Information on the thesis

The dissertation is dedicated to complex investigation of the Polish administration
activity in Western Volyn in years 1919−1921, state-legal, social and political aspects of
this process. The attempt to investigate the peculiarities of functioning of the temporary
Polish authorities in the region was made. On the basis of the investigation of Ukrainian
national movement, the Bolsheviks campaign and the Polish public organizations in
Western Volyn the social and political life in the region in the period of formation of the
Polish administration was analyzed.
It was defined that Western Volyn was captured by the Polish army at the turn of
May-June 1919, and the County Administration of Volyn, later the Volyn district, which
answered to the Civil Administration of the Eastern Territories, was formed. The last
formation answered to Joseph Pilsudski and its aim was to implement the political
programme of the Head of the State about peaceful coexistence of different nationalities.
It was defined that at the beginning of 1920 a new administrative unit in Western
Volyn was formed – Civil Administration of Volyn and Podil Frontline, which formally
answered to the Civil Administration of the Eastern Territories, but in practice – only to
the Head of the State. After the agreement between S. Petliura and J. Pilsudsky from June
1, 1920, the territories of Western Volyn were taken under the direct control by the central
executive power of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and above all, the
Ministry of Internal Affairs. The matter of possible will of the local population lost its
importance and relevancy. However, the Polish-Bolshevik war in the summer of 1920
liquidated the Polish administration of Western Volyn, which needed to be reestablished
from the very beginning, from September of 1920. The Temporary Administration of the
Frontline and Stage Territories was formed. At the beginning of the negotiations in Riga at
the end of 1920, the formation of Volyn Woiwodeship on the Territory of Western Volyn
was started, and it was officially founded in February 4, 1921. The process of the state-
legal regulation of the status of Western Volyn finally got its state as the Volyn
Woiwodeship of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
It was defined that in the process of formation of the Polish administration on the
territories of the region there originated a national movement which embraced the cultural
and educational spheres and was represented by the work of separate local leaders. After
the Polish-Ukrainian agreement in 1920 and the recognition by the Ukrainian National
Republic of the legal rights of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the region
the period of formation of national, polonofilian and sovietfilian directions in the
Ukrainian movement started. The representatives of the national direction continued to
make plans as to the possible inclusion of the region to the Ukrainian National Republic,
and in the second half of 1920 theis demanded the concession of national autonomy to
Western Volyn as part of Poland. The polonofilian direction was represented by those
members of Ukrainian intelligence who struggled for cultural autonomy of the country and
set the relationship with the Polish population.
The formation of the communist organizations of Western Volyn which supported
the activities of insurgent detachments – “National Bolsheviks”, whose task was to
destabilize the social, political and economic life of the region, was followed. In the
summer of 1920, the offensive of the Red Army led to the occupation of the province by
the Bolsheviks and the elimination of the Polish administration. However, in the Autumn
of that year, the management of Poland in Western Volyn was restored. The activity of
Polish social and political movement in Western Volyn, which was represented by the
work of the organization “Kresova storozha” and the “National Councils”, was defined.
Their task was to form the positive image of the Polish government among the local
Ukrainian, Jewish, Czech and German population.
Key words: Western Volyn, Polish administration, interim authorities, Volyn
district, Civil Administration of the Eastern Territories, organization “Kresova storozha”,
“National Councils”, Bolshevik agitation.