 The Soviet authorities sought to remove all trace of the Polish history of the area now under their control . The name " Poland " was banned . Polish monuments were torn down . All institutions of the dismantled Polish state , including the Lwów University , were closed , then reopened , mostly with new Russian directors . Soviet Communist ideology became paramount in all teaching . Polish literature and language studies were dissolved by the Soviet authorities , and the Polish language was replaced with Russian or Ukrainian . Polish @-@ language books were burned even in the primary schools . Polish teachers were not allowed in the schools , and many were arrested . Classes were held in <unk> , Lithuanian and Ukrainian , with a new pro @-@ Soviet curriculum . As Polish @-@ Canadian historian Piotr <unk> noted , citing British historians M. R. D. Foot and I. C. B. Dear , majority of scholars believe that " In the Soviet occupation zone , conditions were only marginally less harsh than under the Germans . " In September 1939 , many Polish Jews had fled east ; after some months of living under Soviet rule , some of them wanted to return to the German zone of occupied Poland . 
