It was clear that war was coming:
In the year 1939, already in the beginning of the year, in all of our Western provinces it started smelling gunpowder. The international situation became more complicated.
The author places great responsibility on the Poles for the war :
The Polish rulers were yelling that there’s no enemy we’re afraid of! We not only will not allow anyone on our land, but also won’t give away so much as a button.
This is how the Polish gentry bragged to the whole world.
And so, the people of Divin and their region welcomed the Soviet troops who arrived soon after the outbreak of war. They brought supplies and some infrastructure improvements began immediately. Political changes were made giving the peasants more voice in the local, regional, and national government.
Many important resources were nationalized and the peasants were finally able to access these.
In mid-1941, the Germans turned on their former ally, and attacked brutally to the east. The well-prepared armies drove deep into Russian, overrunning the Divin region.
A diverse set of local resistance groups sprang up, including units from Divin and nearby towns. The Soviets supplied and supported them by air.
The resistance forced the Germans to briefly abandon the occupation of nearby Kobryn, but the Germans were too powerful and too brutal to be overcome for long.
Germans looted the economic resources of Divin and took away many Diviners for forced labor. The entire Jewish community of Divin were murdered. Additional non-Jews were taken to the pits and shot as well. The Germans systematically destroyed three neighboring villages.
Eventually, Soviet power overcame the Germans in the region. They retreated from Divin, leaving land-mines to impede the oncoming Soviet army. And then, finally, the war was over.
The Diviners welcomed the Soviet troops warmly, and reconstruction began immediately.
The local and regional government structure was altered. Collectivization of farm land began. Opposition by landowners was strong, but it was eventually overcome. Ukrainian guerillas, previously armed by the Germans, were eliminated.
The local swamps and marshlands were drained, reclaimed, and added to the local collective farms.
This chapter concludes with a snapshot of 1967 Divin and
an extensive account of the successes of local farm collectivization.
