Soviet deportations of Poles from the Świtarzów parish in 1940

Abstract

After 17 September 1939 the Lvov Archdiocese of the Latin rite, along with other local Churches in the Eastern borderlands, suffered various repressions from the Soviet Union. In the first years of the occupation mass deportations to the inside of the Soviet Union proved the most severe for the Polish citizens. The decision about moving the civilian population to the east was made on 5 December 1939 on the strength of the resolution passed by the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union; it first concerned the settlers and the Forest Service employees.

The deportation action was divided into several stages: 10 February 1940, 13 April 1940, 29 June 1940 and 18/19 June 1941. Between 980.000 and 1.000.080 Polish citizens fell victim to the repressions.

At the record office of the Metropolitan Curia in Lvov a catalogue has been preserved of the victims of the Soviet regime of 10 February 1940; the catalogue concerns the Świtarzów parish. The village was situated in the Sokal District and was part of the Bełz Decanate. It was mainly inhabited by farmers. In 1939 the population was 1544 faithful of the Catholic rite. On 10 February 1940 the NKWD officers took 758 people from the places belonging to the mentioned parish to the East; the places were Rumosz, Rawszczyzna, Rulikówka-kolonia and Walawka, Skomorochy. This was 49.1% of the whole population of the parish. Among those deported there were whole families with the servants they employed. The inhabitants of Świtarzów were settled in two regions: the Ustian and the Welin one in the Archangel District. They were located in seven groups. It is not known what the vicissitudes of the exiles were, although the extreme living conditions must surely have decimated them.

The published document was probably written by the then Świtarzów parish priest, Rev. Stanisław Wolanin (1880-1958) performing his pastoral duties there in the years 1932-1944. The catalogue with the erroneous title „The List of People Exiled to Archangel 10/2 1942” is not dated. It is a loose sheaf of papers attached to the birth register of the Świtarzów parish stored in the Record Office of the Metropolitan Curia of the Latin Rite in Lvov. In the article the layout of the original document as well as the spelling of the geographical names has been preserved.