resettlement

The forced resettlement of the Ukrainians (the so-called Lemkos and Boikos) from south-eastern Poland to the Soviet Ukraine in 1945-1946, often carried out in a violent way, was part of the plan to attain homogeneity of Poland as a one-nation state without ethnic minorities. In autumn 1945, as a result of political pressure exerted on them by the Polish government and its subordinate bodies and under the impact of a growing number of brutal acts of the Polish troops and militia engaged in the transfer of the Lemko and the Boiko people into the U.S.S.R.

The Second World War had a damaging impact upon many Polish families. As a result of the decision carried out by the Allies, the Poles settled in the territory of the Second Polish Republic (Rzeczpospolita II) were forced to leave their homes. The tragic circumstances related to their expulsion, the difficult journey to other lands and conditions under which they were rebuilding their existence in a new, unknown land, were described in diaries and memoirs. In this paper the writer subjects these texts to a detailed analysis.