| ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE TERRITORY EAST OF THE CURZON LINE |
The disputed territory which extended from the Curzon Line to Russia's western border (1921) had approximately 13,000,000 inhabitants over an area covering 188,000 kilometers. The following statistics were gathered from a 1931 Polish census of the area. |
Poles 4,794,000 39.0 % Ukrainians & Rusyns 4,139,000 34.4 % Jews 1,045,000 8.4 % Belarussians 993,000 8.5 % Lithuanians 76,000 0.6 % Others (Poleszuks) 845,000 6.4 % |
They were also classified into religious groups: Roman Catholics 4,016,000 33.4 % Greek Catholics or Uniates 3,050,000 25.4 % Orthodox 3,529,000 29.3 % Jewish 1,222,000 10.2% Other Christian Denominations 180,000 1.5 % |
The cities and towns west of the Curzon Line were predominantly Polish. The rural population represented various ethnic groups in numbers far greater than found in urban cities. Southern Poland had a large Ukrainian population, but of Galician descent. |
After World War II, Poland acquired new territory to the west, which included Silesia, Pomerania, Lubus Land, Warmia, and Masuria. These were the provinces originally part of eastern Germany and from which German inhabitants were expelled after the war. |