The City Left Behind: Changes in the Ethnic Composition of Vilnius During and After World War II

Vilnius, once a multi-ethnic city with a Polish majority, underwent dramatic demographic shifts during and after World War II. Initially under Lithuanian authority, the arrival of Soviet troops halted Lithuanianization efforts, easing tensions between Poles and Lithuanians. The German invasion in 1941 led to the extermination of the Jewish population, while the Polish Home Army briefly controlled rural areas before the Soviet Red Army liberated Vilnius in 1944. Post-war, the city became Russian-dominated, with Lithuanians eventually becoming the majority due to Soviet policies like collectivization. This study reveals how geopolitical changes and violence reshaped Vilnius' ethnic composition, leaving a lasting demographic impact despite the preservation of its historic center.

Bedők, P. (2021). The City Left Behind: Changes in the Ethnic Composition of Vilnius During and After World War II. Central-European Horizons, 2(1), 71–92. https://doi.org/10.51918/ceh.2021.1.4