Lenkija ir Lietuvos lenkai: 1944–1953 m
Poland and Lithuanian Poles: 1944–1953

Summary/Abstract: Based on the Lithuanian and Polish historiographic and archival material, the article discusses the relations between the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) and the People’s Republic of Poland (PRP) in 1944–1953; it attempts to determine whether the representatives from Poland assumed any measures for the improvement of the situation of Lithuanian Poles (as well as Poles residing in other Soviet republics), what methods and forms were used and whether the situation of Poles in Lithuania was exceptional in the context of the USSR and what were the decisive factors. Lithuania and Poland maintained direct mutual relations in the beginning of the period under analysis only, when the Polish repatriation was organised at the initiative of the USSR. When the repatriation was completed (1947), any direct Polish-Lithuanian relations were limited and the cooperation took place through Moscow exclusively. Even though correspondence between Lithuanian and Polish residents was not interrupted, the Soviet security kept it under strict surveillance and control. The efforts of the representatives from Poland to help their compatriots through the consulate in Vilnius were unsuccessful. Its establishment was doomed to failure. The representatives of the Polish government used to support the issues in the interest of the LSSR Poles (e. g. return to Poland), who would discuss them with Soviet officers on the visits to the USSR. Wanda Wasilewska, a Polish communist residing in the USSR (Ukraine), assisted in solving the problems of Lithuanian Poles. Her influential position and personal acquaintance with Joseph Stalin and other high-ranking Soviet functionaries determined positive decisions. The article ends with the conclusions. In the period under assessment the Lithuanian-Polish relations were under constraint and control. They can conditionally be divided into the following stages: 1) 1944–1947; 2) 1948–1953. The direct relations existing between the LSSR and PRP representatives during the first stage were restricted by the USSR central authorities to the maximum possible degree after 1947 and the correspondence communication between the residents of the two countries was under strict surveillance. The available data testify that in the period under analysis Lithuania had to play a marginal role in the domain of the USSR and PRP relations, with Russia, Ukraine and Belarus taking the dominant position in this field. The USSR interests played the decisive role in respect of the Poles of the Lithuanian SSR (as well as Poles from other Soviet republics). Therefore, the PRP representatives supported the plans of the USSR leadership regarding the transfer of Poles from Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and Lithuania to Poland in 1944–1947 and sought for the return of as many Poles into the country as possible...

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