Exchanging Peoples: How Borderlands Became the Soviet Boundary Between Ukrainians and Poles (1944-1947)

The exchange of populations between Poland and Ukraine, which took place in the context of the modification of territories and the establishment of the new Soviet border in 1944-45, has never been addressed as such. The reconstruction of this migratory crossroads of one and a half million people sheds light on the ways in which the two states were involved, and on the lived experience of displacement, according to the places, destinations and temporalities of this period of upheaval. This book is based on research into the central archives of the Soviet State, the Soviet Republic of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland. It approaches the topic on different scales, from the most local to the international context. It allows us to disentangle the different geostrategic and political stakes of the period, to distinguish the role of logistical obstacles and inter-state disputes in the conduct of migrations, and to trace the very asymmetrical trajectories of the two minorities, Polish and Ukrainian, between constraints and expectations. In the light of this violent past that has durably separated the two peoples, the phenomenal presence of Ukrainian refugees in Poland since February 2022 marks a real inversion of history which manifests itself in contemporary issues.

Catherine Gousseff, Centre National de la Recherche scientifique, Paris.