‘Polish Operation’ of the NKVD 1937–1938 against the background of repressions against Poles in the Belarusian SSR. Documents
This volume of source materials focuses on the ‘Polish Operation’ carried out by the NKVD in 1937–1938 on the territory of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, and is the first academic publication on the Polish market devoted mostly to this issue.
Worth noting is the participation of Belarusian historians, offering a different perspective on this crime and enabling readers to find the commonalities between the fates of the victims of Soviet totalitarianism regardless of their ethnicity.
Compared to other ethnic operations, the ‘Polish Operation’ in the Belarusian SSR was characterised by an unusually broad scope and cruelty of repressions, as well as a high percentage of people sentenced to death. From 24 July 1937 to 1 September 1938 alone, a total of 21,407 “Polish spies, saboteurs and members of insurgent organisations” were arrested. Overall, 467 “spy residences,” 13,042 “spies,” 2679 “saboteurs,” 4425 “insurgents” affiliated to 522 “insurgent groups” were liquidated. The repressions affected the entire Polish population in the Soviet Belarus. The ‘Polish Operation’ was an element of the Great Terror and one of the greatest crimes with the traits of genocide in Europe in the 20th century.
