Page 153 - Ciancia, On Civilization's Edge

journalist put it in 1925, “probably no other kresy town presents such an awful unsanitary state as

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does Łuck, the capital of the province.”

[INSERT FIGURE 4.1]

Figure 4.1: Postcard of Łuck (ca. 1930). The view is from the walls of Lubart’s castle, looking out
onto part of the Old Town. The river is in the background. Source: Digital Collection of the National
Library of Poland (Cyfrowa Biblioteka Narodowa), Warsaw.

Part of the problem was topographical. Since the town was hemmed in on three sides by the

river, historically it had expanded toward the northeast (see Figure 4.2). Moreover, like many of its

counterparts across the province, Łuck was at the mercy of the river’s ebb and flow—most

destructively when seasonal flooding occurred—and this meant that there was a large amount of land

near the town center that was deemed unsuitable for construction. Indeed, a visitor who climbed to

the top of the castle and looked to the east would see a flat, undeveloped area that separated the Old

Town from Bolesław Chrobry Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares. But as local officials sought to

develop the town, their topographical concerns operated in conjunction with broader debates about

how to reduce the influence of Jews, who made up 63% of Łuck’s population, according to statistics

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compiled by the town authorities in 1925. As early as 1923, Łuck’s Polish mayor had suggested

that the town should expand further toward the northeast for both practical and national reasons. The

central thoroughfare, Jagiellonian Street, he stated, was “completely in the possession of the Jewish

population,” while the area that should be included within the town limits would be a modern, Polish

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terrain. “Only here,” he went on, “can there arise a new, Polish, and culturally organized district.”

51 “O stan sanitarny w Łucku,” Przegląd Wołyński, February 4, 1925, 2.
52 Of the total population living in Łuck (just over 28,000 at that time), the majority (63 percent) were Jews, while
21 percent were Poles, 10 percent were Ruthenians, and the remainder was made up of Russians, Germans, Czechs,
and a handful of people of other nationalities. Letter from the Municipal Authorities (Magistrat) of Łuck to the
Department of Local Government at the Volhynian Provincial Office (July 7, 1925), AAN, MSW (Part 1) 299 [no
pagination in file] .
53 Letter from the Mayor of Łuck to the Provincial Governor (May 26, 1923), AAN MSW (Part 1) 299.

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