Repatriation of Polish population in the years of 1955–1959 (also known as the second repatriation, to contrast with the first repatriation in the years 1944-1946) was the second wave of forced repatriation

Repatriation

Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...

 (in fact, deportation

Deportation

Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...

) of the Poles living in the territories annexed by the Soviet Union

Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union

Immediately after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, which marked the beginning of World War II, the Soviet Union invaded the eastern regions of the Second Polish Republic, which Poles referred to as the "Kresy," and annexed territories totaling 201,015 km² with a population of 13,299,000...

. It was the aftermath of the death of Stalin and start of destalinization. About 250,000 people were repatriated, including about 25,000 political prisoners from the GULAG

Gulag

The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...

s. Notable Poles repatriated during that time include Czesław Niemen, Lew Rywin and Anna Seniuk

Anna Seniuk

Anna Seniuk is a Polish TV and theatre actress.After World War II, together with other Poles from Stanisławów, she was forced by the Soviet government to leave her hometown, settling in the town of Zator, near Oświęcim...

.