ACTIVITIES OF TRADING FIRMS OF VOLYN VOIVODSHIP ON THE POLISH-SOVIET BORDER IN THE 1920s

Abstract

Abstract
 The purpose of the article is to analyze the activities of Polish trading firms of the Volyn Voivodeship on the eastern border of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 1920s.
 The scientific novelty consists in the introduction into circulation of a significant number of hitherto unknown scientific sources regarding the activities of trading firms on the Polish-Soviet border in the specified period.
 Methodology. When writing the article, the basic principles of historical knowledge were used: historicism, scientificity, objectivity. Specific search tasks of the research were solved by problem-chronological means (optimal involvement of the thematic literature and source base); historical-comparative (analysis of various sources and formation of relevant research provisions and conclusions); critical analysis (critical attitude to various sources) methods.
 Conclusions. The first half of the 1920s was a time of intensification of contraband trade on the Volyn section of the Polish-Soviet border, which in turn led to the emergence of a number of trading firms focused on foreign buyers. Their activities were constantly in the field of view of representatives of the Polish state authorities, police bodies, and border guard units. During the first half of the 1920s, the Polish state was looking for an optimal model of organizing the protection of the eastern border of the state. With the transfer of functions for the protection of the Polish-Soviet border to units of the Border Guard Corps, the strengthening of border protection on the Soviet side, the collapse of the NEP led to the gradual collapse of the activities of companies and smugglers. In the early 1930s, most of the firms ceased their activities, and their owners reoriented themselves to trade on the western border of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.