Kresy

Quick Facts: Who was Kresy?

Subject:

Kresy

Known for:

Historical region of eastern Poland, encompassing lands lost after WWII to Soviet influence.

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2Day Chrono-Wiki & Primary Historical Archives

Origins & Early Life

The Kresy Wschodnie, standing for Eastern Borderlands, or simply Kresy (Borderlands; Polish pronunciation: [ˈkrɛsɨ]), was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with a Polish minority, it amounted to nearly half of the territory of interwar Poland. Historically situated in the eastern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, following the 18th century foreign partitions, it was divided between the Empires of Russia and Austria-Hungary, and ceded to Poland in 1921 after the Treaty of Riga. As a result of the post-World War II border changes, all of the territory was ceded to the Soviet Union, and today the area of Kresy is divided between Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, and south-eastern Lithuania.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

The region gave rise to the Kresy myth, a collection of nostalgic views about the area. After the fall of Communism in Europe and dissolution of the Soviet Union, a major economic conflict emerged about the real estate lost by Poland with the loss of Kresy. In contemporary studies, the term has been described as colonial and compared to similar other terms such as Russian "okrainy", which in the past was used by Russian imperial authorities to describe its borderlands, which included partitioned Poland. During the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Kresy only referred to the borderlands of the Kingdom of Poland and not the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Kresy is also largely co-terminous with the northern areas of the Pale of Settlement, a scheme devised by Catherine II of Russia to limit Jews from settling in the homogenously Christian Orthodox core of the Russian Empire, such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The Pale was established after the Second Partition of Poland and lasted until the Russian Revolution in 1917, when the Russian Empire ceased to exist. In the aftermath of the Polish wars against Ukraine, Lithuania and Soviet Russia, the latter of which was ended by the Treaty of Riga, large parts of the Austrian and Russian partitions became part of Poland. As many as 12 million inhabitants lived in the Eastern Borderlands, but ethnic Poles only were a third of that population, with another third being Ukrainian. Most small towns in the Borderlands were shtetls. Administratively, the Eastern Borderlands territory was composed of Białystok, Lwów, Nowogródek, Polesie, Stanisławów, Tarnopol, Wilno and Wołyń voivodeships (provinces).

Chronological Milestones & Life Events

1. 1917: 1917 Milestone — The Pale was established after the Second Partition of Poland and lasted until the Russian Revolution in 1917, when the Russian Empire ceased to exist.
2. 1918: 1918 Milestone — The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939).
3. 1921: 1921 Milestone — Historically situated in the eastern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, following the 18th century foreign partitions, it was divided between the Empires of Russia and Austria-Hungary, and ceded to Poland in 1921 after the Treaty of Riga.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Kresy

True or False: “The term Kresy was used by Polish authorities before 1921 to describe the lands east of the Curzon Line.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): While it related to eastern borderlands, in the Second Polish Republic, Kresy equated to historically Polish settled lands to the east of the notional Curzon line.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Kresy