«POLES! GO BEYOND SAN!»: POLISH-UKRAINIAN WAR OF 1918–1919 IN THE ACCOUNTS OF POLISH EYEWITNESSES

Abstract

The article reveals the crucial consequences of the Polish-Ukrainian war of 1918–1919 for the Polish population of Eastern Galicia. The proclamation of the West Ukrainian People's Republic in November 1918 faced backlash of Polish political activists in Eastern Galicia. Poles did not accept the consolidation of Ukrainian political power in the region, demonstrated disloyalty to the new authorities and sought to integrate the territory into independent Poland. Their resistance to the Ukrainian authorities in Eastern Galicia led to a bloody armed conflict that caused severe suffering to the civilian population. The Polish eyewitnesses and victims noted the considerable property losses and moral damage that the radical Ukrainian forces inflicted on the local Polish community. Their letters, diaries and other sources give detailed descriptions of anti-Polish propaganda, robberies, rampant banditry and looting that ruined Poles, discrimination against them and humiliation of human dignity, destruction of their cultural and religious heritage, violence against the civilians, murders, ill-treatment of the arrested persons, internees and prisoners of war. Poles considered the Greek Catholic priests were mainly responsible for the perpetrated atrocities and accused them of inciting hatred towards the Polish people. At the same time, the sources give the examples when benevolently minded Ukrainian priests, lawyers and common Ukrainians helped the Poles and protected them from abuses by the Ukrainian authorities and the military. Many Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia were against the war; they condemned lawlessness, looting, and violence against the Poles. At the same time, the sources demonstrate that there were also abuses by the Polish authorities against the Ukrainian population and the Greek-Catholic Church during the conflict.