How many Poles compared to other people lived in the area Poland lost after WW2? Were they all expelled? Were they the only Poles that moved into the areas Poland received from Germany, or did people from other parts of Poland move in as well. How many Poles moved into the new Polish area compared to the number of Germans that were expelled from the same area?
In areas annexed by Soviet Union in 1939 lived ca. 13 millions people, including 5 millions Poles. Part of this territory returned to Poland after ww2 (territory around Białystok, with ca. 600k people), so around 4,5 millions Poles lived in areas lost after ww2. Polish population there suffered heavy loses due to Soviet deportations to Siberia and Kazakhstan, German occupation and massacres commited by Ukrainian nationalists. Some Poles remained in USSR, especially those in Lithuanian SSR and Belarusian SSR.
Poles from Central Poland also moved into Western and Northern Territories after ww2, they outnumbered these, who were resettled from the East. In two waves of deportations in 1940s and 1950s around 2 millions Poles from USSR were resettled to new Poland. Also Ukrainians from southeastern Poland (ca. 150k people) were resettled to Lower Silesia and Masuria after ww2.
