THE CASE OF THE POLISH MILITARY ORGANIZATION OF THE 1930S IN MODERN HISTORIOGRAPHICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

The article examines the historiographical work devoted to the persecution of persons of Polish nationality in the Ukrainian SSR within the Polish Military Organization (PMO) case. Ukrainian, Russian and Polish scholars have tried to reconsider the events of that time, overcoming the remnants of the old bias. The purpose of the study is a historiographical analysis of the process and results of research on the PMO case in the 1930s. The research methods used in the article were selected under the purpose and based on the principle of historicism. They are represented by the general scientific analysis method and special scientific historical-comparative and historical-genetic methods. The application of these methods allowed us to consistently trace the process of formation and development of historical knowledge on the studied issues. The periodization of the government's punitive and repressive policy towards Polish nationals within the PMO case in the 1930s was first proposed. It has been established that Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian scholars have studied the causes, forms, and consequences of the Soviet government's punitive and repressive policies toward Poles within the PMO case and have formed and published a significant corpus of sources. The events were traced to the processes of rehabilitation of convicts and the study of the fate of the families of Polish detainees. It should be noted that the research has great social significance as historians aim to form a public consciousness of the condemnation of Stalin's crimes and the impossibility of an acquittal policy regarding them. Several tasks have been identified that require further research efforts by scientists from different countries.