Y. Karpenkina_Summary (Советизация еврейского населения Западной Белоруссии (1939-1941 гг.))

NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITYHIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICas a manuscriptYanina KarpenkinaSOVIETIZATION OF THE JEWISH POPULATIONIN WESTERN BELORUSSIA, 1939-1941Summary of the PhD thesisAcademic supervisor:Oleg V. Budnitskii,Professor of HistoryMoscow 20182GENERAL CHARECTERISTICS OF THE THESISBackground informationOn 17th September 1939, according The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Red Army annexedEastern Poland. Since then, the life of local population has changed dramatically.

Nowadays, thereare still on-going debates on the position of Eastern Polish Jews in the period between 1939 and1941. Not only, Jewry suffered from the Soviet repressions, but they were also widely representedin the local Soviet administration. The events on the eve of the Second World War, the Sovietannexation of the Eastern Polish territories, the policy implemented on these lands and theinterethnic relations - particularly between Jews and Poles - are the subject matter of thediscussions. Therefore, the keen academic and socio-political interests in the events of 1939-1941in Eastern Poland - which was “divided” between Belorussian and Ukrainian Soviet SocialistRepublics in 1939 - and also to the position of local Jewish population determine the rationale ofmy research.Literature reviewWhereas the Soviet policy adopted in relation to the Jewish population of WesternBelorussia was a part of process of Sovietization1 of the whole region, one cannot help but turningto the existing works on the history of Western Belorussia from 1939 to 1941.

There is a vast - butcontroversial - historiography on this issue mostly produced by Belorussian and Polish researchers.1In this work, the term Sovietization defines the Soviet policy establishing state and administrative structures andimplementing a new way of life for the citizens of the annexed region according to the patterns entrenched in theUSSR.3However, their approaches differ significantly: the former consider the events of 17 September1939 primarily2 as a liberation and reunification,3 meanwhile the latter exclusively as occupation.4In September 1939, Poland was partitioned between Western Belorussia and WesternUkraine; and in both regions similar processes were taking place. Thus, the study of the history ofWestern Belorussia in 1939-1941 is impossible without considering the events occurred in thesame period in Western Ukraine.

Despite these similarities, the situation in Western Ukraine drewmore attention of the historians5 and has been more extensively studied than the Sovietization ofBelorussia.2There are some notable exceptions among the works that made the first attempts to rethink the history of WesternBelorussia and the breakaway from the Soviet paradigm. Ref.: Białoruskie Zeszyty Historyczne, No. 13, 2000; I. E.Elenskaia. “Evrei Zapadnoi Belorussii glazami ikh sosedei (po materialam ustnoi istorii)” (Diaspory, No. 3, 2006:150-179); V. Bulgakov (editor).

Arche: Pachatak. 17 sentyabria 1939 goda: Antropologiia vossoedineniia, No. 8,2009; I. Romanova, I. Makhovskaia. Mir: historyjia mjastechka, shto raskazali jae zhychary (Vilno: Evropeiskiigumanitarnii universitet, 2009), 247; A. Smalianchuk (editor). Vosen 1939 goda u histarychnaj tradycyi i u vusnajhistoryi. (Minsk: Zmitser Kolas, 2015), 288.3M. P.

Kasciuk, I. Ya. Navumenka (editors). Nazausiedy razam: da 60-goddzia uzjadnannia Zahodniaj Belarusi zBSSR. (Minsk: Belaruskaia encyklapedia, 1999); N. N. Kovalevoi (editor). Istoricheskie, sotsiokulturnie iekonomicheskie aspekty vossoedineniia belorusskogo naroda. (Brest: Brest Pedagogy Institute, 2000); A. A.Kavalenia. “Tsiarnovy shliach uz`iadnannia Belarusi” In Vosen 1939 goda u histarychnym lesie Belarusi (Minsk,2009); U.

F. Ladysieu, P. I. Bryhadzin. Pamiz Uschodam i Zachadam: Stanaulennie dziarzaunastsi i terataryialnaitselasnastsi Belarusi (1917-1939 гг.) (Minsk: Belarussian State University (BHU), 2003); A. A. Kavalienia, I. A.Sarakavik. Belarus napiaredadni i u hady Druhoj susvietnaj i Vialikaj Ajchynnaj vojn (Minsk: Belarus, 2008); N. N.Kovaleva, L. Yu. Malykhina (editors). Osen 1939 goda: Korennoi perelom v sudbe belorusskogo naroda (Brest: BrestState University (BrGTU), 2009).Ref.: T. Srzembozs (editor). Studia z dziejów okupacji sowieckiej (1939-1941): obywatele Polscy na kresachpółnocno-wschodnich II Pzeczypospolitej pod okupacyą sowiecką w latach 1939-1941 (Warszawa: Biblioteka ZiemWshodnich, 1997); W.

Sleszyński. Okupacja sowiecka na Białostocczyznie: Propaganda i indoktrynacja. (Białystok:Białystockie Towazhystwo Naukowe, 2001); K. Jasiewicz. Pierwsi po diable. Elity sowieckie w okupowanej Polsce1939-1941 (Bialostocczyzna, Nowogródczyzna, Poliesie, Wileńszczyzna) (Warszawa: PAN, 2001); A. Kuner. Polskabyła pierwsza (Warszawa: Swiet Księzki, 2009); B. Musiał. Wojna Stalina, 1939-1945: terror, grabież, demontaże(Poznań: Zysk i S-ka, 2012); T. Strzembosz, R.

Wnuk. Czerwone bagno: konspiracja i partyzantka antysowiecka wAugustowskiem, wrzesień 1939 - czerwiec 1941 (Warszawa: Scholar, 2009); K. Jasiewicz. Оni: Okypacyjny apparatsowiecki na Kresach Północno-Wschodnich w latach 1939-1941 (Warszawa: PAN, 2015).4Ref.: A. Weiss. “Jewish-Ukrainian relations in Western Ukraine during the Holocaust” In Ukrainian-Jewishrelations in historical perspective (Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, 1990);I. Luchakivska. Ukrajinska intelihentsiia zachidnich oblastej URSR v piershi roky radianskoj vlady (1939-1941)(Lviv: Livivski universitet, 1999); B.

Gogol. Czerwony sztandar: Rzecz o sowietyzacji źiem Maloposki wshodniej:Wrzesień 1939 – czerwiec 1941 (Gdańsk: Wyd-wo Uniwesytetu Gdańskiego, 2000); E. Yu. Borisenok. “Zolotoysentyabr” tridtsat devyatogo. Krasnaya armiya i mestnoe naselenie na Zapadnoi Ukraine” In Rodina, No. 8, 2009: 3438.; N. Litvin, K. Naumenko. Stalin i Zachidna Ukrajina1939-1941 rr. (Kyiv: NAN Ukrajiny, 2010); V.

Grinievich.Niepryborkane riznoholossia: Druga svitova vijna I suspilno-politychni natroji v Ukrajini, 1939 – chervien 1941 rr.(Kyjiv (Dnipropetrovsk): Lira, 2012).54The groundbreaking work by Jan Tomasz Gross Revolution from Abroad: The SovietConquest of Poland’s Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia6 gave rise to important questionsconcerning differences in the Soviet policies towards diverse ethnic group living in Eastern Poland- primarily, Poles, Belarussians, Ukrainians and Jews. In this monograph, Gross also proposed theconceptualization of Soviet reforms as a Revolution from abroad emphasizing the violent characterof this policy.

This concept also considers the tendencies occurring on the annexed territoriesduring the period between 1939 and 1941 in comparison with those emerged in the first decadesafter the October Revolution. In my opinion, the suggested concept is valuable. Nevertheless, itdoes not take into consideration that a certain part of the population of Eastern Poland took partenthusiastically into this Revolution. Probably, the reason for this inaccuracy was the sources onwhich the research is based – the memoires of the former soldiers of Anders’ Army (mainly Poles).Thus, the data on the position of the Jews in 1939-1941 which Gross operates in his work isprimarily the recollections of Polish population.Scholars who studied the history of Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia in the periodfrom 1939 to 1941 usually focus their attention on some peculiar aspect of Sovietization.7 In thisregard, the largest attention was drawn by the Soviet repression policy.8 More and more works areJ.

T. Gross. Revolution from Abroad: The Soviet Conquest of Poland’s Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002). First edition – 1988.7Ref.: T. Srzembozs (editor) Studia z dziejow okupacji sowieckiej (1939-1941): obywatele Polscy na kresachpółnocno-wschodnich II Pzeczypospolitej pod okupacyą sowiecką w latach 1939-1941 (Warszawa: Biblioteka ZiemWshodnich, 1997); M. Gnatowski, D.

Bockowski (editors). Sowietyzacja i rusyfikacja północno-wschodnih ziem IIRzeczypospolitej, 1939-1941 (Białystok: Wyd-wo Uniw. w Białymstoku, 2003); O. V. Petrovskaya, E. Yu. Borisenok(editors). Zapadnaya Belorussia i Zapadnaya Ukraina v 1939-1941: lyudi, sobytiya, dokumety (Saint-Petersburg:Aleteiya, 2011).6W. Wrzesinski. Deportacje Polaków do Związku Radzieckiego w latach 1939-1941 (Wroclaw: Wyd-woUniwersytetu Wroclawskiego, 1996); K. Sword. Deportation and exile: Poles in the Soviet Union, 1939-1948(Houndmills: Macmillan, 1996); A. E. Guryanov.

Repressii protiv polyakov i polskikh grazhdan (Moscow: Zven’ya,1997); I. Kuzniatsou. „Palitychnyja represii u Belarusi u 1939-1941 hadach” In Białoruskie Zeszyty Historyczne, No.13, 2000: 45-70; E. Dzwonkiewicz. Aresztowani na „Zachodniej Białorusi”: alfabeczny wykaz 4669 Polaków iobywateli polskich innych narodowosci arestowanych na „Zachodniej Białorusi” w latach 1939-1941 (Warszawa:Osrodek Karta, 2003); N. S. Lebedeva. Deportations from Poland and the Baltic states to the USSR in 1939-1941:common features and specific traits (Vilnius: LII (Lietuvos istorijos institutas), 2003); Yu.