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The Black Sheep of the Land: Bandits in the Polish Borderlands, 1918–1925
Author(s) -
Pomiecko Aleksandra
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1002/johs.12339
Subject(s) - scholarship , state (computer science) , spanish civil war , political science , perspective (graphical) , first world war , work (physics) , social conflict , economy , economic history , sociology , political economy , history , ancient history , politics , law , economics , engineering , art , mechanical engineering , algorithm , computer science , visual arts
This article examines banditry in the northeastern provinces of the Second Polish Republic after the First World War and into the mid‐1920s. It considers the devastating effects of the war, which ravaged the territory, together with policies of the Polish state that contributed to an increase in bandit activity in the eastern borderland region. This work argues that banditry here worked as a multi‐level system and thrived due to the involvement of multiple social actors—the bandits themselves, locals, state authorities, and foreign aid. Furthermore, this article pushes for an examination of bandits—not merely as social outcasts or misfits—but as an integral part of the communities they emerged from. More broadly, the focus on banditry contributes to scholarship dedicated to better understanding the aftermath of the First World War and continued conflict from the perspective of everyday people.