journey 
lasted four weeks. The railroad does not run further 

[43 ] 



than Pawlodar. Af ter three days spent in the open in 
an encampment in an awful heat and dust they shipped 
us over the Irtysz river in a ferry; then two days in ox-
driven carts. During a terrific thunderstorm we had to 
cross a little river. When we finally arrived here the 
children got the measles. Lili was drenched to the bone 
and had high fever for several days. For about a week 
we lived in a so-called club house. Thirty-six persons in 
one room full of vermin. Now we live in barracks. The 
children are getting wild. What will become of them 
here? . . . 

( 3 ) . . . Our last farewell to Lwow. We are in a 
crowd being deported to the East. We go the way the 
best of our nation went. . . Grandmother, three children 
and myself. . . The girls were not permitted to go. I 
close my eyes in that inferno which surrounds me and 
put my trust in God. . . Remember, death does not sepa-
rate people. It brings them nearer to each other. . . 
As long as I live none of the children will starve. Have 
hope. If hope were a calculation it would not be a 
heroic virtue. . . 

(4) . . . We are here in Eastern Asia after an in-
describable trip. The farm is called Michalowskaya, 
80 miles from the nearest railroad station. They 
put one of my children on a different cart when we were 
leaving the station. Hope I shall recover it. I lost one 
already. I pray in my bottomless grief and misery. 
Pray you too that God may have pity with us. . . We 
live in a hovel where sheep lived before us. It is so hard 
to live without religious solace. . . The children were ill. 
I carry manure to use as fuel. . . Please, send food, 
clothes. . . We are here not f a r from the Gobi desert. 
. . A n d yet even here miracles happen: I got back my 
child. I searched for it through 100 miles of steppe 
accompanied by Khirgizes. . . I knew my prayers would 
not be in vain. I believe we shall endure. . . God has 
been good to me. . . I found wild garlick. . . 

[44 ] 



(5) . . . God is over us. Evidently he wants us to go 
through this hell . . . through the tears of the hungry 
children. . . Excuse my handwriting. M y hands are full 
of wounds. I fear the winter. . . They say the cold 
here reaches sixty below. . . Remember that our destiny 
is never below us. We just have to grow up to it. . . 

August 29, 1940. 
(6) . . . You probably heard of what happened with 

us. They sent us on a 3000 mile trip. Here we are near 
the Chinese border. The trip lasted 18 days. . . We 
have a little room in a Khirgiz hut. The girls work all 
the day in the fields, carrying manure, digging potatoes, 
tending sheep. The temperature here goes up to 140 in 
the summer and to 60 below in the winter. . . Many of 
our people are here. . . The only thing that makes us 
endure is faith. . . Pray for us. . . We live in the past 
which was like a marvelous dream and which perhaps 
will never return. . . Father got very thin. He lost 
twenty kilograms in weight. . . He cannot work. We all 
got thin, and are tanned like Kosacks. We are selling 
the rest of our belongings. . . 

May 25th, 1940. 
(7) . . . We are in Siberia so well known in our 

history, beyond the Ural mountains, between the rivers 
Tobol and Ural. Nothing but steppes, not a tree, not 
a shrub. . . The sun shines but gives no warmth. In 
the evenings we are bitten by swarms of mosquitoes. 
We live in clay hovels. No fire wood. We use grass 
from the steppes or manure as fuel. The trip from home 
here took seventeen days. During the journey we got 
hot dirty water to drink and a quarter of a loaf of bread 
every second day per person. . . During the long days 
we had every opportunity to see this land supposed to 
be flowing with milk and honey. We reached the con-
clusion that seeing it is the best cure for communism. 
The population here is gloomy. A general dissatisfac-

[45 ] 



tion with the regime prevails. You can not buy anything, 
not even a candle. . . Tea, coffee, vinegar, sugar, yeast, 
rice, oil, chocolate do not exist. . . There are no shops, 
only so-called cooperatives, the whole stock of which 
consists of black and red pastes, and the pictures of their 
gods. . . People wear only cotton clothes and go about 
half naked. . . They curse their fate and pray for a 
change. Even among the youth one seldom finds an 
adherent of the Soviet regime. Every thing is lie and 
bluff. . . The giant with clay feet would quickly topple 
over if there were only somebody to give him a push. . . 
The officials are feared and hated. The exploitation of 
the working people is terrible. . . There are over 24 
hundred of deportees from all over Poland here. . . 
Though religion has been declared by the Soviets a dope 
for the people, faith has not disappeared. . . The 
peasants here keep cows, poultry and sheep. They 
feed them on the steppes. From each cow the 
peasant must deliver 240 pints of milk yearly to the 
local dairy which pays him one kopec per pint—also 
18 lbs. of butter. From every sheep 2 lbs. of wool. He 
trades eggs for clothes or rather rags. . . At every step 
one is struck by negligence, dirt and a complete lack of 
any public conveniences. Human excrements lie on the 
floor of the railway stations. . . Looking at that one asks 
oneself how can the world look passively on and permit 
1 3 5 million people to be thus wronged, abused and tor-
tured. . . We have been put here to hard labor and 
many of us are ill. The people we stay with are for-
bidden to give us any food. We have to exchange our 
last rags for potatoes. We live on potato soup and 
crumbs of bread. Sometimes a peasant gives us secretly 
some milk or cheese. But they are afraid—lest the 
dreaded O.G.P.U. may appear in their village. . . We 
Poles have not given up in despair. For generations we 
have suffered and died in prisons, in Siberia and on 
battlefields fighting for the freedom of Poland. We 
hope, we believe that we shall win. We shall never 
give in. . . 

[46 ] 





A Library of Documents Relating to the 
Administration of Occupied Countries 

in Eastern Europe 

Published by 
POLISH INFORMATION CENTER 

151 East 67th Street 
New York, N. Y. 

No. i German Exploitation of Polish 
Forests. 25c 

No. 2 German Destruction of Cul-
tural L i f e in Poland. 25c 

No. 3 Ge rman Organization of Dis-
tribution in Poland. 25c 

No. 4 German Persecution of Reli-
gious L i f e in Poland. 25c 

No. 5 The Soviet Occupation of 

Poland. 25c