Editing Polonization (section)

==Second Polish Republic (1918–1939)==

According to the [[Polish census of 1921]] ethnically Polish population constituted about 69% of the population of the reborn state. The largest minorities in [[Second Polish Republic|interwar Poland]] were Ukrainians, Jews, Belarusians and Germans. The Polish government's policy toward each minority varied, and also changed over time. In general, during the first period of democratic rule dominated by [[National Democracy (Poland)|national democracy]], there was a tendency to restrict the rights of minorities and pursue Polonization. This changed with the [[May Coup (Poland)|1926 coup]] and the assumption of power by [[Sanation]]. Policies became more liberal and minority autonomy increased. However, this began to change for the worse a few years before the start of [[World War II]].

Assimilation was considered by [[National Democracy (Poland)|National Democrats]] to be a major factor for "unifying the state". They hoped that the attractiveness of Polish culture, above all to Slavic minorities, would help to make rapid peaceful assimilation without much resistance.{{Sfn|Kaczmarek|2010|p=154}} The centrist and leftist parties pointed out that the nation-building processes in the eastern lands could not be reversed. They called, therefore, for conducting so-called state assimilation, that is, granting broad cultural and territorial autonomy, in exchange for loyalty to the Polish state.{{Sfn|Kaczmarek|2010|p=154-155}}<ref name="Snyder" /> Such policy was partially conducted by the Sanation regime, especially under leadership of Józef Piłsudski in years 1926–1935.

Polonization also created a new educated class among the non-Polish minorities, a class of intellectuals aware of the importance of schooling, press, literature and theatre, who became instrumental in the development of their own ethnic identities.<ref>Eugenia Prokop-Janiec, "Polskie dziedzictwo kulturowe w nowej Europie. Humanistyka jako czynnik kształtowania tożsamości europejskiej Polaków." Research group. Subject: The frontier in the context of Polish-Jewish relations. CBR grant: Polish cultural heritage in new Europe. Humanism as a defining factor of European identity of Poles. [https://archive.today/20121209183521/http://humanitas.filg.uj.edu.pl/?dzial=projekt&modul=grantZadanie&id=5 Pogranicze polsko-żydowskie jako pogranicze kulturowe]</ref>[[File:Szkoly i jezyk 2 RPP.png|thumb|right|300px|Language of instruction in interwar Polish schools and percent of population listing a particular language as "mother tongue", as claimed by official Polish statistics for 1937 and 1938]]

=== Belarusians ===
Belarusians in Poland were a poorly educated group, 90% of them making their living by farming. The aspiration of the Belarusians was to achieve cultural autonomy, as well as fair [[land reform]].{{Sfn|Kaczmarek|2010|p=158}} The maximum number of people of Belarusian nationality in interwar Poland was about 2 million. It is difficult to determine a definite number because for the most part, they did not have an established sense of their national identity; they described their language as "[[Tutejszy]]" "simple speech" ({{langx|pl|mowa prosta}}) or "[[Poleshuks|Poleshuk]]" (in Polesia).{{Sfn|Shved|Grzybowski|2020|p=79}} Additionally, after two centuries of Polish influence, Catholic Belarusians naturally leaned toward Polish culture and often referred to themselves as "Poles" even though they spoke Belarusian.{{Sfn|Shved|Grzybowski|2020|p=79}}

The Polish state's policy toward them was not consistent. Initially, during the period of fighting over the eastern border, the activities of Belarusian activists were tolerated. However, this changed after the peace came. In 1924, the Law on Minority Education led to the closure of a huge part of the approximately 350{{Sfn|Kaczmarek|2010|p=158-159}} (or 514<ref name="BelSTU">{{cite web |last=Kosliakov |first=Vladimir |title=In the struggle for the reunification of the Belarusian people |script-title=ru:В борьбе за единство белорусского народа |url=http://www.belstu.by/about/history/vossoedinenie-zapadnoj-belarusi-s-bssr.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821201946/http://www.belstu.by/about/history/vossoedinenie-zapadnoj-belarusi-s-bssr.html |archive-date=21 August 2016 |access-date=26 July 2016 |work=к 75-летию воссоединения Западной Беларуси с БССР |publisher=Белорусский государственный технологический университет / Belarusian State Technological Institute |language=ru |df=dmy-all}}&nbsp;</ref>) existing Belarusian schools, opened mostly during the [[Ober Ost|German occupation]]. A 19 bilingual schools and just three elementary Belarusian schools remained.{{Sfn|Kaczmarek|2010|p=158-159}}{{Sfn|Shved|Grzybowski|2020|p=182}} Officials prevented the creation of new schools, despite meeting formal conditions.{{Sfn|Mironowicz|2007|p=63}}

The change came after the [[May Coup (Poland)|May Coup of 1926]]. Despite the abolition of the Belarusian [[Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly)|Belarusian Social Democratic Party]], for its contacts with the [[Communist International|Comintern]], there was a period of liberalization of educational policy. The new Minister of Education, Gustav Dobrotsky, ordered the dismissal of officials blocking the establishment of new schools, allowed new schools to open in Catholic communities as well, and organized Belarusian language courses for elementary school teachers. As a result, four Belarusian grammar schools and a dozen elementary schools were opened.{{Sfn|Mironowicz|2007|p=69-70}} The results, however, were poor. In 1928, there were only 69 schools with Belarusian language, all of them in [[Wilno Voivodeship (1926–1939)|Wilno]] and [[Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Nowogródek voivodeships]], very small number in comparison with 2 164 Polish schools existing there.{{sfn|Mironowicz|2007|p=72|ps=: "W najpomyślniejszym dla szkolnictw a białoruskiego roku 1928 istniało w Polsce 69 szkół w których nauczano języka białoruskiego. Wszystkie te placów ki ośw iatow e znajdow ały się w w ojew ództw ach w ileńskim i now ogródzkim, gdzie funkcjonowały 2164 szkoły polskie. Szkoły z nauczaniem języka białoruskiego, głównie utrakw istyczne, stanow iły niewiele ponad 3 procent ośrodków edukacyjnych na tym obszarze"}} The reversal of this policy came quickly, and after 1929 the number of Belarusian schools began to decline again. Of the Belarusian gymnasiums existing in [[Vilnius]], [[Novogrudok|Navahrudak]], [[Kletsk]] and [[Radashkovichy]], only the Vilnius gymnasium had survived to 1939.{{Sfn|Shved|Grzybowski|2020|p=182}} Belarusian schools often conducted classes in Russian, this was especially true of gymnasiums. This resulted from the significant [[Russification]] of the Belarusian [[intelligentsia]].{{Sfn|Walasek|2021|p=74}} The Polish officials often treated any Belarusian demanding schooling in Belarusian language as a Soviet spy and any Belarusian social activity as a product of a communist plot.{{sfn|Mironowicz|2007|p=93}}

[[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]] also faced discrimination in interwar Poland.<ref name="BarGU">{{Cite web |url=http://bargu.by/3132-zahodnyaya-belarus-pad-uladay-polshchy-19211939-gg.html |title=Учебные материалы » Лекции » История Беларуси » ЗАХОДНЯЯ БЕЛАРУСЬ ПАД УЛАДАЙ ПОЛЬШЧЫ (1921—1939 гг.) |access-date=3 August 2016 |archive-date=20 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820033446/http://bargu.by/3132-zahodnyaya-belarus-pad-uladay-polshchy-19211939-gg.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> This discrimination was also targeting assimilation of Eastern Orthodox Belarusians.<ref name="tutby8mif">{{cite web | url =http://news.tut.by/society/415857.html | title =8 мифов о "воссоединении" Западной и Восточной Беларуси | last1 =Hielahajeu | first1 =Alaksandar | date =17 September 2014 | language =ru | trans-title =8 Myths about the "reunification" of West Belarus and East Belarus | access-date =26 July 2016 | archive-date =8 August 2016 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160808003344/http://news.tut.by/society/415857.html | url-status =dead }}</ref> The Polish authorities were imposing [[Polish language]] in Orthodox church services and ceremonies,<ref name="tutby8mif" /> initiated the creation of Polish Orthodox Societies in various parts of West Belarus ([[Slonim]], [[Bielastok|Białystok]], [[Vaŭkavysk]], [[Navahrudak]]).<ref name="tutby8mif" />

Belarusian Roman Catholic priests like Fr. [[Vincent Hadleŭski]]<ref name=tutby8mif/> who promoted Belarusian language in the church and Belarusian national awareness were also under serious pressure by the Polish regime and the leadership of the Catholic Church in Poland.<ref name=tutby8mif/> The Polish Catholic Church issued documents to priests prohibiting the usage of the [[Belarusian language]] rather than [[Polish language]] in Churches and Catholic Sunday Schools in West Belarus. A 1921 Warsaw-published instruction of the Polish Catholic Church criticized the priests introducing the Belarusian language in religious life: ''They want to switch from the rich Polish language to a language that the people themselves call simple and shabby''.{{sfn|Mironowicz|2007|p=45}}

The Belarusian civil society resisted Polonization and mass closure of Belarusian schools. The Belarusian Schools Society ({{langx|be|Таварыства беларускай школы}}), led by [[Branisłaŭ Taraškievič]] and other activists, was the main organization promoting education in Belarusian language in West Belarus in 1921–1937.

Compared to the (larger) [[Ukrainian minority in Poland|Ukrainian minority]] living in Poland, Belarusians were much less politically aware and active. Nevertheless, according to Belarusian historians, the policies by the Polish government against the population of West Belarus increasingly provoked protests<ref name=BarGU/> and armed resistance. In the 1920s, Belarusian partisan units arose in many areas of West Belarus, mostly unorganized but sometimes led by activists of Belarusian left wing parties.<ref name=BarGU/> In the spring of 1922, several thousands Belarusian [[partisan (military)|partisans]] issued a demand to the Polish government to stop the violence, to liberate [[political prisoners]] and to grant autonomy to West Belarus.<ref name=BarGU/> Protests were held in various regions of West Belarus until mid 1930s.<ref name=BarGU/>

The largest Belarusian political organization, the [[Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union]] (or, the Hramada), which demanded a stop to the Polonization and autonomy for West Belarus, grew more radicalized by the time. It received logistical help from the Soviet Union,<ref name="kresy24.pl">{vn|August 2016}{{cite web |url=http://kresy24.pl/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Glos_znad_Niemna_7-2011.pdf |title=Białostocki ulubieniec Stalina |publisher=Głos znad Niemna (Voice of the Neman weekly), Nr 7 (60) |work=Ogólnokrajowy tygodnik SZ "Związek Polaków na Białorusi" (Association of Poles of Belarus) |date=June 2011 |access-date=24 May 2014 |author=Andrzej Poczobut, Joanna Klimowicz |format=PDF file, direct download 1.79 MB |pages=6–7 of current document}} <!-- kresy24 is an irredentist nationalist website, hardly a credible source --></ref> and financial aid from the [[Comintern]].<ref name="Savchenko">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmld75blKCwC&q=%22stated+goals+of+the+Hramada%22 |title=Belarus: A Perpetual Borderland |publisher=BRILL |author=Dr Andrew Savchenko |year=2009 |pages=106–107 |isbn=978-9004174481}}</ref> By 1927 Hramada was controlled entirely by agents from Moscow.<ref name="kresy24.pl"/> It was banned by the Polish authorities,<ref name="kresy24.pl"/> and further opposition to the Polish government was met with state-imposed sanctions once the connection between Hramada and the more radical pro-Soviet [[Communist Party of Western Belarus]] was discovered.<ref name="kresy24.pl"/> The Polish policy was met with armed resistance.<ref name="EtnoDictionary">''An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires''. Edited by James S. Olson. Page 95.[https://books.google.com/books?id=CquTz6ps5YgC&dq=Western+Belarus+orthodox+churches&pg=PP1]</ref>

=== Ukrainians ===
[[File:1921 Decree on Polish as state language in Volyn Voyvodeship.jpg|right|thumb|220px|Decree of the first [[Voivodeship|governor]] of [[Volhynia|Wołyń]] (Volhynia), Jan Krzakowski: "On language in the [[Wołyń Voivodeship (1921–39)|Volhynian Province]]", establishing [[Polish language|Polish]] as the official language in accordance with the 1921 [[Treaty of Riga]] after the [[Polish–Soviet War]] in which the frontiers between Poland and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Soviet Russia]] had been defined. Written in [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]]]Interwar Poland was inhabited by 4-5 million Ukrainians. They lived primarily in the areas of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia.{{Sfn|Magocsi|2010|p=626}} Until the First World War, Galicia with its large Ukrainian [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church|Greek Catholic]] population in the east (around Lviv) was controlled by the [[Austria-Hungary|Austrian Empire]].<ref name="Snyder" /> On the other hand, the Ukrainians of Volhynia, formerly of the [[Russian Empire]] (around Rivne), were largely [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox]], and were influenced by strong [[Ukrainian Russophiles|Russophile]] trends.<ref name="Snyder" /> National self-identification was much stronger among the Galician Ukrainians,

==== Religion ====
{{See also|Recovery of Orthodox Churches in the Second Polish Republic}}
While the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]], which is in [[Full communion|communion]] with the [[Catholic Church]], hoped to receive a better treatment in Poland where the leadership saw Catholicism as one of the main tools to unify the nation – the Poles under [[Stanisław Grabski]] saw the restless Galician Ukrainians as less reliable than the Eastern Orthodox Volhynian Ukrainians,<ref name="Snyder" /> seen as better candidates for gradual assimilation. That's why the Polish policy in Ukraine initially aimed at keeping Greek Catholic Galicians from further influencing Orthodox Volhynians by drawing the so-called "Sokalski line".<ref name="Snyder">[[Timothy Snyder]], ''The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999'', Yale University Press, {{ISBN|0-300-10586-X}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=xSpEynLxJ1MC&dq=stanislaw+grabski&pg=PA144 No preview available. Google Books, p.144] See instead: [http://jivebelarus.net/files/books/Snyder-The-Reconstruction-of-Nations.pdf PDF copy (5,887 KB), last accessed: 25 February 2011.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819003258/http://jivebelarus.net/files/books/Snyder-The-Reconstruction-of-Nations.pdf |date=19 August 2011 }}</ref>

Due to the region's history the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church attained a strong Ukrainian national character, and the Polish authorities sought to weaken it in various ways. In 1924, following a visit with Ukrainian Greek Catholics in North America and western Europe, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was initially denied reentry to Lviv for a considerable amount of time. Polish priests led by their bishops began to undertake missionary work among [[Eastern Catholic Church|Eastern Catholics]], and the administrative restrictions were placed on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.<ref name=Magocsi>{{cite book|author=Magocsi, P. |title=Morality and Reality: the Life and Times of Andrei Sheptytsky|location=Edmonton, Alberta |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta |year=1989}}</ref>

With respect to the Eastern Orthodox Ukrainian population in eastern Poland, the [[Polish government]] initially issued a decree defending the rights of the Orthodox minorities. In practice, this often failed, as the Catholics, also eager to strengthen their position, had official representation in the [[Sejm]] and the courts. Any accusation was strong enough for a particular church to be confiscated and handed over to the Catholic Church. The goal of the two so called "[[Recovery of Orthodox Churches in the Second Polish Republic|revindication campaigns]]" was to reverse the gains of the Orthodox Church from the [[Russian Partition|partitions period]] and to return to the Catholics those churches that had been converted into Orthodox churches by the Russian authorities.{{Sfn|Magocsi|1996|p=596}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Piotrowski |first1=Tadeusz |title=Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 |date=1998 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786403714 |page=182 |quote=Under Tsarist rule the Uniate population had been forcibly converted to Orthodoxy. In 1875, at least 375 Uniate Churches were converted into Orthodox churches. The same was true of many Latin-rite Roman Catholic churches}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kloczowski |first1=Jerzy |title=A History of Polish Christianity |date=2000 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9780521364294 |page=272 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecdye8hk_tgC&pg=272}}</ref> 190 Orthodox churches were destroyed, some of the destroyed churches were abandoned,<ref name="BP">Manus I. Midlarsky, "The Impact of External Threat on States and Domestic Societie" [in:] ''Dissolving Boundaries'', Blackwell Publishers, 2003, {{ISBN|1-4051-2134-3}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=epmK6bwLECsC&dq=Pilsudski+minorities&pg=PA15 Google Print, p. 15.]</ref> and 150 more were forcibly transformed into Roman Catholic (not Greek Catholic) churches.<ref name=Subtelny>{{cite book |first= Orest|last=Subtelny |title=Ukraine: A History |location= Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-8020-5808-6 |author-link=Orest Subtelny}}</ref> Such actions were condemned by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] [[Andrei Sheptytsky]], who claimed that these acts would "destroy in the souls of our non-united Orthodox brothers the very thought of any possible reunion."<ref name="Magocsi"/>

==== Education ====
The Polish administration closed many of the [[Prosvita]] reading rooms. The number of reading rooms declined from 2,879 in 1914 to only 843 in 1923. The decline can be partially explained by the war devastation.{{Sfn|Magocsi|2010|p=631}}

In independent Poland, education was centralized, and provincial school administration was abolished, as happened with Lwów-based separate Ukrainian representation.{{Sfn|Magocsi|2010|p=631}} In 1924 the law was passed, which set up bilingual Ukrainian and Polish schools. As a result, number of Ukrainian unilingual schools declined, and they were replaced by bilingual schools. This affected Eastern Galicia most severely, where before the war there were 2,400 Ukrainian elementary schools, and during the existence of the West Ukrainian People's Republic their number increased to about 3,000. After the region was annexed to Poland, the number began to decline, in 1923 it was 2453, in 1925 it was still 2151, but after the introduction of bilingual schools there was a rapid decline to 648 schools in 1930 and 352 in 1938. At the same time, the number of bilingual schools grew from 9 in 1925 to 1,793 in 1930 and to 2,485 in 1938. The number of Polish schools also declined from 2,568 schools in 1925 to 2,161 in 1938.

The principle of "numerus clausus" had been introduced following which the Ukrainians were discriminated when entering the [[Lviv University|Uniwersytet Jana Kazimierza]] (not more than 15% of the applicants' total number, the Poles enjoying not less than the 50% quota at the same time).<ref name="National University of L'viv">[http://www.lnu.edu.ua/general/about.htm Brief history of L'viv University] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513221016/http://www.lnu.edu.ua/general/about.htm|date=2013-05-13}}</ref>

==== Land reform ====
The land reform was designed to favor ethnic Polish population.<ref name="Snyder146">Snyder, [[op cit]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=xSpEynLxJ1MC&q=land+reform&pg=PA146 Google Print, p.146]</ref> By 1938 some 800,000 hectares had been redistributed within Ukrainian-inhabited areas. The redistribution did not necessarily help the local Ukrainian population, however. In 1920 in Volhynia and Polissia 39 percent of the allotted land (312,000 hectares) had been awarded to Polish war veterans. In Eastern Galicia 200,000 hectare had been given to Polish peasants from the western provinces of the country. By the 1930s the number of Poles living within contiguous Ukrainian ethnographic territory had increased by about 300,000.{{Sfn|Magocsi|2010|p=629}}

=== Lithuanians ===
[[File:Lithuanian postage stamps with overprints of Central Lithuania (Litwa Srodkowa), 1920.jpg|thumb|[[Lietuvos paštas|Lithuanian postage]] [[Postage stamp|stamps]] with Polish [[overprint]]s of [[Republic of Central Lithuania|Central Lithuania (''Środkowa Litwa'')]], made in 1920]]
During the [[interbellum|interwar period]] of the 20th century (1920–1939), [[Lithuanian–Polish relations]] were characterized by mutual enmity. As a consequence of the conflict over the city of [[Vilnius]], and the [[Polish–Lithuanian War]], both governments – in the era of nationalism which was sweeping through Europe – treated their respective minorities harshly.<ref name="Żołędowski114"/><ref name="Makowski244"/><ref name="stanford">{{cite web |url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/ethnic/Random%20Narratives/LithuaniaRN1.3.pdf |title=Lithuania |access-date=2007-06-18 |last=Fearon |first=James D. |author2=Laitin, David D. |year=2006 |publisher=Stanford University |pages=4 |archive-date=15 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015092055/http://www.stanford.edu/group/ethnic/Random%20Narratives/LithuaniaRN1.3.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1920, after the staged mutiny of [[Żeligowski's Mutiny|Lucjan Żeligowski]], Lithuanian cultural activities in Polish controlled territories were limited and the closure of Lithuanian newspapers and the arrest of their editors occurred.<ref name="Čepėnas">{{cite book |last=Čepėnas |first=Pranas |author-link=Pranas Čepėnas | title=Naujųjų laikų Lietuvos istorija |year=1986 |publisher=Dr. Griniaus fondas |location=Chicago |pages=655, 656}}</ref> 33 Lithuanian and Belarusian cultural activists were formally expelled from Vilnius on 23 January 1922 and deported to Lithuania.<ref name="Čepėnas"/> In 1927, as tensions between Lithuania and Poland increased, 48 additional Lithuanian schools were closed and another 11 Lithuanian activists were deported.<ref name="Żołędowski114">Żołędowski, Cezary (2003). ''Białorusini i Litwini w Polsce, Polacy na Białorusi i Litwie'' (in Polish). Warszawa: ASPRA-JR. {{ISBN|8388766767}}, p. 114.</ref> Following [[Józef Piłsudski|Piłsudski's]] death in 1935, the [[Lithuanian minority in Poland]] again became an object of Polonization policies with greater intensity. 266 Lithuanian schools were closed after 1936 and almost all Lithuanian organizations were banned. Further Polonization ensued as the government encouraged [[Osadnik|settlement of Polish army veterans]] in the disputed regions.<ref name="stanford" /> About 400 Lithuanian reading rooms and libraries were closed in Poland between 1936 and 1938.<ref name="Makowski244">Makowski, Bronisław (1986). ''Litwini w Polsce 1920–1939'' (in Polish). Warszawa: PWN. {{ISBN|83-01-06805-1}}, pp. 244–303.</ref> Following the [[1938 Polish ultimatum to Lithuania]], Lithuania re-established diplomatic relations with Poland and efforts to Polonize Lithuanians living in Poland decreased somewhat.{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=February 2023}}