The Bug River Poles are

Polish people Polish people, or Poles, are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation who share a common History of Poland, history, Culture of Poland, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Central Europe. The preamble t ...

who, either were, or are descendants of, the inhabitants of the area of the

Eastern Borderlands Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...

, an area to the east of modern borders of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, within the modern territory of

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, that were displaced from there to Poland between 1944 and 1959.

Name

The name refers to the

Bug River The Bug or Western Bug is a major river in Central Europe that flows through Belarus (border), Poland, and Ukraine, with a total length of .Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

and

. In

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

the name is ''Zabużanie'' (singular: ''Zabużanin''), which literally means the "people from the other side of Bug", "trans-Bug people". It refers to the fact that people to whom that name applies, used to live to the east of that river.

History

The Borderlands Poles are the collection of the

ethnographic group An ethnographic group or ethnocultural group is a group that has cultural traits that make it stand out from the larger ethnic group it is a part of. In other words, members of an ethnographic group will also consider themselves to be members of a ...

s of

from the area of the

, an area to the east of modern borders of

, within the modern territory of

. They are mostly descendants of

Masovians Masovians, also spelled as Mazovians, and historically known as Masurians, is an ethnographic group of Polish people that originates from the region of Masovia, located mostly within borders of the Masovian Voivodeship, Poland. They speak the ...

, and to a lesser extent,

Lesser Poland people Lesser, from Eliezer (, "Help/Court of my God"), is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adolf Lesser (1851–1926), German physician * Aleksander Lesser (1814–1884), Polish painter and art critic * Anton Lesser (born 1952), Bri ...

, some of whom

colonised 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples fo ...

the area across centuries.Janusz Kamocki: ''Zarys grup etnograficznych w Polsce''. In: ''Polskie Towarzystwo Turystyczno-Krajoznawcze: Ziemia 1965 – Prace i materiały krajoznawcze''. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka, 1966, p. 112.Jan Stanisław Bystroń:
Ugrupowanie etniczne ludu polskiego
'. Kraków: Orbis, 1925, p. 17. In the

aftermath of World War II The aftermath of World War II saw the rise of two global superpowers, the United States (U.S.) and the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.). The aftermath of World War II was also defined by the rising threat of nuclear warfare, the creation and implementati ...

, thousands of Polish people were displaced from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to Poland, mostly in the first repatriation of 1944–1946, and later in the second repatriation of 1955–1959.

Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a British and Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Profes ...

, ''God's Playground'', Chapters XX-XXI, , ZNAK 2006 As such, they, and their descendants, now live across Poland. Many of those who were forced to leave, had to leave their property behind, including land, vehicles, and others. It is referred to as

Bug River property A Bug River property (, lit. ''property beyond the Bug River'') is a property which was within the territory of interbellum Poland (Second Polish Republic) and was forcibly vacated by the evicted Polish landowners ( Bug River Poles) after 1945 when ...

, and Poland is currently paying the portion of the recompensation to them, and their descendants. Currently, the term Bug River Poles is popularly used to refer to those who are eligible to receive such recompensation.

Notes

References

{{Portal bar, Poland Ethnic groups in Poland Polish population transfers (1944–1946) Belarus–Poland relations Lithuania–Poland relations Poland–Ukraine relations Poland–Russia relations Poland–Soviet Union relations Stalinism in Poland Polish People's Republic Deportation Slavic ethnic groups West Slavs