The publication refuted the myth of a good life in the Eastern Borderlands (Kresy Wschodnie), it depicted the real life of the inhabitants of local villages and towns, who everyday had to deal with such problems as poverty, bad economic situation, nationality conflicts and state administration.
Józef Mackiewicz, who lived in Vilnius, was fluent in languages and he knew the eastern temperament, so he could easily enter the distrustful world of Belarusian peasants and accurately describe their harms. He showed Poland in his book not as a “benefactor”, but rather as a semi-foreign and harmful being. At the same time, life in the Eastern Borderlands is not depicted as saturated with suffering, hunger and hopeless lack of perspectives. Mackiewicz rather points on issues that were obstacles to the sustainable social and economic development of eastern provinces, for example, while writing about poorly developed communication, he draws attention to difficult geographical conditions and insufficient funds for road development and while presenting a poor economic situation, he emphasizes lack of a plan of development , which would allow lands that had recently belonged to Tsarist Russia, tp integrate with the Second Polish Republic – primarily economically.
In a review published in “Czas” (‘Time’) [No. 41, 11 II 1938, p. 5] about Mackiewicz’s reportage, it was written: “This is an accurate, unmerciful photography, without retouching.”
