Following World War II, the communist government of Poland forcibly
relocated the country's Ukrainian minority by means of a Soviet-Polish
population exchange and then a secretly planned action code-named
Operation Vistula. In Scattered, Diana Howansky Reilly recounts these
events through the experiences of three siblings caught up in the
conflict, during a turbulent period when compulsory resettlement was a
common political tactic used against national minorities to create
homogenous states.
Born in the Lemko region of southeastern Poland, Petro, Melania, and
Hania Pyrtej survived World War II only to be separated by political
decisions over which they had no control. Petro relocated with his wife
to Soviet Ukraine during the population exchange of 1944 46, while his
sisters Melania and Hania were resettled to western Poland through
Operation Vistula in 1947. As the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought
resettlement, the Polish government meanwhile imprisoned suspected
sympathizers within the Jaworzno concentration camp. Melania, Reilly's
maternal grandmother, eventually found her way to the United States
during Poland's period of liberalization in the 1960s.
Drawing on oral interviews and archival research, Reilly tells a
fascinating, true story that provides a bottom-up perspective and
illustrates the impact of extraordinary historical events on the lives
of ordinary people. Tracing the story to the present, she describes
survivors' efforts to receive compensation for the destruction of their
homes and communities.
Silver Medal for World History, Independent Publisher Book Awards
Finalist, Housatonic Book Awards
Finalist in History, Foreword Books of the Year
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