Kharkevych N. Resettlement processes in Ukraine in 1944–1953 referring to Volyn and Rivne regions.

This dissertation gives the comprehensive analysis of the resettlement of Ukrainians from Poland and Czechoslovakia to Volyn and Rivne regions of the Ukrainian SSR, as well as the resettlement of Poles from the Ukrainian territories to the Polish People’s Republic and resettlement of Czechs to Czechoslovakia. The resettlement processes in Volyn region are described on the basis of the unpublished materials, first of all, documents from the Volyn and Rivne state archives, published collections of documents, memoirs, “oral history” and thematic literature. The dissertation clarifies the total number of Ukrainian displaced persons, who arrived in Volyn and Rivne regions during 1944–1948. Their number significantly differs from the data used by Ukrainian historiography. The thesis describes the location of the displaced persons in Volyn: it is stated that the central areas of Volyn region and the southern territories of Rivne region were the priority territories for the resettlement; the displaced persons also arrived in Rivne, Zdolbuniv, Dubno, Lutsk. As the displaced were mostly peasants, they preferred to live in the villages located near towns and small districts with good community transport. The dissertation describes the process of the self-willed return of Ukrainian displaced persons from Poland, the south-eastern regions of the Ukrainian SSR to Volyn: it is stated that the number of such displaced persons was higher than those who “were forced” to migrate to Volyn and Rivne regions.