PROBLEMS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE REGAINED TERRITORIES DURING THE FIRST TEN YEARS AFTER THE WAR (1945-1955)

• Authors: Skobelski L.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Economic development of the Regained Territories in the first ten years after the war proceeded under very complex political and social conditions. The damage and devastation of those areas as well as the migration of people hindered enormously the incorporation of these lands into the Polish economic organism. The situation was additionally complicated by the post-war chaos and limited possibilities of the state, which at the time did not possess adequate financial and material sources that could be allocated for rebuilding. Although in the years 1945-1949 several plants started to operate, production was mainly developing in bigger centres where the equipment and machinery retained from smaller plants were accumulated. On the other hand, in the country, despite intensive efforts, not all of the arable land was managed. There was a great need for machinery and livestock, and the items that survived and were managed by settlers were not sufficient. At the end of the 1940s it was clearly shown that the government ceased to be actively involved in the idea of integrating the areas in question with the rest of Poland. It was then confirmed by the main assumptions of the six-year plan, which did not take into account the peculiarities of the Regained Territories. Proportionally smaller funds were appropriated for the development of these territories in comparison with the sources designed for other areas in Poland. Unfortunately, the opportunities for the reconstruction of the plants which survived the war were not used, and the maritime economy and the Odra (Oder) river navigation were badly neglected. The six-year plan also had a negative impact on agriculture in the areas that were annexed after the war. The rural crisis caused by collectivization was much deeper here than in other parts of Poland. This merely resulted from unregulated property relations, weak social bonds among the settlers and general lack of people. The crisis of the collectivization policy in 1956 required much bigger funds to be allocated to the Regained Territories than to other parts of Poland for the restoration and rebuilding of individual economy.

Keywords

EN

'REGAINED TERRITORIES' AFTER WW II (POLAND); ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; MIGRATION OF PEOPLE

Discipline

• POLITICAL_SCIENCES: POLITICAL SCIENCES

• Publisher: Lubuskie Towarzystwo Naukowe
• Journal: Rocznik Lubuski
• Year: 2007
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 89-120
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Skobelski L.

• R. Skobelski, Uniwersytet Zielonogórski, Wydzial Politologii, ul. Podgórna 50, 65-246 Zielona Góra, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08PLAAAA04558784