Deportation of Ukrainian population: political causes and economic consequences (to the 75th anniversary of Operation Vistula)

Abstract

From the standpoint of today, the article presents an overview of the practice of mass migration of peoples used by major powers during the first half of the twentieth century. Mass evictions were a prearranged act of public policy, part of the broader geopolitical plans of the USSR, Britain and the US. Deportations were the usual instrument (tool) of repression for Communist total regimes, were purely political in nature and were not economically justified, being their main purpose ethnic cleansing of civilians, while the secondary purpose was the elimination of the Ukrainian underground. The historical and economic analysis was made of the deportation of the Western Ukrainian population from lands that had been relegated to Poland based on the Lublin Agreement between the Polish Committee for National Liberation and the Government of the Ukrainian USSR. The socio-economic consequences of the deportation of Ukrainians from Poland, their resettlement, and their adaptation are revealed. The article deals with the issues of material losses during deportation, and the extent and quality of compensation in places of new settlement, namely: the unsatisfactory condition of the socio-economic adaptation of the deported, broken promises by the government of the Ukrainian USSR regarding the financial support of resettles people, etc. On the basis of the conducted research a number of generalizing conclusions are formulated.