WILNO AND NORTH-EASTERN POLAND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000500160028-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: March 1, 1944
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/05 :CIA-RDP08C01297R000500160028-2
WILNO AND NORTH-EASTERN POLAND
Percentage of population of POLISH nationality
according to .1931 Census
.\\~
.~
?~\
.~.. THE CURZON ?I.INE ~,
DZISNA
?
~:\~~
=0 fNpL/SN Y/LFf ~ ~~~\
\\\~\r\\\\\\\~
30' 30.9 ?/e
? ?
\
e
20' 20. 9%
\'~
\~~ FRONTIERS OF \~ e
? . POLAND \\~ e
WOtKOWY~3K
i ` BA RANOWIC2E \\
?~\~\
~~~~~~
~~~~
~\
~\
~`~~\
MOtODECZ~\
? \
~~\
YY?~\\\
` ~\
STOt PCE ? \ -
~\
~ ~~X\
.~~~ ~
purr cur\~\
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/05 :CIA-RDP08C01297R000500160028-2
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/05 :CIA-RDP08C01297R000500160028-2
London, March 1944.
VIII.I~TO AND NORTH-EASTERN POLAND
Wilno Is not a~ .Polish "Island90
The opinion -that VVilno is merely- a Polish ~??island" surround- ,
ed by areas ~~ith a majority of White Ruthenian /or~ Lithuanian/_
population does not correspond ti~rith.the truth. Wilno lies-in a
country v~'hich Possesses a Polish ma,Zority and tahich is ethnical
closely bound to the main-body of the Polish nation.
The area tiJith indisputabl~~ Polish majority extends like a
belt .from Bialystok /situated: sr~st from the "Curzon Lino?t/ north-
eastyuards to the Dvina River. and. it embraces the north-eastern part
of the ~3ialystok Province /the city of Grodno and its region/, the
larger pert of the Wilno Province including the "city of Wilno, as
bru11: as a :large. portion of the Province of No~7ogrodek. f
According too the. census of the population in 1931 the situation
as regards nationalities in, the ?provinces of Wilno. and. NoTrogr6dek
Nas as follows
Province of
Provinca of
.
Vdi lno
Noti4ic rod ek
Poles
59.7 60 -
~'
White Ruthenians .
22.7 ~ tF
~g ~ 1 ;;
Jetias
~
8.5 ?f ~
7,3 .,Tt
Lithuanians
5.2 " ~
0.0 ,?}
Russians
3.4 . ??
0.7 q, '
Other and
undeclared nationalities
~ 0.5 ?1
n_~ }~
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/05 :CIA-RDP08C01297R000500160028-2
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/05: CIA-RDP08C01297R000500160028-2
The western and central counties of both provinces show~a
particularly high percentage of Pol?s. First on the list comes
the county Wilno-Troki /84.2 per cent Poles and 7.9 per cent
Lithuanians/, then follow the counties of Szczuczyn /83.5 per
cent Poles and no Lithuanians/\; Oszmiana /81.2 per cent Poles,
1.5 per cent Lithuanians/; Lida /79.4 per cent Poles, and 1.3
per cent Lithuanians/; Y'dolozyn /66'.4 per cent Pohes arid'no
Lithuanians/; Braslaw /65.5 per cent Poles and 2.4 per cent
Lithuaniansfi Swi~ciany /50.2 per cunt Poles and 31.5 percent
Li~thu.anians/~. Yn fhe` c'i'ty of `Nilno itseif th~::'p0les'~re'present~d
65.9 per cent of the total population in 1931, while the remainder
~ ,
vuere mostly : Jews vahereas the- number of Lithuanians /0.8 per cent/
and oi' White Rutheniaris /0.9 per cent/ wasp quite negligible.
For. .the counties .situated farther .east, the 1931 census
demonstrated the absolute majority of Polish population in the '
county of Sto'i'pce~ /52.2 per cent/; inn other counties of the 4Ui'1W
no and Nowo~r6.dek provinces the Poles represented either a relative
majority or an important minority. The relative majority of Poles
lived in the counties of Postawy /48.0 pe.r'cent/ and Baranowivze
/46.5 per cent/.
~In that part, of Wilno Province:.. /including the. city of Wilno/
,which the Soviet illegally ceded to Lithuania following the agree--
ment signed on October 1Cth, 1939,~the proportion of netionalit~,es
according to .the 1931~census was: ~~ ~.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/05: CIA-RDP08C01297R000500160028-2
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/05 :CIA-RDP08C01297R000500160028-2
11^o,tal ,poyulation
489
-
-Q00
..
.
:
Poles
Jeti~1s ~
337?, 000 i . e .
66.000 "
69.0 ~o
13
5 ?'
. .
Lithuanians
F4
.55
OOQ
.
3 4f
1:1
Russians
4~'hite Ruth
i
.
.
16.000 " ~
..,:
3.2 "
en
an
1;2.000 - "
4: aS
~
Other and undeclared
nationalities
3.OQ0 "
.
o.Fj" 4F
.At the end of August 1939, that is to. say, on the outbreak
of z~rar, the `respective figures 4