Exchanging Peoples: How Borderlands became the Soviet boundary between Ukrainians and Poles (1944–1947)

This book is based on research into the central archives of the Soviet State, the Soviet Republic of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland. It approaches the topic on different scales, from the most local to the international context. It allows us to disentangle the different geostrategic and political stakes of the period, to distinguish the role of logistical obstacles and inter-state disputes in the conduct of migrations, and to trace the very asymmetrical trajectories of the two minorities, Polish and Ukrainian, between constraints and expectations. In the light of this violent past that has durably separated the two peoples, the phenomenal presence of Ukrainian refugees in Poland since February 2022 marks a real inversion of history which manifests itself in contemporary issues.