42.2 POLSKA LUDOWA
persons, passing through Poland in transit, either from west to east, or from east
to west. They included, in the one direction, the pathetic columns of Soviet
deserters and prisoners-of-war on their way towards Soviet justice, and in the
other, some tens of thousands of Polish Jews, who, having survived the War in
Russia, were now making for the West and for Israel. The expellees (who in
official Polish jargon were referred to as 'transferees') were made up of members
of national minorities, mainly German and Ukrainian, who were removed from
Poland in accordance with the Potsdam agreements. The internal migrants con-
sisted of Poles redirected by the authorities from their former homes to new des-
tinations in the Recovered Territories of the north and west. Statistics vary
sharply, but there can be little doubt that the customers of the resettlement pro-
grammes took part in one of the greatest demographic upheavals in European
History. They were marshalled by the State Repatriation Bureau (PUR), which
functioned from its creation by the PKWN in October 1944 until its abolition in
1951.^15 (See Diagram F.)
The largest single operation involved the expulsion of Poland's German pop-
ulation. Clause XIII of the Report of the Potsdam Conference had stated that
'the transfer to Germany of German populations or elements thereof remaining
in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary will have to be undertaken ... in an
orderly and humane manner.' These transfers, which were in no sense voluntary
except for families with dual nationality, involved a total of some 16.5 million
people. The Polish part of the operation, affecting 5,057,000 Germans from the
former provinces of East Pomerania, East Brandenburg, Silesia, Danzig, and
East Prussia, and from Central Poland was mounted in accordance with an
agreement reached at Berlin between Polish and British representatives of the
Combined Repatriation Executive of 14 February 1946:
- General Conditions It is agreed by both sides that the transfer and movement of
Germans from their homes in Poland and their resettlement in the British Zone will
be carried out in a humane and orderly manner. - TRANSPORTATION
Means of transport will be by rail using Polish and/or Soviet rolling stock, and by
sea. The routes in the North will be:
Route A - From STETTIN to LUBECK by sea at rate of approximately 1,000 per
day ...
Route B - From STETTIN to BAD SEGEBERG, via Lubeck, by rail at rate of
1,500 per day.
The routes in the South will be:
Route C - From KALAWSK (Kohlfurt) to MARIENTAL and ALVERSDORF via
HELMSTEDT, by rail at rate of 3,000 per day (2 trains). Route D - It
is later hoped to route a further 2,500 per day from KALAWSK
(Kohlfurt) to FRIEDLAND...
Soviet and Polish rolling stock and locomotives will run through to the above points. - DATES OF COMMENCEMENT
Route A - Stettin-Lubeck Date to be decided
Route B - Stettin-Bad Segeberg 20 February 1946