Marchlewszczyzna

Marchlewszczyzna (Мархлевский польский национальный район) was a Polish National District in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic created as an experiment and as part of the Soviet korenizatsia campaign in Zhytomyr Okruha to the west of Zhytomyr on 21 July 1925 by resolution of the Little Presidium of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee. Its capital, the town of Dovbysh, was renamed later in 1926 as Marchlewsk. The district was one of 32 other national districts that were created in the Ukrainian SSR during that period (1924-1939). Creation of the district was based on standards adopted by the fourth session of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee (15-19 February 1925) and recommendations of the Central Commission in affairs of National Minorities at that executive committee. It was created to implement an idea in creation of Polish national districts on territories of Ukrainian and Belarusian SSRs.

History
The district was located far away from the railroad in an area numerically dominated by settlements of khutor type (farmsteads). The village of Dovbysh was a small settlement around the Dovbysh porcelain factory. The district did not have telephone and telegraph communications and by general estimates it was economically backwards. Initially the district was composed of 26 rural communities (selsoviets) with a general area of 620 km2. Later 108 populated places were united into 34 communities (30 Polish, 2 Ukrainian, 2 German). In percentage terms the population consisted of 68.8% Polish people, 19.2% Ukrainians, 8.8% Germans, 2.5% Jews and 0.5% of Russians. In 1932 the number of communities increased to 38, 34 of which were Polish.

The official opening ceremony of the district took place on 27 March 1926 with the participation of Felix Dzerzhinsky, Feliks Kon, Samuil Lazovert, Boleslav Skarbek and Józef Unszlicht at the First district congress of Soviets (27–30 April 1926) where in total 103 delegates and 500 visitors took part. The newly created district received valuable presents: from the Moscow Factory "Tribuna" were 2 tractors with ploughs, from the "Pratsia" association radio receivers, from the Polish department of the People's Commissariat of Enlightenment of the Ukrainian SSR otoscopes. In 1927 took place the Second congress of Soviets of Marchlewski District at which were present Tomasz Dąbal, Samuil Lazovert and Boleslav Skarbek. During the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution the Polish District was visited by a Polish delegation.

As a type of Soviet propaganda, the subdivision was located just 50 km from the eastern border of the Second Polish Republic and was named after the Polish Bolshevik Julian Marchlewski, who was a rector of the Communist University of the National Minorities of the West and dreamed of Poland becoming part of the Soviet Union. Marchlewszczyzna had to become an exemplary autonomous district where Bolsheviks sought to demonstrate to their western neighbor Poland that the Polish as a nation will also submit to "government of workers and peasants". The function of the Polish District had boldly expressed its political composition, as the leader of the Polish section of the Central Commission in affairs of National Minorities Jan Saulewicz had spoken about more than once.

The raion was established out of the already existing Pulyny Raion. Later in 1930 the rest of the Pulyny Raion was transformed into a German National District. Soon after the establishment of the Marchlewski Polish National District, territorial division by governorates in the Ukrainian SSR was abolished and Marchlewszczyzna became part at first of Zhytomyr Okruha and after the establishing of Kyiv Oblast in 1932, part of Novohrad Volynskyi Okruha.

In the initial years of the district's existence, local Poles enjoyed limited autonomy, with 55 Polish-language schools, 80 reading rooms and a Polish daily Marchlewszczyzna Radziecka (Soviet Marchlewszczyzna). At the same time, its inhabitants were subject to intense communist propaganda. Polish grammar rules, regarded as bourgeoisie, were changed; however, the district lacked educated people. The majority of its inhabitants were Catholic peasants who were not interested in communist ideas. Therefore, such persons as Tomasz Dąbal were brought there to propagate atheism. An organization named the Polish Anti-Catholic Section was also founded.

As one of the Dovbysh residents recalled, after local elections some newly elected officials were soon arrested and taken away in "Chornyi voronok" (an NKVD car, which, in particular was used to carry detainees). Among such was Jan Trybel, the father of Halyna (Helena) Trybel, who spent 20 years in exile. Halyna Trybel happened to be a mother of Yuriy Yekhanurov.

The Soviet authorities, who wanted to create Polish laborers, future citizens of the Polish Soviet Republic, built several factories as well as power plants and telephone lines. This also brought about improvement in the quality of life, but all efforts were destroyed in the early 1930s, when the collectivization in the Soviet Union began. Polish peasants opposed it fiercely, and thousands of them perished in the Holodomor.

Initially, ethnic Poles constituted around 70% of district's population, which in 1926 totalled around 41,000. Other inhabitants were Ukrainians (20%), Germans (7%) and Jews. In 1930, after several adjacent villages were added to Marchlewszczyzna, the population grew to 52,000, with Poles still constituting 70%. It has been estimated that the district consisted of around 100 villages, settlements and smaller towns.

In 1935 by resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union (signed by Grigoriy Petrovskiy) the Polish national raion was abolished and split between the newly formed Chervonoarmiyskyi Raion and Baranivka Raion, Kyiv Oblast, while some communities were also transferred to either Novohrad-Volynskyi or Zhytomyr municipalities. In Zhytomyr Oblast the former Marchlewszczyzna appeared upon creation of the oblast in 1938.

Soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, since 1996 in the local town school the Polish language is being taught once again by the efforts of the local Polish Society of Jan Paul II. Already in 1990 in Dovbysh the local Catholic parish was revived.