Tarnopol Voivodeship

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Tarnopol Voivodeship (Template:Langx; Template:Langx) was an administrative region of interwar Poland (1918–1939), created on 23 December 1920, with an area of 16,500 km2 and provincial capital in Tarnopol (now Ternopil, Ukraine). The voivodeship was divided into 17 districts (powiaty). At the end of World War II, at the insistence of Joseph Stalin during the Tehran Conference of 1943 without official Polish representation whatsoever, the borders of Poland were redrawn by the Allies. The Polish population was forcibly resettled after the defeat of Nazi Germany and the Tarnopol Voivodeship was incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. Since 1991, the territory of the voivodeship has been split between the eastern part of the Lviv region and the central and southern parts of the Ternopil region in sovereign Ukraine.

September 1939 and its aftermath

During the Nazi invasion of Poland in accordance with the secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Soviet forces invaded eastern Poland on 17 September 1939. As the bulk of the Polish Army was concentrated in the west fighting the Nazi Germans (see: Polish September campaign), the Red Army met with limited resistance from Polish citizens and their troops quickly moved westward. Tarnopol was occupied as early as 18 September 1939 without substantial opposition from the Poles, and remained in Soviet hands until Operation Barbarossa.[1] Monuments were destroyed, street names changed, bookshops closed, library collections stolen and transported in lorries to the Russian archives.[2] The province was Sovietized in the atmosphere of terror.[3] Families were deported to Siberia in cattle trains,[4] mainly Polish Christians.[5]

During the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Tarnopol was overrun by the Wehrmacht on Template:Dts. A Jewish pogrom lasted from Template:Dts to Template:Dts, with homes destroyed, synagogues burned and Jews killed indiscriminately at various locations, estimated between 1,600 (Yad Vashem)[6] and 2,000 (Virtual Shtetl).[7] The killings were perpetrated by the SS-Sonderkommando 4b attached to Einsatzgruppe C,Script error: No such module "Unsubst". and by the Ukrainian People's Militia,[6] formed by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – renamed the following month to the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police.[8]

In September 1941, the German occupation authorities established Jewish ghettos in a number of towns including the Tarnopol Ghetto with 12,000–13,000 prisoners. Death penalty was introduced, and food severely rationed.[4] Forced labour camps for Jewish slave workers were established by the Germans in the settlements of Kamionki, Hłuboczek Wielki, Zagrobela,[9] and in Podwołoczyska.[7] The Tarnopol ghetto was liquidated between August 1942 and June 1943. The victims were deported to Belzec extermination camp.[6] Many Jews were denounced by Ukrainian nationalists including shortly before the Soviets took over the area in 1944. A number survived by hiding with the Poles.[6]

Demographics

The capital of Tarnopol Voivodeship was Tarnopol. After the rebirth of Poland, according to Polish census of 1921, the province was inhabited by 1,428,520 people with population density at 88 persons per km2. The national census revealed that a staggering number of people could not read or write due to repressive policies of the partitioning powers; amounting to over half of the regional population of the Republic. Within the total number of inhabitants there were 447,810 Roman Catholics, and 847,907 Greek Catholics, as well as 128,967 Orthodox Christians. Ten years later, the next national census of September 1931 was conducted using different criteria. The respondents were asked about their mother tongue and religion. The population density grew to 97 persons per km2.[10]

The overall number of inhabitants in the province amounted to 1,600,406 people in 1931 of whom 789,114 spoke Polish, 401,963 spoke Ukrainian as their first language, 326,172 spoke Ruthenian (Ukrainian), 71,890 spoke Yiddish, 7,042 spoke Hebrew, 2675 spoke German, and 287 spoke Belarusian, Czech and Lithuanian. Among the Poland's Ukrainian speakers, 397,248 belonged to Greek Catholic Church, and 3,767 were Roman Catholics similar to the majority of Polish language speakers at home; nevertheless, among the Polish language speakers 157,219 belonged to Greek Catholic Church also, like the majority of those who spoke Ukrainian as their mother tongue. The overlapping of religious denominations presented the community as integrated to a considerable degree. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of Ruthenian (Ukrainian) speakers were Greco Catholics, like Ukrainians, and only 7,625 of them were Roman Catholics.[11] Jews constituted 44% of the diverse multicultural makeup of Tarnopol, speaking both, Yiddish and Hebrew.[10]

Religion was 50% Greek Catholic, 41% Roman Catholic, 9% Jewish. Ethnic Ukrainian Greek Catholics and Polish-speaking secular Jews were in some cases classified as gentile Poles in the ethnic censusScript error: No such module "Unsubst"., and not as Ukrainians or Jews; this explains the difference between the religious and ethnic census numbers.

The results of the 1931 census (questions about mother tongue and about religion) are presented in the table below:

Ukrainian/Ruthenian and Greek Catholic/Orthodox majority minority counties are highlighted with yellow.

Comparison of Polish and Ukrainian population of Tarnopol Voivodeship according to the 1931 census[12]
County Polish name County Pop. Polish % Ukrainian & Ruthenian % Roman Catholic % Uniate & Orthodox %
Borszczów Borshchiv 103277 46153 44.7% 52612 50.9% 28432 27.5% 65344 63.3%
Brody Brody 91248 32843 36.0% 50490 55.3% 22521 24.7% 58009 63.6%
Brzeżany Berezhany 103824 48168 46.4% 51757 49.9% 41962 40.4% 54611 52.6%
Buczacz Buchach 139062 60523 43.5% 70336 50.6% 51311 36.9% 77023 55.4%
Czortków Chortkiv 84008 36486 43.4% 40866 48.6% 33080 39.4% 42828 51.0%
Kamionka Strumiłowa Kamianka-Buzka 82111 41693 50.8% 35178 42.8% 29828 36.3% 45113 54.9%
Kopyczyńce Kopychyntsi 88614 38158 43.1% 45196 51.0% 31202 35.2% 50007 56.4%
Podhajce Pidhaitsi 95663 46710 48.8% 45031 47.1% 38003 39.7% 52634 55.0%
Przemyślany Peremyshliany 89908 52269 58.1% 32777 36.5% 38475 42.8% 44002 48.9%
Radziechów Radekhiv 69313 25427 36.7% 39970 57.7% 17945 25.9% 42928 61.9%
Skałat Skalat 89215 60091 67.4% 25369 28.4% 45631 51.1% 34798 39.0%
Tarnopol Ternopil 142220 93874 66.0% 42374 29.8% 63286 44.5% 60979 42.9%
Trembowla Terebovlia 84321 50178 59.5% 30868 36.6% 38979 46.2% 40452 48.0%
Zaleszczyki Zalishchyky 72021 27549 38.3% 41147 57.1% 17917 24.9% 48069 66.7%
Zbaraż Zbarazh 65579 32740 49.9% 29609 45.2% 24855 37.9% 36468 55.6%
Zborów Zboriv 81413 39624 48.7% 39174 48.1% 26239 32.2% 49925 61.3%
Złoczów Zolochiv 118609 56628 47.7% 55381 46.7% 36937 31.1% 70663 59.6%
Województwo Tarnopolskie Tarnopol Voivodeship 1600406 789114 49.3% 728135 45.5% 586603 36.7% 873853 54.6%

Geography

File:Tarnopolskie1939.jpg
Tarnopol Voivodeship until 17 September 1939

The voivodeship's area was 16,533 square kilometers. It was located in the southeastern corner of Poland, bordering the Soviet Union to the east, Lwów Voivodeship and Stanisławów Voivodeship to the west, Romania to the south and Volhynian Voivodeship to the north. The landscape was hilly, with the Podole upland covering large part of the Voivodeship. The northwestern part of the voivovodeship was the location of the Holohory mountain range, whose highest peak is that of the Kamula mountain, Script error: No such module "convert". above sea level, though the peak itself was located Script error: No such module "convert". beyond Tarnopol Voivodeship's border, in the Lwów Voivodeship. The southern part of the Tarnopol Voivodeship was known for its wineries and peach orchards.

The Dniester and the Seret were the main rivers. The Zbruch River formed the border with the Soviet Union along its entire course, and the border with Romania was formed by the Dniester. The southeasternmost location in the voivodeship was the famous Polish stronghold Okopy Swietej Trojcy (Ramparts of the Holy Trinity), which for some time defended Poland against Turkish and Tatar invasions.

Administrative subdivisions

The Tarnopol Voivodeship was created formally on 23 December 1920.[13] It consisted of 17 powiats (counties), 35 towns, and 1087 villages. Its capital was also its largest city, with population of some 34,000 (as for 1931). Other important municipal centers of the voivodeship were: Czortków (pop. 19,000), Brody (pop. 16,400), Złoczów (pop. 13,000), Brzeżany (pop. 12,000) and Buczacz (pop. 11,000).

The Tarnopol Voivodeship consisted of 17 powiats (counties):

File:Tarnopol Voivodeship Administrative Map 1938.png
Administrative division, 1938
  1. Borszczów Powiat (1067 km2),
  2. Brody Powiat File:Herb Pilawa.jpg (1125 km2)
  3. Brzeżany Powiat (1135 km2)
  4. Buczacz Powiat (1208 km2)
  5. Czortków Powiat File:Rola herb.svg (734 km2)
  6. Kamionka Strumiłowa Powiat (1000 km2)
  7. Kopyczyńce Powiat (841 km2)
  8. Podhajce Powiat File:COA of Pidhaitsi.png (1018 km2)
  9. Przemyślany Powiat (927 km2)
  10. Radziechów Powiat (1022 km2)
  11. Skałat Powiat File:Skalat COA IRP.png (876 km2)
  12. Tarnopol Powiat File:POL Tarnopol COA.svg (1231 km2)
  13. Trembowla Powiat (789 km2)
  14. Zaleszczyki Powiat File:Zaleszczyki coa XVIIIw.png (684 km2)
  15. Zbaraż Powiat (740 km2)
  16. Zborów Powiat (941 km2)
  17. Złoczów Powiat (1195 km2)

Economy

Tarnopol Voivodeship was located in the so-called Poland "B", which meant that it was underdeveloped, with scarce industry. However, agricultural production was good, due to moderate climate and rich, fertile black soil common in these areas of Europe. The southern part of the voivodship was popular among tourists, with the main center in Zaleszczyki – a border-town, located on the Dniestr, where one could spot grapevines, unique to this part of Poland. The railroad network was better developed in the south, with numerous local connections. Major rail junctions were: Tarnopol, Krasne, Kopczynce. On 1 January 1938, total length of railroads within the Voivodeship's boundaries was 931 kilometers (5.6 km per 100 km²)

Voivodes

  • Karol Olpiński, 23 April 1921 – 23 January 1923
  • Lucjan Zawistowski, 24 February 1923 – 16 February 1927
  • Mikołaj Kwaśniewski, 16 February 1927 – 28 November 1928 (acting till 28 December 1927)
  • Kazimierz Moszyński, 28 November 1928 – 10 October 1933
  • Artur Maruszewski, 21 October 1933 – 15 January 1935 (acting till 6 March 1934)
  • Kazimierz Gintowt-Dziewiałtowski, 19 January 1935 – 15 July 1936 (acting )
  • Alfred Biłyk, 15 July 1936 – 16 April 1937
  • Tomasz Malicki, 16 April 1937 – 17 September 1939

See also

References

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  1. ↑ Kresy.co.uk – History of Podolia and Tarnopol. Template:Webarchive
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Bernd Wegner (1997). From peace to war: Germany, Soviet Russia, and the world, 1939–1941. Berghahn Books, p. 74. Template:ISBN.
  4. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Tadeusz Piotrowski (1998), Poland's Holocaust (Google Books). Jefferson: McFarland, pp. 17–18, 420. Template:ISBN.
  6. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ a b Central Statistical Office (Poland), Drugi Powszechny Spis Ludności. Woj.tarnopolskie, 1931. PDF file, 21.09 MB. The complete text of the Polish census of 1931 for the Tarnopol Voivodeship, page 59 (select, drop-down menu). Wikimedia Commons.
  11. ↑ Central Statistical office of the Polish Republic, 1931 Census of Poland; Table 10 at Wikimedia Commons (extract).
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".

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  • Genealogy of Halychyna and Eastern Galicia – Results of the 1931 census according to HalGal.com
  • Maly rocznik statystyczny 1939, Nakladem Glownego Urzedu Statystycznego, Warszawa 1939 (Concise Statistical Year-Book of Poland, Warsaw 1939).

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