Y. Karpenkina_Summary (1136283), страница 4
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Soviet citizens and their interrelation with the Jewish population in Western BelorussiaThe main functions of integrating the former citizens of Eastern Poland into the Soviet societywere assigned to the Soviet citizens – the so called vostochniki - who began to settle in the regionfrom September 1939 and more massively from January 1940: i.e. Red Army servicemen, Sovietparty officials and technical specialists. In this paragraph, the analysis of the conditions,arrangement and behavior of the settled Soviet citizens - as well as their interrelations with thelocals, mainly with Jews - is presented.To summarize the first chapter, I noticed that xenophobia in interwar Polish Republic andthen Anti-Semitism of the Nazi Germany were the main reasons for the positive reaction to theRed Army invasion of many local Jews. Hence, the lesser evil concept by Levin is generallyrelevant.
However, we should pay attention to the fact that among Polish Jewry - first of all, amongthe poorest families and youngsters - the socialist ideas were quite popular. Besides, many Jewshoped that the Soviet authority would annihilate Anti-Semitism and provide equal rights whichthe Jews in the USSR already had. Moreover, the understanding that the Nazi Germany was indeedthe worst evil came later, as emerges by the fact that some Jewish families escaped from SovietUnion to the Polish territory occupied by the Nazis.In first months after the Red Army invasion, many local Jews took active part in the activity ofthe Temporary Soviet government. In conditions of war, these organizations obtained an absolutepower.
Nevertheless, the wide representativeness of the Jewish population in the Temporary Sovietgovernment engendered hatred in the local Polish society.15Indeed, during the campaign on appointing the vostochniki to the leadership positions inWestern Belorussia there were mass purges in the local administration of the annexed region andmany local Jews were losing their positions in the 1940s. They were replaced by “loyal” Sovietofficial sent from the “old” Soviet regions, mainly from the BSSR.
Holding leadership positions,these people became the new political elite. Massive arrival of the vostochniki had drasticallychanged the social climate in the annexed region.Chapter 2 « “Social engineering” and its influence on Polish Jewry» consists of threeparagraphs:§ 1. Repressions in Western Belorussia and the Jewish populationIn this paragraph the repressive measures aimed at the total reconstruction of Eastern Polandsociety are examined. Already in September 1939, the Soviet authority started identifying andremoving “alien social elements” in relation to whom the repressive measures were applied:arrests, property confiscation and deportation. Among the “enemies” of the new regime there wereenough several Jews in terms of entrepreneurs, rabbis, refugees, and members of national parties.Here a special attention has been paid to the deportation of the Jews-refugees in June 1940.
In theconclusion some approximate data on the amount of arrested and deported citizens in WesternBelorussia according to nationalities is provided.§ 2. Jewish youth in the conditions of the Soviet school reformsAs in 1939-1941 the Jewish education - including the private one - became a part of the Sovietschool system, in this paragraph the changes in Jewish schools are viewed through the lens of thegeneral reforms of educational institutions in Western Belorussia.
In particular, the paragraphillustrates how the school reform in the annexed region was not fully completed by 1941 becauseof the difficult economic and political situation. It was revealed in the lack of school premises,facilities, and qualified teachers.16Although in 1939 the Jewish Hebrew schools were banned, the new authority encouraged theestablishment of Soviet Yiddish schools. Thus, this chapter underlines how these school reformswere quite similar to the reforms of Jewish educational institutions in the “old” Soviet regions andin the BSSR in 1920-1930s.
But in the newly-occupied Eastern Polish regions school reforms weredone in forced tempo.Since in 1930-1940s the whole Soviet school system had been adapted to Western Belorussia,the situation with high schools and universities is also emphasized in the paragraph that pays aspecial attention to the development of high and secondary special educational institutions on theannexed territories. Moreover, the activity of Jewish youth in their pursuit to continue educationin universities of large Soviet cities is illustrated as well.§ 3. The influence of Soviet agitation and propaganda on Western Belorussian JewsThis paragraph outlines the characteristics of Soviet authority measures in holding differentoutreach activities.
Among these activities were the meetings and lectures, demonstrations ofpropaganda films, revision of librarian funds, publication and distribution of a special contentliterature. Hence, a particular attention is paid to the only Yiddish newspaper published in WesternBelorussia: Białystoker Stern.In conclusions to the second chapter the consequences of Soviet measures were described associal engineering aimed at unifying the population of the newly-occupied region with thepopulation of the BSSR. It is emphasized that the escalation of repressions in Western Belorussiaduring the period between 1939 and 1941 had extremely harsh consequences for all localpopulations.According to the Soviet ideology, the life style and mentality of the major of Polish Jews wasconsidered as “unreliable”.
Indeed, the majority of local Jews used to match the category of formertradesmen, manufacturers, Zionists, Bundists and etc. Hence, punition could be enforced at any17moment. However, particularly the Jews-refugees used to suffer from the Soviet repressive policythe most.Furthermore, in 1939-1941 the opportunity for equal education at Soviet schools anduniversities was opened for the local Jewish youth for the first time and this measure promotedfast Sovietization of Jewish youth. Overall, the Soviet education system in Western Belorussia,having a range of salient material and technical disadvantages, in 1939-1941 was pursuing its goalof turning the local youth into real Soviet citizens.Therefore, in Western Belorussia the Yiddish language was assigned a support role in theprocess of the Sovietization of Jewry. The content of the only Yiddish newspaper in WesternBelorussia Białystoker Stern shows that the main function of this publication was providing theSoviet ideology to - non-speaking Russian - local Jewish civilians.Nevertheless, the Soviet ambitious plans on agitation and propaganda in the annexed regionwere not achieved properly.
In particular, propaganda in relation to the Jewish population was notalways effective because the lecturers usually did not properly know Yiddish and also because ofthe lack of the propaganda reading materials in this language.Chapter 3 “Jewish everyday life in Western Belorussia in the frames of the Sovieteconomic reforms, 1939-1941” is divided into three paragraphs:§ 1. Soviet economic reforms in Western BelorussiaIn the period between 1939 and 1941, Soviet government had been seeking to create in theannexed region an economic system identical to all other regions of the USSR.
The paragraphanalyzes the activities in this field and in particular the nationalization, the adoption of the Sovietrouble and replacing the Polish złoty, the tightening of the labor legislation; the introduction ofnew fiscal system; and the quite unsuccessful reorganization of the Soviet trade network andindustrial production.18The paragraph emphasized that since there was a hardship in the setting up the Soviet tradenetwork and industrial production, a significant number of tradesmen and craftsmen were allowedfor paying a tax to hold a patent and to continue doing their work legally. Undoubtedly, thegovernment treated this practice as a desperate and temporary measure. Nevertheless, in thecontext of the observed period, this measure was not temporary.§ 2.
The influence of economic reforms on the lifestyle of Western Belorussian populationThe next two paragraphs focus on the aftermath of the Soviet economic policy. Paragraph 2highlights its general influence on economics and the society of the region emphasizing inparticular the fact that the economic activities of the Soviet authority had a number of harmfulconsequences such as shortages and blooming “black market”, smuggling, inflation,unemployment, extreme impoverishment of the local civilians, widespread incidences of stealingfrom workplace etc. Moreover, all of these phenomena were accompanied by the tightening of thelabor legislation and control over the amount of selling goods.This paragraph also demonstrates that the economic situation in Eastern Poland was not ascritical as in other Soviet regions. For the instance, in 1940 the norms regulating trade of goodsper person were by times more permissive in the annexed regions than in the “old” Soviet regions.§ 3.
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