National minorities of Galicia in the years of the Second World War: ethnosocial dynamic

Abstract

Introduction. General-historical and historical-ethnological studies refer to national problems as among the priorities that cause war. Interethnic contradictions were a powerful factor in the intensification of interstate conflicts, which resulted in the confrontation of the world scale. As you know, the Ukrainian ethnic lands that were part of the II Rzeczpospolita, were in the orbit of hostilities since the first days of the war. Galicia did not avoid war, which was inhabited by Ukrainians, Poles, Germans, Jews, Roma and others. Galician lands became an important factor in the strategy of European states during the Second World War as they were at the crossroads of controversial expansionist interests. Galicia became a hostage to the realization of foreign policy goals, first of all, Germany and the USSR. Combat actions, changes in state borders caused significant changes in the ethno-social structure of the population of the region.

Purpose. To highlight and analyze the main factors that determined changes in the ethno-social structure of the population of Galicia during the Second World War.

Results. Named the major factors that determine changes in ethno-social structure of the population of Galicia during the Second World War. Highlighted indicators of numbers and ethnic composition of eastern Galicia before and after the war. Highlighted the influence of the confrontation of totalitarian states – Germany and the USSR – on the dynamics of the ethno-social structure of the population of the region.

Originality. Determined the main reasons for carrying out mass deportations and the quantitative indicators of the eviction of representatives of certain ethnic groups. The attention was paid to the military and economic factors that influenced the dynamics of the ethno-social structure of the population of Galicia during the Second World War.

Conclusion. In general, during the Second World War, the proportion of Polish, German and Jewish people in the Eastern Galician region decreased significantly. Some local Ukrainians were also deported. At the same time, there was an increase in the number of Ukrainians who came from the eastern Ukrainian regions, as well as Russians. The instruments of the policy of the Stalinist regime to change the ethno-social structure of the population of Eastern Galicia at the beginning of the Second World War were repressions, deportations on social or ethnic grounds, and others like that. As a result of the resettlement and resettlement of residents from the 800-meter boundary band, during a short period of time, many rural settlements were destroyed, and a significant part of them failed to recover in the later period. Both the USSR and Germany, striving to control the Galician lands, joined the intensification of the Polish-Ukrainian conflict, which exploded on the lands that the Poles regarded as their «eastern chains». The mutual destruction of the Polish and Ukrainian populations became one of the bloody pages of the Second World War.