Volyn region

Volyn Region, Volynia or the Volynskaya Oblast is the most northwestern administrative district of present-day Ukraine bordering Belarus to the north and Poland to the west. The capital of the oblast is Lutsk (Luck). Kovil (Kovel, Kowel) is the most westernly town and terminus of the Ukrainian rail line that runs from Warsaw through to Kiev.

History of Volyn region

See also: Volhynia

Volyn was once part of Kievan Rus' before becoming an independent local principality and an integral part of the early Ukrainian state of Halych-Volynia. In the 1400s, the area came under the control of neighboring Lithuania, in 1569 passing over to Poland and then in 1795, until World War I, the Russian Empire where it was called the Volynskaya Guberniya.

In Krzemieniec there was a Polish language post-secondary school named Liceum Krzemienieckie. It was closed by the Russian government in 1830. In this province communities of Ukrainians (Greek Catholic and Orthodox), Jews, Poles (Roman Catholics) as well as smaller groups of Czechs and Germans lived together in a peaceful manner.

After World War I, the area was assigned to Poland as Wolhynian Voivodship. In contract to the situation in the Eastern Galicia, the Polish government actively promoted Ukrainian organisations. However, in the course of converting the large latifundia estates owned by Polish nobles into farms former soldiers, mostly ethnic Poles, had priority. This was the key factor in dissatisfaction of the Ukrainian population, despite the fact, that Polish rule saved them from Soviet attrocities, including Soviet collectivization.

During World War II, Volyn was invaded by the Soviet Union and annexed subsequently to Nazi-Soviet pact. As in other Polish provinces the Soviets massacred retired Polish officers and the Polish intelligentsia and then followed waves of deportations to the eastern part of Soviet Union, mostly of Poles. Before the Nazi capture of the province, Soviets also massacred people waiting for deportation (see: prisoners massacre).

The Nazi's completed their "holocaust" of the Jews of Volhynia in late 1942. Unlike Poles that were treated as enemies the Nazis had an ambivalent feeling towards Ukrainian guerillas who were known as UPA, Ukrainska Povstanska Armia (Ukrainian Insurrection Army)) which was started in this region and then spread to other regions of Ukraine. The UPA fought sporadically with the Nazis and with Soviet partisants. The UPA held that an ethnically pure Volhynia after the genocide of Jews also meant elimination of Poles (see Massacres of Poles in Volhynia). In course of the actions of the UPA the majority of the Polish population of the region was murdered. This also completed holocaust of Jews that had been hidden in the local Polish villages.

In January 1944 the Red Army re-entered Volhynia. The Polish Home Army founded the 27th Infantry Division to fight Germans together with Soviets. However, the unit was abandoned and partially destroyed by the Nazi army. The rest of this Division was demobilised by the Red Army due to fact, that the unit obeyed Polish government.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II the Polish-Soviet border was redrawn based on Curzon line. The Poles who remained in the region were transferred to the Regained Territories.

The region was re-united with the rest of Ukraine by a unilateral decision of the Soviet authorities.

External link

• Official web site of Lutsk