Lithuania was granted 8,300 square kilometres (2.1 per cent), with more thanhalf a million inhabitants.
It became common practice to appoint local people’s committees andmilitias, which usually managed to prepare an enthusiastic welcome for the entering Soviet troops. Pre-war communists, mostly of Jewish origin, sometimes Bundists and leftist Zionists, widely represented in the Borderlands, often played an important role in these committees.
The local Jews and some 350,000 refugees constituted approximately 12–13 per cent of the entire population. For comparison, before the war theproportion had been 11 per cent on average in the whole country; and it variedin large and medium-sized cities: 72 per cent in Słonim; 67 per cent in Lida; 62 per cent in Ostróg; 54 per cent in Nowogródek; and 32 per cent in Lvov.
The majority of the Jewish community was virtually defenceless in the new state organisation. In the Soviet system, a national minority without its own territory had no chance to preserve its identity. In the Soviet Union, a colossal body ruled by extensive bureaucracy, the model of a population practically devoid of rights and utterly pauperised was implemented gradually but surely. Ethnic divisions and quarrels were eagerly used, in accordance with the principle of divide et impera, to weaken ties within ethnic or religious groups; groups that were at odds with “the one true” class princi-ple of the social order. For this reason, the occupier first and foremost eradicated all traces of Polish statehood, utilising the resentment of minorities. Officially, every manifestation of antisemitism was also eliminated. In theory, everyone had equal access to all offices and positions. In the autumn of 1939, the Supreme Councils (Soviets) were elected – Belarusian and Ukrainian (delegates later voted to join the fraternal Soviet republics). Only a handfulof Jews were appointed to those Councils: in Ukraine 20 (4 per cent), and 72 in Belarus (8 per cent). None of those elected was made a member of the del-egation to the Supreme Council in Moscow, which on 1 and 2 November 1939 annexed new territories to the Soviet republics. Also in municipal bodies ofmuch lower rank, representatives of the Jewish population were scarce; for example, among the 516 delegates elected to the National Council of Lvov,there were only 21 Jews (4 per cent).
Jews had to adapt to the new situation in such a way so as not to alienate the currently prevailing national elements – Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian. Few counted on a quick return to the pre-war status. Byezhentsy,
GENERA L INTRO D U C TION XXV
