In 1944-1945, a series of “population exchange” agreements was concluded between the USSR and Poland, according to which the Soviet Union accepted Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians and Rusyns on its territory, and official Warsaw accepted Poles and Jews.

According to historians, as a result, about 1.8 million people moved from the USSR to Poland, and about 530 thousand people moved from Poland to the Soviet Union.

Nevertheless, a significant number of Ukrainians remained in Poland.

In terms of mobilization and economics, the OUN-UPA * gangs operating on Polish territory relied on them.

Ukrainian nationalists attacked the security forces and terrorized the peaceful rural population.

In the spring of 1947, the Polish authorities came up with a plan to correct the military-political situation in the southeastern regions of the country through the mass resettlement of Ukrainians to the northwestern territories that previously belonged to Germany and ceded to Poland following World War II.

On April 17, the Wisla task force was created from parts of the Polish Army and the Internal Security Corps, which included six divisions and three separate regiments.

On April 28, 1947, Operation Vistula began.

Activities for the resettlement of the civilian Ukrainian population and the elimination of OUN-UPA gangs lasted about three months.

Director of the Historical Memory Foundation Alexander Dyukov, in an interview with RT, told why the Poles decided on such radical actions, how the Vistula operation took place and what historical consequences it had.

- What made the Poles act so harshly against the Ukrainian population?

- The Poles needed to stop the activities of Ukrainian nationalist organizations on their territory, which during the Second World War staged massacres of the Polish population in Volhynia.

Although by 1947 the majority of Ukrainians moved to the USSR as part of mutual resettlement, some of them remained in the southeastern regions of Poland.

And among them, the OUN had an extensive network of thousands of people.

Their activity was a serious threat to the Polish population and the Polish statehood itself.

  • Deportation of Ukrainians during Operation Vistula

  • © Wikimedia Commons

- How was the operation "Vistula"?

What forces were involved in it?

- The Polish side involved in the operation "Vistula" serious forces of the army and law enforcement agencies.

The operation included two main components: military operations against the UPA and the actual resettlement of Ukrainians in the northern and western regions of Poland.

They were previously part of Germany, and following the results of World War II, they were transferred to Poland.

During the operation, about one and a half thousand people were liquidated, about the same number were captured.

About two thousand were arrested on suspicion of belonging to the OUN underground.

And almost 140 thousand Ukrainians were deported.

- Were Ukrainians settled compactly at the new place of residence?

- Not.

In parallel with the Ukrainians, the Poles moved en masse to the same northwestern territories of Poland.

The Polish authorities did not want to create monolithic Ukrainian communities that could become a potential base for the activities of the OUN-UPA gangs.

  • Resettlement of Ukrainians during Operation Vistula

  • © Wikimedia Commons

— How did the people who were to be resettled react to what was happening?

“Of course, when people are forcibly relocated, they don’t like it.

Moreover, it should be understood that among those who were directly involved in organizing the resettlement, there were people who survived the recent Volyn massacre, and this provoked a certain cruelty against the Ukrainian population.

This cruelty, of course, was not on such a scale as the cruelty of the OUN and UPA militants during the Volyn massacre, when they killed entire villages, including women and children.

Nevertheless, violence and unjust killings of the Ukrainian civilian population did occur.

Of course, these actions were not joyful for the local Ukrainian population.

- What were the conditions provided to the Ukrainian population when moving?

- These were acceptable conditions.

It cannot be said that this process entailed large-scale mortality in the places of resettlement.

It was a violent action, but it did not have the character of the extermination of the resettled population.

- What were the direct consequences of the operation "Vistula"?

Did the Polish leadership manage to liquidate the OUN-UPA underground?

- The goals set by the Polish leadership were fully realized.

The underground and UPA gangs on the territory of Poland disappeared after 1947.

The effectiveness of these actions was confirmed even by the leadership of the UPA, which announced the liquidation of the corresponding rebel districts on the territory of Poland.

Some of the OUN-UPA gangs were destroyed, some were captured.

Someone went to the territory of Czechoslovakia and subsequently the authorities handed them over to Poland.

In general, the bandit underground of Ukrainian nationalists in Poland was liquidated as a result of the operation.

How can you characterize the historical role of Operation Vistula in general?

Have Ukrainians retained their national identity in the new place?

“Operation Vistula was an action that also affected innocent people, but under the then existing conditions it was necessary.

The state cannot afford the existence of a bandit underground on its territory.

The actions of the Polish security forces were effective.

Large-scale armed confrontation along ethnic lines in Poland ceased after 1947.

This, no doubt, saved many lives - both Ukrainians and Poles.

As for the fate of the resettled Ukrainians, in the conditions of a peaceful state, in the absence of a supported underground network, many of them, if not in the first, then in the second or third generation, really felt like Poles.

But here you need to understand: if there had been no Operation Vistula, then the spiral of ethnic hatred in Poland would have continued to unwind.

And the peaceful coexistence of people would be simply impossible.

  • Operation Vistula

  • © Wikimedia Commons

— Politicians these days are somehow trying to use the memory of the events associated with the operation "Vistula"?

- The Ukrainian side has long been trying to present the Vistula as ethnic cleansing.

There are people in Poland who are trying to support this interpretation, which, in my opinion, is not quite adequate.

After all, the operation "Vistula" cannot be considered in isolation from the Volyn massacre and in isolation from the campaign of terror unleashed by the UPA on Polish territory.

There was no other way to solve the problem.

And I am sure that most of the population of Poland will now agree with me.

An attempt to interpret the history of the Vistula operation from Ukrainian approaches is nothing more than a political conjuncture.

— How does the memory of the Vistula operation affect the current relations between Poland and Ukraine?

- The Ukrainian side is seeking recognition of these events as a political purge, but, by and large, these actions are not very active.

As for the Polish authorities, we see that they now unconditionally support the regime existing in Ukraine and are trying to put aside the discussion of all uncomfortable issues at this stage.

* Organization of Ukrainian nationalists - "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) - a Ukrainian organization recognized as extremist and banned in Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 11/17/2014).