The Wilno Voivodeship () was one of 16

Voivodeship A voivodeship ( ) or voivodate is the area administered by a voivode (governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in ...

s in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

, with the capital in

Wilno Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

(now

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, Lithuania). The jurisdiction was created in 1926 and populated predominantly by

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

, with notable minorities of

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and

Lithuanians Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...

. Before 1926, the voivodeship's area was known as the Wilno Land; it had the same boundaries and was also within the contemporary borders of Poland at the time. The total area of Wilno Voivodeship was , with a population of 1.276 million. Following the German and Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

and the reshaping of Europe, Poland's borders were redrawn at the insistence of Soviet leader

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

at the

Tehran Conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of the Allies of World War II, held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was the first of the Allied World Wa ...

. Wilno Voivodeship was incorporated into the Lithuanian and the

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a Republics of the Soviet Union, republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 19 ...

s. Many of the ethnic Polish population were forcibly resettled at the end of World War II. Since 1991, the former territory of the voivodeship is now part of sovereign

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and sovereign

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

History

Background

After the Third Partition of Poland–Lithuania in 1795, the

Vilnius region Vilnius Region is the territory in present-day Lithuania and Belarus that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time. The territory ...

, like most of

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

, was occupied by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

until

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Russian rule in the region was unstable as evidenced by the

French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the Continenta ...

, the Uprisings of 1831 and

1863 Events January * January 1 – Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate States of America an official war goal. The signing ...

. In the

aftermath of World War I The aftermath of World War I saw far-reaching and wide-ranging cultural, economic, and social change across Europe, Asia, Africa, and in areas outside those that were directly involved. Four empires collapsed due to the war, old countries were a ...

and Russia's internal weakness due to the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, Lithuania and Poland re-established their independence. However, the Polish–Lithuanian War began as a result of conflict between the two countries. In October 1920,

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

, Poland's Chief of State, in order to circumvent the Treaty of Suvalkai, which left Vilnius on the Lithuanian side, organized Żeligowski's Mutiny, to seize Vilnius for Poland. In this

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misrep ...

operation, the Polish goals of taking over Vilnius were achieved and the Polish puppet state of Central Lithuania was created. In 1922, after a disputed election to the Vilnius Sejm, the parliament voted to incorporate Central Lithuania into the

1920s and 1930s

From 6 April 1922 to 20 January 1926, the territory was known as the Wilno Land (). Wilno Voivodeship was created on 20 January 1926 from the territories of the Wilno Land. On 1 April 1927,

Mołodeczno Maladzyechna, or Molodechno, is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Maladzyechna District (and formerly of Molodechno Region from 1944 to 1960). Maladzyechna is located northwest of Minsk. In 2006, it had an ...

county and was created from parts of Wilejka (5

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

s), Oszmiana (1 gmina), Wołożyń (1 gmina) and Stołpce (1 gmina) countries. On 1 April 1929, Mołodeczno county's was dissolved and was bound to of . The same day, and gminas of Postawy were dissolved and passed to and gminas and of , Wierzchnie gmina of Dzisna was dissolved and passed to , of was dissolved and was passed to of . It was formed as the last of the Polish voivodeships in the

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

. (The

Sandomierz Voivodeship Sandomierz Voivodeship (, ) was a unit of administration and local government in Poland from the 14th century to the partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. It was part of the Lesser Poland region and the Lesser Poland Province. Originally Sandomier ...

was supposed to be created in late 1939, but never was).

World War II

Following the Soviet invasion in 1939, the Wilno Voivodeship was divided between the newly created Vileyka Voblast of the

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

and independent Lithuania (from 1940 this was known as the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

). This division was not internationally accepted. The

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent Occupation ...

nominated Zygmunt Fedorowicz in 1942 as its representative for Wilno region. He was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

in 1944. Currently the former territory of Wilno Voivodeship is divided between the

and

Utena Utena () is a city in north-east Lithuania. It is the administrative center of Utena district and Utena County. Utena is one of the oldest settlements of Lithuania. The name of the city is most probably derived from a hydronym. The name of the ...

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

and the

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

and

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

Regions of Belarus At the top level of administration, Belarus is divided into six regions and one capital city. The six regions are oblasts (also known as ''voblastsi''), while the city of Minsk has a special status as the capital of Belarus. Minsk also serves a ...

Location

The Wilno Voivodeship had an area of 29,011 km² (which made it the fourth biggest Polish Voivodeship) and a population (according to the Polish census of 1931) of 1,276,000. The Voivodeship was located in the country's northeastern corner, bordering the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to the east,

to the west,

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

to the north, Nowogródek Voivodeship to the south and Białystok Voivodeship to the south-west. The landscape was flat and hilly in parts, with several lakes (such as Narocz, the biggest lake in interwar Poland). As of 1 January 1937, 21.2% of the area was forested (compared to the national average of 22.2%).

Towns and administrative division

Wilno Voivodeship was created after the territory of the

Republic of Central Lithuania The Republic of Central Lithuania (, ), commonly known as the Central Lithuania, and the Middle Lithuania (, , ), was an unrecognized short-lived puppet state of Poland, that existed from 1920 to 1922. It was founded on 12 October 1920, after ...

was merged with the so-called Wilno Area. In the years 1922–1939 it was divided into 9

powiats A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

(counties): In 1931, the biggest city of the Voivodeship (and the biggest in northeastern Poland) was Wilno, with 195 100 inhabitants. Apart from this city, Voivodeship was sparsely populated and lacked more urban centres. All other towns were very small, none of them reached a population larger than 10 000 (as of 1931).

Population

According to the Polish census of 1931 the Voivodeship was inhabited by 1,276,000 people. Majority of population was Polish (59.7% claimed Polish as their native tongue). Among minorities there were:

(22.7%),

(8.5%),

(5.5%) and

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

(3.4%). The population density was 44 persons per km² (second lowest in Poland, after

Polesie Voivodeship Polesie Voivodeship () was an administrative unit of interwar Poland (1918–1939), named after the historical region of Polesia. It was created by the Council of Ministers of the Second Polish Republic on February 19, 1921, as a result of peac ...

). The census has been criticized as inaccurate due to bias against the Belarusians and Lithuanians. Kresy Wilno

Following the Polish territorial changes after World War II, a significant part of the Polish population was repatriated to the newly formed

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

as Wilno Voivodeship was split and incorporated into the Lithuanian and

s. Many encountered difficulties in the repatriation process and were prevented from leaving. The Polish population that remained in Lithuania was subjected to attempts at Lithuanization (in the 1950s), which were thwarted by Moscow, and to

Russification Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy. Russification was at times ...

and

Sovietization Sovietization ( ) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modeled after the Soviet Union. A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second me ...

policies.

Industry and transport

Wilno Voivodeship was located in the so-called Poland "B", which meant that it was still underdeveloped, apart from the city of Wilno. A large part of the population was poor, with a high level of illiteracy (in 1931, 29.1% was illiterate, with the national average of 23.1%). Railway network was scarce, with only a few junctions - the most important one at Wilno, also at Molodeczno, and Nowa Wilejka. The total length of railroads within Voivodeship's boundaries was 1,097 kilometres, which was only 3.8 per 100 km². Elektrit Radiotechnical Society was the largest privately owned company in Wilno. With over 1,100 workers, the society produced around 50,000

radio receiver In radio communications, a radio receiver, also known as a receiver, a wireless, or simply a radio, is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna. ...

s annually.

Voivodes

:Government delegates *, 4 February 1922 – 6 April 1922 * Walery Roman, 6 April 1922 – 29 August 1924 * Władysław Raczkiewicz, 29 August 1924 – 14 June 1925 *Olgierd Malinowski, 22 December 1925 – 25 May 1926 (acting) :Voivodes * Władysław Raczkiewicz, 18 May 1926 – 20 June 1931 * Stefan Kirtiklis, 20 December 1930 – 20 June 1931 *, 20 June 1931 – 27 January 1933 *Marian Styczniakowski, 27 January 1933 – 16 February 1933 (acting) *, 16 February 1933 – 13 October 1935 *Marian Styczniakowski, 14 October 1935 – 4 October 1935 (acting) * Ludwik Bociański, 4 December 1935 – 19 May 1939 *, 19 May 1939 – 18 September 1939

1931 census

The results of the 1931 census (questions about

mother tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...

and about religion) are presented in the table below: Counties with plurality or

majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

other than Polish and other than Roman Catholic are highlighted with yellow.