Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia Under Soviet Occupation: The Development of Socialist Farming, 1939-1941

Abstract

On 17 September 1939, in partial fulfillment of the conditions of the NaziSoviet Pact, the Red Army, under the command of General Timoshenko, invaded Eastern Poland, following the German invasion of Western Poland some two weeks earlier. The occupied territory, which contained large Ukrainian and Belorussian populations,1 subsequently became known as Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia. In the short period of twenty-one months up to the German invasion of June 1941, the Soviet authorities succeeded in bringing about a major transformation in rural landholding. Several articles have been devoted to the annexation of Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia,2 but they have concentrated mainly on political and military issues. Very little has been written in the West about the changes that occurred in rural life.3