“A Border in Flames”. Espionage in the Context of Illegal Migrations along the Eastern Border of the Second Republic of Poland (Based on the Example of the Tarnopolskie Voivodeship) Cover Image

„Płonąca granica”. Działalność szpiegowska w kontekście nielegalnych migracji na wschodniej granicy II Rzeczypospolitej (na przykładzie województwa tarnopolskiego)
“A Border in Flames”. Espionage in the Context of Illegal Migrations along the Eastern Border of the Second Republic of Poland (Based on the Example of the Tarnopolskie Voivodeship)

Author(s): Serhi Humennyi
Subject(s): History, Recent History (1900 till today), Interwar Period (1920 - 1939)
Published by: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej
Keywords: spying and sabotage activities;illegal migration;smuggling;USRR;Second Republic of Poland;Tarnopolskie Voivodeship;Soviet and Polish border;State Political Board (GPU)

Summary/Abstract: The phenomenon of espionage in the context of illegal migrations in the borderlands of the Second Republic of Poland has not been thoroughly examined so far. This article aims to analyse the procedure of crossing the state border illegally and explaining the impact of the phenomenon on the political and economic situation in the borderlands of the Tarnopolskie Voivodeship, specifically in the Poviats of Borszczów, Czortków, Kopyczyńce, Skałat and Zbaraż in the years 1921–1939. This it most probably the first attempt to explain the relationship between the status of the protection of the state bor- der, the Ukrainian and Polish conflict during the existence of the Polish state and the sabotage and intelligence activities of the Soviet authorities in the territories of one of the Eastern voivodeships of the Second Republic of Poland.

  • Issue Year: 33/2019
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 327-344
  • Page Count: 25
  • Language: Polish