The Enduring Effect of Nazi Repression in Poland

• In Event: Legacies of History and Contemporary Politics

Abstract

After the Nazi invasion of Poland, the country was split into different occupation zones. The western regions were incorporated into the German Reich. The rest of German-occupied Poland was placed under military occupation. Repression in annexed territories was particularly severe: Polish farmers were uprooted to free up land for German settlers, the Catholic Church and Polish intelligentsia were systematically persecuted, and a large share of the working-age population was conscripted into forced labor. We leverage the exogeneity of the border between annexed and occupied areas to estimate the long-run effects of Nazi repression on political and social behavior. Using a geographic RD resign, we find evidence of changes in population structure, religiosity, and voting behavior.

Authors

• Volha Charnysh, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Ricardo Pique, Ryerson University