Ziemiańscy egzulanci kresowi na Pomorzu po pierwszej wojnie światowej

The Bolshevik offensive against Poland during the years 1919–1920 forced landowners who had lived in the Eastern Borderlands for generations to escape hastily from their estates. The formation of the Polish border in the east after the treaty of Riga made it impossible for most of them to return to their family lands. The refugees from the Eastern Borderlands were not only deprived of their houses and land, but also financial resources. They arrived in large numbers in the major cities where they tried to find work and some financial means of survival. Other landowners purchased small farms in the new Rzeczpospolita. The most attractive were farms in Pomerania abandoned by the Germans. Immigrants from the Eastern Borderlands found it hard to adapt to new conditions of life and work. Demoted socially, they indulged in nostalgia for the past and longing for their lost motherland. They felt insulted by the Polish government, misunderstood and alienated. It was frequently difficult for them to renounce their old habits in administering their estates, which meant that they often failed to succeed in the changed economic circumstances and on a much smaller area of land. Younger landowners exhibited a greater mobility and found it easier to find work. They did not feel attached to the Pomeranian land and found it easier to make the decision to leave the region.