Konsekwencje zmian granic i przekształceń politycznych po II wojnie światowej na liczebność i rozmieszczenie Ukraińców, Łemków, Białorusinów i Litwinów w Polsce

ENPoland before the Second World War was a multinational county. This situation changed after the War. The biggest influence on descries of number of Ukrainians, Lemkos, Belorussians and Lithuanians in Poland had changes of borders which made the largest groups of this minorities leave at the areas joined to the USSR. The second reason was resettlement of the numerous groups of people to the USSR in 1944 – 1946. The latest deployment of the minorities in Poland, especially Ukrainians and Lemkos, is the consequence of “Wisła” action which completely changed the place of their settlement. Contemporary not very large number of minorities groups in Poland is the consequence of polonize processes which took place in PRL period as well as nowadays in democratic country. The most important influence on deployment and number of minorities had the political decisions which were taken by the communist authorities of the USSR and Poland. We can presume that in the next census the number of Ukrainians, Lemkos, Belorussians and Lithuanians will be lower because of polonize processes, migration to the cities and generation changes. However the deployment of the main groups won’t change significantly. The political issues, which were very important in XX century, nowadays won’t play the central role in these processes.