Polish Lwów 1990s?

Pretty much. Except Lviv was not occupied by Poland. Had over 60% of Polish population in 1939. Stalin ethnically cleansed it for Ukraine.

Eh, it depends how you dileaniate the city lines. Eastern Galicia as a whole was firmly majority Ukrainian as was the suburbs of L'viv. The city was also obviously founded by a Ukrainian King. I've talked to Poles who share your view, but it just isn't one that I respect because the city was an island from which the Ukrainian minority (in Poland) was continually oppressed. If you're ever in L'viv I recommend the musuem of Occupational regimes, it is an old prison built by Poland for Ukrainian political prisoners.

I'm not going to pretend it isn't a controversial issue but it isn't fair to present the issue as being just about the city itself when if you look at the region as a whole and the history of the city as well as the fact that Poles and Jews made up about 1/3rd of the city each with Ukrainians the other 1/3rd if you include the city outskirts from before WWII.

About the original question I think it is fairly clear, as I said before, that it is basically impossible, for two main reasons. One, Poland really has no strong pull towards taking the territory, and two, Ukraine and Belarus are strong enough to prevent that.
 
One of the best historical teaching tools is a historical atlas. As you flip through one of these you see the fluidity, rather extreme, of all sorts of borders. Any given group can make claims based on "our people lived/ruled here in the past". Sadly it doesn't matter what the population of this or that area was pre-WWII. Whether due to folks wanting to leave not wanting to be under the new government, murder, forced migration or whatever the population on the ground has changed. To put it back the way it was, means ethnic cleansing of one sort or another, or the forced change of language/culture of the existing population.
 
First of all, the USSR could not make an offer to return all of East Prussia, for the simple reason that much of it had become part of Poland, not the USSR.

That wouldn't necessarily stop the Soviets.

Of greater interest to the Poles was his [ comment that under favorable conditions — for example, if Warsaw tried to leave the socialist bloc—land could be sliced off and returned to Germany, beginning with Szczecin.[40]

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/poland-and-the-sino-soviet-rift-1963-1965

But Gorbachev was not Kruschev--insofar as he was interested in Poles, it was as a stick with which to beat Lithuanian and Ukrainian nationalists, to have them support the Soviet Union rather than the majority separatists. Restoring the Treaty of Riga borders would be a white elephant for Poland (since it would destroy any chance of long-term alliance with Lithuania and Ukraine, and reopen the can of worms that is Germany's eastern border) and political (and probably actual) suicide for any Russian who tried that.

Besides that, the Kresy were, while important to the Polish national mythos, economically backward and underpopulated, particularly after the ethnic cleansings of the late 1940s. And much of Poland's population took advantage of the fall of communism to leave the country. Poland needs Lebensraum like Russia needs more tundra.
 
Ehhh, by that margin there remains a slight claim to the Wilno/Vilnus - Grodno belt. So theoretically a nationalist aligned Polish gov could make a claim for that. (Which, helpfully isn't in Nuclear Ukraine)
My point wasn't that the Serbians had a good claim. My point was that the Poles had an even worse claim.
 
Eh, it depends how you dileaniate the city lines. Eastern Galicia as a whole was firmly majority Ukrainian as was the suburbs of L'viv. The city was also obviously founded by a Ukrainian King. I've talked to Poles who share your view, but it just isn't one that I respect because the city was an island from which the Ukrainian minority (in Poland) was continually oppressed. If you're ever in L'viv I recommend the musuem of Occupational regimes, it is an old prison built by Poland for Ukrainian political prisoners.

I'm not going to pretend it isn't a controversial issue but it isn't fair to present the issue as being just about the city itself when if you look at the region as a whole and the history of the city as well as the fact that Poles and Jews made up about 1/3rd of the city each with Ukrainians the other 1/3rd if you include the city outskirts from before WWII.

About the original question I think it is fairly clear, as I said before, that it is basically impossible, for two main reasons. One, Poland really has no strong pull towards taking the territory, and two, Ukraine and Belarus are strong enough to prevent that.
I am aware other nationalities rights in pre war Poland were not in high standard. By whom town was founded is insignificant. Planty towns in Ruthenia or Slovakia were founded or got their town privileges by Hungarian kings.

But honestly in post communist Poland not many were really interested in return of these territories.
 
First of all, the USSR could not make an offer to return all of East Prussia, for the simple reason that much of it had become part of Poland, not the USSR. Second, even with regard to the Kaliningrad Oblast, I think the supposed offer is nonsense. Both Russian nationalists and hard-line Communists were angry with Gorbachev for (among other things) accepting the unification of Germany. Can you imagine their reaction--and that of millions of other Russians--if he were to offer Germany Kaliningrad, an area inhabited in 1989 by 700,000 Russians (not to mention largely Russified Ukrainians and Belarusians)? Getting German economic aid in return would only make the opposition still more violent--"selling territory Russian soldiers paid for with their blood for German gold!" Gorbachev couldn't survive a minute if he made such an offer.

no doubt, there were no Germans left in Kaliningrad
 
Polish patriots claim it was possible to reclaim the Kresy (Lwów, Stanisławów, Wołyń, Brześć nad Bugiem, Grodno, Nowogrodziec, Wilno) after the fall of Communism. Was it really the case? If so, what could have been done?
Whether it succeeds or fails, this is likely to be a losing proposition for Poland.

If it succeeds, it will ensure that the rest of Ukraine will return to Russia's orbit (since the most pro-Western parts of Ukraine are now going to be a part of Poland)--thus putting an end to Poland's Intermarium dreams. Also, Poland is probably going to have to deal with a severe, Chechnya-level West Ukrainian insurgency in the southern parts of the Kresy. Is Poland going to be willing to see its young men return in bodybags day after day, week after week, month after month for a long time? Oh, and Poland can say goodbye to its dreams of joining the EU and NATO. Heck, Poland would also have to worry about the possibility of Germany raising claims to western and northern Poland while it itself is not going to have any allies to protect itself.

As for the most likely scenario, Poland is going to fail in reconquering the Kresy. Basically, Ukraine and Belarus are almost certainly going to ask Big Brother Russia for military assistance in defeating the Poles, and given Russia's four-to-one population advantage over Poland, Poland is likely to be screwed. Plus, it's possible that NATO will also militarily intervene in such a conflict due to their fear that Poland's actions are going to trigger a Pandora's Box throughout Europe. If Poland is defeated--which will certainly be the case if it has to fight Russia, NATO, or both of them--it can kiss its dreams of joining the EU and NATO goodbye and it might also have to deal with sanctions until the regime in Poland is changed.
 
Wouldn't it be fun if Germany wanted Silesia, Pommerania and East-Prussia back in return for support for Poland's claims?
Why not Danzig, the Polish Corridor, Upper Silesia, and Posen as well? After all, Germany might as well go for the 1914 borders while it's at it! :D
 
You do realise that Austria would support Italy's claim, if they can reclaim Trieste and Southern Tirol.
Does that mean we get Slovenia in a package deal as well? I'm all for it, we'd get our ports without having to wait for climate change to melt all ice on earth!
 
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