This article examines banditry in the northeastern provinces of the Second Polish Republic after the First World War and into the mid-1920s. It considers the devastating effects of the war, which ravaged the territory, together with policies of the Polish state that contributed to an increase in bandit activity in the eastern borderland region. This work argues that banditry here worked as a multi-level system and thrived due to the involvement of multiple social actors—the bandits themselves, locals, state authorities, and foreign aid. Furthermore, this article pushes for an examination of bandits—not merely as social outcasts or misfits—but as an integral part of the communities they emerged from. More broadly, the focus on banditry contributes to scholarship dedicated to better understanding the aftermath of the First World War and continued conflict from the perspective of everyday people.

中文翻译：

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土地上的黑羊：波兰边境的土匪，1918-1925

本文考察了第一次世界大战后到 1920 年代中期波兰第二共和国东北部省份的盗匪活动。它考虑了破坏领土的战争的破坏性影响，以及导致东部边境地区强盗活动增加的波兰国家政策。这项工作认为，这里的土匪活动是一个多层次的系统，并且由于多个社会参与者（土匪本身、当地人、国家当局和外国援助）的参与而蓬勃发展。此外，本文推动对土匪进行审查——不仅仅是作为社会弃儿或格格不入的人——而是作为他们出现的社区的一个组成部分。更广泛地，