14.07.2015, Strategic Culture
Foundation http://www.strategic-culture.org (Russia), Фонд стратегической культуры http://www.fondsk.ru (Россия)
Poland will hold parliamentary election in October. No matter who
comes to power, the issue of Eastern Kresy will probably continue to be in
focus. The interest will be fueled by ongoing Ukrainian crisis. Kresy Wschodnie
or Kresy («Eastern Borderlands», or «Borderlands») is a term that refers to the
eastern lands that formerly belonged to Poland. These territories today lie in
western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania.
In the interbellum, the term Kresy roughly equated with the lands
beyond the Curson line, suggested in December 1919 by the British Foreign
Office as the eastern border for Poland. After the 1919-1921 war between Poland
and the Soviet Russia Kresy became Polish. In September 1939, these territories
were incorporated into the Soviet Union. Even though Kresy, or the Eastern
Borderlands, are no longer Polish territories, the area is still inhabited by a
significant Polish minority, and the memory of a Polish Kresy is still
cultivated.
The attachment to the «myth of Kresy», the vision of the region as
a peaceful, idyllic, rural land, has been an issue in Polish public discourse.
«Restitution Kresy», a recently established organization, was created in April
to deal with the return of Polish property in the Western Ukraine. Mateusz
Piskorski, the leader of Zmiana
