Marginalizacja mniejszości narodowych w II Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na przykładzie powiatu bialskiego

Marginalization of national minorities in the Second Polish Republic has been primarily discussed in the context of the eastern part of the state and borderland areas. In Biała Podlaska Poviat, located almost in the centre of the country, where the scale of ethnic and nationality-related problems was smaller, one could think that actions aimed at restricting the role played by ethnic and national minorities in the local community, were non-existent. This paper aims at demonstrating that in Biała Podlaska poviat, marginalization of citizens of non-Polish origin also happened, and was, among other, conducted by state and self-government institutions. In order to reconstruct the nation-related structure of the poviat, Anna Madej and Arkadiusz Zawadzki used available statistical sources and employed related research methods. The examination of the statistical sources showed that deficiency of statistical material indicates marginalization of minorities, as the registration formula used by the state institution General Statistical Office, and performed by local administration led to obtaining results inconsistent with the actual situation. It is visible when comparing information earlier than 1818 and the information related to 1940. Additionally, numerous archival sources, both normative and diary ones, testify to realization of consistent policy aimed at Polonization. It seems that regardless of the political party wielding power and the actual state policy trend regarding national minorities, the local state apparatus in Biała Podlaska poviat realized the concept of Polonization of the Ukrainian, Belarussian as well as quite large „local” population. The most drastic example of this was the process of revindication of Orthodox churches by the Catholic Church and using them as churches, public buildings or pulling them down. Efforts were also made to restrict the role Jewish minority in commercial and political life. It required using other methods, since cultural assimilation was impossible in this case. As a result, the number of Jews in the poviat increased much more slowly than in other parts of the country.