An analysis of the development in agriculture in Lower Silesia from 1918 to 1939 and 1945 to 1956

Abstract

Purpose – An analysis of the development in Polish agriculture from 1918 to 1939 and 1945 to1956. Research method – The article uses scientific historical and economical methods. Source texts of the state provenance were analysed: legal acts, printed sources (mainly statistical), archival records. In the economic studies, the analysis included statistical data, dynamics of phenomena, and comparative studies. Results – The analysis of changes in agriculture in Lower Silesia in the studied periods demonstrates that despite the under-investment and its marginal economic importance in Germany from 1918 to 1939, the agriculture in Lower Silesia was at a much higher level than the agriculture in pre-war Poland. Communism coming into power post 1945 and Poland entering the so-called Eastern Block hindered further development of capitalist agriculture in Lower Silesia. The agricultural structure created after World War II was not adapted to the character of farms taken over and the existing agricultural system was completely different from the socio-political assumptions based on agricultural reform and on the socialist character of agriculture prevailing from 1945 to 1956. Originality / value – The analysis of agricultural economy in the studied period was not sufficiently described in the source literature.