THE BOOK OF THE RIGHTEOUS OF THE EASTERN BORDERLANDS 1939−1945

About the Ukrainians who rescued Poles subjected to extermination by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army

Edited by Romuald Niedzielko

Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation

Graphic design
Krzysztof Findziński

Translation by

Jerzy Giebułtowski

Front cover photograph:

Ukrainian and Polish inhabitants of the Twerdynie village in Volhynia. In the summer of 1943 some local Ukrainians were murdering their Polish neighbors while other Ukrainians provided help to the oppressed. Vasyl Klishchuk – one of the perpetrators, second from the right in the top row.

Stanisława Dzikowska – lying on ground in a white scarf, one of the victims, murdered on July 12, 1943 with her parents and brothers (photo made available by Józef Dzikowski – Stanisława’s brother; reprinted with the consent of Władysław and Ewa Siemaszko from their book Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939–1945, vol. 1–2 [Warsaw, 2000])

Copyright by Institute of National Remembrance

Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation

“Studies and Materials” series, volume 12

ISBN 978-83-7629-462-9

Visit our website at www.ipn.gov.pl/en and our online bookstore at www.ipn.poczytaj.pl.

INTRODUCTION

This book lists acts of humanitarian help provided by Ukrainians to the Polish population of Poland’s Eastern Borderlands (mainly the Volhynia, Lvov, Tarnopol, and Stanisławów voivodeships) who were subjected to extermination by Ukrainian nationalists in the 1940s. Hence, its chronological frame is the period 1939−1945, which is the period from the Polish defeat in September 1939 and the beginning of Soviet occupation until the forced expatriation of the Polish population from the Eastern Borderlands to central Poland and the “Recovered Territories” in Poland’s new western voivodeships.

Before I give an overview of this book’s contents let me first provide an extremely short and unavoidably simplified sketch of the course and tragic outcome of the Polish-Ukrainian conflict.1

1 I treat the term “Polish-Ukrainian conflict” as a descriptive term that encompasses various manifestations of the antagonism between the two nations living on the same territory of the Second Republic of Poland, manifestations including isolated murders, armed combat, mass genocide, pacifications, forced deportations, etc.

It is necessary to mention the general, ever-present context during 1939−1945. Namely, it needs to be stressed that both invader/occupiers – i.e., the Germans and the Soviets – devastated and enslaved the conquered nations, destroying the existing (shaky, yet civilized) order. This created conditions for the “incidental” (from the perspective of Polish and Ukrainian interests and strategies) local conflict to turn into a bloodbath – that is, into a solution following the barbaric principles of “modern” warfare.

Even though certain signs of intensified tensions had been seen prior to the outbreak of WWII, it was generally thought that the coexistence of Ukrainians and Poles in the Eastern Borderlands was going well.

Here is a statement by Father Prof. Mieczysław Albert Krąpiec, a Pole from Zbaraż in the Tarnopol voivodeship: “Indeed, we lived with the “Rusini” [Ruthenians], as we then called them, like among family. We celebrated their holidays and visited them in their homes – and vice versa. I still know Ruthenian carols and dumkas – and they sang our songs too. It was no wonder when they sometimes attended Holy Mass at our Roman Catholic church, or when we sometimes went to their Orthodox church. One of the requirements of the local culture was that we spoke Ruthenian, that is Ukrainian, instead of Polish to the Ruthenians – that is, to the Ukrainians. The intimacy was so great that after the bloodshed had begun inhabitants of some Polish villages simply could not believe, despite the facts, that their neighbors could hurt them.”2

2 M.A. Krąpiec, “Cień nieosądzonych zbrodni”, in J. Kanas, Podolskie korzenie (Lublin, 2002), 8.

In September 1939 members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, infamous for numerous acts of anti-Polish terror committed during the Second Republic of Poland in the 1930s, conducted isolated attacks on military men and civilian refugees who had fled from central Poland, as well as on local land owners, foresters, and officials. Such attacks resumed at the end of June and in July 1941 with the arrival of the German army.

Disappointed with the unfulfilled alliance with the Germans, leaders of the Ukrainian nationalist movement decided to take the initiative by using a method of fait accompli. Specifically, they would take control of a disputed area and defeat annexationists and “aliens” who stood in the way of the creation of an independent Ukrainian state designed along a radically nationalist model. Using a Ukrainian police force, the Germans conducted the total extermination of the Jewish population during 1941−1942.3 Ukrainian radicals concluded that the possibility had finally materialized to defeat the other “ancient” enemy – namely, the Poles, who at that time became easy prey and who constituted a clear minority on those territories.

3 It is estimated that 700,000−800,000 Jews died in the eastern voivodeships of Volhynia and Galicia during the occupation. The stance of the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Andrei Sheptytskyi confirms that not all Ukrainians accepted the Final Solution: “Pogroms and mass executions of Jews shook the archbishop so deeply that he published numerous pastoral letters in which he directly appealed to his followers, “Thou shall not kill!”. Sheptytsky instructed religious orders to provide help and shelter to Jews. During pogroms he took several Jews in under his roof, including a rabbi from Lvov – Dawid Kahane. The metropolitan wrote a long letter to the Pope, in which he described everyday massacres on the streets and warned against the moral degeneration of Catholics. He sent a protest letter to Himmler (G. Lesser, “Pogromy w Galicji Wschodniej w 1941 r.”, in Tematy polsko-ukraińskie. Historia, literatura, edukacja, ed. R. Traba [Olsztyn, 2001], 120). For a much more ambiguous version of the stance of the metropolitan toward the Ukrainian massacres of Poles see J. Wołczański, “Korespondencja arcybiskupa Bolesława Twardowskiego z arcybiskupem Andrzejem Szeptyckim w latach 1943–1944”, Przegląd Wschodni (1992/1993) vol. 2, issue 2.

Under the German occupation the aspirations of Ukrainians for emancipation clashed with Poland’s firm position stipulating protection of both the threatened Polish population and the country’s pre-war borders. Unsatisfied with the promise of greater autonomy after the war, the Ukrainians desired their own state. When the Ukrainian leadership elites realized that political compromise was impossible, they decided to force the Polish population to leave the Eastern Borderlands. The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and its military wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainska Povstanska Armiia, UPA), commenced an “anti-Polish” operation, which turned into a genocide: it became an organized mass extermination of all people of Polish nationality, the vast majority of whom were civilians. The operation was conducted in 1943 in the Volhynia voivodeship4 and in 1944 in Eastern Galicia (the Tarnopol, Lvov, and Stanisławów voivodeships).5

4 On July 30, 1943 the Polish Home Political Representation (Krajowa Reprezentacja Polityczna) called in its Odezwa do narodu ukraińskiego (An Appeal to the Ukrainian nation) for the discontinuation of both the massacres of Poles and cooperation with the German occupier. It was announced that Poles would not abandon their claim to the eastern territories, but at the same time a promise was made to respect the Ukrainians’ equal rights and civil liberties. (Rzeczpospolita Polska, 9 August 1943, reprinted in Prawdziwa historia Polaków. Ilustrowane wypisy źródłowe 1939–1945, vol. 2: 1943–1944, ed. A.K. Kunert, [Warsaw, 1999], 1243–1244).

5 As for Volhynia it was decided that all Poles would be physically liquidated, while the inhabitants of Galicia (further to the east) were “only” given an ultimatum: either they leave the territory or they die. In practice, however, the anti-Polish operation in Galicia had a similar course and similar effects to the one in Volhynia.

Under the leadership of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa), the Polish underground began to fight against the UPA only after the biggest wave of massacres, which were conducted in July 1943 in over a hundred localities across Volhynia. Armed combat, retaliatory attacks, and preventive attacks broke out in 1944 in the Tarnopol, Lvov, Stanisławów, and Lublin voivodeships. After the end of the war (when Poland lost its Eastern Borderlands) units of communist Polish Army and the Internal Security Corps (Korpus Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego) continued to fight the Ukrainian partisan forces loyal to Stepan Bandera in the Rzeszów and Lublin areas, located inside postwar Poland. The conflict ended in 1947 with the deportation of about 150,000 Ukrainians from Poland’s south-eastern counties within the framework of “Operation Wisła” [Vistula].6

6 Let me enumerate just a few of the numerous works on the course of the 1940s conflict: A.L. Sowa, Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie 1939–1947 (Kraków, 1998); G. Motyka, Tak było w Bieszczadach. Walki polsko-ukraińskie 1943–1948 (Warsaw, 1999); Ukraińska partyzantka 1942–1960. Działalność Organizacji Ukraińskich Nacjonalistów i Ukraińskiej Powstańczej Armii (Warsaw, 2006); G. Hryciuk, Przemiany narodowościowe i ludnościowe w Galicji Wschodniej i na Wołyniu w latach 1931–1948 (Toruń, 2005). Different views regarding, for example, ideological sources of nationalism, adequacy of categorizing the crimes against Poles as genocide or the justness of “Operation Wisła” have been voiced, for example, by Władysław Filar (Przed akcją „Wisła” był Wołyń, 2nd edition [Warsaw, 2000]). Representatives of the position of the patriotic Eastern Borderlands milieux, which contest the “official” narrative include Edward Prus (Atamania UPA. Tragedia kresów [Wrocław, 1996]; Taras Czuprynka. Hetman UPA i wielki inkwizytor OUN [Wrocław, 1998]; Stepan Bandera 1909–1959. Symbol zbrodni i okrucieństwa [Wrocław, 2004]) and Wiktor Poliszczuk (Dowody zbrodni OUN i UPA [Toronto, 2000]; Gorzka prawda. Cień Bandery nad zbrodnią ludobójstwa [Warsaw, 2006]); cf. articles by Lucyna Kulińska and Czesław Partacz in the collective work titled Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie w latach 1939–2004, ed. B. Grott (Warsaw, 2004). The thesis regarding the Ukrainian genocide of Poles (as the third one aside from the German and Soviet ones) is convincingly argued by Ryszard Szawłowski (“Wstęp”, in W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939–1945, vol. 1–2 [Warsaw, 2000], “Trzy ludobojstwa”, Nasz Dziennik, 10 July 2003 and the entries on genocide in Encyklopedia „białych plam”, vol. XI [Radom, 2003] and Encyklopedia katolicka, vol. XI [Lublin, 2006]).

The total number of casualties (irreversible losses) during that most tragic period of Polish-Ukrainian relations has yet to be determined. I omit the issue of deportation or forced resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom lost their relatives, became wounded or sick or lost their life’s work. According to the documents based mostly on witness testimonies and published in the works of Władysław and Ewa Siemaszko, Henryk Komański, Szczepan Siekierka and Krzysztof Bulzacki, and Zdzisław Konieczny7, along with information found in over 90 issues of the Na Rubieży periodical,8 the Ukrainian nationalists murdered Poles in about 3,700 localities. According to that incomplete documentation, the Polish losses amounted to about 100,000.9 Szczepan Siekierka, however, estimates that the actual losses could have been much higher (Na Rubieży 80 [2005]: 6).10

7 W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo...; H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na Polakach w województwie tarnopolskim 1939–1946 (Wrocław, 2004); S. Siekierka, H. Komański, K. Bulzacki, Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich w województwie lwowskim 1939–1947 (Wrocław, 2006); Z. Konieczny, Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie na ziemiach obecnej Polski w latach 1918–1947 (Wrocław, 2006). The last work includes an appendix, which is an extended version of an earlier publication: Zbrodnie nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności cywilnej w południowo-wschodniej Polsce (1942–1947), ed. Z. Konieczny (Przemyśl, 2001).

8 Data from Na Rubieży (up to issue 66) were used by Stanisław Jastrzębski in two of his books: Martyrologia polskiej ludności w województwie lwowskim w latach 1939–1947, (Katowice, 2004) and Ludobójstwo ludności polskiej przez OUN-UPA w województwie stanisławowskim w latach 1939–1946 (Warsaw, 2004). Complete materials regarding the Stanisławów region are forthcoming.

9 Nearly 37,000 in Volhynia, nearly 24,000 in the Tarnopol voivodeship, 10,000 in the Rzeszów and Lublin voivodeships, and over 20,000 in the Lvov voivodeship.

10 The issue of losses is thoroughly analyzed by Grzegorz Hryciuk, who provides more cautious estimates (Przemiany narodowościowe i ludnościowe, 271–279, 304–315).

The total number of Ukrainians killed by Poles (mostly on post-war Polish territory) may have amounted to over 10,000.11

11 Though research regarding this issue began only recently: in the database of Warsaw’s KARTA Center there are about 3,000 Ukrainian victims listed on the basis of the documents collected by Eugeniusz Misiła. The Ukrainian victims of the OUN-UPA should also be mentioned here. Wiktor Poliszczuk estimates their number at 80,000, but the initial data (lists of victims from three regions of the Równe district and three regions of the Stanisławów districts sent in by witnesses and published in the Ukrainian press at the beginning of the 1990s) have not been verified and were too mechanically applied to the entire Eastern Borderlands. See: W. Poliszczuk, Nacjonalizm ukraiński w dokumentach, vol. 3: Dokumenty z zakresu działań struktur nacjonalizmu ukraińskiego w okresie od grudnia 1943 do 1950 roku (Toronto, 2003), 370−470 (a list of over 6,000 Ukrainian victims of the OUN-UPA in Ukrainian); Gwałt na prawdzie o zbrodniach OUN Bandery (Toronto, 2003) (the same list in Polish).

***

The issue addressed in this book holds a secondary place in the complex matter of the Polish-Ukrainian relations during and immediately after the war. It is merely one of many issues of primary importance to the conflict’s victims. For Polish survivors, however, the issue of the Ukrainian “righteous” undoubtedly also has – aside from a cognitive dimension – a crucial moral dimension, as well.

In Poland there has long been a push to commemorate the often anonymous Ukrainian “righteous” and thereby to express gratitude for rescuing Poles. Such a measure was proposed by those who had been rescued, as well as by other surviving participants of those events. It was obvious to the rescued that it was not enough to preserve the memory of the murdered, to reconstruct the circumstances of their death, and to determine the perpetrators’ identity: the rescuers’ heroic stance also had to be immortalized.12

12 One example being the initiative of Wacław Chmielewski from Kowalówka (Kowel county, Volhynia voivodeship). In 1997 he wrote a letter to the Ukrainian ambassador in Poland about the Ukrainian Omelan Boychun killed by the UPA for warning the inhabitants of Kowalówka of an imminent raid: “That disgraceful death lies heavy on my conscience. I am the last Pole that can turn to you to ask for the debt of gratitude to be paid. It was impossible in the past. [...] I turn to you for help in restoring Omela Boychun’s humanity, good name and honor, in restoring his good name to his family and to society. Omelan loved life and people, he sacrificed his young life for them. He died as a traitor of Ukraine and an enemy of the Ukrainian nation. In fact, he was a hero who opposed thousands of blood-thirsty nationalists. He did not want to murder innocent people and defenceless neighbors.”

The proposal put forward in 2003 by Kraków’s Tadeusz Kosciuszko Foundation to erect a large mound in Przemyśl as a symbol of gratitude toward Ukrainians who helped Poles during 1943−1946 proved more controversial. It was stated that 5,000 people of Ukrainian nationality died for providing help to Poles. The initiative met with criticism on the part of most Eastern Borderlands and combatant milieux. Both the purposefulness of a separate commemoration of the Ukrainian victims (all the more as there would be no information on who killed them and in what circumstances) and the number of the Ukrainian righteous were questioned. The chairman of the Association for Commemoration of the Victims of Crimes of Ukrainian Nationalists, Szczepan Siekierka, stated that the data collected by the Association for 15 years allows the number of the victims to be estimated at ca. 1,000. He also drew attention to the fact that at the Association’s initiative a monument-mausoleum of Polish victims of Ukrainian genocide in the Eastern Borderlands was opened in Wrocław in 1999. In the crypt of the mausoleum there is an urn with soil from the grave of Ukrainians murdered by the OUN and UPA. Moreover, in 2002 a plaque commemorating Ukrainians who died rescuing Poles was unveiled on the monument.

This sentiment dates back to the beginning of research into the Gehenna of the Eastern Borderlands’ population. For many years it was conducted exclusively by individuals in defiance of the official ban imposed by the state institutions, which strove to avoid that controversial subject matter. In 1985 the milieu of the soldiers of the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Home Army (27 Wołyńska Dywizja Piechoty Armii Krajowej) asked the combatants and their families to send in testimonies regarding that period. The posted questionnaires included a point about help received from Ukrainians. As a result, 350 testimonies of mostly eye witnesses were collected. They provided new information on many details of the events in Volhynia. Józef Turowski and Władysław Siemaszko used them to prepare the first list of the crimes committed by Ukrainian nationalists against the Polish population of Volhynia (Warsaw, 1990). Their book lists a few dozen instances of help mentioned by the witnesses.

Certain archives (for instance, the Eastern Archive of the Karta Center in Warsaw [Archiwum Wschodnie w Warszawie]) and particularly some social organizations established at the beginning of the 1990s (such as the Association for Commemoration of Victims of Crimes of Ukrainian Nationalists [Stowarzyszenie Upamiętnienia Ofiar Zbrodni Ukraińskich Nacjonalistów] in Wrocław and the Association for Commemoration of Poles Murdered in Volhynia [Stowarzyszenie Upamiętnienia Polaków Pomordowanych na Wołyniu] in Zamość) gradually enlarged their collections of testimonies (their number has perhaps reached 5,000). Many years later that effort resulted in publication of the fundamental works by W. and E. Siemaszko, H. Komański and S. Siekierka, and K. Bulzacki. Each of those works also contains a selection of source texts (57 testimonies from Volhynia and a few hundred from the Tarnopol and Lvov voivodeships).

The testimonies regarding Volhynia were published in a few separate collections.13 There were also anthologies devoted solely to Ukrainians who helped Poles14 while the Na Rubieży periodical also published a valuable selection of materials on that topic.15

13 Świadkowie mówią, ed. S. Biskupski (Warsaw, 1996); Wołyński testament, ed. L. Popek, T. Trusiuk, P. Wira, Z. Wira (Lublin, 1997); Okrutna przestroga, ed. J. Dębski and L. Popek (Lublin 1997); Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu. Okrutna przestroga, vol. 2, ed. L. Karłowicz and L. Popek (Lublin, 1998).

14 L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie (Lublin, 2000); Z. Ziembolewski, W morzu nienawiści. O takich, którzy nie przestali być ludźmi (Krosno, 2001); Bracia zza Buga. Wspomnienia z czasu wojny, collected by Turnau (Lublin, 1999).

15 E. Różański, Nie każdy Ukrainiec był Polakowi wilkiem. Ukraińcy, którzy potępiali ideologię głoszoną przez OUN-UPA, ostrzegali Polaków przed napadami, ukrywali ich i bronili przed śmiercią, nie szczędząc przy tym własnego życia, vol. 1, Na Rubieży 65 (2003); vol. 2, ibidem, 67 (2003); vol. 3, ibidem, 67 (2003).

What should be particularly stressed here is the exceptional research and editorial contribution of Leon Karłowicz – former soldier of the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Home Army, who participated in anti-UPA retaliation actions as a “jastrzębiak” (a member of a Polish Home Army [AK] partisan detachment commanded by Lt. Władysław Czermiński, aka “Jastrząb”[‘Hawk’]).There has been some doubt about the cognitive value of the personal Eastern Borderlands testimonies and their usefulness for researchers.16 But with regard to most events in the Eastern Borderlands those testimonies constitute an irreplaceable and indeed single source of information. Hence, the effort to collect more (written and oral) testimonies should continue on a bigger scale than it has so far. Still, such testimonies should be approached with necessary criticism.

16 See for example W. Mędrzecki, “Polskie relacje pamiętnikarskie i wspomnieniowe jako źródło do badania stosunków polsko-ukraińskich w okresie II wojny światowej”, Przegląd Wschodni 1 (1997); J. Isajewycz, “O książce Władysława i Ewy Siemaszków Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939–1945” Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej 1 (2003): 39–54 and A. Gil, “Konflikt pamięci. Rozważania o pracy Jarosława Caruka Tragedia wołyńskich wsi w latach 1943–1944. Ukraińskie i polskie ofiary zbrojnego konfliktu. Rejon włodzimierskowołyński”, ibidem, 55–83.

Moreover, the “testimonies” pigeonhole contains not only convoluted and linguistically awkward stories full of contradictions or visible bias, for their authors reconstruct events through the prism of their later readings, though not always being fully aware of that. There are also some suggestive and at the same time reliable depictions characterized by exceptional perspicacity. Some testimonies are complex analyses with exhaustive and ordered descriptions of events and a list of important circumstances. They were given by people used to an analytic and methodical approach to reality – military and political underground activists, pre-war intellectuals, teachers, priests and clerks. Their texts are valuable both as the testimonies of individuals and as objective reports.17

17 Cf. for example the memoir of Jan Cisek from Brzeżany county (AW, II/536), Father Józef Kuczyński (Między parafią a łagrem [Paris, 1985]), Jan Niewiński from Krzemieniec county (Śladami ludobójstwa...), Jerzy Dytkowski from Sarny county (AW, II/1863), Jan Cichocki from Włodzimierz county (W. and E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 2), Jan Wojdyła from Lvov county (AW, II/1686/1k), Father Franciszek Malak from Jaworów county (AW, II/2472), Edward Polak (Baza „Topor” i sowieckie łagry, [Świdnica, 1991]) and Stanisław Jastrzębski from Rohatyn county (Oko w oko z banderowcami [Warsaw, 1996]) and notes of Józef Opacki on the events in the Tarnopol voivodeship (Biblioteka Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich we Wrocławiu [Library of the Ossolinski National Institute, Wrocław, Poland] [later: BOss], BOss, 16630/I).

Some testimonies from the so-called common people are not also moving, raw and concise narratives, but relevant and precise ones.18 Particularly important are the collective testimonies verified by dozens of witnesses in the course of numerous consultations that sometimes took years to carry out. Such a collective effort of the inhabitants of a given locality sometimes resulted in the detailed reconstruction of an event, a full list of inhabitants and victims, determination of at least some perpetrators’ identities, local maps with buildings marked on them, maps of villages and their vicinity showing the direction of the attacks, the location of mass execution sites, and actual or hypothetical locations of burial sites.19

18 For example the testimony of Teresa Adamowicz-Radziszewska (AW, II/1914) or of Teresa Guz (nee Persona) (Okrutna przestroga...).

19 See for example the materials collected by former inhabitants of Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka in Volhynia (Wołyński testament, ed. L. Popek, T. Trusiuk, P. Wira, Z. Wira, [Lublin, 1997]), Rumno in the Lvov voivodeship (T. Pater, Oczyma i sercem. Wieś Rumno w latach 1939–1945, vol. 1–2 [Przemyśl, 2000]).

***

My search query20 showed that we know much less about the helpers than about the victims, witnesses, or even perpetrators of the crimes. The actual heroes of this book remain largely anonymous. Consequently, this book could not assume the form of a biographical lexicon like Michał Grynberg’s Księga Sprawiedliwych [‘The Book of the Righteous’, a lexicon of those recognized by Yad Vashem]. The documentation of the help Ukrainians lent to Poles has not been presented in the form of biographical entries, but in the form of notes describing the events in individual localities and organized alphabetically within the counties of the seven voivodeships.

20 Aside from the Polish testimonies published in anthologies and memoir books, I also browsed through a collection of over 300 testimonies of the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Home Army in the IPN Archive and almost 150 testimonies from the Eastern Archive of the Karta Center. Little effect was brought by the search in the reports and situational reports of the Office of the Delegate of the Government in Exile (Delegatura Rządu na Kraj) (Information and Press Department [Departament Informacji i Prasy] including the Eastern Section [Sekcja Wschodnia] – Archiwum Akt Nowych w Warszawie [The Central Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw, Poland] [later: AAN], 202/III-193, 195, 198, 200) and of the Lvov Region Command (Komenda Obszaru Lwów) and the High Command of the Polish Home Army (Komenda Główna Armii Krajowej) (AAN, 203/III-16, 114; 203/IV-2; 203/VII-6, 42−45; 203/XV-3-9, 12−17, 25−28, 40−42). Similarly, I found data on just a few instances of help in the materials of the Central Welfare Council (Rada Główna Opiekuńcza, RGO) (BOss., 16722/II, vol. 1–2; 16723/II, vol. 1–2) and in the documentation collected by Józef Opacki (BOss., 16630/I, vol. 1–5).

Most heroes of this book are “civilian” Ukrainians – instances of help provided by Ukrainian civilians to Poles were noted in over 500 localities (from among a few thousand localities where the murders occurred).

To make the picture clearer I selected only those acts of help that occurred in the course of direct confrontation between the two sides of the conflict. Representatives of other nationalities – Germans, Russians, Czechs, and Jews, who participated in given events beside Poles and Ukrainians – remain outside the scope of this work.21

21 What I mean here are the instances of rescue from deportation conducted within the framework of the Soviet deportations, from arrest by the German Police, from deportation to forced labor in Germany, and the situations when the Russians or Germans refrained from executions or set the arrested free. The Czech inhabitants of Volhynia usually had a positive attitude toward Poles and often sheltered them. The small number of Jews who survived the Holocaust received selfless help from both Polish families (the actually quite frequent instances known from witness testimonies were noted in the Na Rubieży periodical and in the book by W. and E. Siemaszko) and Ukrainian families.

The term “righteous” used in the title also requires explanation. The word started to function in public awareness in its specific meaning at the beginning of the 1990s, when Yad Vashem began to award the medal and honorary title of Righteous among the Nations. They are awarded to non-Jews who risked their lives and the lives of their families to save Jews from the Holocaust during World War II (so far there are almost 6,000 Poles and over 2,000 Ukrainians among about 21,000 “Righteous”). I am not going to discuss the analogies between the Holocaust and the martyrology of the Polish population in the Eastern Borderlands. Rather, I treat this borrowing as a convenient and clear signal: in this book the term “Righteous” refers to people who saved “aliens” whom their fellow countrymen regarded as enemies, sentenced to death, or persecuted. Hence, the initial meaning of the word was broadened to include situations when the attackers themselves, while murdering others, took pity on certain victims and spared their lives for various reasons, along with situations in which the helpers were not in immediate danger.

It should be said that I also qualified for inclusion in this work incidents which involved sympathy – that is, instances of passive non-participation in violence and crime or instances when non-participation in violence expressed itself in provision of spiritual support, in discreet manifestation of kindness and solidarity with those suffering (considering the circumstances in which they occurred, however, those acts of altruism too are worthy of proper praise). However, I was of course mostly interested in acts of active help that gave the Poles a chance to survive and in acts of active defiance against attackers. I also included acts of public protest against the killing of fellow human beings, particularly when the protester was punished with death.

While selecting information I considered both the source’s reliability and the gravity of a given act. I omitted the testimonies that mentioned small gestures or ones which sounded improbable and which I was unable to confirm.

The examples of various kinds of help recalled by witnesses and preserved in testimonies – from acts of ordinary human kindness toward victims to acts of sheer heroism – can be divided into the following categories:

1) warning Poles about an attack planned to take place at a specific time or about an attack not planned to occur at a specific time;

2) showing an escape route during an attack;

3) sheltering Poles before an expected attack, during an attack or afterwards;

4) misleading the attackers, for instance, by convincing them that the Pole they were after was a Ukrainian family member or a Ukrainian acquaintance; keeping the location of a hideout in secret; occupying the attackers, for example, with conversation or food and drink to give Poles time to hide or flee; misleading the chase;

5) transporting Poles from their hideout to a more secure place (for example, to a town) or lending them a horse or wagon;

6) provision of first aid to wounded Poles, transporting wounded Poles to a physician or hospital;

7) provision of food to survivors and provision of Ukrainian clothes to facilitate their escape;

8) informing the victims’ relatives about the circumstances of their death (particularly when those Ukrainians were the only witnesses of the crimes), showing the location of the burial place;

9) serving as messengers in contacts between Poles in hiding and their relatives who were looking for them;

10) taking care of orphans and children lost after attacks;

11) helping bury victims, particularly when this could be punished by death; taking care of graves, erecting crosses, etc.

12) failure to carry out an order to kill a member of one’s own family (wife/husband/parents/children), refusal to perform an order, escape with a Pole(s), provision of shelter to a Pole sentenced to death;

13) refusal to participate in an attack, pacification, or another act of repression;

14) public protest (during a village meeting, from a pulpit) against the murders of Poles and use of coercion against them;

15) sparing the lives of Poles during raids, of Poles sentenced to death, or found as a result of a manhunt (for example, by staging an execution, intentionally “overlooking” a person or hideout);

16) release of arrested Poles.

During the analysis of circumstances surrounding these events I often came across unclear and sometimes extremely confusing situations. This was mostly the case with attempts to determine the motives for providing help and the context of the actions undertaken. Hence, at least some of the presented situations and actions require comment.

As for the most numerous category of acts of help (warning Poles against planned UPA attacks on individuals or on an entire Polish villages and encouraging Poles to leave the village in time) it was not always easy during the selection of materials to differentiate between the instances of warning Poles in good faith and instances of Poles being intentionally misled (some Ukrainians, for instance, encouraged Poles to leave in order to get rid of them from the village). It was sometimes impossible to determine the actual intentions, so I omitted, just in case, the situations when the warned refugees fell into the hands of the UPA.22 But I listed the quite numerous instances when Poles died because they had ignored the warnings.

22 Cf. with an obvious and clear-cut example of this kind: in July 1943 a UPA member warned the inhabitants of the Szeroka colony (Horochów county, Volhynia voivodeship) about an allegedly oncoming German pacification. He advised them not to flee individually, but in a group and to head toward a clearing by the forest where he would take care of them. After their arrival, the Poles were surrounded and executed by the UPA. (W. and E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 134.)

There were also instances of sophisticated subterfuge. For instance, some Ukrainians guaranteed safety to Poles in order to lull the potential victims’ vigilance and to facilitate the attackers’ task.23 To make this clearer, let me present a spectacular example of a feigned agreement.

23 For contrast see the village of Jezioro (Łuck county, Volynia voivodeship) and the village of Bajkowce (Tarnopol county) – rare examples of delivery on guarantees of safety.

In the spring of 1943 the UPA guaranteed safety to the Polish village Majdańska Huta in Zdołbunów county, provided that the villagers would stay and help the UPA (a written agreement was signed). For a few months they provided the UPA with food, horses, wagons, a workforce, and planks for construction of shelters. The nationalists confirmed the validity of the agreement several times. On July 12, 1943 the UPA unexpectedly raided the village, murdering 184 of its inhabitants, most of whom burnt in a barn.24

24 AW, II/36, relacja Stanisława Błażejewskiego [Stanisław Błażejewski’s Testimony], p. 20.

When it comes to notification of Poles about the attackers’ plans it was necessary to differentiate between systematic espionage for the other side of the conflict or provision of information for mainly material reasons (for example, for money) and notification out of humanitarian motives – out of one’s inner conviction that news with potentially tragic consequences should and needed to be shared.

There might be controversy with regard to, for instance, cooperation of Ukrainians with the Polish underground, with self-defense posts, and by the agency of such posts also with Polish partisan units subordinate to the Soviet leadership and interests.25 This book includes several events which are difficult to clearly evaluate from that perspective (see, for example, Przebraże in Łuck county in Volhynia, Zasmyki in Kowel county in Volhynia and Maleniska in Brody county in the Tarnopol voivodeship.

25 The Polish-Soviet partisan formations operating in the Eastern Borderlands and the “destruction battalions” (Istrebitelnye bataliony) undeniably contributed to the protection of the Polish civilian population, but things were not always rosy (and not in each locality). The testimonies of the former soldiers of the pro-Soviet partisan units suffer from glorifying one-sidedness, while the literature on the “destruction battalions” (in a reaction to the unfair accusation that the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs [NKVD] used all their kind as tools to fight the pro-independence underground) show mostly the bright sides of their activity. As long as the topic remains neglected (M. Juchniewicz’s works have become altogether insufficient) it is difficult to evaluate the specific events in a strictly objective way.

But as a matter of fact, all actions to the detriment of the perpetrators, including behaviors condemnable in other, less inhuman circumstances – even an alliance with other murderers, which was treated as a necessary evil and the only option – are justifiable from the perspective of the actual or potential victims of the massacres and from the perspective of staunch opponents of killing civilians in the name of any ideological or political reasons.

Let me present an example from Przebraż (perhaps incorrectly omitted in this book), as it shows a connection of a few mutually exclusive motives or dimensions, such as the ambivalence of stances of “heroes and traitors” and the ambivalence of efforts to save family ties from destruction (here in a Polish-Ukrainian family) made against family-political-national solidarity dictated by ethnic origin. “Our intelligence service under the leadership of Zygmunt Drzewiecki, who was in Przebraż with his 30-year-old son and whose Ukrainian wife stayed with their younger children in Taraż near Kołki on their farm, had a good grasp of the situation. It was known what conditions the UPA imposed on mixed, Polish-Ukrainian marriages. To avoid the worst, that is death from the Bulba supporters’ hands, he and his wife agreed that they would pretend that he had escaped with their son to the ”Liakhs” [as Ukrainians sometimes referred to Poles] Drzewiecki’s wife did not give in to the Bandera followers’ demand to kill her Polish husband. The couple agreed that they would meet in agreed places and with the use of agreed light signals in windows to avoid falling into a trap. Przebraż was 25 kilometers from Kołki. Drzewiecki walked forest roads and paths at night to meet his wife in an agreed place and she gave him information from the UPA staff. Drzewiecki’s wife’s brothers were high UPA commanders and worked in the UPA staff. Hence, the information Drzewiecki received from his wife was reliable. After returning from Kołki, Drzewiecki gave the latest information to the leadership.”26

26 Z. Janicki, W obronie Przebraża i w drodze do Berlina (Lublin, 1997), 52–53.

Such divisions and dilemmas should be seen in a broader context, which is sometimes partially ignored. For in light of the policy of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army almost all manifestations of a positive attitude toward Poles27 were treated as collaboration with the enemy and betrayal of national ideals, which called for a just and ruthless punishment. Yet the quite frequent mentions of Ukrainians being murdered by the UPA for their “sympathy” toward Poles, provision of “help” or “support” to Poles or even for “maintaining contacts” with Poles (without specification of any additional circumstances) suggest that Polish witnesses and authors somehow automatically claim that almost all executions of Ukrainians were a punishment for such noble stances. I left such remarks in a condensed form whenever the analysis of the context of the event suggested that such a motivation had been probable. They should be treated more as signals for us not to forget this issue, rather than as final conclusions.

27 As Tadeusz A. Olszański stresses: “[M]ost Ukrainians (especially the ones from the older generation, which had been less demoralized by the war) strongly condemned the massacres but they were not always brave enough to oppose them, and some Ukrainians also objected to the deportations of Poles. And a large number of Poles survived thanks to the warnings or active help from their Ukrainian neighbors or even from total strangers. Information on such instances can be found in practically all Polish testimonies from that period. And one needs to know that Ukrainians who helped Poles ran the risk of becoming the object of brutal vengenace at the hands of their fellow countrymen.” (Tadeusz Andrzej Olszański, “Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947”, The Independent Cultural Journal “Ї” 20 (2001), accessed 14 March 2013, http://www.ji.lviv.ua/n20texts/pol/olszan-pol.htm#pp14).

***

I have attached a short appendix devoted to Polish acts of help and kindness toward Ukrainians. It mostly regards Polish territory in its postwar borders and the period of deportation of Ukrainians to the USSR (1944−1946) and to Poland’s Recovered Territories (1947). The situation of the two nations and sides of the conflict was so disparate that inclusion of this appendix as a regular chapter (as initially planned) could be read as an attempt relativize the Ukrainian crimes on Poles and at equating genocide with forced deportation. Thus, I am merely signaling an issue worthy of thorough research.28 Stanisław Stępień writes: “[T]here were acts of solidarity, compassion and help toward the deported [during that period]. Most of them occured on the territories where neighborly relations had been smooth and where there had been no Polish-Ukrainian antagonisms or fighting. To a large extent such attitudes stemmed from the family relations between Poles and Ukrainians (mixed marriages were characteristic of Eastern Galicia). ... Local ties, good neighborly relations, and family relations resulted in some people attempting to protect the Ukrainians from deportation. This was possible basically only through proving one’s Polish nationality, which was done mostly through submission of Roman Catholic birth certificates or documents signed by one’s neighbors or village reeve confirming that a given person was not Ukrainian and had nothing to do with the Ukrainian underground. The Ukrainians also tried to obtain documents proving their service in the postwar Polish Army, or they obtained an exemption from the deportation list from an “Operation Wisła” clerk. ... Ukrainians voluntarily transferred their birth certificates to avoid deportation – this did not result from pressure of the Roman Catholic clergy. ... the sources also mention instances of issuing fictional birth certificates. Hence, it was not about using the Greek Catholic’s difficult situation to increase the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church. Issue of such documents was not by any means tantamount to changing one’s denomination. Neither did it oblige one to become a practicing Roman Catholic. [...] Ukrainian underground reports also mention instances of solidarity with Ukrainians. Some of them even say that soldiers participating in the deportations advised Ukrainians to wait for the end of the operation, by hiding with their belongings in the forest. ... The Polish provision of help to deported Ukrainians could not be done on a larger scale due to the repressions of the communist security apparatus, which treated help provided to Ukrainians as a crime of collaboration with the UPA, and due to strong propaganda that referred to the anti-Polish actions of the Ukrainian underground and particularly to the events in Volhynia.”29

28 The basic sources which should be taken into consideration include the Ukrainian testimonies published for example in the Warsaw weekly Nasze Słowo, in the weekly Wołyń published in Łuck, in the collection entitled 1947. Propamiatna knyha from the Zakerzonnia series (vol. 1–5), and in a few other volumes of testimonies and the documents collected by Eugeniusz Misiło in the publication entitled Repatriacja czy deportacja. Przesiedlenie Ukraińców z Polski do USRR 1944–1946, vol. 1–2 (Warsaw, 1996–1999).

29 S. Stępień, “Akcja „Wisła”. Propozycje do podręcznikow szkolnych i materiałow pomocniczych dla nauczycieli”, in Akcja „Wisła”, ed. J. Pisuliński (Warsaw, 2003), 207–208.

***

Notes on individual acts of help were standardized as much as possible to follow this model:

1) Locality – and its administrative details and rough statistical data on the size and ethnic composition of its population. The ethnic structure is provided to show the ratio of the Polish and Ukrainian population, for example: Polish-Ukrainian village, Ukrainian village with a few Polish families, village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, village with a significant majority of Ukrainians over Poles.

2) Incident – usually an attack on civilians: basic reconstruction of its course and circumstances in the form of a short description featuring the date and number of victims (however, drastic descriptions of the perpetrators’ brutality were omitted). I used information from available publications, which I then condensed as much as possible.

3) Act of help – with descriptions of its circumstances presented in the form of a short note based on witness testimonies or in the form of a longer and more detailed description that uses – often quite extensive – quotations from testimonies. The aim was to give voice to the participants themselves and to present the events through the witnesses’ eyes and the prism of their opinions, perceptions, and interpretation of reality (note, for instance, the common use of the following names of the perpetrators: Banderites, Bulba followers, rezuns [butchers], bandits, UPA bands). In some places I retained linguistic peculiarities to add some authenticity (for instance, though neutral at that time, the word “pop”, which denotes an Orthodox priest, is nowadays considered inappropriate or even offensive).

I comment on any discrepancies, mistakes, or imprecisions.

I usually write names and surnames of Ukrainians as they are spelled in the sources (usually in their Polish form, which is actually in line with administrative and customary practice in the Second Republic of Poland). It is difficult to be fully consistent with regard to the vital issue of the identification of individuals. For in the Eastern Borderlands there was sometimes no clear distinction between “purely” Polish and “purely” Ukrainian names and surnames. The quite common mixed marriages were one of the factors that significantly complicated the issue of spelling names and surnames. Moreover, the present norms of transcription are insufficient to deal with the actual diversity and they often impose peculiar and artificial solutions. To minimize these problems in the index of names I provided a few variants of the spelling of Ukrainian surnames whenever I was in doubt.

4) Source – listed below the entries. Whenever I use a few witness testimonies I list them in the right order to facilitate the connection between a given fragment of an entry and the author.

***

The collected materials allow for neither the creation of detailed statistics nor for formulation of regularities or even tendencies which would be binding for the research on Polish-Ukrainian relations during and immediately after the war.

Provision of help was neither an obvious nor a mass phenomenon. Many Polish testimonies stress that Poles received no support whatsoever from their Ukrainian neighbors. Help was provided by few Ukrainians while most Ukrainians remained passive. Even those trying to remain neutral were subjected to heavy pressure. For the massacres were conducted not only by armed formations of nationalists or armed peasant self-help groups, but also by Ukrainian acquaintances from neighboring localities or even by the closest neighbors and relatives. Poles subjected to extermination often experienced fear so great that they instinctively and desperately ran for their lives not caring about their relatives who were being murdered nearby. The sight of such bestiality had to be paralyzing for the Ukrainians too, all the more so as the provision of help was punishable by death.

Who were those who, despite all that, showed human solidarity or often did truly heroic things? The data collected here suggests that ideological motivation such as non-nationalist political views (democratic or communist) and universal humanist considerations played a secondary role. Most rescuers were very close to the rescuees and were strongly attached to them emotionally – that is, they were members of Polish-Ukrainian families or relatives of Poles. Neighbors and friends constitute the second most numerous group. They were usually from the older generation and often saved their fellow human beings for religious reasons as they valued the rules of faith more than national or group solidarity. Surprisingly, Baptists, Shtundists30, and Jehovah witnesses were more “visible” here than the incomparably more numerous Roman Catholics (in Volhynia) and Greek Catholics (in Galicia).

30 Maksym Borovets “Taras Bulba” – creator of the first detachments of Ukrainian pro-independence partisan units and opponent of the genocidal methods of Stepan Bandera’s followers. Still, his subordinates participated in at least some attacks on the Polish population, which is the source of that unfair classification.

It is difficult to estimate the scale of help provided to Poles. The Siemaszkos listed 242 acts of help provided to Poles in Volhynia by about 350 Ukrainians (225 of them known by surname), of whom 313 died.31 The list of Ukrainians who helped the Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia made by Eugeniusz Różański (mostly on the basis of SUOZUN materials and Leon Karłowicz’s book Ludobójcy i ludzie) features over 700 people, including about 430 people known by surname.32

31 W. and E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 2, 1062−1063.

32 E. Różański, Nie każdy Ukrainiec... The author included in his list all, even the shortest, mentions of instances of help.

I present the information collected in this book in the table below, which shows estimates on the scale and character of the phenomenon.

Table: Statistics of Help Provided to Poles by Ukrainians

***

Book of the Righteous of the Eastern Borderlands 1939−1945 is an attempt to collect dispersed information on the topic of Ukrainian help to Poles. This publication by no means exhausts the topic. This initial and highly tentative summary is to allow everyone interested in this issue to express their opinion on the materials presented and join in the efforts to create a corrected, fuller list. I would like to thank Grzegorz Motyka, Ph.D. for his critical reading of the typestript and Prof. Roman Drozd and editor Maria Pańków for their help with the collection of materials for the appendix.

I would like to ask readers to send in their remarks, corrections, and clarifications, as well as new testimonies regarding similar instances. I also appeal to researchers into Polish-Ukrainian relations, as I might have accidentally omitted some instances worthy of mention.

A certain number of sources did not qualify for inclusion. Interesting as they were, they did not offer sufficient information on a given incident’s location.

Hence, I would like to ask for provision of all necessary data in the testimonies sent in: locality, its administrative details (commune and county, if possible) and date.

Address: Romuald Niedzielko

Instytut Pamięci Narodowej

00-839 Warszawa, ul. Towarowa 28

e-mail: romuald.niedzielko@ipn.gov.pl

VOLHYNIA VOIVODESHIP

DUBNO COUNTY

Boremel, Boremel commune – a small town and village, inhabited by 2,000 Jews (until their extermination by the Germans in 1942), a few hundred Ukrainians and about 40 Poles.

Posing as policemen from Dubno, some Ukrainians abducted sawmill director engineer Mikołaj Masłowski and Boremel mill director Stanisław Jabłoński in late February 1943. After a few weeks the two men’s bodies were recovered from the Styr River tied with a barbed wire. Holod – a Ukrainian employee of the sawmill – took care of widow Helena Masłowska, who recalls the following, “And his wife was a sotnytchka [company leader] in their band. Holod consoled me and told me to remain calm and said that he would notify me when his wife says that my turn has come. Indeed, he warned me and I managed to leave for Łuck in time [...] in April before Easter.”

On 9 April 1943 the UPA massacred 10 Poles. The survivors included: Franciszek Marmucki, his daughter-in-law Maria and her little child – sheltered by Ukrainian deacon Chomycki, who brought them near Siergiejówka (Czaruków commune, Łuck county) – and the Werner family – warned at the last moment by their Ukrainian neighbor Imbirovsky and thus able to depart in time.

The Ukrainians often helped physician Michał Kiesz’s family. His son Wadiusz was warned twice by his schoolmates: Slavka Voznyuk and brothers Miron and Myhailo Volek. After Michał and Wadiusz Kiesz’s departure to Łuck in June 1943 Ukrainian teacher Ostolsky warned the physician’s wife, who had remained in Boremel, that the whole family was in danger. Aleksandra Kiesz decided to join her husband. She turned for help to Matvij Tokar – an organizer of a partisan detachment later incorporated into the UPA. Wadiusz Kiesz writes: “He advised mom to leave before dawn and take a different, rarely used road which partly went across his land in order to go around the village of Złoczówka. [...] he gave mom a pass – a meticulously rolled up cigarette tissue paper sealed with red wax and a bottom part of a pistol bullet. He said, ‘Just in case, but destroy it in Łuck and don’t tell nobody about it.’”

Aside from Chomytskyi and Imbirovskyi other Ukrainians too warned Poles against planned attacks thus saving their lives. Those included Aleksander Melnychuk, Miron Wolk and Adam Wozniuk with his family.

Source: Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej [Archive of the Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw, Poland] (later: AIPN), 27 WDAK, VIII/16, Relacja Heleny Masłowskiej [Helena Masłowska’s account], pp. 31v–32v; W. Kiesz, Od Boremla do Chicago (Starachowice, 1999), 106–113; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., 53–55 (on the basis of Wadiusz Kiesz’s account).

Drańcza Polska, Radziwiłłów commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

On 31 May 1943 the UPA massacred about 50 Poles. The survivors escaped to Radziwiłłów and Podkamień (Brody county, Tarnopol voivodeship). Local Orthodox clergyman Filyp Boreckyi was hanged for helping the Poles.

Bolesław Łukasiewicz writes: “A Ukrainian woman from neighboring Kopania had a married daughter domiciled there [in Drańcza] and in the evening she warned her against the raid and those who believed the warning survived because they fled the village in time. Those who stayed were massacred. That woman from Kopania died too for Banderites did not tolerate those who revealed their plans.”

Antoni Walczak – a survivor from Drańcza Polska – also confirmed that fact.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 97; Archiwum Wschodnie w Warszawie [Eastern Archive of the Karta Centre, Warsaw, Poland] (later: AW), II/2089, B. Łukasiewicz, Wspomnienia ze Stryjówki [Recollections from Stryjówka], p. 60; C. Świętojański, A.Wiśniewski, Możemy wszystko przebaczyć, nie wolno nam niczego zapomnieć. Dzieje Podkamienia i okolic od maja 1943 r. do maja 1944 r. (Wołów–Jawor, 1994), 20 (Antoni Walczak’s account).

Dubno – county town, 15,500 inhabitants.

The three-generation Ukrainian family of Savka domiciled on the outskirts of the town near the airfield maintained contacts with their Polish neighbors and helped local Polish peasants feeling before the UPA. On the night from 27 to 28 September 1943 the Savkas were murdered – seven people were killed for helping Poles. Three wounded sons of the Sawkas were the only ones that survived because they pretended to be dead during the UPA attack.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 115 (on the basis of Karol Kosek’s account).

Jarosławicze, Jarosławicze commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles.

On 18 June (or according to a different version, on 22 May) 1943 an armed UPA group slaughtered over 50 Poles. According to the witnesses, four members of the Ukrainian family of Zherdytskyi were killed for helping the Poles: Andrii Zherdytskyi, aged 48, who was a commune head before the war, his wife Maria, aged 45, their son Serhii Zherdytskyi, aged 24, and their daughter Nadya, aged 19.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Dubno”, Na Rubieży 30 (1998): 26–27 (among others according to the account of Jadwiga Stefanicka [née Jankowska]).

Nosowica Nowa, Sudobicze commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles.Before Easter 1943 blacksmith Edward Spałek was told by his Ukrainian neighbor not to sleep at home because there would be an attack on the Poles. The Spałeks notified the local inhabitants. Only some of them believed the warning and survived. The others stayed at home because they considered it a provocation of the Ukrainians that intended to loot the Polish farms.

On the night of 25 April the UPA killed 25 Poles who had not hidden in a forest or escaped to other villages. One of the victims was a Ukrainian woman, Zhenya, who lived with the Adamiec family. She rose to her landlords’ defense during the massacre and was executed.

Source: Relacja Zbigniewa Wojcieszaka [Zbigniew Wojcieszak’s Account] in Okrutna przestroga, ed. J. Dębski and L. Popek (Lublin, 1997), 16.

Pełcza, Werba commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

In 1943 the UPA killed the Orthodox clergyman, who had warned a local Roman Catholic parish priest, Father Bolesław Murawski, that he was in danger from the UPA. Consequently, Father Murawski left before the attack.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 111 (according to Wadiusz Kiesz’s account).

Ptycza, Werba commune – Ukrainian village with nearly 40 Polish families.

In the summer of 1943 the local Ukrainians warned a Catholic parish priest – Father Wincenty Jach, who had been a target of a Ukrainian attack two years earlier – about a plan to kill him. The priest went to the Werba train station guarded by a detachment of Hungarians. That saved his life for on the first night after his departure the UPA stormed into the rectory and, in the absence of the priest, murdered two Polish-Ukrainian families, which lived nearby and were connected with the parish.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 112 (according to the accounts of Fathers Wincenty and Władysław Jach).

Radziwiłłów, Radziwiłłów commune – town domiciled by Jews (until the closure of the ghetto in 1942), Ukrainians and Poles; also a Polish military settlement with 50 farms.

Stanisława Roztropowicz-Szkubel recalls that her family moved from the settlement to the town in May 1943. When they returned to their farm in July to get food they got a warning from their female Ukrainian neighbors. “None of the women that surrounded us said why they were so nervous or that they were actually saving our lives. A few hours after our departure a UPA detachment surrounded our former house and began to wait for our return. [...] [At the Radziwiłłów market] mom found out that our cottage had been burned. She was also advised against our coming back to the farm until further notice but she did not learn any details. The warning came from a Ukrainian woman who lived about half a kilometer from our burned house. While she was pretending to haggle for the products on sale she promised to come to the market twice a week at a specified hour. She and mom would pass each other in an agreed place: she would be driving a wagon and mom would be walking on the sidewalk from the opposite direction. Without stopping, she would nod or shake her head at the sight of my mom. If she shakes her head then it means that we cannot come to the farm and if she nods it means that we can. For over two weeks she signaled that we could not come and then one day she calmly nodded her head. The next day father went alone to the farm while the children stayed in the town. He examined the burned house and four sleeping-places pressed in the high crop growing around the settlement. The UPA camped there day and night waiting for our arrival. This was how that nameless Ukrainian woman saved us from bloodshed.”

Source: S. Roztropowicz-Szkubel, “Ostrzeżenie”, in Bracia zza Buga. Wspomnienia z czas uwojny, collected by Jan Turnau (Lublin, 1999), 106–110.

Satyjów, Warkowicze commune – Ukrainian village and estate with about a dozen Polish families.

After the unsuccessful UPA attack at the beginning of 1943 Leon Salecki’s family went to Beresteczko (Horochów country) following their Ukrainian neighbor’s advice.

Source: A. Zawilski, Znów ożywają kurhany (Wrocław, 1997), 130 (Leon Salecki’s Account).

Stołbiec, Werba commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In July 1943 a Ukrainian, Damyan Kobluk, told the Polish family of Maciuk to escape because the UPA members who were in his barn would shortly come for them. Some members of the Maciuk family managed to flee to Werba. Kajetan Maciuk, aged 70, stayed in Stołbiec with another Polish family – the Szapowałas. They were captured and slaughtered. Kobluk and his mother, Palashka, took care of the murdered man’s daughter, Bronisława. They sheltered and fed her.

Source: A. Biedrzycka (née Maciuk), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 57 (2001): 14.

Świszczów, Jarosławicze commune – Polish colony.

At the end of June 1943 the UPA members from a neighboring Ukrainian village by the same name attacked the village and shot about a dozen Poles. The survivors included the Tomicki sisters. Jadwiga Grabarczyk (née née Tomicka) writes: “I and my sister looked back[,] we saw our mom in the hands of the attackers but it was already too late to save her. [...] During our escape from the UPA nationalists we ran across Ukrainian farmsteads and through villages, we met Ukrainians, mostly elderly, who showed us a safe way and thus helped us escape from the Banderites.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, VIII/12, Relacja Jadwigi Grabarczyk [Jadwiga Grabarczyk’s Account], pp. 24–24v.

Załawie, Jarosławicze commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish and (until 1942) Jewish families.

According to Kazimierz Wąsek’s account, in May 1943 some Bandera followers posing as Soviet partisans shot his brother Bolesław and severely wounded his father. “[T]hinking that he was dead, they left him in the forest. My father came round and crawled back to his village. The Ukrainians were afraid to help him and they feared the nationalists’ vengeance; only the third neighbor, Korchuk, took pity on him, put him up and the next day lent his horses and wagon to my brother, Jan Wąsek, who took our father to a hospital in Łuck.”

Source: K. Wąsek, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 30 (1998): 30.

Złoczówka, Boremel commune – village and grange inhabited mostly by Ukrainians. There were about 150 Polish inhabitants.

Over 50 Polish inhabitants of the village and the grange died as a result of the UPA attacks in mid-May and on 12 July 1943. A few people survived thanks to their Ukrainian neighbors, who warned them in advance.

A local church organist, Leopold Dyrda, was warned at the turn of April and May 1943 by Ivan Bondaruk (according to a different version, by Anton Didukh). Dyrda left with his four children for Beresteczko in the Horochów county, leaving behind his wife and a daughter. The attackers only burned their house. Another Ukranian warned a local parish priest, Father Bolesław Stasiewicz, aged nearly 70. The priest went to Łuck with his three sisters and survived the war.

Source: D. Chiniewicz (née Dyrda), “Byłam mieszkanką wsi Złoczówka”, Na Rubieży 43 (2000): 45; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 58–59 (according to the accounts of, among others, Leopold Dyrda and Danuta Chiniewicz [née Dyrda]); A. Zawilski, Znów ożywają kurhany..., 16 (according to Olga Dyrda’s account).

HOROCHÓW COUNTY

Augustów, Kisielin commune – Polish-German colony (Ukrainians replaced the Germans after their departure to the Reich in 1940).

On 29 August 1943 the UPA slaughtered six members of the Malinowski family. Władysław Malinowski managed to hide with his wife and three children in a forest. His Ukrainian friend, Joseph Pavluk, took care of the Poles for three days. He brought them food and told them not to return home. “The Ukrainians are murdering virtually all Poles in our area”, the survivor quotes the Ukrainian, “their providnyk [leader] said that that bloodshed is going on simultaneously in the whole country, that there is an order to kill every last Liakh [i.e. Pole] communist and Jew.” Pavluk also told him about the massacre of 40 families in neighboring Władysławówka, which he witnessed: “He said that he had never seen or heard about such a massacre, and that those who did not see it would never believe that his kin were responsible. [...] He told us to escape because he could not put himself in danger – the Ukrainians are vigilant and they might kill him and his family as punishment. We did what he told us and we walked to Włodzimierz the whole night – through forests and bogs.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/81, Relacja Władysława Malinowskiego [Władysław Malinowski’s Account], pp. 212v–213.

Beresteczko, Beresteczko commune – town inhabited by Ukrainians (60 percent of the population), Jews (until the closure the ghetto in 1942) and a few dozen Polish families.

The UPA attacked Beresteczko on 30 December 1943. The attack lasted 48 hours but the self-defense forces eventually warded it off. The number of Polish victims was small. The survivors included Czesława Bublińska and her two children, who were sheltered by a Ukrainian midwife.

The Polish population left the town in January 1944 together with the evacuation of the Germans. Only five Poles stayed in Beresteczko. The UPA took control over the town and began to search for Poles in hiding. According to the information collected by A. Zawilski, four Poles survived thanks to Ukrainian help. Honorata Andrzejewska and her niece were escorted at night to Radziechów (Tarnopol voivodeship) by their Ukrainian acquaintances. A municipal council employee, Sawicki, and his sick wife were temportarily taken care of by Sawicki’s Ukrainian colleague, Maudak, who then took them to an Orthodox parish priest, Ivan Mikolskyi. Mikolskyi “arranged to visit a dying man with the Blessed Sacrament. Sawicki was the driver and his wife was lying hidden on the sleigh. This is how they got to Radziechów.”

A Ukrainian clergyman (who maintained exemplary contacts with Catholic parish priest Father Jerzy Zwoliński before the war) did not let the Bandera followers burn the historic St. Valentine church. “He argued that Saint Valentine helps all epileptics alike: Russkis and Poles, and Catholics and Orthodox Church members.”

Source: Relacja Haliny z Saleckich Wilczek [Account of Halina Wilczek (née Salecka)], in Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu, ed. L. Karłowicz, L. Popek (Lublin, 1998), 41; A. Zawilski, Znów ożywają kurhany..., 261.

Boroczyce, Brany commune – Ukrainian-Polish village.

The UPA attacked the village on 16 July 1943 murdering ca. 10 Poles.

A Ukrainian inhabitant warned the Poles about the upcoming massacre and thus saved many of them. A Ukrainian, Fedio, was killed by the Bandera followers for sheltering the Poles.

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie (Lublin, 2000), 153–154 (Franciszek Morozowski’s Account).

Bubnów, Świniuchy commune – village inhabited mostly by Ukrainians (Orthodox and Baptists – the so-called Shtundists) and Poles (Catholics and Baptists).

The UPA attacked the Polish inhabitants twice in July 1943. In both cases the Ukrainian Baptists warned the Polish Baptists. During the first raid the UPA burned only the Catholic Poles’ farms. Consequently, the Baptists returned home after two weeks. After the other attack, however, they left Bubnów and, posing as Ukrainians, got to Skurcz.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 188–189.

Buniawa, Chorów commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

The UPA murdered about a dozen Poles in July 1943.

A local Ukrainian provided help to the severely beaten-up members of the Goździkowski family. He transported them to a hospital in Włodzimierz Wołyński.

The UPA severely beat up Goździkowska’s Ukrainian husband for his failure to carry out the order to kill his Polish wife and daughter, aged 2, within seven days. It remains unknown whether he survived. But it is certain that one of the attackers facilitated his wife and daughter’s escape.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 138.

Bużany, Brany commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

Hrytsko Babii took care of Genowefa Sawicka, her parents and her brother during the Ukrainian attack in July 1943. He sheltered them for two weeks in crop and fed them at night. He then helped them get to Horochów, where he found them a shelter at his acquaintances’. Another Ukrainian, Pylyp Kovalchuk, rescued Genowefa Sawicka’s neighbor, Aleksandra Markowska. He took her away from the place where she was being tortured and then took good care of her.

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 150–151 (Genowefa Sawicka’s Account).

Cechów, Brany commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

On 17 July 1943 a friendly Ukrainian, Serhii Krachuk, warned the Poles about the Ukrainian nationalists’ plan to murder the Polish population the next night. The Poles hid in the forest and in crop and then escaped to Horochów. All of them survived. The Ukrainians burned their abandoned farms.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 127–128.

Chołopecze, Kisielin commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish and a few Czech families.

The Ukrainian nationalists murdered about a dozen Czechs and Poles in summer 1943.

A Ukrainian Baptist, Mykyta Vihyrynskyi (Vihorynskyi?), provided shelter to a paramedic from neighboring Jachimówka, Orłowski, and his wife. The married couple was hiding in an underground shelter on Vihyrynskyi’s farm from July to October 1943. During that period UPA members from Chołopecze met in Vihyrynskyi’s backyard and talked about how they were dealing with the Poles. Vihyrynskyi’s son took the Orłowskis to Wojnica, from where they got to Włodzimierz Wołyński.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 151 (according to Polidor Orłowski’s account).

Drużkopol, Brany commune – small Jewish town (until 1942) and a Ukrainian village with a few dozen Polish families.

On the night from 12 to 13 July 1943 a Ukrainian, Andrei Sosovets, took Józef Majewski’s family to a hideout in his barn. On the same night the Bandera followers drove up to their house. Nobody was home so they left.

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 154 (according to Józef Kazimierz Majewski’s account).

Dunaj, Kisielin commune – Polish colony.

18 people died as a result of the UPA attack on 8 August 1943.

Zbigniew Jakubowski from Adamówka (Kupiczów commune, Kowel county) was staying with his family in Dunaj at that time. According to his account, during their escape his mother and sister Mirosława came to a Ukrainian woman married to a Pole, Olszański. The Ukrainian woman hid them in her barn’s attic. “The Banderites stormed into her home looking for the escapees. They severely beat up that Ukrainian woman to make her say where the two Polish women were hiding. But the woman did not reveal the hideout and my mom and Mirka survived.”

Source: Z. Jakubowski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 51 (2001): 40.

Horochówka, Chorów commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

About 40 Poles died during 12−14 July 1943 as a result of a Ukrainian attack and search for the escapees.

Józefa Golisz and her two daughters, Helena and Maria, were among the survivors. A UPA member rescued them twice from the execution site – he managed to convince the attackers not to murder them. The Golisz family was the only [Polish] family to remain in the village until the expatriation in 1946.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 140; L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 25–26.

Janina, Skobełka commune – colony and settlement, inhabited by about a dozen Polish and Ukrainian families.

The UPA slaughtered a few Poles and burned the colony in mid-July 1943. Warned by a local Ukrainian, the remaining inhabitants managed to escape. Later, the UPA murdered that Ukrainian helper for what he did.

Source: Archiwum Akt Nowych w Warszawie [The Central Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw, Poland] (later: AAN), Komenda Obszaru Lwow [Lvov Region Command], 203/XV-42, Rzezie wołyńskie [Volhynia Massacres], p. 83.

Janowiec, Kisielin commune – colony inhabited by Poles, Germans (until 1940) and Ukrainians.

A group of Poles came to Janowiec in August 1943 for harvest (they had escaped to Łuck after the July attack on the church in neighboring Kisielin). After they put the crop in a barn a Ukrainian, Lisetskyi, informed them about a planned UPA attack. They immediately left the barn and ran for their lives.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 157 (according to Henryk Kitaszewski’s account).

Janów, Kisielin commune – Polish-German colony (until the Germans’ departure to the Reich in 1940).

The UPA murdered about a dozen inhabitants in July and August 1943.

The Szulakiewicz family, Polish survivors of a pogrom in neighboring Jasiniec, found shelter in the colony. Three Ukrainian families took care of them: the Rodzs, the Lagovskyis and the Demkovskyis. The Ukrainians sheltered the Poles and then safely escorted them and one of the Ukrainian helpers’ Polish wife, Aniela Rodz, to the Włodzimierz-Łuck road. From there the refugees went with the Germans to Włodzimierz Wołyński. War invalid Witold Szulakiewicz stayed in Janów. He was in hiding for half a year but the UPA eventually murdered him in January 1944.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, VII/15, Relacja Stanisława Szulakiewicza [Stanisław Szulakiewicz’s Account], pp. 25–26; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 157.

Jasiniec, Kisielin commune – colony inhabited by Poles, Germans (until their departure to the Reich in 1940) and Ukrainians.

On 31 August 1943 the UPA killed 26 Poles. The survivors included three people whom the Waronowiczes [Wawronowiczes?] sheltered in a hideout under a barn. The helpers were a Polish-Ukrainian family. Waronowicz, who was Polish, also had to stay in hiding. Józefa Kiciak, who spent two weeks in a hideout with her son-in-law, Marcel Radecki, and Waronowicz recalled that Waronowicz’s Ukrainian wife walked about the village and mourned pretending that her husband had been murdered for being Polish.

Source: W.S. Dębski, W kręgu kościoła kisielińskiego, czyli Wołyniacy z parafii Kisielin (Lublin, 1994), 204–205 (Account of Alfreda Magdziak [née Kiciak]); W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 157–158.

Kisielin, Kisielin commune – small town with 61 Jewish families (until the closure of the ghetto in 1942), 57 Polish families and at least 48 Ukrainian families.

On 11 July 1943 a big UPA group attacked the Poles who gathered for a Sunday mass. There were over 90 victims.

A Ukrainian, Nikon Dacyuk, took care of the surving members of the Ziółkowski family, particularly of wounded Antoni Ziółkowski. Other Ukrainian helpers were: Sava Kovtynyuk (sheltered and fed on his farm three Sławiński families as well as the families of Romanowski, Maciaszek and Okolski and then escorted the Poles in groups to a forest), Viktor Padlevskyi (helped the Filipeks, the Romanowskis and two Sławiński sisters, Józefa and Weronika), Volodymyr Palachuk (took care of the Pawłowskis and the Bagneckis), Petro Parfenyuk (sheltered the Czerwineks and Piotr Sławiński’s family), Ostap Kokhanskyi and Paraska Padlevska, aged 60, who drove wounded Włodzimierz Sławosz Dębski to a hospital in Łokacze).

Dębski also received help from Luba Parfenyuk: “After the massacre in the church and the struggle, during which I got wounded, I was taken to her farm. I lied there in a barn until Thursday when I was taken to a hospital. My father was also hiding there and we had our personal belongings and some valuables stored there. After two weeks the UPA kidnapped and murdered my parents after they had gone to our house. The UPA frequently tried to force Luba to give up our things but to no avail.”

Source: W.S. Dębski, W kręgu kościoła kisielińskiego..., 219–224; idem, “Siedmiu sprawiedliwych z Kisielina”, in Bracia zza Buga.., 25–29.

Kisielówka, Kisielin commune – Polish-German colony (until the Germans’ departure to the Reich in 1940).

On 21 August 1943 the UPA slaughtered at least 93 people. The family of Leon and Władysława Procajło managed to avoid the attack thanks to a warning from their Ukrainian acquaintance. The Procajłos sneaked on foot to Włodzimierz Wołyński.

Source: Relacja Piotra Procajło [Piotr Procajło’s Account], in Okrutna przestroga..., 46.

Koziatyn, Podberezie commune – Ukrainian village with seven Polish families.

On 11 July 1943 the UPA took control over the village and massacred 16 people. The survivors included Wojciech Matula, who received help from the Ukrainians, Zenon Dubrovskyi from Koziatyn and Babyi from the neighboring village of Strzelcze.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 180.

Kupowalce, Brany commune – village inhabited mostly by Poles.

On 16 July 1943 substantial UPA forces attacked Kupowalce and the neighboring colonies of Szeroka and Lulówka slaughtering ca. 150 people. The survivors included Halina Gilewicz sheltered in a haystack by a Ukrainian, Tkachuk. The Ukrainian family of Chepyuk domiciled in the Nowe Gniezno settlement provided food to the Łaszewskis during the initial days after the attack.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 128–130.

Liniów, Świniuchy commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

The UPA murdered four Polish families during the first days of June 1943.

Wounded Dominik Tarnawski received help from a local Ukrainian, who took him to a hospital in Łokacze. Another Ukrainian notified the Tarnawskis in Koszów (Torczyn commune, Łuck county) about the massacre.

On 11 July 1943 the Bandera followers massacred about 70 Poles. Genowefa Modrzejewska (née Sobczyńska), aged 5, recalls that her mother told her to hide with her sister in a dog house kennel on her way to her death. “Kruczek’s kennel was small and dark, scary. I cannot remember how long we stayed there. I must have fallen asleep out of fear. So must have Emilka. Those hidings taught us to be quiet because it was necessary. [...]Some Ukrainian women took us from the kennel. At that time hiding Polish children was punishable with death. But they were not scared at all. They transferred us to another house. To grandma Julia and grandpa Paweł Sobczyński in the village of Kołbań.”

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 190–191; AW, II/2232/p, Genowefa Modrzejewska, Niczyja [Nobody’s Child], pp. 4–5.

Lulówka Węgierszczyzna, Brany commune – Polish colony.

The UPA raided the colony on 16 July 1943 slaughtering over 80 people. Afterwards, one of the Ukrainians, Grycko Babyi, sheltered the Łagosz family in crop for two weeks.

Severely wounded Aleksandra Markowski, aged 7, was one of the survivors. She was taken in by the Ukrainian family of Voitovich. “Having cleaned and painted my wounds with iodine, they laid me in a cubbyhole. I was usually taken care of by the man. He changed my dressings, fed me, taught me prayers in Ukrainian and how to cross myself. As I was familiar with the Ukrainian language (my father used to be visited by Ukrainians) I soon forgot the Polish tongue and spoke Ukrainian. I called my carers “mom” and “dad.” [...] When I recovered and went outdoors my carers told their acquaintances that I was their niece. After some time “dad” brought in a girl, aged 17 or 18, he found in a forest. She could not walk. [...]I spoke Ukrainian to her whenever I brought her food or drink but she would get very upset and shout. Her name was Wacka. She knew my parents [...] My Ukrainian “mom” usually took me to the Orthodox church. [...] I used to graze cows with their daughter Nastunya.” Pressured and threatened by the other Ukrainians, Mrs. Voitovich took the girl to their acquainted Polish family of Strutyński in neighboring Bużany. “Crying, she hopped on the wagon and cracked the whip. [...] I burst into tears and shouted: ‘Mamo, ne kydaj mene [Mom, don’t leave me].’ The women could not calm me down at all”, recalls Aleksandra. Mrs. Voitovich came home to find her husband dead.

Aleksandra found Mrs. Wojtovich in 1977 and met with her in Lulówka.

Wounded during the escape, Jolanta Sawicka, aged 14, lay unconscious for a few days in the grain field. She then managed to get to her Ukrainian acquaintances – Yurii Pavliuk’s family. So did her two younger sisters, Alina and Krystyna, after hiding in a field for two days. Jolanta Dudkowska (née Sawicka) recalls: “At that moment Pavliuk’s wife came out and cried, begging us not to stay at their place. She said that they would also die for helping Poles. She gave us a piece of bread and sour milk and dressed our wounds. [...] We hid in the grain field and slept in raspberry bushes. We knew that if they found us there they would kill everybody, including Pavliuk.” The Pavliuks provided help to 21 Poles. Thanks to them that group managed to hide in Lulówka for three weeks. The Sawickis in Horochów learned from Ukrainians about the Poles sheltered by the Pavliuks’. Consequently, the Sawickis arranged their transport to the town.

In the fall of 1943 the Ukrainians killed the family of Józef Skawiński, a Pole, including many children. The only family member to survive was Józef’s daughter, Wacława, aged 12. The girl was rescued by a Ukrainian woman, who then drove her to Horochów hidden under straw.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 131–132; AW, II/2506, Relacja Jolanty Dudkowskiej z d. Sawickiej [Account of Jolanta Dudkowska (née Sawicka)], pp. 5–6; AW, II/2789, Relacja Aleksandry Głowińskiej z d. Markowskiej [Account of Aleksandra Głowińska (née Markowska)], pp. 3–6.

Markowicze, Chorów rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

According to Władysław Kowalczyk, a Pole, in July 1943 the Ukrainian village reeve of Markowicze received a death sentence for helping Poles and had to escape to Łokacze. A local Orthodox clergyman also opposed the UPA’s massacres of the Poles, stating that the Orthodox religion forbids attacks on defenseless people.

In 1943 the UPA burned the farm of a Ukrainian, Kashtelan, because he and his two brothers had been helping the Poles.

Source: A. Peretiatkowicz, Polska samoobrona w okolicach Łucka (Katowice, 1995), 202 (Władysław Kowalczyk’s Account); A. Zawilski, Znów ożywają kurhany..., 246.

Michałówka, Chorów rural commune – Polish colony with a few Ukrainian families.

On April 10, 1943 the Poles hastily left to Łokacze after receiving a warning from a Ukrainian, whom the UPA wanted to participate in a search for the Poles escaping from the neighboring villages and towns during a massacre. The Poles heeded the warning and survived.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 143.

Niedźwiedzie Jamy, Kisielin rural commune – colony inhabited by three Polish and two Ukrainian families.

The Ukrainian family of Skoropad took in three Polish children: Julia, Genowefa and Władysław Szyszka. Their mother had been murdered by the UPA at the Kisielin church on July 11, 1943.

Henryk Szyszka, aged 10, was taken care of by a Ukrainian, Rodyon, whose son was in the UPA. In 1944 the Soviet authorities sentenced the whole family to exile and deported them to Siberia together with their foster children.

Source: W.S. Dębski, W kręgu kościoła kisielińskiego..., 214 (according to Maria Zinkiewicz’s account).

Oździutycze, Kisielin rural commune – small town and village inhabited mostly by Jews until 1942.

A local Ukrainian secretly drove the Polish Nieczyporowski family out of Oździutycze a day before the UPA raid in July 1943.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 167.

Podberezie, Podberezie rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

After the arrival of the Soviet army in September 1939 the local Ukrainians threatened death to the commune’s secretary, Władysław Salecki. Orthodox clergyman Koncevich (Ukrainian) provided shelter to Salecki’s family and facilitated their escape to Beresteczko.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 181; Relacja Haliny z Saleckich Wilczek [Account of Halina Wilczek (née Salecka)], in Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu..., 36–37.

Poluchno, Podberezie rural commune – Polish colony.

On July 12, 1943 the UPA slaughtered most of the inhabitants, that is, about 40 people.

The survivors included the Omelańskis’ two oldest daughters. Wounded, they crawled to a Ukrainian woman they knew, and she dressed their wounds and secretly took them to Horochów.

Petro Stasyuk, a Ukrainian, sheltered victim Kazimiera Keller’s daughter, Irena Keller, aged 8. The girl was in hiding on the Dubinki farmstead for three weeks (Stasyuk several times told the Kellers to escape before the attack, but they did not take him seriously). Stasyuk’s wife escorted the girl to Horochów and handed her over to her surviving father.

Source: Relacja Ireny Koźlickiej [Irena Koźlicka’s Account], in Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu..., 30–32; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 181.

Pułhany, Brany rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles.

On July 15 and 16 a few dozen UPA members slaughtered 97 Poles. Just before the attack Pavlo Zarytskyi (Zarzycki), a Ukrainian, warned the Pole Antonina Suś not to return home.

The Poles received help and shelter from the Ukrainian family of Krysyuk.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 132.

Rogowicze, Chorów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

According to Władysław Kowalczyk, in July 1943 the UPA murdered the Ukrainian village reeve for the help he had provided to the Poles.

Source: A. Peretiatkowicz, Polska samoobrona w okolicach Łucka..., 202.

Szelwów, Chorów rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

On the night of April 12, 1943 the UPA massacred 17 Poles. According to Władysław Kowalczyk, a Pole, the victims included the underground Polish activist, Kazimierz Kolek, pseudonym “Socha”, who “mimeographed copied news from radio watch, which was then spread across the whole voivodeship.” His wife, two children and father escaped “because the UPA guard who stood by the window turned his back on them and pretended not to see them. Kolek’s wife told me about that. The local Ukrainians sympathized with the Poles, but they were helpless and indifferent. I know about instances of sheltering Poles.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, VII/6, Relacja Władysława Kowalczyka [Władysław Kowalczyk’s Account], p. 8.

Szeroka, Brany rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

On July 16, 1943 UPA members dressed in German uniforms and armed with machine guns executed about 30 Poles. Just before the execution a Ukrainian girl, Mariia Shchutska, aged 16, whose brother was in the UPA, rescued her Polish girlfriend, Rozalia Mrozowska, by taking her home.

Rozalia was thereafter sheltered for a month by a Ukrainian named Kanchuk. When the sotnik [company commander] Gil (a friend of Rozalia’s father) found out that the girl had survived he notified her through Mariia Shchutska that he would like to take care of her to make up for her suffering. Kanchuk learned that there was a plot to murder Mrozowska. He hid her under straw on a wagon and took her to Drużkopol, where she had some relatives.

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 154 (Józef Kazimierz Majewski’s Account); W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 134–135.

Twerdynie, Kisielin rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In July and August 1943 about 50 Poles were slaughtered by the Ukrainian inhabitants of the village organized into an armed self-defense detachment subordinate to the UPA. The survivors from the Polish family of Ludwik Papużyński included his daughter Stanisława and his second daughter (or granddaughter) Feliksa. The two girls hid in a stove at the home of Ivan Nazaruk, a Ukrainian. The next day Nazaruk escorted the girls outside the village, from where they continued on their own to the self-defense center in Zaturce.

Józef Dzikowski (later he joined the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Polish Home Army) was told by his Ukrainian acquaintance not to come to Twerdynie on his way back from Germany from forced labor in September 1943. The Ukrainian told Dzikowski he would be killed just like his parents, two brothers, and sister.

Source: W.S. Dębski, W kręgu kościoła kisielińskiego..., 144; AIPN, 27 WDAK, VII/21, Relacja Józefa Dzikowskiego [Józef Dzikowski’s Account], pp. 37v–38; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol 1, 170–171; vol. 2, 1120.

Watyniec, Świniuchy rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In September 1943 the UPA murdered two Polish families, the Grynowieckis and the Tarasiewiczes, and dumped their bodies into a well. According to Zygmunt Grynowiecki’s account, the Tarasiewiczes’ oldest daughter “was 12 at that time. After her head was smashed she was dumped into the well onto all those bodies, and that was perhaps why she survived. A Ukrainian, whose name I do not know, took her out. I only know he was a Baptist and perhaps that was why he did not want to be a bandit. That Ukrainian sheltered the wounded Polish child and when she felt better he brought her to her aunt in Łuck.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, VII/13, Relacja Zygmunta Grynowieckiego [Zygmunt Grynowiecki’s Account], p. 21.

Woronczyn, Kisielin rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

On July 15, 1943 Bandera men massacred over 60 Poles in Woronczyn, Kielecka settlement, and other neighboring villages and towns.

Mr. and Mrs. Szymula survived the massacre. They had escaped from the Zabara colony to Woronczyn, where they had received a warning from a Ukrainian they knew. All their property including their wagon was stolen, but they survived.

Stanisława Zdzymira, a Polish woman, was hiding in a grain field with her grandfather, and then for two weeks also with her mother and younger siblings. She recalled the help they got from their Ukrainian neighbor, Shopyak: “When he saw me he crossed himself and said, ‘You’re alive! Haven’t they killed you?!’ He told me to wait a minute. He went home and came back with a piece of bread and a shovel. ...he showed me where he had buried Dad. [...] He advised us to remain in hiding. [...] We had subsided on that small piece of bread from Mr. Shopyak for so many days already. Mom gave us a few crumbs each day. [...] he warned us that the whole village could hear the child crying. He said that if a stranger came to the village, he would start to sharpen his scythe with a hammer. That was the signal that we were to calm her down. We would put a woolen kerchief over my sister’s mouth. My brother and I dreamt while hiding in that field. My brother wanted to sleep one night in a bed before his death and I wanted to have a drink of water.”

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 172; “Wspomnienia Stanisławy Jędrzejczak z domu Zdzymira”, Biuletyn Informacyjny. 27 Wołyńska Dywizja AK 1 (2000): 67–71.

Zabara, Kisielin rural commune – German colony, after the departure of the Germans to the Reich in 1940 inhabited by Poles and Ukrainians.

The UPA massacred over 20 Poles on July 18, 1943.

One of the survivors was the Stępieńs’ daughter, Danusia, who sustained a head wound. She got out from under the bodies of her relatives, went to a Ukrainian she knew, and he drove her to the Zaturce estate.

Władysław Gniot, a Pole, was rescued by his schoolmate, who was a daughter of the village reeve and participant of the massacre, Denys Romanyuk. Gniot’s mother, who escaped from the massacre site, was sheltered for 17 days by a Ukrainian from the Studynie village, Mykol Osypchuk. Then Mrs. Osypchuk escorted the Polish woman dressed like a Ukrainian to the Zaturce estate.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 174.

Zahorów Nowy, Chorów rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

On the night of July 11, 12 1943 the UPA massacred ca. 30 Poles.

The survivors included Stanisława Ślusarska and her daughter Bronisława. They were rescued by a Ukrainian woman, who hid them in a grain field during the search for the Poles. The mother and daughter stayed there for a week eating grain. Then they received help from a Ukrainian, Khrabchevskyi, who escorted them to the Polish woman Józefa Golisz in Horochówka (Józefa Golisz had been rescued by another Ukrainian during the massacre on July 12).

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 146 (according to Helena Włosowska’s account).

Zamlicze, Chorów rural commune – village and estate inhabited mostly by Ukrainians.

On July 11, 1943 a large group of UPA members slaughtered ca. 100 Poles in the village and estate.

Some of the local Ukrainians helped the pogrom survivors. Two little girls, Krystyna Irena Lepko and Janina Gałka, were sheltered by two Ukrainian women, Paraska and Machiuchka. Lepko was thereafter sheltered for a month by another Ukrainian, Myhailo Gidzun.

A Ukrainian, Stepan Stolarchuk, rescued the three-year-old daughter of the Barańskis, who were killed. He brought her up as his own child even though he had three children of his own.

At the end of August 1943 there was an attack on the Poles who returned to the village for harvest. A few people (Mrs. Krysiak and her daughter Bogusława, Adam Szelestowski and Józef Gruszecki) managed to get to Łokacze because some friendly Ukrainians escorted them under cover of darkness and transported them under straw. Bogusława Nowicka (née Krysiak) recalls: “When it was dark a Ukrainian woman came over for potatoes and saw us. She recognized mom and gestured for us not to get up. She came for us at night, brought a big pot of milk, bread, kerchiefs, and a blouse for me. She told us to run away as the Banderites were preparing a search for the Poles in hiding. Moreover, when they were burying the dead in a barn they noticed that my mom and I were missing. If they found us in her field they would surely kill her entire family. [...] That Ukrainian woman’s husband and Adam Szelestowski came to us (Adam was a son of a Polish woman who had escaped from a burning barn in July). [...] The Ukrainian walked us across marshy meadows. It was the safest route. The only light was the glow of the burning Polish villages.”

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 23–25 (account of Bogusława Nowicka [née Krysiak]); W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 148.

Zapust Kisieliński, Kisielin rural commune – Polish-German colony (until the Germans’ departure to the Reich in 1940).

Warned about an upcoming attack by Petro Parfenyuk, a Ukrainian from Kisielin, the colony’s inhabitants went to Zaturce in July 1943.

Teresa Świderska, survivor of the attack on the Kysylyn church, was among those who stayed in the colony. A Ukrainian, Syrotyuk, sheltered her until as late as October. This is what she recalled years later: “The Banderites searched the Syrotyuks’ farm a few times, but they found nothing suspicious. They also beat up old Syrotyuk and his son, Mihal. But none of those men gave me in. So as not to put them in danger any longer... I decided to leave the hideout and go to Zaturce. [...] I was afraid to go into the village, I sat down crying. Suddenly, I saw a woman walking toward me. I recognized her. It was a Ukrainian woman from Niedźwiedzie Jamy, Shkuropatka. I got even more scared because I knew she had a negative attitude toward Poles. She recognized me too and asked what I was doing there. I lied that I got lost on my way to my village. I want to return to Zaturce but I don’t know the way. Then she exclaimed: ‘Why, there’s plenty of them here! How did you get here without being seen?!’ [...] She put her kerchief on my head, took me home, poured some beetroot soup and told me to eat it quickly. I didn’t touch the food, I was looking at the door as from behind it I could hear drunk Banderites singing loudly and laughing. “They won’t come in here, don’t be scared, eat, I’ll take you out in a minute” [...] she gave me a big flowery kerchief just like the ones worn by Ukrainians and escorted me out into the field and showed me the way to Zaturce. I couldn’t believe that she had not turned me over.”

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 21–23 (account of Teresa Siedlicka [née Świderska]).

Żurawiec, Kisielin rural communed – German colony, after the Germans’ departure to the Reich in 1940 inhabited by a few dozen Polish and Ukrainian families.

Jan Łopuszyński, a Pole, recalls that during the UPA attack in July 1943 his Ukrainian neighbor, Hapyak, lent a wagon and horse to the Pole Tomasz Górak and his family, which enabled them to escape to Zaturce. As a consequence, Hapyak had to report for interrogation to the UPA staff in Moczułki (Kupiczów rural commune, Kowel county).

A friendly Ukrainian woman, Olga Vasylevska, warned Jan and Regina Łopuszyński in advance about an anti-Polish attack (conducted on August 8, 1943 in neighboring villages and towns). Consequently, the couple managed to escape to Zaturce and from there to Włodzimierz Wołyński.

When Bolesław Zinkiewicz, a Pole, came to his farm in August 1943 a Ukrainian, Kola Muzhychuk, came to tell him to escape immediately for he had received an order to kill him.

Source: W.S. Dębski, W kręgu kościoła kisielińskiego..., 160, 162 (Jan Łopuszyński’s Account); L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 109 (Regina Łopuszyńska’s Account).

KOSTOPOL COUNTY

Adamówka, Ludwipol rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

The Poles managed to escape to Janówka before the UPA attack in June 1943. Unaware of the warning, the Polish woman Dioniza Felińska came to the village with her three children and was murdered. So was her Ukrainian neighbor, Sovieta Filinska, who came to her defense. Sovieta’s child was taken in by the Poles from the “Bomby” Polish Home Army (AK) partisan unit in Huta Stara.

Felińska’s three little children were kidnapped by a local Ukrainian. They avoided being hacked to death by the nationalists thanks to the Ukrainian reeve of Adamówka, Nilo Sirochinskyi.

A Ukrainian, Ivan Holchyk, saved Stanisław Feliński in 1943. He also brought food to the Poles who were hiding in Huta Stara.

Source: Relacja Józefy Marciniak z d. Felińskiej [Account of Józefa Marciniak (née Felińska)], s. 1–2 (Romuald Niedzielko’s collection); W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 242.

Antolin, Ludwipol rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

In August 1943 a Ukrainian, Mihal Mieshchanyuk received an order from the UPA to kill his Polish wife, Genowefa Szyndara, and their baby, aged 1. He refused to carry out the order and was murdered with the rest of his family.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, VI/4, Relacja Jana Boczkowskiego [Jan Boczkowski’s Account], p. 15.

Borek, Stepań rural commune – Polish colony.

The colony was burned down and a few people were killed during the concentrated UPA attack on neighboring Huta Stepańska on July 16 and 17, 1943.

Mieczysław Słojewski, a Pole, was hiding in the forest with his son Edward, aged 7. They ate berries and potatoes stolen from the fields. Mieczysław was extremely exhausted mentally and physically. He recalls: “I tried to commit suicide twice because I feared being captured and tortured, which I expected from the Ukrainian bandits. I took my son, Edzio, to the river [...]. I wanted to drown myself and my son so as to not to wander and fear any more. And when I took my son’s little hand, he told me in tears, [‘D]addy! [L]et’s go back to our hideout.[’] I could not bring myself to jump in the water.” They received help from Mieczysław’s Ukrainian acquaintance from Stawiszcz, Petro Bazeluk. They survived by hiding in his barn until the arrival of the Red Army in January 1944 and then they departed to Poland.

Petro Bazeluk also sheltered his Ukrainian relative, who himself was in danger from the UPA. Bazeluk did not hesitate to shelter Słojewski and his son even though in June 1943 he had been accidentally shot by a Polish self-defense guard from Borek and lost an eye in consequence. Bazeluk died in tragic circumstances: the Soviet soldiers shot him in the spring of 1944 because he did not want to give them his last cow (according to Władysław Kurkowski’s version, Bazeluk was killed by the UPA in 1946). Antoni Kalus writes, “An extremely upright, honest, and noble man died. If Poland followed the example of Israel and established a ‘Righteous among the Nations’ medal, then Petro Bazeluk, a Ukrainian, would be the most worthy of that medal – for his moral courage to protect the life of his fellow man.”

Source: A. Kalus, “Borek”, Na Rubieży 10 (1994): 16; AW II/1350/2k, W. Kurkowski, Samoobrona Huty Stepańskiej na Wołyniu, 55–57.

Borówka, Derażne rural commune – Polish colony.

According to the account of Mieczysław Kobyłecki, a Pole, in March 1943 a Ukrainian, Serhii Kopernik, who was engaged to a Pole and had two brothers in the UPA, told the Borówka inhabitants about a planned attack of the nationalists and said on which roads the nationalists had prepared traps for the escapees. On March 18 most of the Poles went by wagons to Klewań in Rowy county under escort of five Polish Home Army (AK) members from Janowa Dolina. The nationalists murdered the remaining inhabitants (29 people), who had chosen not to leave the colony.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, VI/17, Relacja Mieczysława Kobyłeckiego [Mieczysław Kobyłecki’s Account], p. 55.

Chwojanka, Ludwipol rural commune – Polish village.

In March or April 1943 the UPA beat unconscious the female teacher, Marianna Lobow-Potomska. A few months earlier Marianna had survived the attack in Horodyszcz in the Ludwipol rural commune (see), along with another one in Budki Kudrańskie. The wounded teacher was taken care of by the family of a Ukrainian, Vinnychuk, and then underwent a long treatment in a hospital in Międzyrzec (Równe county).

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 249.

Derażne, Derażne rural commune – small town, inhabited mostly by Jews (until the closure of the ghetto in 1942), as well as by Poles and Ukrainians.

In the spring of 1943 the UPA massacred several dozen Poles. In May the nationalists killed a Ukrainian teacher, Oleynik, who had called for reconciliation with the Poles.

Source: J. Turowski, Pożoga. Walki 27 Wołyńskiej Dywizji AK (Warsaw, 1990), 126.

Diuksyn, Derażne rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In her excellent memoir entitled Wołyń – opowieści prawdziwe Helena Krzemionowska-Łowkis, a Pole, describes the instances of the help Ukrainians provided to Poles during the UPA raids on Diuksyn, Pieńki Borowieckie (see p. 48) and other villages in the Derażne rural commune.

She mentions a Ukrainian from Diuksyn, Overka Talihov, who publically defended his Polish neighbors (for instance, he tried to prevent an attack on nearby Radomianka) despite the pressure exerted by his relatives and other villagers, who were under the strong influence of the Bandera followers. Helena Krzemionowska-Łowkis writes, “At first, he had to hide from his own son, who wanted to kill him for his talk. He then had to hide from his own people because he was a Ukrainian from pro-Bandera Diuksyn and had a son who was a rezun [butcher].”

Janina Dobrzecka, who became an orphan in 1940, posed as a Ukrainian to survive the massacre of a few dozen Poles in nearby Pendyki on March 19, 1943. Similarly as with her sister and brother, she wandered among strangers and found shelter and work with some Ukrainians: Petro Onopriichuk, Opanas, Kharyta, and Olena Varvinova, who was a Shtundist. In May 1945 Varvinova’s daughter, Jaryna, helped the Dobrzecki siblings, who left Diuksyn and came to Klewań. “She told the children how to get to Równe, how to find their uncles. She bought them tickets and escorted them to the train. The last friendly Ukrainian from their home town of Diuksyn.”

Source: H. Krzemionowska-Łowkis, Wołyń – opowieści prawdziwe (Janów Lubelski, 2003), 19–36.

Głuboczanka, Ludwipol rural commune – Polish colony with a few Ukrainian families.

On June 13, 1943 the UPA massacred about 30 Poles.

The survivors included the adolescent Murawski siblings, Bronisława and the severely wounded Marian. “My brother Marian jumped to the window after me. But two bullets of the murderers hit him: the first one in the back next to his shoulder blade, the other smashed the left side of his lower jaw. He then fell backwards back into the dwelling. [...] Scared out of my wits, I ran ahead, headlong. [...] I found my brother Marian [...] near a hazel bush. [...] He could not talk. He gestured for me to give him a piece of paper and a pencil. He wrote, ‘Run away! Save your life! I’m surely going to die.’ [...] Everybody advised us to flee to Bystrzyca, where German soldiers were stationed. One evening our Ukrainian acquaintance, Tykhon, put my brother on a wagon and took him to Bystrzyca to a German army physician. But the physician refused to examine him so Tykhon brought him back. [...] I was 15 then, and I noticed the first grey hairs on my head.”

Fortunately, the boy regained his speech after two and a half years of surgical treatment in hospitals in Berezno, Równe, and Kiev.

Source: B. Murawska-Żygadło, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 11 (1995): 5–6.

Horodyszcze, Ludwipol rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

The local Ukrainians (the Radyuks and the Bartmanskyis) and the Ukrainians from Kamionka (see p. 45) (three Majstruk brothers: Prokop, Makary, and Aleksander with his daughter, Sanka) provided help to the Poles and warned them against the danger from the UPA.

At the beginning of 1943 the UPA members attacked the female teacher, Marianna Lubow-Potomska. Her neighbor, Maistruk, rescued her by setting his dogs on the attackers while they were hacking out her door. Lubow-Potomska moved to the Budki Kudrańskie colony, where she was attacked again, and then to Chwojanka (see p. 42).

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 254 (according to Marianna Bagińska’s account).

Hurby, Ludwipol rural commune – colony with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles.

The UPA massacred about a dozen Poles in April and May 1943. Warned at the very last moment by their Ukrainian neighbor, almost all of the inhabitants managed to flee to Huta Stara before the attack on May 28.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 256.

Huta Stepańska, Stepań rural commune – Polish village with 180 farmsteads and about 800 inhabitants.

On July 16, 1943, and with the support of the local Ukrainian peasants, substantial UPA forces conducted a concentrated raid on the self-defense centers and Polish settlements in the area of Huta Stepańska (where there were about 5,000 people at the time). About 600 Poles died during the siege and fighting that lasted until July 18.

Stanisław Zieliński, a Pole from Czapelka, lost his daughter, aged 5, during the escape from the attackers toward Rafałówka. A Ukrainian woman the family did not know found the Zieliński girl crying in the woods and provided her with shelter. She found Zieliński a few days later in Rafałówka and gave him back his child.

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 127 (according to W. Kobylański’s book W szponach trzech wrogów [Chicago, 1988]); W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 288–290.

Jaminiec, Derażne rural commune – Polish colony.

The UPA raided the colony on March 25, 1943 slaughtering about a dozen people.

The Polish family of the Sewruks, along with two Polish inhabitants of Derażne, Stanisława Drohomirecka and her son, who were staying with the Sewruks (Derażne residents) received help from a Ukrainian neighbor. The Ukrainian helped the Poles hide and flee. Włodzimierz Drohomirecki recalls, “It was already dark when he came and ordered us to go out. He said, ‘Walk in a relaxed way, slowly, don’t run if you see somebody walking or driving by. Everybody knows that Ukrainians aren’t afraid and that they don’t run away; so walking unafraid will only confirm that you are Ukrainians and nobody will bother you.’” The Drohomireckis listened to his advice. They got to Równe after many tribulations, for instance, further attacks by the Ukrainian nationalists. They survived, among other reasons, thanks to help from their Ukrainian acquaintances in Pendyki (see p. 47) and Stydyń Wielki.

Source: W. Drohomirecki, “Oczami dziecka”, in Świadkowie mówią, ed. S. Biskupski (Warsaw, 1996), 101–102; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 222.

Janowa Dolina, Kostopol rural commune – settlement established for the basalt quarrymen. In 1939 the number of Janowa Dolina inhabitants amounted to ca. 1,800 (mostly Poles). In March−April 1943 their number probably exceeded 3,000 due to the influx of refugees from the neighboring localities under threat by the Ukrainians.

On the night of April 22–23, 1943 a large group of UPA members and a number of Ukrainians from neighboring Złaźno raided the settlement, slaughtering ca. 600 Poles.

Jan Karwan and his wife, Jadwiga, witnessed the massacre. Their account was recorded in 1988 in Chicago by Władysław Kobylański: “Some of the Ukrainians advised the Poles to flee into the forest, while others took the Poles into their homes to shelter them in hideouts. A Ukrainian, Vasyl, provided shelter in his home for us and our children. [...] The massacre of the innocent began on Good Friday after dusk. Having murdered the Poles in their homes, they also began to look for Poles in the Ukrainian homes. The Poles found (or, denounced) in the Ukrainian homes were murdered on the spot in the presence of their Ukrainian helpers. They sometimes murdered the Poles together with the Ukrainians who admitted that they knew about the Poles’ presence in their home, but did not denounce them on their own initiative. We also know that Mrs. Świderska, who was found in a Ukrainian house with her three children, had to watch the murder of her Ukrainian helpers before her and her children’s death. [...] Vasyl sheltered us for the entire Saturday and after dusk he escorted us to the forest and bid us farewell. We got through the woods to Kostopol.”

Source: Fragment relacji Władysława Kobylańskiego [Fragment of Władysław Kobylański’s Account], in “Łuny nad Wołyniem. Wybór dokumentów G. Sołtysiak i J. Stępień”, Przegląd 25 (2003).

Kamionka, Ludwipol rural commune – German colony, after the Germans’ departure to the Reich in 1940 inhabited by Ukrainians and Poles.

The UPA massacred about 20 Poles in July and August 1943.

Thee local Ukrainian brothers, Aleksander, Makary and Prokop Maystruk, contributed to the survival of many Poles from Kamionka and neighboring Horodyszcz. The brothers warned the Poles and helped them. On July 23, 1943 ten UPA members came to Prokop Maystruk with an order to kill all the Poles in Kamionka. Stalling for time, Maystruk treated them to some food and drink. In the meantime, his wife warned the prospective victims. Consequently, the Poles who still lived in Kamionka, among them the Bagiński family, managed to flee to the forest and the fields. Afterwards the Poles left to Kostopol and Berezne.

Two Ukrainians from Pogorełówka, Shramko and Grycko Opanas, drove the fleeing Poles by wagon, for which they were hanged in a barn by the UPA. Similarly, the UPA murdered a Ukrainian from Kamionka, Nechypor, who warned the Polish families of Fajfer, Miller, and Sozański and transported the Gdowskis to Kostopol by wagon – he was murdered together with his family of five.

Source: J. Bagiński, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 11 (1995): 7; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 264–265; E. Gross, Zbrodnie Ukraińskiej Powstańczej Armii (Głogów, 1999), 80.

Lipniki, Berezne rural commune – Polish colony.

On the night of March 26, 1943 the colony, which many locals had fled to, was attacked from all directions by armed UPA groups. About 180 people died despite the efforts of the local self-defense force.

Ewelina Bagińska, a Pole who lost her eyesight as a result of the raid, many years later recalled the moment when she recognized her Ukrainian neighbor among the attackers during her escape with two little children.“’What have they done to you? Why, they’re little children! One is two years old and the other one is not even one! Spare their lives! I don’t care, I’ve lost my sight, you can kill me... but spare my children.’ [...] I couldn’t believe that I was still alive and that my former neighbor was talking sympathetically to me from above, from the edge of the pit – why, now he was a leader of a band of murderers, who were running through the fields and bayonetting the wounded Poles on the ground. [...] I think that ordinary human conscience, God-given to all people, awoke for a moment in that Ukrainian – a virulent chauvinist, blinded by his mindless hatred of Poles. [...] After sunrise, after a long search my husband found me on the bottom of the pit. He took us to a hospital in Berezne.”

Source: E. Hajdamowicz (née Bagińska), “Moja ostatnia noc w Lipnikach – byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 8 (1994): 23.

Małyńsk, Berezne rural commune – colony with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians.

At the beginning of 1943 a Ukrainian reeve of the Ukrainian village of Bronne, advised the Pole Paweł Boruta, who was as a teacher in Małyńsk and before that in Bronne, to reject the proposal to shelter in Małyńsk. The Ukrainian said that Boruta would surely die like the Horodeckis, whom the UPA had murdered in January. The reeve was killed for that warning Poles.

Source: Relacja Kazimiery Boruty [Kazimiera Boruta’s Account], in Okrutna przestroga..., 96.

Medwedówka, Ludwipol rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

In September 1943 the UPA massacred nearly 60 Polish inhabitants of the village.

Few Poles survived. Among them there was an adolescent Polish girl who spoke Ukrainian fluently. The attackers took her with them because they were uncertain whether she was Ukrainian or Polish. A local Ukrainian woman, who knew her, ran up to them and snatched the girl shouting, “‘Haven’t you spilt enough blood of the Liakhs [i.e. the Poles]? You wanna kill this Ukrainian child now?!’ That impulsive gesture saved the girl’s life. After the war the girl went west to Poland and settled in Lower Silesia in Bielawa.”

Source: W. Marmucki, “Medwedówka”, Na Rubieży 11 (1995): 7.

Młodzianówka (formerly Nowiny), Berezne rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

In August 1943 a Ukrainian, Vasyl Slovinskyi, warned the Poles against a UPA raid planned for August 14. Gracjan Bagiński, a Pole, fled to Berezne with his sons, Tadeusz and Ignacy, with the help of another Ukrainian, Filip Levchuk.

Slovinskyi also warned the Polish woman Aniela Cybulska, but she decided to spend the night with her children in a barn. When the UPA stormed in at night, she ran out and got wounded. The attackers found her children, locked them in a house and set it on fire. The children managed to jump out of the flames. Vasyl Slovinskyi drove the surviving family to Berezne.

Source: Relacja Antoniny Cybulskiej [Antonina Cybulska’s Account], in T. Bagiński, Lipniki Wołynia Poleskiego spalone (Elbląg, 1995), 31–33.

Pendyki, Derażne rural commune – Polish colony.

On March 29, 1943 the UPA massacred about 150 inhabitants of the colony.

The only Ukrainian family domiciled in Pendyki helped the Polish woman Stanisława Drohomirecka from Derażne. Having avoided death in Jaminiec (see), she arrived with her three children in Pendyki, where she was captured by one of the attackers. “Suddenly an elderly Ukrainian villager appears, walks up to us, embraces mom and shouts [...] ‘They’re one of us, they’re Ukrainian‘ – and he takes us away. Seeing this, the Ukrainian who has been watching us leaves us and goes to loot like the others. That elderly man lived in poverty with his paralyzed wife, he begged his bread, and had always come to our home whenever he was in Derażne. We had always fed him and given him food for the road and some clothes [...] ‘[Y]ou’ve always let me in and fed me so I will let you in too, but only until their departure.’ He told all of us to climb onto the stove and hide. And he watched, went out, and that was how he sheltered us until the next day. There was also a Polish girl at his place whose family had fled by wagon to the forest. He said that he was looking for her parents and if he doesn’t find them he will raise her as his own child.”

Source: W. Drohomirecki, “Oczami dziecka”, in Świadkowie mówią..., 103; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 224.

Pieńki Borowieckie, Derażne rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

One night in the fall of 1942 Tomasz Krzemionowski and his acquaintances tried to activate a mill closed by the Germans to mill some flour for Christmas. They got caught by the Ukrainian policemen in German service, who beat them up and drove them into an ice-cold river. Helena Krzemionowska-Łowkis writes, “Suddenly father heard, Tomasz? It turned out that one of the policemen was a good friend of his. Shouting, he drove him into dark bushes and silently told him to run for his life. He spared father’s life then [...] sore and cold, he basically crawled back home.”

In March 1943 the UPA attacked Bazyli Romaniuk’s house. The escape of his son, Mikołaj, frightened the attackers. Fearing that he would bring help, they only looted the house. “Mikołaj was sure that the bandits were looking for him so he could not come back home. He went to a distant farmstead owned by Ukrainians he knew. The young landlady opened the door. He told her what had happened and asked her to shelter him. She swiftly opened the door to the basement under the kitchen floor and Mikołaj went in. She covered the door with a rug. Soon, he heard wagons approaching the house and her husband calling her to come help him with the grain taken from the Liakhs [i.e. the Poles] because he had to immediately return to the next ones. Stiff with fear, Mikołaj was helplessly waiting in the trap to see what would happen next. The men drove away. The woman did not reveal his presence.”

After that incident the Romaniuks decided to go to Orżewo in neighboring Równe county. The refugees were again attacked on the way and this time a few family members were killed. The rest of the family managed to reach Orżewo. A Ukrainian from nearby Olchówka, Volodymyr, took care of them. He had sheltered the Romaniuks’ relatives, the Stramskis. “Volodymyr was a wise, good man. He built a school on his own in which he also lived. He sheltered the Stramskis on dangerous nights. Now he was helping a big Polish family, which put him in danger from the Banderites. One time after his return from Orżewo he saw a piece of paper on the school door. Somebody wrote that he would die unless he stopped helping the Liakhs [i.e. the Poles]. He could not risk his life anymore.”

Source: H. Krzemionowska-Łowkis, Wołyń – opowieści prawdziwe..., 49−53.

Płoteczno, Kostopol rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

The UPA massacred about 50 Poles in July and August 1943.

Some time later the Germans apprehended a Polish woman from the colony by the surname of Konopacka. Three Ukrainian families (the Kolbas, the Kozhusheks and the Fesyuks) took care of her children until the arrival of the Soviet army at the beginning of 1944. During the harvest of 1943, Ukrainian nationalists had driven the Konopackis to a marsh and debated there whether to murder them or not. In the end, the Ukrainians concluded that the Konopackis were harmless and let them return to the harvest. The family departed to Poland in 1945.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 240–241.

Podsielecze, Stydyń rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

In the first half of March 1943 a Ukrainian, Levko Kirysh, warned the Poles about a UPA raid. The Werners, the Janickis, and a few other Polish families owe him their lives because they managed to flee in time thanks to his warning.

The colony’s inhabitants hid in a forest during the UPA siege of Huta Stepańska in July 1943. The nationalists tried to lure them out. Warned by a Ukrainian, Vlas Prokhor, the refugees remained in the forest and survived.

A Ukrainian woman, Palashka, also helped the Poles in Podsielecze.

Source: AW, II/647, I. Janicki, Wspomnienia [Memoir], 7; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 314–315.

Pogorełówka, Ludwipol rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish and, until 1942, Jewish families.

The Orthodox priest Havrylo Bohuslavskyi called on the Ukrainian participants of the massacres to come to their senses. Moreover, he, his wife, and their son Rostislav sheltered Poles and helped them escape. Father Buhuslavskyi and his family had to flee to Równe to avoid the nationalists’ vengeance.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 276 (according to Józefa Marciniak’s account).

Polanówka, Derażne rural commune – Polish colony.

A Ukrainian, Yosip Jokhymets, sheltered Jan Pietrzykowski’s family at his place for a few days before the raid on the colony on March 25, 1943 (the number of victims amounted to about 50). Jokhymyec learned about the planned raid from his sons, who were in the UPA. Next, another Ukrainian organized the Poles’ departure to Janowa Dolina.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, VI/34, Relacje Jana Pietrzykowskiego, Aleksandra i Jadwigi Łotockich, Danuty i Adama Jakuszewskich, Kazimierza Pietrzykowskiego [Accounts of Jan Pietrzykowski, Aleksander and Jadwiga Łotocki, Danuta and Adam Jakuszewski and Kazimierz Pietrzykowski], pp. 102–102v.

Stepań, Stepań rural commune – small town inhabited by Jews (over 50 percent of Stepań’s population until the closure of the ghetto in 1942), Ukrainians, and about a dozen Polish families.

In 1942 the Polish woman Wanda Pepol from Niemowicze near Sarny spent Christmas with her sister in the home of their aunt, Anna Włoszczyńska. They went home after New Year’s Day. Wanda Pepol recalls, “Our aunt’s Ukrainian acquaintance, to whom I actually owe my life, was driving us. – My aunt married a Ukrainian, Pavel Vloshchynskyi [...] my uncle was murdered by his acquaintances in 1943 for the very fact that he had married a Polish woman. He managed to hide our aunt in their attic and did not denounce her despite being ruthlessly tortured. Aunt Anna heard all that. A few days later her Ukrainian neighbor lady found her, barely alive. The woman dressed Aunt Anna in her [Ukrainian] clothes and ordered her to go to Huta Stepańska, where all the local Polish peasants were feeling to.”

Posing as Soviet partisans, on April 10, 1943 UPA members murdered three members of the Klimek family from the Dworzec colony. The victims had fled from there during a raid and were looking for shelter in Stepań at the home of a Ukrainian woman they knew. According to Leon Karłowicz, a Pole, the Ukrainian woman managed to shelter and rescue the Klimeks’ daughter, aged 5. After some time she handed the girl over to Mrs. Klimek’s brother, who was staying in Huta Stepańska.

The following Poles were rescued by their Ukrainian neighbors during the UPA raid on the night of April 13–14, 1943: Kapsiak (sheltered by Shyrko) and the family of the teacher Czesław Gawęda (sheltered and transported out of Stepań by their neighbor, Pavlo Kondratets). Stanisława Hartwig and her five children were secretly taken near Huta Stepańska by their Ukrainian acquaintance, who was executed for “betraying Ukraine’s interests” after his return to Stepań.

Stanisława Pińczuk was murdered in the first half of April 1943 – she was married to a Ukrainian, Serhii Pinchuk, who was a reeve before the war. Grandfather Pinchuk managed to rescue Stanisława’s daughter, Irena, from the hands of the UPA.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, VI/30, Relacja Wandy Pepol [Wanda Pepol’s Account], pp. 88–89; L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 136; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, pp. 299–300.

Werbcze Duże and Werbcze Małe, Stepań rural commune – Ukrainian villages with a few Polish families each.

On July 18, 1943 the UPA massacred about 60 refugees from the area of Huta Stepańska, which had been besieged by substantial Ukrainian forces for a few days.

One of the victims was Franciszka Dziekańska, who lived in Wyrka. Luckily, her daughter Jadwiga, aged 6, managed to survive. The witnesses recall the following: “During the escape from the UPA the girl was already so tired that she could not walk on her own so her mom had to carry her in her arms. A machine gun bullet then hits little Jadwiga, passes through her muscles and stops in her mother’s chest. The mother dies on the spot. Lying beside her dead mother, Jadwiga dresses her bleeding wound with a piece of cloth and waits for rescue. The girl stays by her mother for ten days during the day and sleeps nearby on a crashed wagon [...] she eats grain from ripening ears and drinks water from puddles. One day a Ukrainian from the village of Werbcze comes over to harvest the already ripening crop abandoned by the Poles and finds Jadwiga. One of the Ukrainian families takes her to the village. The village council exerts pressure on that family to kill the child “abandoned by the Liakhs [i.e. the Poles]”, but a Ukrainian man from Werbcze, a teacher, comes to her defense and takes her in as a foster child. Healed and properly fed, Jadwiga soon recovers.”In 1944 her caretaker attended a teachers’ convention in Sarny, where he met a former headmaster of the school in Wyrka, Kazimierz Karpiński (a Pole). The teacher revealed that he had been raising a Polish survivor from Wyrka. The girl soon moved in with the Karpińskis, whom she knew very well. The Karpińskis returned her to her father after he had come back from German captivity. “Nowadays, Jadwiga lives in Gdańsk and works as a teacher.”

Source: F. and P. Piotrowski, “To zostanie w pamięci”, in Świadkowie mówią..., 68; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 303, 305.

Wielkiepole (Wielkie Pole), Berezne rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

After the arrival of the Soviet army in 1944 the UPA murdered three members of the Polish Stojko family – the Stojkos had returned to their farm from Kostopol, where they had fled after the raid on Lipniki in March 1943. Michał Stojko, aged 12, survived because he spent the night in the home of his friend and peer from the Polish-Ukrainian family of Markiel. Michał buried his family in the Evangelical cemetery with the help from Markiel and another Ukrainian, Jeremkevich. Warned by another Ukrainian that he was wanted by the UPA, Michał had to run for his life. The next day the nationalists killed young Markiel and his mother in a field while they were trying to escape.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 215.

Złaźne, Derażne rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish and, until 1942, Jewish families.

In March 1943 a Polish inhabitant of the Klin Stawecki colony, Mokotka, was attacked and injured by the UPA during her escape to Janowa Dolina. The attackers threw her into a pit behind a barn. The Ukrainian woman who owned the barn took the severely wounded Mokotka out and transported her to the other side of the Horyn River in the direction of Janowa Dolina. Consequently, Mokotka survived.

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 84 (according to Mieczysław Gaweł’s account).

KOWEL COUNTY

Aleksandrówka, Kupiczów rural commune – colony with 25 Polish and 8 Ukrainian farms.

In 1943 the UPA attacked the colony three times: on the night of July 15–16, on August 29 and September 4. Supported by the local Ukrainians, the UPA massacred 80 Poles. The survivors included Stefania Brudzińska and her husband. The couple was sheltered by the Ukrainian families of Atabash and Levchuk. The Poles Kamila and Witold Ziółkowski found shelter in the home of a Ukrainian with the surname of Pakhoma.

Leokadia Nowakowicz and her brother survived thanks to help from a Ukrainian, Harasym Lukaychuk. Shot on the leg during the raid on July 15, Leokadia hid in a field. “They walked in the crop fields and they buried on the spot every body they found. [...] at that moment I heard the voice of my parents’ close Ukrainian acquaintance, Harasym. [...] ‘Stay here, maybe they won’t see you, I’ll come in the evening for you. Your brother is at my place.’ [...] He said that there was no time to lose and that we had to immediately go to a hospital in Kowel. He wrapped a kerchief around my face and put me into a maniak used to feed horses. He covered me with chaff and put me on a wagon. He seated my brother next to himself and we set out. When we reached a forest, some men from a band jumped out and began to ask him where he was going and why. He explained that he was taking his severely ill son to a physician and pointed at my brother. They stopped bothering us and let us through. Harasym took us to Kowel to a hospital. They admitted us and I underwent surgery.”

After the July raid the Polish Adamowicz family was sheltered by two Ukrainians, Pavel Kyc and Mykola Koren (Kozhen), and then by the Prokop family. The Polish woman Teresa Radziszewska (née Adamowicz) recalls: “Kyc came to us right away to tell us not to spend the night at home just in case and that it would be best if mommy spent that night with the children at their place. [...] As soon as we got to their farm, we heard shots on the other end of Aleksandrówka. Kyc immediately escorted us to his neighbor, Kozhen, and they hid us there in a chamber and locked the door. [...] We were petrified when the bandits stormed in and asked about the Poles. But they left when they heard that they were no Poles there. In the chamber there were four of us little children. I was eight years old, my brother was five, my sister was three, and my youngest brother was a year and a half. We all sat motionless trying not to even breathe. The shots subsided, the band left, and Kozhen escorted us to his barn where a hideout had been prepared. There was some hay and there was a passage in the hay leading to the wall and there was a hole big enough to fit in.”

During another attack Teresa Adamowicz and her brother hid in a haystack. “When it got really dark a Ukrainian woman, Prokop, began to look for us in the field, for she had seen us escaping. Prokop was a widow. Her daughter, Zhenia, was my friend; my parents, the rest of my siblings, and my grandmother were waiting for us at her place. A decision was made there that I and my grandmother would go to Mrs. Prokop’s brother-in-law and that my parents and the rest of my siblings would hide in a different place [...] For a period of three or four weeks Mrs. Prokop’s brother sheltered us in his barn, way up in the straw. [...] Our grandfather was sheltered by Pavel Kyc until the liberation and the arrival of the Soviet army and then it was my grandfather’s turn to save their lives [...] The family that sheltered us risked a lot. It was common knowledge that sheltering Poles was punishable by the death of the entire family.”

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 29–30 (account of Leokadia Skowrońska [née Nowakowicz]); ibidem, 111 (Stefania Brudzińska’s Account); J. Brudzińska, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 51 (2001): 43; AW, II/1914, T. Adamowicz-Radziszewska, Kiedy przyszli nas zabijać [When They Came to Murder Us], pp. 4–7.

Byteń, Hołoby rural commune – Ukrainian-Polish village and Polish colony.

On March 18, 1943 Ukrainian policemen under German command pacified the colony and slaughtered several Polish families (at least 20 people) under the pretense of looking for communists. A Ukrainian, Kosyak, sheltered and helped a boy from the Polish Jagliński family.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, II/28, Relacja Józefa Skiby [Józef Skiba’s Account], p. 51.

Budy Ossowskie, Turzysk rural commune – Polish village.

Over 280 inhabitants of the village died during the UPA raids in July and August 1943. Semen Shevchuk, a Ukrainian, sheltered two Polish women, Teofila Lemeńska and Anna Kuraj. In February 1944 he handed them over the Polish Home Army (AK) partisan detachment of 1st Lt. Władysław Czermiński “Jastrząb.”

According to the account of Kazimierz Dobrowolski, a Pole, the Poles received help from a Ukrainian communist, Sarabko, who warned many people in advance, and from the village reeve, Petro Stelmashuk. Stelmashuk publically declared during a meeting that he had been protecting the inhabitants however he could, and that he would like everybody to live in peace. Unfortunately, he was dismissed because of his position.

Captured by two UPA members, Anna Remiszewska, a Pole, survived because one of the attackers did not let another one shoot at her after having missed the first time.

A Ukrainian, whose first name was Yustyn, brought salt to the Poles hiding in the forest. He advised them to flee at night to Kupiczów, where the Polish self-defense force was active.

A Ukrainian with a machine gun found the Pole Edward Kuźmiński, his daughter, and a the Polish woman Tekla Węgrzyńska, who had been hiding in a crop field near Czernijów during their escape to Kupiczów. He ordered them out. He granted their request to say a prayer and then told them to hide again and to continue their escape in the evening. Asked if he intended to denounce them, he replied, “Denouncing you would be tantamount to murdering you.” The refugees reached Kupiczów safe and sound.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 379; AIPN, 27 WDAK, II/7, Relacja Kazimierza Dobrowolskiego [Kazimierz Dobrowolski’s Account], p. 12–12v.

Czernijów, Kupiczów rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish and, until 1942, Jewish families.

On August 6, 1943 the Ukrainian peasants massacred 15 Poles including three members of the Zubkiewicz family. Władysław Zubkiewicz survived thanks to help from the local Ukrainians, Trokhim Samonyuk, Ivan Danyeluk, and Trokhim Danyeluk.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, II/12, Relacja Władysława Zubkiewicza [Władysław Zubkiewicz’s Account], pp. 21–22.

Dobrowica, Maniewicze rural commune – Polish farmstead.

Inhabited by 17 Polish families, the farmstead was not attacked until December 1943. The friendly Ukrainians, Yakim Melnik from Duczyn, Stepan Remynskyi from Karasin, and Aleksyey Dudaj from Serchów (Bielska Wola commune, Sarny county), warned the Polish inhabitants, who managed to leave the village in time and go to Maniewicze.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, II/67, Relacje Alfonsa Sobolewskiego i Józefa Ostrowskiego [Accounts of Alfons Sobolewski and Józef Ostrowski], pp. 139v.

Dorotyszcze, Niesuchoiże rural commune – Ukrainian village with one Polish family.

On February 5, 1944 the UPA murdered the Polish headmaster, Jan Kukliński. His wife was working in Germany as a forced laborer at that time. Their son, aged 8, was taken care of by a Ukrainian woman – the teacher Kvasnetska. Kvasnetska sent the boy to Poland with an expatriation transport in 1946.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 366.

Doszno, Datyń rural commune – Polish village with about 60 farms.

On August 28, 1943 a group of UPA members from neighboring Datyń massacred over 50 people.

Some of the inhabitants managed to escape. The Ukrainians from the village of Wielimcze (which before the war was said to be inhabited by Ukrainian noblemen) helped them considerably. Many of them were Baptists and opposed violence for ethical and religious reasons. They fed and sheltered the survivors, walked them through forests to safe places and buried the victims. Vasyl Burko risked his life to save Poles, Jews, and Roma i.e., Gypsies).

Three surviving children of Kazimierz and Maria Jedynowicz found shelter in the home of their Ukrainian neighbor, who fed them and showed them the way to Wielimcze.

Among the Polish survivors was also Franciszka Kosińska and her daughter Mirosława, aged 2. “We entered the Ukrainian’s cottage. [...] a band arrived on horses in front of the house. 30, perhaps 40 people. [...] one of them came in and asked in the doorstep, ‘Where’s the Pollack woman named Frania [the diminutive of ‘Franciszka’]?’ [...] I replied in Ukrainian, ‘And what if I am that Pollack woman named Frania, am I not allowed to live?’ Clinging to my neck, the child was whispering, ‘Don’t speak Polish, don’t speak Polish [...]’ I was praying while looking into their eyes, which I will never forget. [...] In the meantime, my landlord was convincing the Ukrainian that there was no Pollack woman named Frania and that that woman was “out of her mind.” “And where did she get married?” asked the Ukrainian. ‘What do you mean? In an Orthodox church. Where else?’ [...] the bandits began to depart [...] Suddenly, I heard a loud noise behind me. The landlord had collapsed onto the floor as he was trying to sit down on a chair. I started shaking, my teeth were rattling. [...] The remaining members of the household stood as if hypnotized. [...] We were taken care of by the Ukrainians from Wielimcze, who brought milk for the child and some food. We hid in the forest for about 10 days. [...] At first, a Ukrainian, Savluk, took my mother and Józia and escorted them to Ratno, and a few days later another Ukrainian, whose surname I don’t know but whose nickname was ‘Hrymuchii Romanko’ escorted me, my child, my husband, and his first cousin to Ratno too. [...] His daughter, Maria, brought a loaf of bread and a wedge of cheese for the road and bid her farewell to us, crying. In Ratno all refugees from Doszno were taken care of by a Ukrainian, Koziol, and his wife.”

In 1990 on the 47th anniversary of the massacre five marble plaques with the massacred Poles’ surnames were unveiled in Doszno. Invited by the Ukrainian authorities, Franciszka Kosińska participated in the ceremony with her daughter, Mirosława.

Source: M. Bacławska (née Kosińska), “Dlaczego?”, in Świadkowie mówią..., 34–36; AW, II/2638, Relacja Mirosławy Bacławskiej [Mirosława Bacławska’s Account], pp. 10–19; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 329.

Gaj, Wielick rural commune – Polish colony with over 100 farms.

On August 30, 1943, the local Ukrainians and the UPA detachments under the command of “Vovk” massacred about 600 inhabitants of the colony.

Some of the surviving Poles were sheltered by Ukrainians from the Arsonowicze village and then secretly driven to Maniewicze and Kowel.

Jan Ferszt, a Pole, told Leon Karłowicz about his escape before the Bandera followers: “I noticed some wagons and Ukrainians loading sheaves onto them in the field with our heaps of crop – we had not taken the heaps to the barns because we feared that they would be set on fire. So some of the Ukrainians surrounded the village and were murdering the people, while other Ukrainians immediately began to loot the property, beginning with the crop. I ran straight towards them. Seeing that I was running straight at the people who were loading the crop, they ceased shooting for a moment. [...] suddenly, I heard the quiet voice of a Ukrainian I knew, ‘Janek, run to the footbridge and across to the other side!’ For the Stokhid River was not far away. [...] I saw a lot of armed UPA members there, too. [...] I stayed for a long time in the bushes. Not until two days later did some partisans, or perhaps the self-defense force from Rożyszcze, come to Gaj and I finally returned to my farm.”

Ferszt recalls the Ukrainians who died at the hands of the UPA: “There was a highly patriotic Ukrainian family in the village. They dreamt about their own free state. [...] But when the Banderites came to them that Ukrainian farmer asked them, ‘Why are you killing Poles? When the time comes we are going to be free anyway! We need to prepare for it in a different way! Why, babies in cribs won’t do us any harm. Just like the old who can barely walk with a walking stick. Let’s fight for freedom with clean hands, [let’s fight] our real enemy, and we know very well who that is!’ [...] After two days they came at night and murdered everybody! There were no survivors from that quite big family!”

Most Orthodox clergymen were commonly thought to be supporters of the anti-Polish operations of the UPA. Let us read about an Orthodox priest from Gaj: “[He] did not agree with their program to kill all Poles and [he] refused both to consecrate knives, bayonets, machine guns and to give them a blessing before their criminal raids. He also told them that such behavior was pointless and that they would only turn the other states against themselves and the Ukrainian nation. And that even their own fellow countrymen would disapprove. And he ended up the same way as that family: at night they murdered him, his wife, and two children. For he had the courage to say the truth to their faces!”

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 393–396; L. Karłowicz, “Zagłada Gaju”, Biuletyn Informacyjny. 27 Wołyńska Dywizja AK 1 (1997): 48–50.

Janówka, Wielick rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

At the beginning of September 1943 the local UPA kidnapped 11 members of the Polish family of Szwed from the Gaj colony and then slaughtered them. Marcin Szwed, who had a Ukrainian wife, was rescued by his father-in-law. Even though the UPA threatened to burn his farm, he hid Marcin in a haystack and did not denounce him to the attackers. He also took Marcin, who was wounded during the searching of the haystacks, to a hospital.

According to the account of the Polish woman Jadwiga Cymbała, some members of her family, who were hiding in barns and crop fields after the massacre in neighboring Gaj, survived thanks to the help of a Ukrainian, Teofil. “I was with daddy at our neighbor’s when and I heard that the Ukrainians had come to the Ukrainian, Teofil, and said that they would murder us – a Polish family. That night Teofil hitched up the horses and drove us all outside the village and showed us the way to Perespa. We walked hungry, barefoot, naked, and scared and the villages were empty because the Poles had been murdered. Only dogs were howling. It was a scary night, I will never forget it. We stayed two weeks in Perespa. Our neighbor, Teofil, brought us food. Then the Bulba followers [UPA] killed Teofil because of us, because of our Polish family, because he had let us flee from Volhynia.”

Source: Relacja Jadwigi Cymbały [Jadwiga Cymbała’s account], in Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu..., 159–161.

Korsynie, Wielick rural commune – Ukrainian village.

The Ukrainian reeve of Korsynie, Iltuh, who opposed the massacres of the Poles, committed suicide in 1943. “He tried to explain things to his neighbors, who supported the massacres. All in vain. He suffered seeing what was happening in the Polish settlements. Seeing no possibility to save those poor souls, he could not find a place for himself. One day he was found dead under a cross at a crossroads. He had shot himself in the head with a revolver. He preferred death to the sight of that horrible disgrace his kin had brought upon the Ukrainian nation.”

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 36 (Jan Ferszt’s account).

Kowalówka, Turzysk rural commune – Polish colony with two Ukrainian families.

On August 29, 1943 the UPA killed about a dozen Poles. Some of the inhabitants managed to leave the colony and reached Włodzimierz Wołyński. Two Ukrainians from neighboring Rewuszki, Omelan Boichun and Mykola Sarapko, had warned them about the planned raid. Boichun paid with his life for that act of help.

Another Ukrainian, Ivan Berezyuk, sheltered Aniela Taburska and her son, Wiesław, in his house and secretly transported them to Włodzimierz. The Berezyuks also sheltered and fed two young lost Poles, Zofia Puszczewicz and Witold Kossakowski, who were later tracked down and killed.

Source: Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu..., 165 (Wacław Chmielewski’s Letter); W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 382–383.

Lityn, Turzysk rural commune – village and estate inhabited by Ukrainians and Poles.

The UPA massacred over 70 Poles from July to September 1943. The former driver of the estate’s owner, Stefan Sumowski, and his family survived thanks to the help of their Ukrainian neighbors.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 384.

Lubitów, Lubitów rural commune – Ukrainian village with 30 Polish families.

In November 1943 the Bandera followers massacred four members of the Polish-Ukrainian family of Wiśniewski. The Wiśniewskis’ daughter, aged 10, who was not at home then, was the only family member to survive. The terrified child fled to Kołodeżno. A local Ukrainian brought the girl to her uncle in Kowel.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 349.

Łuczyce, Turzysk rural commune – colony inhabited by 20 Polish and 4 Ukrainian families.

Endangered by the UPA, the inhabitants fled to Kowel and Zasmyki on August 30. 1943. They found temporary shelter with the Ukrainians in the Obeniże village. For instance, they were rescued a few times by Synechko, a Ukrainian. The UPA raid began after most of the Poles had left the village. Stefan Denys’ family of five, Poles who remained in Łuczyce, found shelter with their Ukrainian neighbor, Semen Herasym. The Pole Józef Turowski writes: “He hid them in the basement and stood in the door with an ax in his hand and said, ‘You will take them over my dead body.’ Before him stood his brother, Konstanty Herasym, who badly wanted to murder the Denys family. Seeing Semen Herasym’s determination, the murderers left to look for other victims. The UPA members went to the Denys’ farm. There they found the Denyses’ aunt, Waleria Adamkiewicz, who was coming back from a field, and they hacked her to death with their axes.”When the UPA came to murder the Poles, Synechko barred their way with an ax in his hand. Leon Karłowicz writes, “The Banderites thought the protector crazy, they laughed at him and left. [...] he hitched up the horses and took the Poles to Włodzimierz pretending to be transporting Ukrainians. A real hero.”

The Polish Spodniewski family – parents, two daughters, and their son Józef (later on a soldier and chronicler of the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Polish Home Army, known after the war by his changed surname of Turowski; the author of the above-quoted account) – met a Ukrainian acquaintance on the way to Zasmyki. He offered to put them up. As his wife recalled years later, Stefan Spodniewski hesitated.“And what if it’s a trap? He knew the Ukrainian as a good man, but others were also regarded as decent though they nonetheless did go to forests and join the Banderites. [...] Less than an hour later a lot of voices began to be heard on the road, followed by the sound of feet, Ukrainian conversations, and a clash of weapons [...] Everything depended on the host’s courage, presence of mind, and decency. Even if he truly sympathizes with the Poles won’t he lose his cool? Will he manage to convince the attackers that nobody’s there? [...] he calmly replied that they could conduct a search if they pleased. He hasn’t seen anybody and is not responsible for anybody.”

The danger passed. At dawn the host told the Spodniewskis which road to take. They reached Zasmyki safe and sound. “I pray for him and his family every day. May God give him health if he’s still alive and if he’s dead, may God find him a reward in heaven.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, II/4, Relacja Józefa Turowskiego [Józef Turowski’s Account], p. 9; L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 6–9.

Maniewicze, Maniewicze rural commune – settlement inhabited by Jews (until the closure of the ghetto in 1942), Ukrainians, and Poles.

A local Ukrainian sheltered a female teacher from Gaj (Wielick commune) in his attic for the entire month of September, 1943. The woman had survived the UPA massacre in Gaj on August 30.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 365.

Michałówka, Kupiczów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

On April 16, 1943 the UPA massacred 58 Poles. The victims included seven members of the Polish Krutina family. Warned by a Ukrainian, Purkhven, Bolesław Krutina fled to the Zasmyki self-defense post.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 346.

Mielnica, Wielick rural commune – small town inhabited by Jews (until 1942), Poles, and Ukrainians.

On August 29, 1943 the UPA massacred over 100 Polish inhabitants of Mielnica. The following Ukrainian families provided help to the Poles: the Cherniks, the Vidrynskyis (Vydrynskyis), the Zhuks, and the Senkevichs, whose two daughters, medical students, were murdered because they had refused to cooperate with the Ukrainian nationalists.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 398.

Nowy Dwór, Kupiczów rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

According to the account of the Pole Filip Ożarowski, on August 12, 1943 the Ukrainian village reeve, Sadovnik, warned the Ożarowskis through his neighbor that the Bandera followers “would come in two hours and massacre the whole family. Father put some personal belongings on the wagons and set off across the fields to Aleksandrówka-Holendra toward Zasmyki. Fifteen minutes after the family had all left their home, a UPA band arrived, shot two dogs and set off in pursuit of my fleeing parents.” The escape succeeded.

On August 29, 1943 Sadovnik warned the Michalewicz family about an upcoming UPA attack. Thanks to him almost all the Polish villagers (six families) fled to Zasmyki.

Source: F. Ożarowski, Gdy płonął Wołyń, 2nd edition (Chicago, 1996), 96; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 347.

Ossa, Turzysk rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

In June 1943 the UPA conducted a search at the home of the Pole Edward Makrocki. They kidnapped him and drove him toward the village of Bobły, beating him unconscious. A Ukrainian he knew found and rescued him.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, II/10, Relacja Piotra Makrockiego [Piotr Makrocki’s Account], p. 19v, 18.

Ostrów, Kupiczów rural commune – Polish colony.

In the second half of July 1943 after his return from Ośmigowicze, a strong nationalist center, a Ukrainian from Dażwa named Hilko told the Polish Śladewski family and some of other neighbors to immediately leave the village. The Poles found shelter in Kupiczów and Zasmyki.

Source: M. Śladewska, Z Kresów Wschodnich na Zachód (Wrocław, 2001), 61.

Ozierany, Kupiczów rural commune – village inhabited by Ukrainians, Jews (until 1942), and a few Polish families.

In October (or at the beginning of November) 1943 the UPA murdered about a dozen Poles brought from the neighboring localities of Peresieka, Buda, and Stara Dąbrowa.

The wounded Zofia Padowska from Peresieka went to her Ukrainian acquaintances to ask for water for the dying. The men grabbed axes in response. The woman survived this second threat only thanks to the landlady’s intervention.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 349.

Piórkowicze, Lubitów rural commune – Polish colony.

Warned by a Ukrainian, Shamuk, the Polish inhabitants of Piórkowicze went to Zasmyki and Gruszówka on August 21, 1943 under protection of the local self-defense force.

The Polish family of Sikorski, who were living with a Ukrainian (first name: Aleksander, nickname: “Inwalida” [Invalid]), went through a few moments of horror when the UPA came for them. “Aleksander’s wife told the guests [from the UPA] to sit down and said that she would make a fire and some scrambled eggs. She just had to bring some wood. She went outside and stormed into her tenants’ room. ‘Flee to Zasmyki immediately, they’ve come for you!’ [...] she then began to make fire. She tried to light the fire, the fire subsided, she tried again – she did all that to give the Poles time to escape. [...] We could hear some frantic pacing and muffled conversations from behind the wall, but the tenants were still there. Pretending to have to look for dryer wood, she went out into the backyard once again. She opened the door slightly and whispered, ‘Hurry up or it will be too late!’ [...] As it turned out later the family was so petrified that they totally lost touch with reality. Afraid to go out, they walked about the room, packed some things and cast them aside to grab another. But the arrivals noticed that there was something going on not in line with their plans because they were whispering with each other and one of them put a machine gun over his shoulder, went out to the road and paced along the house carefully watching everything around him. The landlady [...] hurried the Poles again and showed them the path to the back of the farm [...] the watchman stormed in, whispered something to the sitting men and they jumped to their feet, grabbed the machine guns they had put by the wall and ran out into the yard. Trembling with fear, Aleksander’s wife ran out after them. She was sure that the watchman had reported the Sikorskis’ escape attempt. But the yard was already empty.”

The arrival of an armed Polish detachment scared the attackers away. The family of four left to Zasmyki. “They were forever deeply grateful to their righteous and brave Ukrainian landlady.”

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 39–42.

Ratno, town – (Ukrainian village in the area)

A paramedic of the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Home Army, Maria Kuczyńska-Spasowska, suffered from leg paralysis during her crossing of the Polesie marshes and forests in the spring of 1944. The unit leadership put her in the care of a Soviet partisan unit. From there she was handed over, as a wounded member of a pro-Soviet Wanda Wasilewska partisan detachment, to a Ukrainian, Syomka. Syomka was the reeve of a Ukrainian village near Ratno, whose inhabitants supported the partisan forces and the Red Army. “They sheltered me in their cottages and they buried my paramedic’s bag in a potato field. They dressed me as a Ukrainian peasant girl and as ‘Marusia’ I became something like a member of their family. I knew Ukrainian (from school) pretty well, which enabled me to pose as a Ukrainian when needed. I totally depended on their care and help for I was still unable to walk. I crawled in the room or in the backyard – on all fours, tearing off the skin on my knees [...] I was often taken to forests, to inaccessible places with the little children, their mothers and their belongings; they often drove me by wagon to other villages and hid me in haystacks before each oncoming German manhunt. They treated my injured, wounded legs in a peasant way – with healing spells, with herbs. [...] I am sure that I would not have conquered that severe illness and survived if it had not been for their sympathy and disinterested, cordial help. Why, they knew I was ‘a Pollack woman.’ There were no Polish villages or families in that area. So my life depended on the Ukrainians. Would it have been so if they had known that I was a “partisan” from the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Home Army and not from the W. Wasilewska detachment – it is difficult to give a clear-cut answer.”

Source: M. Spasowska “Karmen”, “Przeżyłam wśrod Ukraińcow”, Biuletyn Informacyjny. 27 Wołyńska Dywizja AK 1 (1998).

Różyn, Stare Koszary rural commune – Polish colony.

August 27, 1943 the UPA kidnapped eight men including three Magier brothers, Poles from Truskoty. Tadeusz Kotarski, a Pole, writes: “Our teacher, Aleksandra Magier, begged the UPA for mercy on the illegally captured people, who were already being tortured. She was brutally pushed away from one of many wagons and thrown into a ditch by the road where she received blows from the butts of machine guns even though she was visibly heavy with child. [...] she got on a wagon and she and the landlord (whom she knew) set off in pursuit of [...] the kidnapped and the kidnappers [...] On the way the locals honestly and openly informed them what and who they had seen driving by, even though they were mostly Ukrainians. [...] They stopped on a farm owned by some Ukrainians who helped them, but at the same time begged Mrs. Aleksandra to stop the chase for it could not help the kidnapped in any way – she should rather protect her own life, the life of her unborn baby, and of the helpful Polish landlord, who put himself in such danger.”

To save his sons Mr. Magier bribed the village reeve, Yufimchuk. The Ukrainian was to intervene with his son-in-law in the UPA staff in Świniarzyn, but those efforts proved unsuccessful and the kidnapped men were murdered.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, II/60, Relacja Tadeusza Kotarskiego [Tadeusz Kotarski’s Account], pp. 2–4.

Smidyń, Maciejów rural commune – Ukrainian village.

On September 1, 1943 the UPA massacred over 30 Poles in the neighboring colony of Siomaki and murdered 4 members of the Polish family of Emme with the exception of Tadeusz Emme and one of his brothers.“We survived because we weren’t at home then. On the way home we got a warning from by our neighbor (a Ukrainian). He said, “Don’t go home because everybody has been executed and the bandits are waiting for you.” An Orthodox (Ukrainian) priest wanted to bury the bodies of my family in the Ukrainian cemetery, but they didn’t let him. They threatened that if he buried them in the cemetery he would end up just like those Poles.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, II/1, Relacja Tadeusza Emmego [Tadeusz Emme’s Account], p. 2.

Sucha Łoza, Wielick rural commune – Polish colony.

About 70 Poles died on August 30, 1943 from the hands of the UPA and the local Ukrainians. Two Ukrainians, Ivan Moroz and Volodymyr Hnat, were also murdered because they had protested against murdering the Poles.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, II/61, Relacja Józefy Cyniak [Józefa Cyniak’s Account], p. 127v.

Wierbiczno, Turzysk rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families, also a Polish estate.

In 1943 the UPA captured the estate owner, Edward Cieszkowski, and locked him in a basement. The local Ukrainians freed him, thus saving his life.

At the beginning of September 1943 the UPA massacred nine Poles. A Ukrainian woman, Yevdokia Bots, tried to stop the attackers. Her husband warned the Polish Głowiński family, thus saving, for example, a Polish Home Army (AK) member, Hieronim Głowiński, whom the Bandera followers had recognized and tracked down. The Ukrainian also rescued Aleksandra Wójcik. The Polish woman had come to him to ask for shelter for her family and she came across the UPA. He managed to convince the attackers that Wójcik was his relative. The Bots also put up the Polish Potocki family for a week.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 391; L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 121–123; Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu..., 177–178 (testimonies of Aleksandra Wójcik and Alfreda Krawiec [née Głowińska]).

Wólka Porska, Wielick rural commune – Ukrainian village and Polish colony.

Twenty-one Poles died as a result of the UPA raid on July 3, 1943. But some of the Ukrainians from Wólka Porska warned the Poles about the attack and helped them. For instance, the Ukrainians rescued a teacher from Wólka Porska named Boroń from the Bandera followers’ hands.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 398.

Zasmyki, Lubitów commune – Polish colony with about 100 farms.

In July 1943 there was an influx of Poles from neighboring villages, who were in danger from the UPA. The UPA gave an ultimatum to the self-defense center organized in Zasmyki – the Poles were to surrender by September 1. “And then a Ukrainian came to Zasmyki in secret and asked for a conversation with the leadership. He said he knew everything and was willing to submit a detailed report because he could not stand what was happening, he could not look at the spilling of innocent blood. He is a Ukrainian and he would like Ukraine to be free, but the path that the Banderites and the like have taken is a criminal one. He had many close [Polish] acquaintances in Zasmyki and its vicinity, he had lived in perfect harmony with them, he knows all of them as peaceful and good people, he sees no sense in murdering them. And it seems that another great wave of massacres in entire Volhynia is coming. There’s no mercy [lit. “heart”] for those who murder Ukrainians if they refuse to slaughter Poles [ryzaty Liakhiv]. He would feel co-responsible if he had not warned the Poles about the danger they were in. He also said that the main concentration point was Gruszówka and the areas by the track from Kupiczów to Kowel and that their staff was located in the forester’s lodge by the track.”

Another Ukrainian also provided similar information to the Poles.

On August 31 the Polish Home Army (AK) partisan unit (70 strong) of 1st Lt. Władysław Czermiński “Jastrząb” conducted a preemptive attack on the UPA group in Gruszówka, which consisted of two companies. The attack saved the Zasmyki [self-defense force?] from destruction. Leon Karłowicz claims that “Zasmyki and its vicinity were saved to a large extent by those brave and wise Ukrainians.”

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 75–78.

KRZEMIEŃ COUNTY

Baszuki, Stary Oleksiniec rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

According to Katarzyna Lehkun’s account, in August 1943 the UPA murdered a local Orthodox priest, his wife, and his maid because the priest had appealed to them to stop killing the Poles (“A crime is always a crime”, he said).

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 152–153.

Białozórka, Białozórka rural commune – town inhabited mostly by Ukrainians.

In the spring and summer of 1943 the UPA massacred about a dozen Poles. The nationalists also murdered two daughters of a Ukrainian, who was known in the area. The women died because they had warned the Poles about the danger.

Warned by a Ukrainian, local parish priest, Father Władysław Terlikowski (a Pole) stopped celebrating the Sunday mass in June 1943 because the Poles gathered in the church could become an easy target for the UPA. Warned again by the Ukrainian, the priest went to Mikołajów in the Stanisławów voivodeship on July 1.

The Ukrainians, Andrei Mielnik and Hrytsko Kryvyi, warned the Poles about the attacks conducted at the beginning of August. The Polish families of Centkiewicz and Strzeszkowski managed to flee and survive.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, XI/10, Relacja Edmunda Bosakowskiego [Edmund Bosakowski’s Account], p. 46v; L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 143; W. Wolski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 38 (1999): 38.

Budki, Poczajów rural commune – Ukrainian village with about 30 Polish families.

An elderly Ukrainian woman, Kroshkova, often warned the Polish Skowroński family. Józef Skowroński’s account as recorded by Edward Gross reads, “There was nothing really happening, so I stayed at home – though I was on my guard. Only recently did she {Kroshkova] begin to come with specific warnings. ‘Don’t sleep at home tonight,’ she said, ‘cause they are going to come and murder you.’ This recurred a few times. We slept in the forest, we slept in a potato field a few times – wherever we could. We survived because they did not dare murder us during the day and we were not at home at night. They didn’t know that Kroshkova, who was Huzyuk’s mother-in-law [the local UPA leader], told me about all their decisions. Once she said that they were going to set our house on fire that night. And they did. From that moment on we had nothing to come back to. We couldn’t live either at my parents’ or at my wife’s parents’ because they would have murdered them with us. Luckily, my father-in-law was a forester and was friends with Mr. Karpenko [a Ukrainian]. Consequently, Mr. Karpenko agreed to shelter us for a few days. We’ve already been here for a week.”

After hiding for some time, the Skowrońskis ignored Karpenko’s warnings and went to Huta Pieniacka in Brody county (Tarnopol voivodeship). They died on February 28, 1944 with about 1,000 other victims of Huta’s pacification conducted by the Ukrainian soldiers of the “Galizien” SS division under German command.

Source: E. Gross, Zbrodnie..., 123–124.

Cecyniówka, Katerburg rural commune – estate.

In 1943 a Polish teacher from Krzemieniec, Jadwiga Katarzyna Nowakowska, was rescued by the new Ukrainian estate manager, who replaced the Polish manager murdered by the UPA. After the funeral of the murdered local inhabitants the Ukrainian estate manager told her to immediately stop working and go home. Jadwiga was going to be picked up by a wagon driving to Krzemieniec for crops. She had to do it in secret so that nobody would see the last Polish employee leaving the grange. Jadwiga arrived in Krzemieniec safe and sound.

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 46.

Chodaki, Szumsk rural commune – Ukrainian-Polish village.

Three Poles were shot on March 18, 1943, most probably by Ukrainian policemen who had deserted the German service and escaped to the forest. Apolinary Unold (brother of one of the victims) managed to escape and was sheltered by his Ukrainian neighbor, Skolskyi. After that Apolinary escaped to Ostróg on the Horyń in Zdołbuny county. Posing as Ukrainians, Apolinary’s sister, mother, and son (Zbigniew Unold) were taken to Ostróg by a man named Ravskyi, who was half-Polish and half-Ukrainian.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 445.

Huta Stara, Szumsk rural commune – Polish village.

The UPA massacred 52 people in April, 1943. The family of one of the witnesses, Jerzy Jeleńkowski, managed to escape during the raid thanks to a Bandera follower from Moszczanica (Buderaż rural commune, Zdołbuny county). That man’s name was Hapyna, and he was an old friend of Jerzy’s father. Another Ukrainian, a Jehovah’s Witness from the neighboring village of Huta Rawska (Szumsk rural commune), helped the family during the period of hiding.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 447–448.

Katerburg, Katerburg rural commune – small town inhabited mostly by Jews (until 1942), as well as by Ukrainians and Poles.

In the spring of 1943 the Polish inhabitants left Katerburg for fear of UPA attacks. The only Pole to stay was the local parish priest, Father Dominik Wyrzykowski. The Pole Jan Niewiński recalls: “The Ukrainian neighbors warned the priest a few times about the danger he was in, but he did not take them seriously. One day a few Ukrainian neighbors categorically demanded that he immediately leave the rectory for he was going to die perhaps the next night. After that warning the Rybchans (Ukrainians) organized a convoy and transported the priest to Krzemieniec.”

Source: Relacja Jana Niewińskiego [Jan Niewiński’s account], in Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu..., 219.

Kinachowce, Wiśniowiec rural commune – Ukrainian-Polish village.

In the summer of 1943 a Ukrainian, Ivan Bandura, warned a Polish blacksmith, Adam Ludwików, about a planned UPA attack against the Poles. Right before the attack the Ludwikóws were warned by another Ukrainian, Snyegor. Consequently, many of the inhabitants managed to leave the village in time.

In March 1944 the UPA kidnapped and murdered about a dozen Poles.

Anna Ludwików and her mother, Antonina Mazur, came to the village to get food and spent the night with a Ukrainian, Aleksander Branskyi. “Banderites came to him that night. That decent and astute host engaged them in a conversation and showed them round the farm in such a way that they did not find the two Polish women in hiding. And he knew very well that otherwise his life and the life of his whole family would be in danger. He talked about it completely openly later.”

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 468–469; L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 157.

Kołodno Lisowszczyzna and Kołodno Siedlisko, Kołodno rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian villages.

Warned by his Ukrainian friend, Paweł Rozwadowski, a Pole, avoided capture on the night of May 25, 1943 when the Bandera followers came for him.

On July 14, 1943 300 armed UPA members in German and Soviet uniforms attacked the two villages and killed about 500 villagers. One of the survivors was the parish priest, Father Wojciech Ciszek, a Pole who had been warned by a Ukrainian. Semen Kornaty, a Ukrainian, provided help to Józef Ratuszniak but he sheltered the Pole only for a short time as he feared for his own life.

Stanisław Kazimierów, aged 13, was shot in the leg and lost his mother [during a raid]: “Her head was smashed. It was her head on my knees that saved my life [...] I went unnoticed by our close Ukrainian acquaintance and neighbor [...] I had no more power and I collapsed. A moment later the neighbor’s two older sons jumped out of the house and dragged me by the arms to some bushes, to their orchard. They bandaged my wound with rags and I lay there in hiding for the entire night and one day. [...] at night the Ukrainian neighbor took me, hidden under straw, on a wagon to the hospital in Zbaraż.”

Some time after the massacre of the Poles in Kołodno the Ukrainians held a meeting. Many protested against further massacres. The UPA executed about 60 of them in consequence.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 433–438; S. Kazimierów, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 38 (1999): 42; Cf. also B. Odnous, “Lato 1943”, Karta 46 (2005): 114–115.

Lisznia, Uhorsk rural commune – Ukrainian village with about 20 Polish families.

In the summer of 1943 the Poles returned for harvest from Krzemieniec, where they had fled. A Ukrainian villager from Lisznia informed them about a trap the UPA had set there. The Poles survived while the Ukrainian and his family were murdered.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 463.

Ludwiszcze, Uhorsk rural commune – Ukrainian village with about 20 Polish families.

The UPA executed several Poles on April 30, 1943.

According to Stanisław Błażejewski, a Pole, in May 1943 the UPA stopped a Hucisk Horodyski inhabitant, Stanisław Adaszyński, a Pole who was driving his wagon loaded with food to Krzemieniec. He survived because a Ukrainian from Hucisk named Stavskyi had given him the password. Marianna Bacajewska, a Pole who was travelling with him, was murdered. According to Feliks Jasiński’s account, the incident took place in the fall of 1943 in Nowy Staw, while the password – which was an answer to a request for documents – was: “Batyushka shche ne dały” (The parish priest hasn’t provided them yet).

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, XI/6, Relacja Stanisława Błażejewskiego [Stanisław Błażejewski’s Account], p. 34; AW II/1014, F. Jasiński, Kronika, 73.

Michałówka, Dederkały rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian farmstead.

On May 2, 1943 the Ukrainian neighbors warned the Poles about a planned UPA attack. A few families went to Szumsk while other families went to Krzemieniec. Their farms were set on fire.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 421–422.

Mołotków, Białozórka rural commune – Ukrainian-Polish village.

Helena Kulczycka, a Pole, recalls that in 1942 there was more and more news about the UPA attacking and robbing the Poles. And that was the time when her female Ukrainian neighbor, Boboshko, started to visit her parents. She used to take the Kulczyckis’ clothes to her place for safekeeping. She did not tell her son, aged 8, about that because she feared that the boy would denounce her if he was ever interrogated by the UPA. The woman brought the things back whenever the danger subsided. On the other hand, whenever the attacks against the Poles intensified, the whole Kulczycki family, with the exception of Helena’s father, slept at that Ukrainian woman’s place.

The UPA massacred about a dozen Poles on July 30, 1943. Having lost her father and brother, Kulczycka found shelter in the home of her sister and her husband in Płyska. The Bandera followers came to their place one night and asked where her sister’s husband was. The attackers beat the two women unconscious because they did not want to reveal the secret.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 414.

Nowystaw, Dederkały rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In 1943 the UPA beat to death an Orthodox priest, Fiodor Tsikhotskyi, aged around 90. Chikhockyi and his son, Fiodor, who was also a priest, openly and publicly condemned the nationalists’ actions and refused to celebrate liturgy for them. Many Ukrainian villagers disapproved of the UPA actions. Consequently, some of them were persecuted (for example, Prokop Humenyuk, Roman Panasyuk, and Stepan Bondarchuk).

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, XI/7, Relacja N.N. „Dzika”, [Jane Doe’s Account, Pseudonym “Dzika”], p. 37.

Oleksiniec Stary, Stary Oleksiniec rural commune – Ukrainian village with about 10 Polish families.

In 1943 the UPA several times robbed the farm of Aleksander Staniszewski, a Pole. In August a young Ukrainian warned the Staniszewskis about an attack planned against them. Staniszewski’s wife and son were murdered during the raid while Staniszewski survived hidden in the attic.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 443–444.

Siniowce, Łanowce rural commune – Ukrainian village with about 40 Polish families.

In the summer of 1943 the UPA massacred a few dozen Poles. At the end of December they massacred seven more people, including Karol Lewicki, his wife, and two daughters. A local Ukrainian woman informed the Lewickis’ relative, Franciszka Chabluk, about the course of the massacre (Khabluk came from Rubcza, where she had fled to after an earlier massacre). The Ukrainian woman sheltered Franciszka in a basement and advised her to immediately leave Siniowce for “the murderers were waiting for those who would return.”

Source: Testimonies of Janina Olearska of November 1, 2003 and May 12, 2004 (in Władysław and Ewa Siemaszko’s collection).

Szumbar, Dederkały rural commune – Ukrainian village with about seven Polish families.

In March 1943, after the first massacres of the Poles in Dederkały Wielkie, a Ukrainian named Antoni Teryda drove the church organist and his mother, aged 80, to Krzemieniec, which saved their lives. The UPA members severely beat him up in consequence.

When the Bandera followers passed a summary death sentence on the organizer of the Polish self-defense in Dederkały, Father Józef Kuczyński, the Ukrainian inhabitants of Szumbar came to his defense. The Orthodox clergyman, Mykola Beleckyi, informed Kuczyński about the sentence (the two men were friends and had cooperated for three years while Kuczyński was the parish priest in Szumbar).

Source: Father J. Kuczyński, Między parafią a łagrem (Paris, 1985), 15, 28.

Szumsk, Szumsk rural commune – small town inhabited mostly by Jews (until the closure of the ghetto in 1942), as well as by Ukrainians and Poles.

In 1943 the UPA shot a Ukrainian, Vasyl Huk, from the village of Zielony Dąb (Buderaż commune, Zdołbuny county). Feliks Jasiński recalls, “The Banderites threatened to kill him unless he carried out the order to kill his Polish wife. Without much thinking Vasyl and his wife fled to Szumsk. There he joined the police force and got a machine gun and [...] The Banderites killed his Ukrainian mother in her home and followed Vasyl to kill him and that happened on the causeway in Szumsk, they shot him from a long distance.”

According to Leopold Śmiech, two more Ukrainians, Ishchuk and Kravchuk, were killed for contacting the Poles. The author also mentions Supinskyi and Duzhyk from Oryszkowce, who warned the Poles about UPA raids.

Source: AW II/1014, Feliks Jasiński, Kronika, 69; AIPN, 27 WDAK, XI/2, Relacja Leopolda Śmiecha [Leopold Śmiech’s Account], p. 2v, 4–4v.

Uhorsk, Uhorsk rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

In 1943 a young local Ukrainian rescued a Czech-Polish family from Volhynian Polesie by warning them the UPA was planning to kill them. He was hanged in the center of the village as a “traitor.”

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 466.

Wanżułów, Białozórka rural commune – Ukrainian village with four Polish families.

In April 1943 a Polish farm and mill owner, Franciszek Szreffel, managed to escape to Krzemieniec with his family because his Ukrainian acquaintance had warned him about a planned attack. Franciszek’s mother and sister did not believe that the danger was real. They stayed in the village and were murdered a few months later.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 466.

Wesołówka, Uhorsk rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

The UPA murdered a few inhabitants of Wesołówka in 1943. There was also the case of a pretended murder. Kazimierz Bania told the story of Antoni Śliwiński and his son, who were plowing a field.

“The Banderites that were camping in a nearby forest sent one of their number to shoot those plowing Poles. The approaching Banderite told the two men plowing why he had been sent over and he explained, ‘I’m going to shoot at you in such a way so as to miss you. One of you is going to collapse when I shoot the first time and the other one is going to collapse after the second shot. You play dead and lie like that until the evening. In the evening escape from the field straight to Krzemieniec.’ And this was what they did. They survived their pretend murder and went west to Krzemieniec with other Poles.”

Source: K. Bania, “Na Wołyniu”, in Bracia zza Buga..., 11–12.

Wierzbowiec, Wyszogródek rural commune – Ukrainian village with about 15 Polish families.

In 1943 the Wierzbowiec inhabitants fled to Łanowce to avoid UPA raids. The Polish Kudryk family of five stayed in the village. They hid in grain fields, in potato fields, and their Ukrainian neighbors’ barns. A young UPA member found Janina Kudryk, aged 14, in a barn and wanted to shoot her. The Ukrainian woman who owned the barn begged him into sparing the girl’s life.

At the end of December 1944 a local Ukrainian clergyman told the Kudryks, who were in hiding, to “flee immediately because he did not want Polish blood to be spilled in Wierzbowiec.” He claimed that he had been forced to consecrate the murder tools and that there were already some volunteers to chase them down and murder them.

Risking her life, on December 31 a Ukrainian woman, who had little children, took the Kudryks by wagon to the train station in Kornaczówka, from where they went to Zbaraż.

Source: Testimonies of Janina Olearska of December 1, 2003, August 21, 2003 and May 12, 2004 (in Władysław and Ewa Siemaszko’s collection).

Wiśniowiec Nowy, Wiśniowiec rural commune – town inhabited mostly by Jews (until the closure of the ghetto in 1942), as well as by Ukrainians and Poles.

Fearing the UPA, the Poles from the neighboring villages began to flee to Wiśniowiec Nowy in the spring of 1943. They found shelter in the Carmelite monastery. In February 1944 the UPA stormed into the monastery posing as Soviet partisans and massacred ca. 200 people. The Polish survivors were sheltered by the Ukrainians. Maria Ciesielska from Polany spent six weeks hiding under a bed in the home of the Ukrainian Romanishyn family. Another Pole, Gąsiorowski, was also sheltered by one of the Ukrainians.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 471–475.

Wiśniowiec Stary, Wiśniowiec rural commune – Ukrainian village with 50 Polish families.

In February 1944 the UPA locked up and burned alive a few dozen Poles in the St Stanislaus the Martyr Bishop church. Those who stayed in the village went into hiding. Some of them were sheltered by the Ukrainians. The Ukrainian families of Soroki, Hala, Natalki, and Knyazya risked their lives to shelter the Polish families of Stemplowski, Królikowski, and Dutkowski – a total of 28 people. The UPA tracked down those hiding Poles and massacred them.

Maria Stemplowska recalled being taken in with her daughter by a Ukrainian woman, Medzaryha: “‘You can’t help your husband and your dead children. You should care about your own safety.’ She hid the two of us in her home. The Banderites came at night to murder ‘the Pollack woman and her child.’ Medzaryha’s son, who was also a Banderite, came to my and my child’s defense and did not allow another murder.”

Stefania Królikowska, a Pole, writes about her aunt, Antonina Świątkowska, and her four children, who survived the massacre and were sheltered by a Ukrainian woman in a hole dug under her barn. On the way to milk the cows the Ukrainian woman brought them bread and took the youngest children home and sheltered them in a bread oven.

Source: M. Stemplowska-Niezgoda, “Byłam mieszkanką Wiśniowca Starego”, Na Rubieży 39 (1999): 14–15; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 475–476; AW II/1698, List Stefanii Królikowskiej dołączony do relacji Marii Stec pt. Historia o Wołyniu i Wiśniowcu [Stefania Królikowska’s Letter Attached to Maria Stec’s Account Titled A Story about Volhynia and Wiśniowiec], p. 2.

Załuże, Szumsk rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

The UPA massacred about 30 Poles on August 10, 1943. A Ukrainian, nickname “Kostyo”, sheltered his Polish neighbor, Tadeusz Sierakowski, and his family until the attackers’ departure. All of those Poles survived.

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 152.

LUBOML COUNTY

Borki, Luboml rural commune – Ukrainian-Polish village.

The UPA massacred 55 Poles on January 10, 1944. A Ukrainian, Kalenik, got an order from the local UPA leadership to murder his Polish wife and two little daughters. He went to Luboml in secret, thus saving himself and his family.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 522; H. Komański, “Borki”, Na Rubieży 44 (2000): 49.

Łany, Luboml rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

The UPA raided the colony on August 29, 1943. A Ukrainian named Syanko warned the family of the Polish blacksmith, Jan Tomicz. The Tomiczes they fled at the very last moment to Przewały (Olesk commune), where they were temporarily sheltered by a Ukrainian named Skok. Jan Tomicz returned to Łany right after the escape to get the most necessary things and his livestock. While he was driving the cattle to Przewały Syanko told him again to abandon the cattle and flee.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 523.

Ostrówki, Huszcza rural commune – Polish village with over 600 inhabitants (non-existent today).

On July 5, 1943 the UPA attacked some Germans who were driving by. The aim of that provocation was to incite a pacification upon the village. The nationalists killed a few of the Germans. Zofia Ulewicz, a Pole, witnessed that incident: “Suddenly, the shots subsided and next to us we saw my mother, my brother Bolek, our neighbor Helena Kuwałek, her four children and her mother-in-law. Suddenly, a German soldier came out from behind the house with a machine gun ready to fire. A Ukrainian policeman from Opalin was standing next to him. The German shouted, “Halt”, and ordered us to lie down with our faces to the ground. The Ukrainian recognized us. He used to have his shoes repaired by my uncle, Jesionczak. The policeman explained to the German that we were innocent. The soldier ordered us to get up and shook everybody’s hand. [...] A moment after their departure the Germans fired on our farm, which burned to the ground. My sister died then.”

Luckily, the Germans did not pacify the whole village.

On August 30, 1943 substantial UPA forces raided Ostrówki with the support of the local Ukrainians and massacred ca. 500 Poles. The number of victims in neighboring Wola Ostrowiecka on the same day amounted to 600.

Witnesses of those events recalled that a small number of Ukrainians from Przekurka (see p. 73) and Sokół (see p. 74) helped the massacre victims.

The Ostrówki massacre survivors included Józef Jeż and Antoni Ulewicz. This is how the latter recalls the moment when he found himself in a pit with a few dozen other victims. “Three Ukrainians were standing above us while the others were walking about the cattle-yard. I recognized an acquaintance of mine among them. I began to beg him to kill me with a machine gun and not with an ax or another tool. [...] the acquainted Ukrainian approached the pit, gave me his hand and told me to get up. I got out of the pit, he gave me a cap and jacket and told me to follow him. [...] He pointed at the narrow concrete bridge and told me to hide underneath it. I squeezed in with difficulty. Before he left he told me to stay quiet for they would kill me and burn the village down if they found me. After some time I noticed that somebody was trying to get into my hideout. [...] I recognized the voice of headmaster Jeż. Then it turned out that he had been escorted to the bridge by the same Ukrainian. We were eventually found by the Germans [...] A Ukrainian, Jakub Rogovskyi, who was in the German police force, approached us. I had known him for a long time. I asked what they would do with us. He said they would execute us. I asked him to do it instead of the Germans. On reflection he began to talk to the German standing beside him. He convinced him that we were no bandits, but his neighbors. The German told us to flee to Jagodzin [...].”

Source: Wołyński testament, ed. L. Popek, T. Trusiuk, P. Wira, Z. Wira (Lublin, 1997), 39; ibidem, p. 71 (Account of Zofia Borodziej [née Ulewicz]); ibidem, 156 (Antoni Ulewicz’s Account); W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, pp. 502–511.

Połapy, Zgorany rural commune – Ukrainian village.

At the beginning of October 1943 the UPA captured a Pole who was hiding alone in the forest after his family had been massacred during the August 30 raid on the neighboring villages of Ostrówka and Wola Ostrowiecka. The nationalists wanted to hang him, but the man’s former Ukrainian neighbors did not allow that. Leon Karłowicz, a Pole, writes: “They grabbed wooden stakes, wagon stanchions, whatever they had, and then assumed menacing postures and announced that they would not allow yet another murder. ‘It’s all because of you!’ they shouted threateningly at the Banderites. ‘What have you been murdering the Poles for? We have no roof over our heads because of you! This is what Ukraine’s supposed to be like? We’re going to smash your heads if you don’t leave right away!’The women and men were shouting and the Banderites gave up because there were not many of them. One of the Ukrainian farmers took the Pole aside and pointed at some nearby bushes.’This is where your people had gone. You might still catch up with them. Go, nothing’s gonna happen to you. We’re gonna handle them here.’Exhausted and starved almost to death, the Pole survived.”

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 160–161.

Przekurka, Huszcza rural commune – Ukrainian village (non-existent today).

On August 30, 1943 the UPA raided neighboring Wola Ostrowiecka slaughtering ca. 600 Poles. The people of Przekurka provided help to some of the survivors. A Ukrainian from Przekurka, whose son was a UPA member, sheltered the Polish woman Helena Przystupa and her children in the forest for five days (according to a report published in 2004 in the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita his name was Serhii Zelinskyi). On the sixth day Helena’s husband, Boleslaw, who was working for a Ukrainian near Luboml, arrived. Bolesław’s employer told him about the massacres of the Poles. Consequently, Bolesław decided to flee with his family across the Bug River.

Aleksander Lubczyński, a Pole, jumped out of the burning school building in Wola Ostrowiecka, where a few dozen people were massacred, and pretended to be dead. “Frightened by what I saw, I ran into some nearby bushes. I sat there for three days without food or drink. I slept the whole time. On the fourth day I began to feel exhausted and I went to the nearby Ukrainian village of Przekurka. Some Ukrainians I met gave me bread and milk. They told me to escape to Dorohusk. I decided to go to some Poles living near the village of Przekurka. I stayed two weeks with them. Eleven armed Ukrainians came over during my stay with that family. They asked, ‘Is this the whole family?’ When they learned that I was a survivor from Wola Ostrowiecka, they said, ‘He’s survived, so we’ll let him be, he’s lucky.’ In the evening some local Poles came over. I escaped with them to Jagodzin.”

The family of Bolesław Kuwałek from Ostrówki was sheltered for three days in Przekurka by two Ukrainian families they knew: the Makars and the “Mikoluses.” Then the Ukrainians escorted the Kuwałeks to a crossing on the Bug River.

Edward Soroka and wounded Jan Palec, both Poles, received help from a Ukrainian woman married to a forester from the Borek forest. Then her husband escorted them to Jagodzin, which they reached safe and sound.

In the fall of 1943 Mashluk’s sotnia [company] massacred the Petruk family (nickname Prystupa): namely, the grandparents and the parents with their son, Piotr, and two daughters. For a short time three members of that family were sheltered in Przekurka by a Ukrainian woman, Pelagya Sanuryka.

Source: M. Narbutt, “Wołyń: pamięć i zapomnienie”, Rzeczpospolita, 7−8 August 2004; Wołyński testament..., 93 (Czesław Kuwałek’s Account); ibidem, 96 (Aleksander Lubczyński’s Account); ibidem, 155 (Account of Helena Twaróg [née Przystupa]); ibidem, 133 (Edward Soroka’s Account); L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 162–163; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 512.

Równo, Huszcza rural commune – large Ukrainian village with about 30 Polish families.

At the end of August 1943 the local Ukrainians got an order from the UPA to murder their Polish neighbors. The Poles were to be called to a meeting in the home of a Pole, Barański, and liquidated there. But a local Orthodox clergyman firmly opposed this and the Poles got a warning from the friendly Ukrainians and managed to flee to Chełm county in the Lublin region. They avoided the fate of ca. 1,100 victims of the August 30 UPA raid on the nearby villages of Ostrówka and Wola Ostrowiecka.

Anna Ryszkiewicz (née Wawrzyniak), a Pole, recalls how some of her relatives survived. On August 29 they were visited by a young Ukrainian. “obviously drunk, he was crying like a baby and kissing my cousin, Stanisław Wawrzyniak, and was openly saying that he had been ordered to kill the Poles in his village. He says, ‘And what if I kill Staszek Wawrzyniak? Why, he’s a friend, we went to school together, what if I kill your dad, Aleksander Wawrzyniak, and his parents, wife and children? Why, they’re close neighbors [...].’ He cried and complained that he could not do it.”

The next day at dawn, just before the Bandera followers surrounded the village, Aleksander Wawrzyniak had decided to flee with his family and go west toward the Bug River. He met a Ukrainian on a horse who told him to flee as fast as possible. “Daddy hitched up the horses to the wagon and we drove outside the village to Mr. Bondarenka. He was a Ukrainian. We stayed there for two days and there were some Ukrainians too and they said, ‘Go where everybody goes. We don’t wanna see you die ‘cause the Banderites said that they would chop off every Pole’s head.’”

In September 1943 the UPA massacred about 30 Poles from Równe who had returned to the village. A Ukrainian, Jagello, did not denounce his Polish wife, for which he was severely beaten up. He died a few days later.

Source: Relacja Anny Ryszkiewicz z d. Wawrzyniak [Account of Anna Ryszkiewicz (née Wawrzyniak)], in Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu..., 225; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 513.

Sokół, Zgorany rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish inhabitants.

On August 30, 1943 almost all of the villagers participated in the massacre of Ostrówka and Wola Ostrowiecka. Still, some of the inhabitants risked their lives to help the Poles. Two Polish women from Wola Ostrowiecka were temporarily sheltered by a Ukrainian family, which fed them and advised them to flee to Jagodzin (Bereżce rural commune).

The Ukrainian family of Kusnich saved two girls, aged 10 and 6, who were daughters of Jan and Marianna Pogorzelec, who had been murdered in Wola Ostrowiecka. The Kusniches drove the girls to Luboml and handed them over to Polish railroaders.

The Sokół village reeve rescued a Polish woman with two children (3 years old and 6 months old) and took her to Luboml. The woman was married to Alosha Basyuk – a Ukrainian from Sokół. Many witnesses recognized her husband as a participant of a massacre who wanted to murder his own family.

About 300 women and children from Ostrówek were massacred near a forest close to Sokół. The survivors included Czesław Kruk and his mother (mother-in-law of Katarzyna Kruk [née Jasionek]). “My mother-in-law was also driven by the UPA toward Sokół. It was a miracle that she survived. Out of fear or mercy one of the Ukrainian murderers purposefully missed when shooting at her and her son Czesław. Seeing what he had done, the other Ukrainians threatened to shoot him if he missed again. When it got quiet she raised her head and saw the wounded rising from the field and running into the nearby bushes.”

One of the survivors was a young Polish boy from Wola Ostrowiecka, Czesław Lubczyński, who was taken in by the local Ukrainians as a foster child. According to Ewa Palec’s account, the boy’s father, Jan Lubczyński, crossed the Bug River after the war and took the boy back to Poland after he had found out about his son’s fate.

Source: Wołyński testament..., 39; ibidem, 88 (Account of Katarzyna Kruk [née Jesionek]); ibidem, 111 (Ewa Palec’s Account); W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 529.

Sztuń, Bereżce rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

On August 30, 1943 the UPA murdered an unknown number of Poles. On the night of August 29–30 the Polish Ulewicz family managed to escape across fields to Luboml thanks to a warning from friendly Ukrainians.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 499–500.

Wola Ostrowiecka, Huszcza rural commune – Polish village with over 800 inhabitants (non-existent today).

On August 30, 1943 substantial UPA forces raided the village with the support of the local Ukrainians and murdered ca. 600 Poles. The number of victims in neighboring Ostrówki on the same day amounted to 500.

According to the witnesses of those events, a small number of Ukrainians from Przekurka (see pp. 72–73) and Sokół (see p. 74) helped the massacre victims.

Bronisław Jesionek was hiding with his family outside their house with help from two Ukrainian families from Sokół. They returned to Wola Ostrowiecka when they learned that the danger had subsided. A group of UPA members commanded by their Ukrainian acquaintance, Mahonko, attacked them in Wola Ostrowiecka. Maria Pendel (née Jesionek) recalls: “Somebody suggested locking us in a house and setting it on fire. We began to scream and mourn. Mahonko settled the dispute saying that we were safe that day but the next day they would return and kill us. [...] The two Ukrainian families which had been taking care of us for the previous 10 days came to us. They brought us some food and water to drink. One of the Ukrainian women advised us to flee to Stary Jagodzin [...] After some time they deported us to Okopy on the other side of the Bug River.”

Source: Wołyński testament..., 39; ibidem, 116 (Account of Maria Pendel [née Jesionek]); W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 513−521.

Zamłynie, Bereżce rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles.

The village’s Polish inhabitants found shelter in Rymacze after the UPA raid of August 30, 1943. On September 22, 1943 a few UPA members from Wiszniów attacked the Polish Matczuk brothers, who had come back to the village to get some food. Konstanty Matczuk was killed while Stefan Matczuk managed to escape to the forest. He was sheltered by a Ukrainian, Petro Melnychuk, who then escorted him to an area controlled by Poles.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 501.

ŁUCK COUNTY

Andrzejówka, Czaruków rural commune – Polish colony.

In January 1944 the [Polish] inhabitants went with the evacuating Germans to Włodzimierz Wołyński. The Ukrainians set fire to the Polish farms and the school building, which was a Polish self-defense post. Piejak and his father stayed in the colony. The two Poles were sheltered by a Ukrainian Baptist. After the arrival of the Soviet Army the local Ukrainians accused the helper of collaboration with Germans (in fact, the helper was a member of the Polish self-defense force and had a firearm permit from the Germans). The man received a sentence of ten years’ imprisonment.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 534–535.

Bakowce, Połonka rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families and a Czech colony.

On June 22, 1943 the UPA murdered a married couple, Hipolit and Justyna Rodziewicz. Their son Jan was taken care of by two Czechs and the following Ukrainians: Zakhar Proc, Haryton Pasteruk, Lakhtion Mauzelepa, and Vychynyuk. Jan Rodziewicz testifies, “These men sheltered me in basements and attics for a period of eight weeks and three days. They were risking their lives. Even though the members of the band continued the search none of them denounced me. I got to Łuck in disguise, with a beard, mustache and carpenter’s tools so as to pose as a carpenter looking for work.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, V/5, Relacja Jana Rodziewicza [Jan Rodziewicz’s Account], p. 25.

Bereściany, Silno rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In 1943 the village was under the control of the UPA. From February to May 20, 1943 the family of the teacher named Kolada was sheltered by a few local Ukrainian families, which took turns. When the Ukrainians refused to provide further help, the Koladas left their belongings and fled to Cumań.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 617.

Berezołupy Małe (Ksawerówka), Szczurzyn rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families and an estate.

In August 1943 a group of armed Ukrainians attacked the house of the Berezołupy estate’s manager, Kaliszewski, a Pole. His daughter escaped to their Ukrainian neighbor, who sheltered her. The attackers brought the Kaliszewskis, the Kaliszewskis’ son, and Stanisław Regionowicz to that neighbor and murdered them there. The Ukrainian handed the rescued girl to Poles.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 631.

Boratyn, Torczyn rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

According to Władysław Siedlecki’s account, in July 1943 the UPA slaughtered 11 Ukrainians for helping the Poles in Boratyn and its vicinity.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 638.

Budki Horodyńskie, Szczurzyn rural commune – Polish colony.

Having heard about the massacres of Poles conducted in many Volhynian localities on July 11, 1943 the inhabitants fled from Budki Horodyńskie to Torczyn. Eugeniusz Różański, a Pole, recalled: “Indeed, the town guaranteed safety, but there was no food for the refugees and the livestock they brought. After some deliberation it was decided that people would go and get food from their own farms, where the unfinished harvest was waiting for them, and that they would sleep in Torczyn and wait there for the next day.

One day on the way back to Torczyn a young man, who was a close relative of the local Ukrainian priest, came up onto the road from the bushes alongside. My father stopped the wagon. The young man wanted to have a word with my father. “Don’t come here again”, he said without beating about the bush. ‘Our men won’t hurt you, but we cannot vouch for others. Please, say this to your people, but don’t tell anybody about me ‘cause it would be a death sentence for me... .’

Just like the young Ukrainian wanted, all the escapees were warned that very day. The next morning the road from Torczyn to Budki Horodyńskie was empty. Only two men stepped out of line. A man in his prime and a bachelor in his twenties, Dominik Grocki. Did they ignore the warning – or perhaps they didn’t believe it? They set off to their farms and the former managed to escape, but the latter did not come back.”

Source: E. Różański, “Nie każdy Ukrainiec był Polakowi wilkiem. Ukraińcy, którzy potępiali ideologię głoszoną przez OUN-UPA, ostrzegali Polaków przed napadami, ukrywali ich i bronili przed śmiercią, nie szczędząc przy tym własnego życia”, vol. 2, Na Rubieży 67 (2003): 10.

Chołoniewicze, Silno rural commune – Ukrainian village with about 10 Polish families.

On March 28, 1943 the UPA entered the village from neighboring Zofiówka to murder the Poles in the church. A friendly Ukrainian, Gryc, warned them about the danger through the family of Rokita from Halinówka. Consequently, only a few elderly people came to the church and the raid did not take place.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 618–619.

Chorochoryń, Szczurzyn rural commune – village with a significant majority of Ukrainians over Poles and, until 1942, Jews.

According to Władysław Siedlecki’s account, in 1943 the UPA slaughtered six Ukrainians for helping the Poles.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 632.

Chrobrów, Czaruków rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian settlement.

At the end of June 1943, after a few UPA attacks, the death toll of which was low, some of the Polish families decided to escape to the neighboring localities of Nieświcz, Ławrów, Marianówka, and Skurcz. A Ukrainian, Sianko Klepec, warned the Polish families of Filipczak and Kurek about another attack. Mirosława Pobocha (née Kurek) recalls: “he said that his fiancee Pola (a Polish teacher) had been murdered. He pressed us to escape. Sianko did not manage to get to his house – his kin killed him.”

The Polish Sebastiański family looked for shelter in various localities during their escape to Włodzimierz Wołyński. On the night of July 11 a Ukrainian they knew informed them that they were once again in danger. “The next day we and our aunt’s family found shelter among Shtundists in a neighboring Ukrainian village. After a few days our landlord came running in from the fields and ordered us to hide in the hemp before the Banderites’ arrival. The Banderites searched the farm and warned that hiding Poles was punishable with death. We returned to our aunt’s farm at night and hid in the barn. At the end of July mom decided to return to Skurcz. We put on Ukrainian clothes and set off among the Banderites. Mom said in Ukrainian that “Polish bandits” had killed her husband and son. The Banderites were warning us against the Liakhs [i.e. the Poles] in Skurcz [...] we met some acquaintances, with whom we reached Skurcz safe and sound.”

Source: Relacja Mirosławy Pobochy z d. Kurek [Account of Mirosława Pobocha (née Kurek)], in Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu..., 262; Zuzanna Sebastiańska, Halina Hilbrecht (née Sebastiańska), “Byłyśmy świadkami”, Na Rubieży 30 (1998): 22.

Dąbrowa, Kołki rural commune – Polish colony.

On June 20, 1943 the Ukrainians massacred four members of the Rudnicki family and Wanda Stępień, aged 17. A Ukrainian Baptist sheltered Wanda’s family and transported them all to Maniewicze.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 568.

Glinne, Kołki rural commune – Polish colony.

In the summer of 1943 the UPA hanged the Ukrainians Mr. and Mrs. Kvach and their daughter, Paraska, because they had protested against killing Poles. Their youngest son, Vasyl, managed to break free and escape.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 568.

Halinówka, Silno rural commune – Polish colony with 42 farms.

On March 28, 1943 a Ukrainian, Hryts, who had warned the Rokita family in June 1941 that they were to be deported to the Soviet Union, warned the Halinówka inhabitants about a UPA raid. Most of them escaped to the forest, but some ignored the warning and stayed at home. At night the UPA from Zofiówka attacked the colony and massacred 40 people.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 621–622.

Jagiellonów, Ołyka rural commune – Polish settlement.

The UPA killed several Poles on August 10, 1943. The Justkowski family survived thanks to the timely warning from a Ukrainian inhabitant of the Baszłyki village, Oleksander Khlamazda.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 581.

Jezioro, Kiwerce rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish and (until 1942) Jewish families.

Zenobiusz Janicki, a Pole, recalls the Ukrainian Orthodox clergyman, Konstanty Donec, who not only did not encourage the Ukrainians to slaughter the Poles, but who even contributed to the conclusion of a contract with the Polish self-defense post in nearby Przebraże. The contract said that the Ukrainian side would remain totally neutral and would neither participate in an attack on Przebraże nor on any nearby Polish villages or settlements. The priest justified this saying that there was no reason to attack the Poles considering the two nations’ peaceful past coexistence and mutual help. He strictly abided by the contract and this is why not only the Przebraże inhabitants have fond memories of him.

Source: Z. Janicki, W obronie Przebraża..., 17, 52, 69–70.

Jeziorany Szlacheckie, Czaruków rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

The UPA members from the neighboring villages massacred 49 Poles on June 19, 1943. The Polish Markowski family of six found shelter with a Ukrainian, Jakub Kovalchyk. But after a week they, too, were discovered and massacred.

The Ukrainian Pukshta siblings (two brothers and a sister) sheltered their close acquaintance, Jan Marmucki, aged 70, for two months in a shelter dug in an orchard. The Bandera followers came over a few times to look for Poles in hiding. Consequently, the Pukshtas decided to drive Marmocki out of Jeziorany. “They hid me on the bottom of the wagon and put a few sacks of grain on top as levy for the Germans.” Kalina Pukshta drove him to Nieświcz, where the German soldiers were stationed. From there Marmocki left for Łuck and then went to western Poland in 1945.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 539–540; J. Marmucki, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 48 (2000): 41.

Koszów, Torczyn rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles.

On June 29, 1943 the UPA massacred 31 Poles. A small number of the Poles managed to hide. They received shelter and help from the Ukrainian families of Sapozhnik and Sheremeta, from Konstanty Bojchuk’s family and from Ivan Grodzki and Semen Jachur.

Two hours before the attack a Ukrainian brought one of the Polish families to his father’s farm almost by force. The Ukrainian was a son of Petro Bambula from Liniowo (Świniuchy commune, Horochów county). The Poles stayed in hiding on the farm for a few days. The Ukrainian took Julian Sokołowski’s wounded wife to a hospital and took care of their two surviving sons.

Shura Sapozhnyk, aged 23, warned the Polish family of Marianna Bąk about the raid. Irena Justyna (née Bąk) writes: “It was a miracle that we survived. We sat in that barn day and night, nobody denounced us. Some Ukrainians were very good and friendly toward me – for example, Kostek Boychuk. We dug a bunker in the ground, it had a moveable lid with grass growing on it. We often hid there from the bandits. A young Ukrainian, aged 13−15, Ivasyk Sheremeta, informed us about the bands’ plans and movements. Some Ukrainians who sympathized with the Poles ended up like they did.

Shura Sapozhnyk – the prettiest girl in the village [...]. I remember how she and my mother mourned the death of my sister Wanda and how she sympathized with the Poles [...].”

In July 1943 the UPA murdered Sapozhnik for her sympathy toward the “Liakhs” (i.e. the Poles) and because she would not reveal the hideout of her brother, Tolek, who refused to participate in an attack on the Poles or to join the UPA.

The UPA also murdered two Ukrainians brothers, Jan and Piotr Chervak, for their failure to reveal the hideout of their brother, Roman, who was married to a Polish woman. Roman refused to join the UPA, to participate in murdering Poles, and to kill his own wife.

Olga Chervak, aged 12, rescued her younger Polish friend. Sabina Królikowska (née Tarnawska) recalls, “One day I went with her to the Orthodox church in Sadów. There was something unusual going on. The Ukrainians brought axes, pitchforks, and knives and the Ukrainian priest consecrated the tools before they went to kill the Poles and to take over free Ukraine. She escorted me out of the building, showed me the path and told me to run for my life.” When the Tarnawskis fled to Łokacze at the end of August 1943 a Ukrainian with a Polish surname, Wojciechowski, brought them some grain.

“He brought us 1 quintal of wheat and 1 quintal of rye to Łokacze. He said to my father, ‘Marian, you have no bread so I’ve brought you some ‘cause I’ve taken your crops.’ On his return home he came across the nationalists and they beat him up so severely that he died. And he got that terrible punishment because he had brought some bread to Poles.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, V/52, Relacja Tadeusza Żukowskiego [Tadeusz Żukowski’s Account], p. 171v. (I quote here Irena Justyna’s account); I. Justyna (née Bąk), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 72 (2004): 42–43; S. Królikowska (née Tarnawska), “Byłam świadkiem”, ibidem, 44–45.

Kozakowa Dolina, Czaruków rural commune – Ukrainian colony with a few Polish families.

At the end of March 1943 a Ukrainian, Yevchuk, warned the Pole Paweł Zawilski about an attack planned against his brother, Apolinary. The whole Yevchuk family was massacred for their sympathy toward the Poles and particularly for having warned them about the UPA plans.

Source: Relacja Leokadii Zawilskiej [Leokadia Zawilska’s Account], Na Rubieży 30 (1998): 18.

Kresówka, Kołki rural commune – Polish colony.

Fearing UPA attacks, the colony inhabitants fled mostly to Kołki in the spring of 1943. The commander of the Polih self-defense force in nearby Rafałówka, Apolinary Oliwa, reports: “A Ukrainian woman sheltered Stefania and Zenon Barwiński. She had used every opportunity to warn them and other Poles about the plans of her degenerated kin. She told me with tears in her eyes that she had two sons in a band and that she herself had to beware of them and that she could not shelter the Poles at her place any longer. The Barwińskis’ family house was in Kresówka. They wanted to return to it. That Ukrainian woman tried to warn them against going back because there were many bands prowling in the area. They did not take her advice and left.” The Bandera followers captured the Barwińskis in Kresówka and tortured them. But in the end they let them go.

“And suddenly in the crop fields they came across Tereshkova – that Ukrainian woman who had sheltered them at her place. The Barwińskis objected when she tried to stop them from going straight into the bandits’ nest. They had had enough of roaming around and constant fear. They did not care anymore. But Tereshkova took the initiative. That brave woman decided to oppose her own sons’ orders and terror. They got to her farm. She hid the Barwińskis in her barn and brought them food for a few days. One day she came with Korneluk – a man she trusted who also internally opposed the banditry of his kin. It was decided that Korneluk would escort Barwińska, who would put on Ukrainian clothes, to Przebraże and then return for Barwiński. And it was so. With a rake on her shoulder, Stefania safely got to Przebraże in Korneluk’s company. Korneluk escorted her husband at night.”

The author of the account stresses that Korneluk did not accept the dollars he was offered.

Source: A. Oliwa, Gdy poświęcano noże (Opole, 1973), 73–74.

Kurhan, Szczurzyn rural commune – Polish colony.

A Ukrainian, Gryc Kucheruk, provided shelter to the Polish family of Stanisław Soroczyński during the UPA raid on July 15, 1943. He then escorted that family at night to Berezołupy. By contrast, at that time Kucheruk’s son and daughter participated in the pogrom of the Polish inhabitants of the Kielecka settlement in Horochów county.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 633.

Ławrów, Połonka rural commune – large Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

In June 1943 most of the Poles left for Łuck. A Ukrainian, Ivan Servetnyk, warned the Buczyński family about the planned massacres. The UPA massacred the few families that remained in the village.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 599.

Łopateń, Silno rural commune – Polish settlement.

A Ukrainian, Mukhanyuk, was murdered in June 1943 because he had refused to kill his wife, Janina Domalewska. Her fate remains unknown.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 624 (according to Edmund Domalewski’s account).

Łuck – county and voivodeship town, 41,000 inhabitants: Poles, Jews (until the closure of the ghetto in 1942), and Ukrainians (ca. 17 percent).

The UPA detachments raided its suburbs on December 24, 1943, killing about 100 Łuck inhabitants and refugees from various localities in the county. Wanda Głuszek’s family avoided the massacre thanks to the protection of a Ukrainian, Vadynyuk.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 657–661.

Majdan Komarowski, Kołki rural commune – Polish colony.

In May–June 1943 the UPA slaughtered Hilary Borecki’s family, including four little children. Borecki’s wife, Agata, survived thanks to the help of a Ukrainian woman. Mrs. Borecka got some clothes from her and safely got to Maniewicze and then to Łuck, where she found her distant relatives.

Source: A. Oliwa, Gdy poświęcano noże..., 83–84.

Marianówka, Czaruków rural commune – Polish colony.

In June 1943 a Ukrainian, Hrehorka (Hryhoryi) Hnatyuk warned the inhabitants about a planned UPA raid. The Poles left their farms in panic and fled to Nieświcz, Skurcz, Łuck, and other localities.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 543.

Marianówka Berezołupska, Szczurzyn rural commune – colony inhabited by 24 Polish and 3 Ukrainian families.

At the end of June 1943 a local Ukrainian warned Leonard Rudnicki about a planned UPA raid. The Polish families fled to the Berezołupy Małe estate under the protection of a few dozen German soldiers and to the Polish colonies of Krzemieniec and Kopaczówka in the Rożyszcze commune, where a Polish self-defense force had been organized. The day when the Poles left the colony the UPA set all of their farms on fire.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 633.

Marusia, Czaruków rural commune – Polish colony.

There was a self-defense post in the colony in 1943. Thanks to the warning from a Ukrainian, Porebchuk, the colony managed to fend off the UPA attack in June 1943. Only a few farms were burned and there were no victims. But the raid on January 15, 1944 resulted in eight casualties.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 543–544.

Nieświcz, Czaruków rural commune – large Ukrainian village with about 25 Polish families.

Right before the arrival of the Soviet Army, in January 1944, the UPA massacred five Poles, including Marian Paszkowski’s widow (Paczkowski?) (Paszkowski was murdered by the Ukrainians in 1940). The Ukrainian family of Vilkovskyi took care of her three children until the expatriation in 1945.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 545–546.

Ostrów, Trościaniec rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

At the end of April 1943 the UPA locked up in a barn and then massacred about a dozen people from a group of Poles who had gone to Przebraże to purchase food. Hanged by the attackers, Dominik Kowalski managed to free himself from the noose. Zenobiusz Janicki writes: “A Ukrainian drove past the cottage in the evening on the way back from the mill. He heard some moans and went into the barn. Seeing a severely wounded man, he took him to his home in the village of Sławatycze and hid him in a barn. On the second or third day he transported that wounded Pole to Przebraże with great caution and with the help from his trusted neighbors.”

Source: Z. Janicki, W obronie Przebraża..., 33−35.

Płoszcza Łomanowska, Połonka rural commune – Ukrainian colony.

On June 21, 1943 the UPA massacred about a dozen refugees from neighboring Sosnowiec and Tomaszów (Derażne rural commune, Kostopol county). The survivors included the Polish adolescent Otylia Furmanek from Tomaszów. Shot on the leg, she had to discontinue her escape. “Having realized the hopelessness of her situation, she began to cry and moan in Ukrainian and ask God for help. The bandit must have had some qualms because he said, ‘Why are you praying in Ukrainian if you are Polish?’ He got no answer so he went away from her.” A Ukrainian woman, who lived nearby, warned Otylia that the attacker would soon come back. The girl began to crawl toward Łuck. The next day she met a Ukrainian who took her by wagon to the hospital in Łuck.

Source: AW II/1283/2k, M. Gaweł, Opis tragedii ludności polskiej na Wołyniu w czasie II wojny światowej [Description of the Tragedy of the Polish Population of Volhynia During World War II], pp. 12–13.

Prohonów, Torczyn rural commune – Ukrainian colony.

According to Władysław Siedlecki’s account, in 1943 the UPA murdered two Ukrainians for helping the Poles.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 642.

Przebraże, Trościaniec rural commune – Polish colony with about 1,100 inhabitants.

In the summer of 1943 in Przebraże there were about 10,000 refugees from neighboring localities. The colony was a strong Polish self-defense center. About a dozen people died due to the frequent UPA raids.

According to Bogusław Łoziński, a Pole, two Ukrainians, Sydor Olhovich and Nikifor Klimchuk, warned the Poles that the Bandera followers were creating a strong post in nearby Trościaniec. They both came to Przebraże with white kerchiefs in their hands and stated that they were Ukrainian patriots, but they opposed the Bandera followers’ methods. They provided the Przebraże [self-defense] command with specific information on the number of UPA members in Trościaniec and agreed to act as guides in case of an attack. The attack succeeded and the Bandera followers’ post was destroyed.

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 125–126 (according to Bogusław Łoziński’s study); AIPN, 27 WDAK, V/15, Relacje Zenobiusza Janickiego, Leonarda Janickiego, Tadeusza Janickiego [Accounts of Zenobiusz Janicki, Leonard Janicki, Tadeusz Janicki], p. 59.

Skurcze, Czaruków rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles and a Polish estate.

In October 1943 the Ukrainians murdered a widow, Adela Mrozińska, and her son, Czesław. Her other son Adam Mroziński, aged 4, survived because he was sleeping on a chimney cover during the raid. He was taken care of by their female Ukrainian neighbor, who took him to neighboring Czarny Las (Torczyn commune) and left him with the Czech family of Juzva. The Czechs adopted the surviving boy and went with him to Czechoslovakia after the war.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 547–549.

Smoligów, Torczyn rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

According to Władysław Siedlecki, in 1943 the UPA slaughtered two Ukrainian families (five people) for their helping the Poles.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 643.

Torczyn, Torczyn rural commune – small town inhabited mostly by Ukrainians as well as by Jews (until the closure of the ghetto in 1942) and Poles.

The Poles who survived the pogrom of Wólka Sadowska (Kisielin commune, Horochów county) in July 1943 received material help and shelter from the Ukrainian inhabitants of Torczyn – namely, Kostya Horoshka and his family living on Zwycięzców Street, and Kola Klimovich, living on Smoligowska Street. Stanisław Lachiewicz, a Pole, testifies: “They were helping the Poles, particularly their Polish neighbors. They warned them about the criminal plans of their kin, hid them in their homes and often spoke against the banditry that came over most Ukrainians during that period.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, VII/7, Relacja Stanisława Lachiewicza [Stanisław Lachiewicz’s Account], p. 14.

Usicze, Torczyn rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

In March 1944 the UPA kidnapped the Polish blacksmith, Stefan Rajewski, and three other Poles who were in his shop. A local Ukrainian, Lukash Symenyuk, rescued the blacksmith, but the fate of the other Poles remains unknown.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 645; AIPN, 27 WDAK, V/34, Relacja Kazimierza Pietrzykowskiego [Kazimierz Pietrzykowski’s Account], p. 99v.

Zagaje, Czaruków rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

In June 1943 the Polish inhabitants fled to Nieświcz and Łuck after the Ukrainians had warned them that they were in danger from the UPA. The UPA burned some of the abandoned houses and looted their property.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 551–552.

Znamiarówka, Silno rural commune – Ukrainian village with two Polish families.

In May 1943 the UPA attacked these two Polish families, murdering some of their members. A local Ukrainian took care of four surviving children, including Mieczysław Kamiński. Two weeks later the children were taken away from him and driven to a forest to be executed. Mieczysław Kamiński was the only one to survive. The wounded boy came to and returned to the Ukrainian who had provided him with shelter. The man drove the boy to Huta Stepańska (Kostopol county).

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 628–629.

Żabcze, Czaruków rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In July 1943 the UPA locked up a Greek Catholic priest, Serafin Horoshevich, in an Orthodox Catholic Church and burned him alive together with four Poles he had been sheltering. In his sermons he condemned the massacres of Poles.

In 1943 the UPA beheaded a Ukrainian blacksmith, Milishevich, who had refused to murder his Polish wife.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 552; A. Zawilski, Znów ożywają kurhany..., 250–251.

Żurawicze, Silno rural commune – Ukrainian village.

In the fall of 1941 a group of young Ukrainians stopped the Poles Feliks and Stanisław Trusiewicz from Oborki (Kołki rural commune), who were walking through the village. The Ukrainians escorted the two men to the village reeve for interrogation. Stanislaw was stripped naked there. Young Ukrainians peered into the village reeve’s room and threateningly waived their axes and knives. The village reeve appeased the armed group and the attacked Poles returned home.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 629–630.

RÓWNE COUNTY

Aleksandria, Aleksandria rural commune – small town inhabited mostly by Jews (until 1942), as well as by Poles and Ukrainians.

In August 1943 the UPA murdered a Ukrainian, Baka, who was a Greek Catholic priest, along with his wife and daughter. In 1940 the Soviet authorities had deported Baka from Śliwnica near Krasiczyn (Przemyśl county). The priest arrived in Aleksandria with a big group of Poles. At the request of the Greek Catholics, who had no priest, he celebrated masses in a Roman Catholic church.

Source: B. Mazuryk, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 39 (1999): 37.

Basowy Kąt, Równe rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families and a Polish military settlement.

In July 1943 a Ukrainian told the Polish Major family to immediately leave the village to avoid death from the hands of the UPA. Ryszard Major recalls, “The warning came in the afternoon. And so I and my sister and then my father and mother immediately left our house, leaving almost all of our belongings to fall prey to the bandits. I know that the UPA band waited two weeks for our return.”

Another Ukrainian, Roman Badur, also warned the Polish inhabitants of Basowy Kąt about the danger. He advised them to spend nights in Równe and return to the village only during the day to take care of their livestock. The wife of military settler Walik and her daughters survived thanks to Badur’s warnings and help.

Source: AW II/2370, R. Major, Wspomnienia [Memoir], p. 1; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 705–706 (according to Tomasz Walik’s account).

Graniczna, Równe rural commune – Polish colony.

In 1943 the UPA massacred about a dozen members of the Polish Rajkowski family. Halina Rajowska, aged 6, survived because she escaped from the burning house. An acquainted Ukrainian took care of her and notified her family in Równe.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 707.

Gródek, Równe rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

In April 1943 the UPA murdered about a dozen members of the Polish families of Nurek and Płachta, along with a Ukrainian, Gryc Onufriev, who sympathized with the Poles and called for a halt to the massacres.

A Ukrainian gardener, Holovaty, warned the Poles about the danger of a UPA attack.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 707.

Hłuboczek, Hoszcza rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

On July 3, 1943 the UPA killed several Poles. Seweryna Czeszejko-Sochacka and her son Tadeusz survived because their Ukrainian maid warned them during the UPA attack on their neighbors. The mother and son were hiding in a field for three days and then the maid gave them some peasant clothing and they fled to Równe.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 683.

Kamienna Góra, Aleksandria rural commune – Ukrainian village with 15 Polish families.

The UPA massacred several Poles on the night of May 5–6, 1943. The UPA commander, Abram Bryks, spared Leokadia Czerwińska, aged 15, who was friends with his four daughters. The other inhabitants managed to hide or flee.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 669.

Klecka Wielka, Międzyrzec rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

A Ukrainian born in Klecka Wielka, Musyi Solovey, was persecuted for his protests against the actions of the UPA. A fragment of his testimony given during his interrogation in mid-December 1943: “During the liquidation of the Poles I was sheltering a Pole, Tyszecki, who was the richest Liakh [i.e. Pole] in our colony.”

According to Jan Klepuszewski, a Pole, Paraska Kravchuk was one of the Ukrainian helpers who sheltered the Poles in their homes and went to their hideouts with food and information on UPA plans.

Source: Protokół przesłuchania Musija Sołoweja [Typescript of Musyi Solovey’s Testimony], in W. Poliszczuk, Nacjonalizm ukraiński w dokumentach, vol. 2: Dokumenty z zakresu działań struktur nacjonalizmu ukraińskiego w okresie od 1920 do grudnia 1943 roku (Toronto, 2002), 400–401; AIPN, 27 WDAK, IX/1, Relacja Jana Klepuszewskiego [Jan Klepuszewski’s Account], p. 4.

Klewań, Klewań rural commune – Jewish town with a few dozen Polish and Ukrainian families.

On December 13, 1939 Stefan Sawicki’s parents and brother avoided death from the hands of the Ukrainian nationalists thanks to a warning from their Ukrainian acquaintance. They fled across the Bug River and reached Wawer near Warsaw. There the father and brother were executed by the Germans.

Source: Relacja Stefana Sawickiego [Stefan Sawicki’s Account]”, in 60 rocznica zbrodni wawerskiej (Warsaw, 2000), 8–11.

Leonówka, Tuczyn rural commune – Polish village.

At the beginning of August 1943 the UPA attacked a convoy of refugees from Kudranki (Ludwipol commune, Kostopol county) and slaughtered ca. 40 people. Tadeusz Bagiński, aged 6, and his older sister ran for their lives: “I tripped and collapsed in the grain or tall grass. My sister ran further and a bandit on a horse chased her. [...] She told me how she had survived: ‘When that Banderite got to me and pointed the barrel of the machine gun at me I began to beg him to spare my life [...] The Ukrainian hesitated and apparently had some qualms for he told me to lie down and be quiet. He had to shoot so that his companions would think that he had killed me. He would spare my life. Having said that, he shot next to me and left.’”

Source: T. Bagiński, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 12 (1995): 32.

Majków, Hoszcza rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In April 1943 a son of the local Orthodox priest warned the Polosh Plutecki family about a planned UPA attack, but he did so in secret from his neighbors. He also informed them about the location of the corpse of Tadeusz Plutecki – the head of the family and a former Polish Legions’ soldier, who had been lured to Żawrów and murdered there.

Source: Relacja Stanisława Pluteckiego [Stanisław Plutecki’s Account], in Śladami ludobójstwa na Wołyniu..., 225; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 684.

Szczekiczyn, Międzyrzec rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In the summer of 1943 the UPA murdered a local Orthodox clergyman who was sheltering the children of a Ukrainian from Medwedówka (Ludwipol commune, Kostopol county), Ivan Gercel, who was helping the Poles.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 702.

SARNY COUNTY

Buda, Kisorycze rural commune – Ukrainian village.

In January 1944 the UPA surrounded and burned two houses owned by Ukrainians who were helping the Poles from the neighboring village of Borowina, whose ca. 50 Polish inhabitants had been murdered in the summer of 1943. The victims included Sergiy Bogdanyec and his brother, Bogdan.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 758.

Budki Borowskie, Kisorycze rural commune – Polish village with a few Ukrainian families.

On the night of December 6–7, 1943 the UPA simultaneously attacked Budki Borowskie and the neighboring villages of Dołhań and Okopy, murdering ca. 130 Poles. The survivors found shelter with the inhabitants of the Ukrainian village of Netreba. Unwilling to join the UPA, those Ukrainians too had to stay in hiding and live in huts in the forest. A big group of refugees crossed the former Polish-Soviet border. Leon Żur, a Pole, recalls, “We received a warm welcome in the village of Perewisianka. They put us in huts and shanties, warmed us up and fed us. My family moved in with Marek Łoś, a Pole. How different was the behavior of those Ukrainians that had not been infected with nationalism. Why, they were relatives, brothers and [...] of our Polish Ukrainians that lived right by the former border.”

The UPA tortured a Ukrainian, Andrei Kostyuk, a few times in 1943 for helping the Poles. The man, who lived between Budki and Borów, was murdered in 1944.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 758–760; L. Żur, Mój wołyński epos (Suwałki, 1997), 72; Z. Bukowski, “Powiat Sarny”, vol. 3, Na Rubieży 46 (2000): 48.

Czerteż, Międzyrzec rural commune – Polish colony.

After the UPA had murdered several Poles in June 1943 a few dozen Polish families went into hiding in the forest for fear of further attacks. They decided to turn for help to the Landwirt (German clerk for agricultural affairs) in Korzec. A Ukrainian woman from the village of Klecka Wielka, Paraska Kravchuk, served as a messenger. A German escort came to the camping Poles and brought them and their livestock to Korzec.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 698.

Dąbrowa, Kisorycze rural commune – Polish farmstead.

The UPA massacred about a dozen people in mid-December 1943. Four Ukrainians (Felix Broda, Leon Demenchuk, Zhuk and another one named Platon) were murdered for their refusal to participate in the attack.

A Ukrainian, Mykola Kolomeyec, warned the inhabitants of the neighboring villages about planned UPA attacks and thus rescued many Poles. The Rokitno self-defense commander, Jerzy Dytkowski, states, “He did it neither for profit nor to ingratiate himself with the Poles. He simply followed the voice of his human conscience!”

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 760; AW, II/1863, J. Dytkowski, Historia wojskowej organizacji konspiracyjnej Samoobrony Odcinka „Rostów” 27 DP Armii Krajowej z siedzibą w Rokitnie [History of the Military Underground Organization of the Self-Defense of the “Rostów” Section of the 27th Infantry Division of the Polish Home Army with its Seat in Rokitno], p. 107.

Karpiłówka, Kisorycze rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In May 1943 the UPA massacred four Polish families that had not left the village despite the warnings from their friendly Ukrainian neighbors, including Grycko Galavey.

Source: B. Janik, Było ich trzy (Warsaw, 1970), 143.

Lado, Klesów rural commune – Polish village.

In December 1942 a Ukrainian woman from the Sakłów farmstead, Olga Semenyuk, notified the village reeve, Feliks Łabędzki, and his secretary, Henryk Garbowski, that the nationalists in Tomaszgród were planning to kill them both. Other Ukrainians from Sakłów and Tomaszgród also notified the Poles about the danger they were in. Consequently, many of the Poles managed to flee in time.

Source: H. Garbowski, Polesie Wołyńskie pod okupacją niemiecką (Warsaw, 2003), 19, 29, 78.

Okopy, Kisorycze rural commune – Polish village with about 60 farmsteads.

On June 15, 1943 the UPA murdered a Polish teacher (Felicja Masojada), her female servant, and a wagoner on their way back from Rokitno, where they went for medicines and bandages. Masojada was respected by the Poles and Ukrainians, whom she treated and helped in various difficult situations. She went to Rokitno despite the warnings from a Ukrainian from Netreba, Konstanty K.

On the night of December 6–7, 1943 the UPA raided Okopy and the neighboring villages of Budki Borowskie and Dołkań. The total number of Polish victims amounted to ca. 130. A Ukrainian, Trofim Dmitruk, tried to warn the Poles, but they did not believe him because in the past the villages were successfully protected by the Soviet partisan units.

Source: B. Janik, Było ich trzy..., 140–142, 264.

Perestaniec, Klesów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

According to Weronika Kretschmer (née Łabędzka), the colony’s inhabitants had lived in harmony for generations and celebrated New Year’s Eve of 1943 together. Moreover, during Lent young Poles and Ukrainians had made and erected an oak cross. “Everybody kissed and touched that cross promising that we would not hurt each other. [...] We did not know then that the Ukrainians who provided helpful information to the Poles were in danger, too.”

In the spring of 1943 the UPA attacked the colony several times. Members of the Ukrainian families of Borejko and Gis, as well as Ivan Semaniuk, told the Poles that their life was in danger.

At the beginning of 1943 Adam Gis was severely beaten up by his sons. The reason was that he had driven out the agitators from Klesów who wanted to convince his sons to join the UPA and murder Poles. Adam Gis died due to the beating, but before his death he managed to warn the Pole, Jan Łabędzki.

In March, 1943 the UPA murdered Adam Gis’ son, Harasym Gis, for warning the Poles about the planned attack.

In April, 1943 some of the colony’s inhabitants were staying in the neighboring village of Lado for safety considerations. They drove to Perestaniec to work in their fields. During that period the Łabędzki family lived with the Gis family. Then the Gises concluded that the two families were in danger of a UPA attack.

Weronika Łabędzka recalls: “On May 28 around noon a Ukrainian from Sechy, nickname “Chyhun”, came running to Lado and said that Staryki had already been defeated and that Lado would be attacked by a UPA group of 600 men, who massacred the Staryki inhabitants on the night of May 28–29. Having told us this, he disappeared into the forest. He was a common peasant. He ran 16 kilometers barefoot to tell us about the danger. I saw that peasant and I heard what he said. He came running to the Polish blacksmith, Józef Grabowski, with whom we had been living after our escape from Perestaniec. He was our relative. Each Ukrainian family had a few [Polish] families living with them [...] It’s all true! That peasant saved our lives. And we are all grateful to him for that.”

In May 1943 the UPA murdered Dmytr Gis as well as Petro Borejko and his wife, Nadia, who had sheltered the Polish family of Januszkiewicz.

In July 1943 the Poles from Perestaniec came for harvest under protection of a Soviet partisan detachment. They were about to return when a Ukrainian, Ivan Semenyuk, warned them that the UPA had set a trap for the returning Poles, for which he was later severely beaten up. The partisans captured a UPA member from Sakłów, Fiodor Khomenyuk, in a forest and wanted to execute him, but Weronika Łabęcka successfully begged them to spare his life.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 778–779; W. Łabędzka-Kretschmer, “Ucieczka taborowa mieszkańcow Perestańca”, in A. Peretiatkowicz, Wołyńska samoobrona w dorzeczu Horynia (Katowice, 1997), 56–74; L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 14.

Rudnia Lwa, Kisorycze rural commune – Polish village with one Ukrainian family.

The UPA raided the village on May 21, 1943 and slaughtered about 30 people.

The survivors included the family of Józefa Piwcewicz, who had been warned in time by her Ukrainian neighbor and thus managed to escape.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 769–771.

Tur, Rafałówka rural commune – Polish colony.

On July 16, 1943 the UPA massacred about 50 inhabitants of Tur. Stanisław Szumski recalls, “A Polish cripple from my village of Tur, Jan Milewicz, was unable to flee with the column during the Banderites’ raid, so he and his wife, Helena, hid in some bushes and ate the vegetables she brought. After a few days they met a Ukrainian who at night secretly transported them in hay to Rafałówka, where they survived.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, III/13, Relacja Stanisława Szumskiego [Stanisław Szumski’s Account].

Tutowicze, Antonówka rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish and about a dozen Jewish families (until 1942).

In the first half of 1943 a Ukrainian woman from the Wydymer colony, Jaryna Voloshyn, was murdered on the bridge over the Horyn River. Even though she was a UPA member she had refused to murder a Polish child.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 747.

Złote, Dąbrowica rural commune – gamekeeper’s lodge inhabited mostly by Ukrainians.

At the beginning of 1943 the Polish Teodorowicz family, which had ten children, went into hiding for fear of the UPA. Helena Krzemionowska-Łowkis writes about her relative: “She could not wait at home for them to come and murder them. Antosia dressed the children as warmly as possible and escorted them to the forest after dusk. She took some feather blankets to cover the youngest children. [...] Hidden in the bushes, one night they heard some heavy steps. They were getting closer. Terrified, they recognized their neighbors’ elderly grandmother who [...] had brought hot milk for the children. The next night someone was sneaking up on them again[...] This time it was their huge dog, which had left the house to join the children. Their Ukrainian neighbors watched what the mother was doing and said nothing. But one of them couldn’t contain himself any longer and went to uncle Antoni without telling anybody. “Teodorowicz! Do not go to sleep in the forest. The children will freeze. And if they want to find you, they will, following your footprints in the snow. Why, your grandmother found you. So did your dog. And you think that the Bulba followers [UPA] won’t? I’ll have my ears open when I’m among my kin. If they decide to come for you, I’ll tell you in advance!

The whole family is alive thanks to that man. The Ukrainians warned them in time. My uncle left him two cows for that. He managed to transport his family to Dąbrowica and then, with other refugees, to Sarny.”

Source: H. Krzemionowska-Łowkis, Wołyń – opowieści prawdziwe..., 60.

WŁODZIMIERZ WOŁYŃSKI COUNTY

Berezowicze, Mikulicze rural commune – colony with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles and, until 1942, Jews.

On August 15, 1943 the UPA attacked the Poles who had remained in the colony (a month earlier some of the inhabitants left to Włodzimierz Wołyński for fear of attacks). About 40 people died.

Four children survived: Genowefa Arszal, aged 6, Zygmunt Arszal, aged 9, Kazimierz Studziński, aged 11, and the Chabers’ daughter, who was about 10. The children left their hideout and got to the house of a Ukrainian, Oksenchuk, who was a Shtundist – Shtundists advocated pacifism and spiritual independence from the authorities. He fed them and put them up for the night and then handed the first three children over to Poles (the Chabers’ daughter was taken in by an elderly Ukrainian woman, known as Kaska, but the secret got out and the girl was soon killed). “That man [...] deserves gratitude for his actions. After the arrival of the Soviet army in July 1944 he was deported to Siberia with his family for his religious beliefs and he returned from Siberia to Włodzimierz [Wołyński] after 1980.”

Source: Relacja Józefa Garbacza z 21 X 2004 [21 October 2004 Account of Józef Garbacz] (Romuald Niedzielko’s collection).

Bużanka, Chotiaczów rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

The UPA murdered about a dozen Poles in July 1943. A Ukrainian family sheltered the Polish woman Władysława Naklicka and her daughter for two months. After the secret got out, the two Polish women were shot whereas their caretakers were severely beaten up. Władysława’s husband and son, in turn, were sheltered by another Ukrainian family. The Pole Stanisław Piwkowski writes, “The Ukrainian who sheltered my friend and his father [...] said that he could not shelter them anymore because he and his family might die for it. The next morning the Ukrainian hitched up the horse to a wagon loaded with hay and took them to the Bug River to a place where one could easily walk to the other bank.”

Source: AIPN, IV/35, Relacja Stanisława Piwkowskiego [Stanisław Piwkowski’s Account], p. 125–125v.

Dominopol, Werba rural commune – Polish village with a few Ukrainian families.

In July 1943 the UPA massacred ca. 250 people. Mieczysław Leśkiewicz, a Pole, recalls that the victims included a few dozen Polish members of a Polish-Ukrainian partisan detachment organized at the UPA’s initiative allegedly to jointly fight the Germans.

According to the account of the Pole Franciszek Piórkowski (pseudonym “Kowal”), a Polish-Ukrainian family, in which two sons were UPA members, stayed in the village. The sons planned to murder their Polish mother but their Ukrainian father came to her defense and shot one of the sons. The other son escaped and shot his father after some time. His elderly mother survived because the commander of a Bandera followers’ group did not allow her execution.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/23, Relacja Mieczysława Leśkiewicza [Mieczysław Leśkiewicz’s Account], 86–88; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 916 (according to Franciszek Piórkowski’s account).

Duliby, Olesk rural commune – Ukrainian village.

A Ukrainian woman named Malashka provided shelter on her farm to Bronisław Kunysz, a Pole from Grabina (Olesk commune), for half a year from early September 1943. Kunysz had survived the UPA massacre of 140 people in the Soroczyn colony (Olesk commune) on August 29, 1943. A Ukrainian blacksmith named Pavlo provided temporary shelter to other survivors from Grabina: to Józefa Jaroszek and her children, and to Mrs. Czyż and her two children. He then escorted them to Turzysko (Kowel commune).

Dymitr, Natasha, and Katya Khvishchuk took care of Teresa Persona, a 6 year-old Polish girl, for two years. The girl was the only surviving member of the whole Person family murdered in Niebrzydów on August 29, 1943. “That family risked their lives to take care of me and, for many years after the tragedy, of my relatives’ graves. In October 1994 the Duliby kolkhoz directors put a tombstone, a metal cross, and a railing on the graves of my parents and siblings on a kolkhoz field and in the forest. Till this day the local Ukrainians call that place the ‘Person Field.’”

According to Kazimierz Kosowski, a Pole, a Ukrainian by the surname of Sydoruk sheltered a Polish tailor, Bolesław Banka, his wife and three children for three months. On November 11, 1943 all of them were murdered by UPA members who had used Banka to make uniforms and perhaps because of that had tolerated him for so long while he was hiding.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 872; Relacja Teresy Guz z d. Persona [Account of Teresa Guz (née Persona)], in Okrutna przestroga..., 324; AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/20, Relacja Kazimierza Kosowskiego [Kazimierz Kosowski’s Account], p. 75v.

Fiodorpol, Werba rural commune – Polish colony.

In July 1943 the Polish family of Stanisław and Stefania Zielnik, whose son Czesław was an active member of the Polish Home Army (AK) and was wanted by the UPA, got a warning from a Ukrainian, Kravchuk, about an attack planned on them. Consequently, the Zielniks managed to escape to Włodzimierz Wołyński.

In August 1943 the UPA massacred over 60 inhabitants of the colony.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 917–918.

Fundum, Chotiaczów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

In May 1943 the Ukrainians put up posters calling for the Poles to join the Polish-Ukrainian partisan units that were being organized. A Ukrainian, Serhii Kostyuk, warned Józef Szwed that the aim was to deprive the Poles of weapons and to murder the Polish men. And that was what happened on the night of July 10–11 in Dominopol, where ca. 20 of the recruited Poles were executed.

Leokadia Smolicz (née Lewandowska) recalls that in 1943 her Polish-Ukrainian family hid in a bunker day and night for two months because they feared that they would be attacked by Lewandowska’s nephew and their neighbor, who were UPA members. The Lewandowskis also got a warning from their other Ukrainian neighbors about the next attack, which took place at the end of August 1943. The family managed to flee to Uściług.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 818 (according to Józef Szwed’s account); AW/1425/2k, Leokadia Smolicz, Kresy Wschodnie [Eastern Borderlands], pp. 8–11.

Głęboczyca, Olesk rural commune – colony with 70 Polish and 4 Ukrainian farmsteads.

On August 29, 1943 a UPA detachment supported by the local peasants massacred ca. 250 Poles. Two children of the Winiarskis survived: a girl and a boy aged 2. A Ukrainian, Aleksander Kushneruk, took them in. In 1944 the man handed them over to the Polish Red Cross in Chełm Lubelski.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 872–874; Cf also B. Odnous, Lato 1943..., 120–121.

Grabina, Olesk rural commune – Polish colony.

On August 29, 1943 the UPA supported by the local Ukrainian peasants massacred ca. 150 inhabitants of Grabina.

A Ukrainian, Pirih (Perog), rescued several people, including Hela Olszewska and her sister, Antosia. A Ukrainian woman (nickname “Dymiyanka”) sheltered Józef Grabarz, aged 14, and six children from the Przybysz family and then escorted them to Turzysko (Kowel county).

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 874–875.

Gruszów, Poryck rural commune – Ukrainian village with two Polish families.

In July 1943 the UPA massacred eight Poles. Zofia Szwal, a Pole, recalls that there was also a Ukrainian victim, Shevchuk, who criticized the UPA’s actions against the Poles. “They hanged him on a tree near the Orthodox church and they burned his farm. [...] I think some opposed the murders, but they were so threatened that they feared to do anything against the bandits’ will.”

Source: AW, II/953, Zofia Szwal, Zbrodnie dokonane na Polakach w Orzeszynie przez UPA [UPA Crimes against Poles in Orzeszyn], p. 8.

Gucin, Grzybowica rural commune – Polish colony with 35 Polish and a few Ukrainian families.

In July 1943 a big group of UPA members from outside Gucin massacred ca. 140 inhabitants of the colony and of the neighboring village of Myszów.

Apolonia Traczykiewicz, aged 18, survived the attack, but witnessed the death of her family. In a state of shock, she was taken in by a Ukrainian teacher and UPA member, Petro Muzyka. He was executed for his refusal to denounce her to the UPA. After that his mother escorted Apolinia at night to Iwanowicze (Poryck commune), where the Polish self-defense force was active.

Wounded Anna Adamkiewicz from Myszów got out of the burning blacksmith’s shop where the attackers had locked up a few dozen people. An elderly Ukrainian drove her under hay by wagon to Włodzimierz Wołyński.

Jan Krzysztan’s three children crawled out of the blacksmith’s shop and hid in a crop field. They were taken in by an elderly Ukrainian woman. After some time the UPA came to her, forced her to give them the children, and drowned them in a well.

Warned by an elderly Ukrainian man that the UPA had sentenced him and his Ukrainian wife to death, Paweł Buba escaped to his brother to Włodzimierz Wołyński.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 828–829; AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/17, Relacja Alfonsa Krzysztana [Alfons Krzysztan’s Account], pp. 65–67.

Iwanicze Stare and Iwanicze Nowe, Poryck rural commune – Ukrainian village and a Czech colony.

On July 11, 1943 the UPA raided Iwanicze Stare, killing probably ca. 10 Poles. Warned at dawn by a refugee from the massacred Gurów colony (Grzybowica commune), Władysław Filar, a local teacher and a Polish Home Army (AK) member, managed to hide with his family (wife, daughter, and son name Władysław) at the Czechs’ living in Iwanicze Nowe. His son recalls: “In the morning the Ukrainians from Iwanicze Stare, whom my father knew, came to Czech Iwanicze. They had no weapons, but had perhaps already been mobilized by the UPA. They took quarters in nearby houses. We didn’t know why. It turned out that they wanted to make sure that no strangers got us. We survived another day under such protection.

The next day we did not sleep at all, we could hear shots from all directions. Andrei Martynyuk [a Ukrainian] found us as at dawn. He told us to flee to a town because our Ukrainian neighbors would be unable to defend us against other Ukrainians. We walked across fields to the railway station and then Andrei and other friends of my father – many of whom must have been in the Ukrainian underground – stealthily escorted us out. I am sure that they saved our lives in that way. I am eternally grateful to them for that.”

A Ukrainian, Havryluk, sheltered Mr. and Mrs. Jeremczuk and Mrs. Jeremczuk’s brothers (the Karaś brothers) from the nearby colony of Sądowa. That family was also sheltered by a Ukrainian from Radowicze, Shelest.

Source: “Żyjemy dzięki Ukraińcom, którzy ocalili nas przed Ukraińcami. Rozmowa z prof. Władysławem Filarem”, Gazeta Wyborcza 7 August 2003; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 888–889.

Kohylno, Werba rural commune – Ukrainian village with about 20 Polish families.

In the summer of 1943 the UPA massacred over 70 Poles.

In July the UPA massacred the family of a Polish blacksmith named Janczewski. The attackers ripped open his wife’s belly – the woman was eight months pregnant – and killed the baby. After the attackers had left, their Ukrainian neighbor wrapped Janczewski’s wife in a straw mat and took her to a hospital in Włodzimierz Wołyński. She lived four more years.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 922–923.

Lachów, Porcyk rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

In March 1943 the UPA murdered a Lachów estate manager, Piotr Bernardt and then burned all of the farms on May 11. Homeless, Bernardt’s family was taken in by a local Orthodox clergyman, Balicki (Balytskyi), who also provided shelter to a Jew, Enser.

On July 11, 1943 and during the next days the UPA massacred over 20 Poles. Bernardt’s daughters, who had survived the massacre in the church in Porcyk (see p. 100), got a warning from a Ukrainian teacher, Pokydko (or Pohydko), and managed to escape.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 891; vol. 2, 1233; AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/73, Relacja Jadwigi Krajewskiej z d. Bernardt [Account of Jadwiga Krajewska (née Bernardt)].

Łasków, Chotiaczów rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

On July 12, 1943 the UPA massacred a Ukrainian family of five, the Dziks, for helping the Poles.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 820.

Marcelówka, Werba rural commune – colony with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles.

The UPA massacred about a dozen Poles in the summer of 1943. The Zaremba family survived thanks to the help of their Ukrainian neighbor, Gergel. Stanisława Tokarczuk (née Zaremba) recalls: “The friendship between my brother Władysław and his Ukrainian friend Tolko Gergel was the reason why we survived. [...] I remember quite well the day when we were to die for being Poles. It was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze. It was still before harvest, sweet cherries were fully ripe. [...] Suddenly, our neighbor, Tolko Gergel, came over [...] he called Władysław to the fence and told him in private that the murderers would come that night and that he had to escape.”

At night the Zarembas fled to Włodzimierz Wołyński. “The lack of food became a problem. Risking her life, Mommy went back to Marcelówka and brought us some food from our farm. [...] One day she met our neighbor, Zyunka Gergel, Tolko Gergel’s wife, in a field, far away from the farms. It turned out that the Banderites had set up a trap in the house.

Mrs. Gergel had waited many hours for three days in a row to warn Mommy against the trap. The bandits figured that if they apprehended the mother, the children would follow her and they would be able to murder everybody. Mommy did not go there and brought food from some strangers’ fields. [...] All of the buildings on our farm and on the farm of our Ukrainian neighbors were burned down.”

Source: Relacja Stanisławy Tokarczuk [Account of Stanisława Tokarczuk (née Zaremba)] (Romuald Niedzielko’s collection).

Maria Wola, Mikulicze rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

On July 12, 1943 the UPA massacred about 220 Poles and 10 members of Polish-Ukrainian families. The victims included a Ukrainian, Vladyslav Dzidukh, and his Polish wife, Bronisława Dzidukh (née Wilk) and their children. The Dzidukhs died because Vladyslav had refused to murder his wife.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/36, Relacja Mieczysława Futymy [Mieczysław Futyma’s Account], p. 128.

Mikołajówka, Werba rural commune – Polish colony.

In August 1943 the UPA raided the colony, killing ca. 40 Poles. The UPA also murdered Drozd, who was a Greek Catholic, and his children as punishment for sheltering the Poles.

A Ukrainian, Salamakha, sheltered Anastazja Gajewska (née Stasilewicz) and her children.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 926.

Nowa Werba, Werba rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

Walenty Jan Borowski, a Pole, saved himself and his family thanks to a Ukrainian, Styopka Hodoruk. Right before the UPA raid Horoduk warned Borowski that soon all of the Poles would die. Warned, the Nowa Werba inhabitants managed to flee to Bielin. The massacres in the neighboring localities took place on August 29, 1943.

Source: L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 147 (according to Jan Borowski’s account).

Nowosiółki, Olesk rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In July 1943 a Ukrainian, Bortnichuk, warned a local Polish teacher, Szczęsny, about the danger he was in. Consequently, the teacher managed to flee with his wife and three children.

Source: AIPN, II/13, Relacja Marianny Tadaniewicz [Marianna Tadaniewicz’s Account], p. 23.

Olin (Oleń), Poryck rural commune – estate with about a dozen Polish families.

On July 11, 1943 some of the Poles managed to flee before the UPA raid, thanks to a warning from one of the Ukrainians.

Source: Biblioteka Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich we Wrocławiu [Library of the Ossolinski National Institute, Wrocław, Poland] [later: BOss], 16630/I, t. 5, “Tragedia Wołynia trwa”, Nasze Ziemie Wschodnie 5 (August−October) (1943): 10; AAN, Delegatura Rządu na Kraj, Departament Informacji i Prasy 1943–44, Sprawozdanie sytuacyjne Biura Wschodniego z Ziem Wschodnich z m-c lipiec 1943 [the Office of the Delegate of the Government in Exile, Information and Press Department 1943−44, Situational Report of the Eastern Office from the Eastern Borderlands for July 1943], 202/III-193, p. 42.

Orzeszyn, Poryck rural commune – Polish colony of 70 families.

On July 11, 1943 the UPA massacred over 300 inhabitants of Orzeszyn. One of the attackers saved a Polish woman, Muniak, trapped in a pit under the bodies of the executed Poles. Among about 60 Polish survivors there was also Hanna Leśko with her newborn. A Ukrainian woman from the neighboring village of Samowola helped her give birth during the massacre and did not allow the execution of either the mother or the baby. She then took care of them and helped them escape. She herself was murdered some time later.

Source: AW, II/953, Z. Szwal, Zbrodnie dokonane na Polakach w Orzeszynie przez UPA [UPA Crimes against Poles in Orzeszyn], pp. 2–3; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 892–895.

Poryck, Poryck rural commune – small town inhabited mostly by Jews (until the closure of the ghetto in 1942), as well as by Ukrainians and Poles.

On July 11, 1943 the UPA massacred the parishioners gathered in the church. Warned by a Ukrainian inhabitant of the village of Pawłówka, Volodymyr Kulaj, the Poryck parish priest, Bolesław Szawłowski (a Pole), ordered the altar boys to tell the inhabitants not to come to the high mass at 11 because an attack was to take place. The appeals were unsuccessful and many parishioners came to the church. The priest did not abandon them and died with over 100 victims of the attack. According to a different version given, among others, by Zygmunt Stański (a Pole), an Orthodox clergyman from a nearby Orthodox church came over at Father Szawłowski’s request. He took the Catholic priest’s confession and administered to him the last rites.

Jan B. from Olin, who came to the church with his grandfather, sisters, and a brother, managed to get out during the attack. He recalls: “I forced my way through a heap of dead bodies in the main entrance. I froze when I came out into the yard for I saw two Ukrainians with a machine gun. Suddenly, one of them said to the other, ‘Let him go, wolves will eat him anyway.’”

Ryszard J. and his family also managed to get out of the church. “Before evening we got to the farm of our former Ukrainian neighbor, Kiryk M. There we were fed and put up. The next day Kiryk M. went to our house in Poryck and brought the suitcases with the things we had prepared just in case as well as some money and documents we had hidden. In the evening of July 12 we went to Sokal.”

A Ukrainian, Yoakhim Kisly, sheltered another survivor, Janina Wojewódka, for two weeks. Her mother, Jadwiga, was also sheltered for two weeks by the Ukrainian family of Vakoluk. A Ukrainian, Artyom Harkis, provided help to Tadeusz Wojewódka during the first hours after the massacre. Two Polish girls, the wounded Elżbieta Sarzyńska and Kamila Cybuchowska, were sheltered by another Ukrainian, Syokh.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 896–899; Z. Stański, W. Stański, Poryck, miasteczko kresowe – symbol tragedii Polakow na Wołyniu (Toruń, 2005), 59; B. Odnous, Lato 1943..., 107–108 (Accounts of Jan B. and Ryszard J.).

Rusów, Chotiaczów rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In the summer of 1943 the local Ukrainians warned the family of Łepik about a planned UPA raid and then helped them cross the Bug River near Kryłów.

Source: H. Smalej, Zbrodnie ukraińskie na terenie gminy Moniatycze pow. Hrubieszów w latach 1939–1944 (Zamość, 2003), 86.

Sielec, Mikulicze rural commune – Ukrainian-Polish village.

About a dozen Poles died as a result of the UPA raid on July 13, 1943. The other families including the Młynarskis, managed to escape thanks to the help from, for example, their Ukrainian neighbors Aleksander Zakharchuk and Moysei Yuzyuk. They ferried the Poles across the Luga River (the UPA had burned the bridge) and escorted them to the Bubnów train station (Mikulicze commune), from where they went to Włodzimierz Wołyński by train under German escort. The Styczyński family was rescued by a Ukrainian, Yukhno, whose son was one of the attackers. A brother of one of the attackers, Vladyslav Shostachuk, warned the Morelowski family, which enabled them to flee in time. Another Ukrainian, Lonka Zasadko, helped the members of the Gularowski family find each other and escape. He also took them to Włodzimierz Wołyński. Zasadko was murdered a few weeks later when he returned to the village for harvest.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/64, Relacja Zygmunta Młynarskiego [Zygmunt Młynarski’s Account], p. 182v; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 866–867.

Somin, Olesk rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish families.

In 1943 a Ukrainian, Serhii Chobotar, sheltered on his farm two Polish women, Katarzyna Kułakowska with her two children and Katarzyna Młynek with her two children. He drove the two families out of Radowicze (Kowel county) and then organized their passage to the other bank of the Bug River, where they were captured by Ukrainian policemen and transferred to Somin. The local UPA members murdered these two Polish families and their Ukrainian caretaker.

Source: F. Budzisz, “Podróż na Wołyń”, Biuletyn Informacyjny. 27 Wołyńska Dywizja AK 2 (1992): 43–44; F. Budzisz, Z ziemi cmentarnej, (Gdańsk, 1998), 182.

Stasin (formerly Kałusów), Grzybowica rural commune – Polish colony with about a dozen families.

On July 11, 1943 a big UPA group drove the inhabitants of Stasin into two barns and executed 105 of them. Among ten survivors was the Drożdżykowskis’ son, Marian, aged 1. A Ukrainian named Platon found the baby under a heap of bodies during the burial of the victims. Platon took Marian home. The Ukrainian’s daughter, Sonia, took care of the baby for three weeks. Due to UPA threats, however, the family handed the baby over to a hospital in Włodzimierz Wołyński, where its wounded father was.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/11, Relacja Adolfa Kosnowicza [Adolf Kosnowicz’s Account], p. 44–44v; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 834–836.

Strzelecka, Korytnica rural commune – large Polish colony with a few Ukrainian families.

The UPA murdered over 100 Poles from Strzelecka in 1943.

On November 17, 1943 the Ukrainians murdered the Polish woman Agata Hojarska, who came to the colony for harvest. The rest of her family survived because they escaped to Uściług (Włodzimierz county) after a timely warning from a Ukrainian woman, Prokopyuk.

Vasyl Kovaluk did not wiczthe murder of his Polish wife. He also helped other Poles, including the Szwed family.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 850–851 (according to the accounts of Rozalia Wasilewska and Julian Grzesik); L. Karłowicz, Ludobójcy i ludzie..., 67.

Swojczów, Werba rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

On August 31, 1943 the UPA massacred about 90 Poles. A Ukrainian, Hleb Dubenchuk, sheltered and helped the Poles on the day of the massacre. For instance, the Polish woman Zofia Hasiak and her son Ryszard, aged 9, were sheltered for eight and a half months by the Dubenchuks, by a Ukrainian village reeve, Cebula, and a young Ukrainian girl, Helena Lashuk.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 935–938.

Teresin, Werba rural commune – Polish colony inhabited by 300 Poles and a few Ukrainian families.

On August 29, 1943 the UPA and the Ukrainian peasants from Kohylno and Gnojno attacked the Polish inhabitants killing over 200 people.

The Krakowiaks (Poles) were sheltered by a Ukrainian from Wólka Swojczowska, Kiryl Sydoruk. Tymosh Syunya sheltered Stanisław Bydychaj and his mother and then showed them a safe route to Włodzimierzówka (Mikulicze commune). And Shymon Shroda (a Ukrainian) warned the Polish Stefanus family a week before the attack. Antoni Stefanus recalls, “I don’t know what happened to Shroda that he warned us, because a week later [...] he buried alive three children.”

Another Ukrainian, Hryhoriy Stolaruk, murdered Poles, while his relative, Anastaziy, rescued them. Similarly, Kirychuk was one of the attackers, whereas his wife brought bread to the Poles who were hiding in a forest after the massacre.

Rozalia Bojko, aged 8, who was the only survivor from her family, was told to go to the village reeve. She came across Bandera followers there. They asked her who she was and said, “she’s survived, so let her be.” She survived yet again. After that she worked in very difficult conditions with a Ukrainian family until her uncle found her after the war.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/49, Relacja Antoniego Stefanusa [Antoni Stefanus’s Account], p. 153v; AW II/2558, R. Wielosz (née Bojko), List – wspomnienia [Letter – Memoir], pp. 2–3.

Turia, Werba rural commune – Polish village with a few Ukrainian families.

On August 30, 1943 UPA members from Gnojno, Mohylno, and Rewuszki massacred over 30 Polish inhabitants of Turia.

Two local Ukrainians, Mykhailo Flisyuk and Nikita Flisyuk, and two Greek Catholics (or according to a different version, Protestants), Ivas Kotsyuba and Mikhal Vengzhyn, warned and sheltered the Poles. They escorted ca. 30 people, mostly women and children, to Włodzimierz Wołyński. Kotsyuba and Vengzhyn sheltered Marian Liśkiewicz’s baby, aged 1.5, for two weeks and then handed it over to its older brothers. Another Ukrainian, who was Jan Drozd’s brother, was murdered with his children for sheltering Poles. A Ukrainian, Salamakha, sheltered the Polish woman Anastazja Stasilewicz and her two children.

At the end of September 1943 the UPA murdered handicapped Czesław Buczko, who did not manage to escape with his family and was sheltered and fed by Nikita Flisyuk.

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/21, Relacje Kazimierza Liśkiewicza, Henryka Liśkiewicza, Mieczysława Liśkiewicza, Jerzego Oświecimskiego [Accounts of Kazimierz Liśkiewicz, Henryk Liśkiewicz, Mieczysław Liśkiewicz, Jerzy Oświecimski], pp. 80–81; W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 942–944.

Ułanówka, Mikulicze rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian settlement.

On July 12, 1943 UPA members from the neighboring localities raided Ułanówka. About 30 people died, including the Poles Andrzej and Aniela Pawlak. Their children, Krystyna and Leokadia, were rescued by the Ukrainian family of Porokhor. Another Ukrainian family, the Shtuns, also provided help to the Poles.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 872–874; AIPN, 27 WDAK, IV/25, Relacja Edwarda Łukaszewicza [Edward Łukaszewicz’s Account], p. 90; Cf. also B. Odnous, Lato 1943..., 110.

Witoldów, Poryck rural commune – Ukrainian colony with two Polish families.

On July 11, 1943 the UPA killed several Poles including members of the Staszczyk and Stankiewicz families. While the Stankiewiczes were being murdered, a Ukrainian blacksmith, Volodymyr Kozibroda, warned Jan Ostaszewski, who was passing by. Consequently, Ostaszewski managed to flee with his family to the forest in Sokal county (Lvov voivodeship). Kozibroda’s family also helped Czesław Staszczyk bury his family.

Source: AW II/2665, C. Staszczyk, Oświadczenie w sprawie mordów w Kolonii Witoldów pow. Włodzimierz Wołyński gmina Poryck [Announcement Regarding the Massacres in the Witoldów Colony in the Włodzimierz Wołyński County in the Poryck Commune], pp. 1–5; Cf. also B. Odnous, Lato 1943..., 103.

Witoldówka, Poryck rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian colony.

A Ukrainian, Vasyl Horbachevshkyi, sheltered several Polish survivors of the UPA massacre of 150 Wyganka inhabitants on July 11, 1943. In the morning a group of armed Ukrainians stopped that small group of survivors. Thanks to the intervention of a Ukrainian woman, Kozibroda, the Poles were let go and they continued their journey to Sokal county in the Lvov voivodeship.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 903–904.

Zabłoćce, Grzybowica rural commune – Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

Seventy-six Poles died as a result of the UPA raid on July 11, 1943. A local Ukrainian rescued the Polish woman Łucja Serwatowska.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 838.

Zaszkiewicze Stare, Poryck rural commune – Ukrainian village with two Polish families.

On July 11, 1943 five members of the Polish Żmudzki family were massacred during a UPA search in the village. The Żmudzkis’ son, aged 13, who survived the massacre in the Poryck church on that day, found shelter in the home of a local Ukrainian, member of the subbotniki sect. The Ukrainian sheltered the boy and his mother and sister (who also survived the massacre in the Poryck church) for several weeks.

Source: AW II/1144, K. Kaszuba, Mord Polaków na Wołyniu dokonany 11 lipca 1943 roku [Massacre of Poles in Volhynia Conducted on July 11, 1943], pp. 2–6.

Żdżary Duże, Grzybowica rural commune – Ukrainian village with a dozen Polish families.

On July 11, 1943 the UPA and the local Ukrainians massacred an unknown number of Poles. The family of a teacher and a Polish Home Army member, Jan Cichocki, survived because they got a warning at the last moment from a Ukrainian, Jan Balut. Cichocki described the circumstances of the incident in a text published anonymously in the underground periodical Walka: “I had enjoyed the great trust of the local population for 26 years; I was a father to those people, a teacher, a doctor, a judge, a commune head; I advised them on every step. Hence, I had acquaintances, friends, pals, and good neighbors in almost every village. They trusted me and always asked me for advice and they told me about everything [...]. Those people always said that nothing bad would happen to me without their knowledge. They unanimously condemned the robberies, murders, and burning of farms. On the tragic day of July 11, this year, however, they all knew what was happening around me, but none of my closest friends and neighbors warned me. I had not slept at home for 4 months. I slept in fields, in the bushes, and on that tragic night I did not sleep at home either. When I heard shots in the nearby colonies on July 11, at 2;30am I went to their homes and asked what was happening. They all said, ‘We know nothing.’ But half an hour before the attack on my house a man who was a thief and had been sentenced a number of times for various crimes came running to me to my house at the very last moment, crying like a baby, and told me about everything, about what had been decided during a night meeting and what was happening all around. He requested that I recall him in my life if I manage to survive with my family. He also said that he was sure that my closest neighbors and friends warned me, but since they kept silent until the last moment and since he knew that I and my family would die, he ran to warn me. And I and my family survived only thanks to him.”

Source: BOss, 16630/I, vol. 5, “To tylko fragment[...] (opowiadanie świadka rzezi wołyńskiej)”, Walka 45 (25 November 1945): 61. Extended version which was a report for the Lvov Home Army Command (Komenda AK Lwów) was printed in W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 2, 1268–1275.

ZDOŁBUNÓW COUNTY

Chiniówka, Nowomalin rural commune – Polish village with a few Ukrainian families.

At the beginning of June 1943 the UPA massacred about 100 Poles. Shortly before the attack the Polish Jarmolińskis got a warning from their Ukrainian acquaintance that the UPA was planning to slaughter all of the Poles.

Later the UPA organized manhunts for those who were hiding in the limestone caves. A Ukrainian, Havryluk, was hanged for helping the Poles. Karol Czechowski’s two little Polish daughters, who were in the care of Haryluk’s wife, were also murdered.

Some of the people who were hiding in the caves survived until the arrival of the Soviet army at the beginning of 1944. A Ukrainian miller helped the Polish woman Leontyna Wojciechowska. Thanks to him she left the caves and brought over the Red Army soldiers, who took the survivors.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 981–982.

Dermań, Mizocz rural commune – large Ukrainian village with about a dozen Polish families.

In 1943 the UPA killed ca. 150 Poles. The Poles Jan and Władysław Lombardo were murdered on May 11. Władysław’s daughter, Krystyna, was in Ostróg at that time. This is how she recalls her arrival in Dermań: “I am getting closer and I see our neighbor Andrei grazing his and our cows. My sight terrifies him. ‘Krystyna, they’ll kill you!’ ‘And where is father?’ I ask. I hear his answer: ‘Yesterday evening they murdered your father and grandfather. Nadia found out about it when she went out to your place in the morning and she survived.”’

The author of the account, aged 15, had to go into hiding. She spent the first night in a school building where she was taken care of by three teacher families – one Russian and two Ukrainian.

Source: K. Pająk, “Wspomnienia wołynianki”, in Polacy i Ukraińcy – zabliźnić rany, selection and comment by L. Żur (Suwałki, 2001), 84–85.

Hurby, Buderaż rural commune – Polish village.

On June 2, 1943 about 1,000 Ukrainians from the neighboring villages massacred ca. 250 Poles.

The survivors included two children from the Polish family of Jan Ostaszewski. Kazimierz Bania, a Pole, recalls: “My wife saw that fire site. After three days a stranger brought them at night by their father’s wagon to the town to which he was fleeing with his children. Their grandmother saw the children sitting on the wagon while she was walking in the street early in the morning. ‘Who has brought you here, dear children?’ the grandmother asks. ‘A man.’ ‘What man?’ A stranger to the children. It is an example of mercy showed by an anonymous person, one could say a Ukrainian hero, who rescued the children from the pogrom and saved them from a tragic death.”

Source: K. Bania, “Na Wołyniu”, in Bracia zza Buga..., 12.

Mizocz, Mizocz rural commune – small town inhabited mostly by Jews (until 1942), as well as by Poles and Ukrainians.

At the end of August 1943 the UPA massacred ca. 100 people. The nationalists murdered a Ukrainian carpenter, Zakhmast (or Zakhmach), and his family before the raid for his refusal to join the UPA. Only his son, aged 8 or 9, survived and was taken care of by the Poles. A Ukrainian from the village of Stubło, Davidyuk, warned Stanisława Kowalska before the raid.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 977–980.

Pruski, Sijańce rural commune – Polish military settlement with nine farmsteads.

After September 18, 1939 – that is, in the immediate wake of the Soviet invasion of Poland – a group of Ukrainians from the neighboring villages terrorized the Polish settlers, including Wacław Stępniewski. A few weeks later Stępniewski was arrested. He was tried before a Ukrainian village committee. Before the sentence was passed a Ukrainian spectator gave a closing statement thanks to which the accused was set free.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 989; Cf. also Z Kresów Wschodnich RP na wygnanie. Opowieści zesłańców 1940–1946 (London, 1996).

Tajkury, Zdołbica rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few dozen Polish families.

On May 1, 1943 the UPA massacred 30 Poles.

According to the account of Father R. Podhorodecki quoted by Romuald Wernik, a Ukrainian, Petro Poterukha, sheltered a Polish woman, Wojciechowska, during the massacres and then took her in secret to Równe. The nationalists captured Petro after his return and murdered him for having helped the Poles – he was burned alive on a spit. His sister, Jaryna Poterukha, also helped her Polish neighbors.

Source: R. Wernik, Tajkury – wioska, ktora była miastem (London, 1997), 71.

Zielony Dąb, Buderaż rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

In the summer of 1943 the UPA massacred about 60 Poles. Many families were burned alive in their homes. This is how Jan Wereszczyński, aged 14, recalled his survival: “Nastia Huk [a Ukrainian] saved my life two days before the departure to Szumsk. Nadia was the wife of Syla Huk and mother of Savatii Huk, who was to kill me by order of his commander. I and Nadia heard that order through the door of an adjacent room. Risking her life, Nadia hid me under her broad apron, escorted me out and facilitated my escape.”

Source: Relacja Jana Wereszczyńskiego [Jan Wereszczyński’s Account], in W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 2, 1244.

POLESIE VOIVODESHIP

KAMIEŃ KOSZYRSKI COUNTY

Kalewica, Wielka Głusza rural commune – Ukrainian village with five Polish families.

Antoni Juniewicz, a Pole, recalls the warning from his Ukrainian neighbor during harvest in the summer of 1943. The man told him and his father to immediately leave the field and go home. “He explained that a few UPA members were at his place and that having learnt that there were two Poles in the field they planned to kill us right away. The Ukrainian farmer said he managed to convince them not to do so, to avoid possible revenge for that killing. We had no reason to disbelieve him. We immediately returned home without even finishing the harvest of rye. This is one of dozens or even hundreds of examples proving the obvious thesis that not all Ukrainians in Volhynia and Polesie were murderers or even supporters of the criminal activity of the UPA. A few months later, in the winter of 1943/ 1944, our Ukrainian neighbors sheltered us in their barns, attics, and even homes.”

Source: A. Juniewicz, “Przyczynek do losów ludności polskiej w powiecie Kamień Koszyrski na Kresach Wschodnich w latach 1939–1944”, Na Rubieży 67 (2003): 36.

Lubieszów, Lubieszów rural commune – small Jewish-Ukrainian town; ten percent of its population was Polish.

On November 9, 1943 the UPA massacred ca. 200 Poles. Antoni Małyszczycki, a Pole, writes about a few survivors: “At that horrible time a local Ukrainian woman, Sophie Vidmuk, took in our mother and sister and sheltered them in her attic. She then went outside the house and told the approaching bandits that there were no Poles at her place when they asked her about it. She was risking her life. [...] Our Ukrainian neighbor Andrei hid the mother of our friend, Władysław Knysz (future Lieutenant Colonel of the Polish Army), in a barrel when the nationalists were burning the Poles in Lubieszowo. She avoided a tragic death in that way. That man was risking his life and the life of his entire family. [...] Przastek was the only person who managed to escape alive from the burning building, where the nationalists had locked up about two hundred Poles. With a gunshot wound to his stomach, he got to the village of Prochody located a few kilometers away where he received help from a Ukrainian man named Puhach. The Ukrainian waited till night and then transported the wounded man to a Polish partisan detachment stationed near the Królewski Canal a few dozen kilometers away.”

After the war stationmaster Jan Przastek settled in Szczecin.

Source: A. Małyszczycki, “Odpowiadam na apel”, in Bracia zza Buga..., 86–87.

PIŃSK COUNTY

Krasne, Brodnica rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

In November 1944 the Polish woman Antonina Rusak, at that time living in Bukłaha, went to her Ukrainian acquaintance in the village of Krasne. There she was stopped by members of the UPA, who were stationed nearby: “[T]he guard brings me into a room and hands me over to the komandir [commander]. The latter asks who I am and why I came there. I know the local dialect a little so I say that I have come to work for Olga. He calls for her and asks: – Do you know this girl? – I do. She’s a girl from Mocher, says Olga. [...] – Aren’t you Polish by chance? he asks again. – No, no, I answer quickly. – So say your prayers. [...] – That’s enough, he said and left us in peace. He told me to feel at home and to promise not to go anywhere until their departure. [...] Olga made a bed for me and the children but I could not sleep due to emotions and fear. The bandits were going somewhere at night, coming and going back and forth. [...] They began to prepare to leave only in the evening and they told us to stay quiet because if they came back we would be in trouble.”

Source: A. Rusak, “Przyjaźń i krzywda. Wspomnienia z północnego Wołynia” in Polacy i Ukraińcy – zabliźnić rany..., 26.

TARNOPOL VOIVODESHIP

BORSZCZÓW COUNTY

Babińce near Dźwinogród, Mielnica Podolska rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, about 400 inhabitants.

At the end of 1944 the UPA attacked selected Polish farmsteads. A village inhabitant, Maria Krzyżewska, whose mother was raped and beaten up, writes: “For three weeks after that tragic night I slept with my mother at our Ukrainian friends’ place. But it wasn’t safe there either because the Banderites used to beat up their compatriots for sheltering the Poles. I went with my mother to Mielnica Podolska.”

Source: Relacja Marii Krzyżewskiej-Krupnik [Maria Krzyżewska-Krupnik’s Account], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo... (Wrocław, 2004), 538.

Bereżanka, Turylcze rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 450 inhabitants.

On August 3, 1944 a Ukrainian villager was murdered for helping Poles. Similarly, on November 7, 1944 two female teachers (one Polish and one Ukrainian, both of whom had helped Poles) were kidnapped and murdered.

Source: BOss, 16630/I, vol. 1, Materiały Józefa Opackiego dotyczące zbrodni ukraińskich w Małopolsce Wschodniej i na Wołyniu w latach 1939–1945 [Józef Opacki’s Materials Regarding Ukrainian Crimes in Eastern Galicia and in Volhynia During 1939−1945], p. 138; H. Komański, “Powiat Borszczów”, part. 11, Na Rubieży 76 (2004): 38.

Burdiakowce, Gusztyn rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,800 inhabitants.

In May 1945 two local Ukrainians were hanged for helping Poles.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 1144.

Cygany, Gusztyn rural commune – village with a small majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 2,000 inhabitants.

The Banderites frequently attacked the Polish villagers, among other dates, on September 20, 1944 and February 23, 1945. The number of victims exceeded 100. Some of the Ukrainians provided help to the Poles. “Bednarczuk was one of those Ukrainians in our village. He saved the life of my sister Maria”, recalls Władysław Krzyśków. He also mentions a woman, Zamrykit (Zamrykina), who rescued from his family two little Polish children, Ania and Janek Skawiński, by claiming that they were her own children. Krzyśków reports: “The Banderites beat unconscious my aunt, Weronika Karwacka. The attackers thought she was dead. After she came to she crawled to her Ukrainian neighbor, Łysiak, who risked his life to take her to a hospital in Borszczów.”

In 1945 the Ukrainian wife of a murdered Pole, Leon Trautman, received an order to kill her two sons, who were regarded as Polish. She did not carry out the order and fled with her children to Borszczów.

Source: W. Krzyśków, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 15 (1996): 28; H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 34.

Filipkowce, Uście Biskupie rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,800 inhabitants.

About a dozen people of Polish ethnicity died as a result of the attacks of the armed groups of Banderites. Many of the Ukrainian villagers helped and sheltered Poles. The former warned the latter about planned attacks and put them up on their farms.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 36.

Germakówka, Krzywcze Górne rural commune – village, ca. 4,000 inhabitants including ca. 1,000 Poles.

The UPA attacked the Polish villagers several times, including in February, August, and October 1944. The number of victims exceeded 100. Danuta Konopska, a Pole, writes: “Fearing an attack, we stopped sleeping at home in June 1944. We hid at night in the homes of Ukrainians we knew, who were usually willing to take us in. One night the Ukrainians who were putting us up were visited by their son. We had been convinced that he had joined the army, but he was in a UPA band. He had quite a loud conversation with his parents. The raised voices suggested that they were having an argument. We got scared that perhaps he knew that we were sleeping at his parents’ place.”

In her account Danuta Konopska mentions another Ukrainian, the forester Kifyak, who was married to a Polish woman, Zofia Konopska: “When the massacres of the Poles began my aunt’s husband probably received an order to kill his wife and little son. He didn’t obey that order. The Banderites murdered him in the forester’s lodge where he worked.”

After the October massacres the author’s family found shelter in Krzywcze Dolne. Her sister Stanisława returned by wagon to Germakówka to get the rest of their belongings. “On the outskirts of the village she met a Ukrainian woman she knew, who told her to stay away from her house because it was already empty after the Ukrainian neighbors had looted everything. Initially, my sister insisted on checking it herself and then that Ukrainian woman reminded her about the tragic fate of a few Polish girls. Stasia took her advice, made a U-turn, and went back.”

Source: D. Kosowska (née Konopska), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 47 (2000): 38–39.

Głęboczek, Głęboczek rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 2,800 inhabitants.

The UPA massacred 128 Poles in Głęboczek. The rest left for Poland.

1943. Bernard Juzwenko, a Pole, recalls a Ukrainian who did the endangered Poles a big favor when the UPA was preparing an attack on the village: “Those mock attacks suggested that the Banderites were preparing an attack on a bigger scale. A friendly Ukrainian who had grown up with our children also told us about that. He informed us about the concentration of alien pro-Bandera units on the Ukrainian side of the village. So we strengthened our posts on our side of the village.”

The family of Michał Hradowy, a Ukrainian, was also sympathetic toward the Poles. His two daughters had Polish husbands, while his younger son joined the Polish Army in 1944 with his sons-in-law. At the end of 1945 Michał Hradowy and his wife “were ruthlessly murdered by the UPA for incorrect upbringing of children and their battered bodies were thrown into their own well.”

Source: B. Juzwenko, “Zagłada Polaków we wsi Głęboczek”, Na Rubieży 6 (1993): 20, 22; H. Komański, “Powiat Borszczów”, part 9, Na Rubieży 60 (2002): 30.

Iwanie Puste, Iwanie Puste rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 2,100 inhabitants.

On the night of February 17–18, 1944 the Banderites massacred ca. 20 Poles, including the Bielawskis and the Biernackis. The victims also included six members of the family of landowner Urban. Some members of his family escaped to a Ukrainian neighbor during the attack. “The bandits went from Urban’s home to his Ukrainian neighbor’s home and dragged out the members of Urban’s family, escorted them to their home and murdered them. The Urbans’ daughter Maria, aged 8, hid behind a Ukrainian woman’s skirt. The woman covered her with her body and the girl survived.”

Source: BOss, 16630/I, vol. 1, Materiały Józefa Opackiego... [Józef Opacki’s Materials...], 136–137.

Jezierzany, Jezierzany rural commune – village with over 4,000 inhabitants. Half of its inhabitants were Jewish (they were killed in 1942 in the ghetto in Borszczów), while Poles constituted ca. 20 percent of its population.

During 1944−1945 the UPA slaughtered several dozen Poles and eight Ukrainians, including Batrynchuk, Khliborob, Vladyslav Stychyshyn, Tomko, and Zazulyak. Those victims died because they had condemned the UPA’s crimes against the Poles and the sermons of a local Greek Catholic priest, Walnicki, in which he called for getting even with the Poles.

In March 1945 the UPA murdered the Polish Sorokowski family. Bernard Juzwenko and Henryk Komański, both Poles, write: “Their youngest son Leon survived the pogrom. His father covered the boy, who was fast asleep, with an eiderdown, which the attackers did not notice. The boy learnt about the tragedy that had befallen his family only in the morning, after he had woken up. His Ukrainian neighbor lady entered the house. The woman was obviously surprised that the boy was alive and she told him to immediately run for his life. Leon ran to his grandparents on his mother’s side.”

Source: B. Juzwenko, H. Komański, “Powiat Borszczów”, part 1, Na Rubieży 8 (1994): 15; H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 41–42.

Michałówka, Mielnica Podolska rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians, over 800 inhabitants.

In the summer of 1944 the Poles fled to Borszczów for fear of the Banderites’ attacks. Still some stayed in the village and hid, for instance, at their Ukrainian acquaintances’. In September the Bandera followers organized hunts for the Poles in hiding. The captured Poles were beaten up. Nor did the UPA spare the Ukrainians who dared help the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 46.

Nowosiółka Biskupia, Nowosiółka Biskupia rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 1,100 inhabitants.

On November 17, 1944 Banderites in Soviet soldiers’ uniforms massacred 40 Poles, including a local headmaster, Mieczysław Wierzbicki. During that time his wife and daughter were receiving help from their Ukrainian neighbor, Synchuk. “[H]e told us to hide immediately and warned us that we were in danger, too. We survived thanks to him. The next day, when my mother and I found my father’s body, that same Ukrainian advised us to flee at once from the village and he said that he’d try to transport my father’s body to Mielnica. Which he did, even though it meant risking his life. He loaded my father’s body onto a wagon, covered it with straw, and took it to Mielnica, where he helped us bury my father. We also received help from an Ukrainian woman we knew, Goik, who dressed both of us in Ukrainian peasant outfits and escorted us to Mielnica Podolska.”

Source: Relacja Aliny Urban z d. Wierzbickiej [Account of Alina Urban (née Wierzbicka)], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 549–550.

Piłatkowce, Jezierzany rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,300 inhabitants.

On the night of February 8-–9, 1944 a UPA company attacked the Polish farmsteads. Seventeen Poles were massacred, including Agnieszka Tracz. Her minor daughters, Wanda and Czesława, were rescued by a Ukrainian servant, Rozalia, who told the Banderites that the girls were her children.

A Ukrainian policeman, Michał Yaryk (Yeryk), died in March 1944 for refusal to participate in murdering the Poles. Another Ukrainian, Kushmieruk, was also killed in March 1944 for the same reason.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 50; C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”. Czystka etniczna w wykonaniu nacjonalistów ukraińskich na terenie województwa tarnopolskiego (Biskupice, 1998), 46.

Skowiatyn, Korolówka rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,200 inhabitants.

The Banderites kidnapped and murdered a total of several dozen villagers. The victims included a Ukrainian, Ilko Shcherbanyuk, who was murdered in February 1944 for sympathizing with the Poles. Another Ukrainian, Yuzef Chymejczuk, was murdered a few days later.

Source: B. Juzwenko, H. Komański, “Powiat Borszczów”, part 1, Na Rubieży 8 (1994): 19.

Słobódka Muszkatowiecka, Wołkowce rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 1,000 inhabitants.

The UPA raided the village on April 17, 1945 killing 35 Poles. Sabina Posyniak survived in one of the attacked houses. “I turned for help to my Ukrainian neighbor, Michał Kuczera, and I asked him to transport my salvaged property to Borszczów. He proved to be a good and kind man. [...] I wrapped the dead body of my daughter Marysia in a sheet and blanket and put it on a wagon. My Ukrainian neighbor hesitated for a moment when he saw that and said, ‘I’m a little bit scared but I’ll take you to Borszczów because I liked that child a lot.’ He kept his word. He took us to Borszczów. I organized a Catholic funeral with a priest for Marysia.”

Source: S. Posyniak, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 47 (2000): 42.

Turylcze, Turylcze commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,100 inhabitants.

In August 1944 the UPA massacred four Ukrainians for helping Poles, but the victims’ surnames remain unknown – two young pregnant women were hanged, while another woman and her adult son were drowned in the Zbruch River.

A similar fate befell a Ukrainian married couple from the Podhorodyszcze settlement on the Zbruch River. The victims were tied up with wire and thrown into the river.

Edward Karpiński recalls how in the fall of 1944 his younger sister and his grandmother found shelter in the home of their Ukrainian neighbor man: “The Banderites entered Salii’s place and severely beat up my grandmother. They asked, whose child is was. Old Salii said that the child was from his family. And that saved my sister’s life [...] I, my mom, and my sister had only the clothes we were wearing, no food, no other clothes, we had lost everything. A few days after the Banderites’ attack we managed to escape to Borszczów via Iwanków. Our Ukrainian neighbor hid us in straw and took us there by wagon.”

Source: J. Selwa, “Turylcze”, part 2, Na Rubieży 47 (2000): 43; H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 54–55; E. Karpiński, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 85 (2006): 52.

BRODY COUNTY

Boratyn, Suchowola rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,000 inhabitants.

The Ukrainians in Boratyn, among others, Semko Hromlak, sheltered the Poles and warned certain individuals about the danger they were in.

Source: E. Gross, Zbrodnie..., 170.

Czernica, Podkamień commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,500 inhabitants.

An Polish inhabitant of Chudzińskie settlement, Jan Henryk Wróblewski, says that he and his family used to hide at night at their Ukrainian acquaintance’s after hearing about the massacres of the Poles. “During the day we were at home, but at night we went through a pine grove to sleep in the barn of our Ukrainian acquaintance, Safat, in the Bakaje settlement. In the morning we would go back home. This lasted for a few months.” That Ukrainian also sheltered those Poles after the UPA attack on their home on February 2, 1944.

In February 1944 two other Ukrainians, Jan Kwasiuk (a cobbler) and Ivan Lomikovskyi, were murdered for helping Poles.

The Ukrainians living near Czernica and Hucisk Brodzki, among them Oksana Havryluk, tried to learn about the UPA plans against the Poles and then they informed their Polish acquaintances.

On Christmas Day 1944 the UPA raided the village killing over 20 people, including Antoni Werner. According to Edward Gross (a Pole), at that time Werner’s son Ryszard was staying in the home of his Ukrainian neighbor, Prokazyuk. Ryszard heard shots and wanted to run home, but the Ukrainian farmer told him to stay and hide. Three attackers then stormed into the house, demanded a horse and a wagon and set out to loot. “About half an hour after the Banderites’ departure Jan Werner’s daughter, Antonina Niedźwiedzka, entered Prokazyuk’s cottage. ‘I know it’s dangerous for you,’ she said right away, ‘but daddy is wounded I came to ask you to take him to a doctor to Podkamień.’ [...] The Ukrainian went to Podkamień, though fearing for his life, because he knew what would happen to him if the Banderites found out that he was transporting a wounded Pole to a doctor. But he did not refuse. [...] Ryszard spent that night in the home of Prokazyuk and in the morning he went to a monastery in Podkamień at his mother’s insistence. In turn, his mother and sister stayed in Czernica. But they did not sleep in their own home, but were hiding at their Ukrainian acquaintances’ in Ponikwa.”

Source: Relacja Jana Henryka Wróblewskiego [Jan Henryk Wróblewski’s Account], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 609-–611; H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 62; E. Gross, Zbrodnie..., 169, 222–223.

Hucisko Brodzkie, Jasionów rural commune – village with a large majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 900 inhabitants.

On February 13, 1944 the UPA raided the village and slaughtered ca. 50 Poles. According to the account of Tadeusz Sokołowski, a Pole, written down by Edward Gross, also a Pole, his family received a warning at the very last moment from a Ukrainian from a neighboring village. “After some time Martynyuk [a Ukrainian] from Hucisko Litowiskie stormed into our house. ‘Rózia, take the children and run ‘cause it’s gonna get dangerous here!’ he shouted and ran out into the yard. [...] I don’t know if he wanted to run home or to warn other Polish families he was friends with. The Banderites, who were already very close, probably thought that he was a Pole trying to get away from them. They took aim at Martynyuk and that honest Ukrainian collapsed dead a moment later.”

In the summer of 1944 a few Polish families, including Anna Bojarska and her children, returned to the destroyed village despite the danger from the UPA. Anna Bojarska sent her son Tadeusz to a Ukrainian woman who was his godmother’s sister. “The Ukrainian woman treated Tadek on a par with her sister’s children. [...] she gave him something warm to eat, which was something extraordinary for starving Tadek, and she was about to put them to sleep.” But then some UPA members stormed into her home in search of the Poles. “‘These are my sister’s children, what do you want from them?’ said the woman of the house after she got over the shock.” The attackers ordered the children to say their prayers. Raised in a Polish-Ukrainian family, the boy and girl did it with ease but Tadeusz could only cross himself. The woman came to his rescue. “Let the child be! Can’t you see how you’ve scared him? He cannot say a word.” The Bandera followers let the child be and went out.

Source: E. Gross, Zbrodnie..., 241, 428−429.

Huta Pieniacka, Pieniaki rural commune – village with a large majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 800 inhabitants.

There was a Polish self-defense post in the village. In 1944 the number of its inhabitants, which now included refugees from the neighboring localities endangered by the UPA terror, increased to 1,500. On February 28, 1944 the Ukrainian soldiers of the “Galizien” SS division under German command pacified the village, killing 600−1,000 Poles (the estimates vary).

The Poles Czesław Jarosz and his daughter Maria were the only survivors from their family. Edward Gross, a Pole, tells their story in his book: “Having buried his wife, daughter, mother, and other relatives he drove wounded Marysia to Hucisk Pieniacki and left her there with the Byalkovskyys – his Ukrainian relatives. He promised that he would take the child as soon as he found a safe place. Unfortunately, his search proved fruitless. He was hiding in various ravines and in marshes. In the meantime, the Byalkovskyys concluded that sheltering Marysia in their home could end tragically both for her and for them. So the Byalkovskyys put Marysia on a wagon, covered her with dry twigs and took her to her father. From then on Marysia was hiding with her father in the most inaccessible places.”

Then Jarosz left his daughter with a single Ukrainian woman in Poczajów Stary (Krzemień county). The woman said, however, that the Banderites sometimes met at her place. “If they find out who you are they’ll murder you.” For safety considerations she told the girl to speak only Ukrainian. “It would have ended well”, continues Gross, “if Marysia had not soon forgotten the warnings from her father and the good woman. One evening when the Banderites were in the house Marysia knelt by her bed before going to sleep and said out loud, ‘Our father, who art in heaven... [in Polish]’ [...] One of them called the lady of the house over and ordered her in a commanding tone, ‘She has to disappear by tomorrow!’”

At the very beginning of Huta Pieniacka’s pacification the Ukrainians hid the Polish boy Stanisław Sulimir Żuk, and then took him to a safe place.

According to the Pole Edward Prus, the Greek Catholic parish priest from Chorost Stary, Ivan Doruk, gave a sermon after the massacre in Huta Pieniacka in which he called the congregation to come to their senses. The priest was murdered in consequence.

Source: E. Gross, Zbrodnie..., 313–314; S.S. Żuk, “Zagłada Huty Pieniackiej (fragmenty relacji naocznego świadka)”, Głos Kresowian 15 (2004): 40; E. Prus, “Requiem nad zamordowanym polskim siołem”, Nowy Przegląd Wszechpolski 3−4 (2001). See also W. Bąkowski, Zagłada Huty Pieniackiej (Cracow, 2001).

Litowisko, Podkamień rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,000 inhabitants.

During 1944−1945 the Banderites murdered the Ukrainians from Polish-Ukrainian families who refused to kill their relatives. Zdzisław Iłowski reports: “Great atrocities were being committed in Hucisk Litowiski [a Polish settlement near Litowisko]. Not only were the Poles being murdered, but so too the Ukrainians who were in any way sympathetic toward the Poles. For instance, a Ukrainian named Horobyovskyy, who lived in the center of our village, was murdered for his refusal to kill his Polish wife. Chayka died thrown into a well for his decent treatment of the Poles.”

Another Horobyovskyy from Litowisko, along with a Ukrainian family of four (the Panchyshyns), and Apolonia Żarkowska from a mixed family were murdered for their refusal to join the UPA or to send their sons to the UPA. The total number of the Ukrainian victims of the UPA amounted to 30.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 74–75; Relacja Zdzisława Iłowskiego [Zdzisław Iłowski’s Account], ibidem, 577; C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 65.

Maleniska, Podkamień rural commune – small village with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 170 inhabitants.

In 1944 a few dozen Poles died at the hands of the Banderites and the soldiers of the “Galizien” SS Division. Perhaps there would have been more victims if it had not been for the activity of the Polish self-defense headed by Stanisław Szerlowski and for the help of some of the Ukrainians. The members of the self-defense in Maleniska write: “It was easier to defend the village also because he had a trusted man among the Ukrainians. That man knew a lot and was able to find out a lot because his kin really trusted him. Thanks to that ‘Hajdamaka,’ as Szerlowski used to call him, the Self-defense knew about the Banderites’ plans and whom they planned to murder. A member of the forest guard, Szerlowski often walked in the forests and villages. Consequently, he could warn the Poles sentenced to death by the UPA. Obviously, Hajdamaka was not always able to obtain information on time.”

Source: Relacja Stanisława Grossa, Czesława Iłowskiego, Heleny Skwarek z d. Gross, Stanisława Szerlowskiego i Janiny Ziombry z d. Gross [Account of Stanisław Gross, Czesław Iłowski, Helena Skwarek (née Gross), Stanisław Szerlowski, and Janina Ziombra (née Gross)], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 567–568.

Palikrowy, Podkamień rural commune – village with over 1,500 inhabitants, 70 percent of whom were Polish.

On March 12, 1944 the Ukrainian nationalists attacked Palikrowy with the support of a sub-detachment of the Ukrainian soldiers from the “Galizien” SS Division. They gathered the villagers, conducted a selection to separate the Ukrainians from the Poles and murdered the Poles. The official number of victims is 365.

According to witness Stanisława Piotrowska, a Polish woman who survived the execution, the Ukrainian and Polish villagers had coexisted peacefully. “That mutual symbiosis and tolerance fully manifested itself during the tragic events that took place on March 12, 1944 in Podkamień. A vast majority of the Ukrainians from our village declared that they did not want to have anything to do with the UPA massacres and many of them condemned the nationalists’ crimes.” The author claims that even the local chauvinist Orthodox priest could not convince the local Ukrainians to participate in an anti-Polish attack, even though he called for such participation during masses in the Orthodox church in Palikrowy. “He unsuccessfully encouraged his compatriots to participate in the massacres of the Poles using an Evangelical comparison of ‘removing the tares from the wheat.’ The local Ukrainians did not obey. But that did not mean that there were no Ukrainian villagers eager to murder the Poles. However, they were undoubtedly in the minority and they could not do as they pleased due to the pressure of the majority. [...] During selection a few Poles managed to join a Ukrainian group. The locals did not denounce them, which saved their lives. It must be said that a few other Poles also survived thanks to the misleading information provided by some of the local Ukrainians. [...] Around 10 p.m. 20 more people got out from under the heap of corpses. Most of them were wounded, more or less severely. I was one of them. My three Ukrainian friends recognized and sheltered me and thus saved my life. [...] Only a small number of the Ukrainian villagers participated in that attack. The Poles who survived the pogrom owe their lives to their Ukrainians neighbors.”

Franciszek Niedźwiecki, a Pole who also survived the execution, writes: “I found out later that during the selection Mieczysław Dańczak survived thanks to a Ukrainian, Piątkowski, who gave him his own document at the very last moment and so he [Dańczak] was identified as a Ukrainian.”

Zbigniew Szlosek escaped from Podkamień, which was under a UPA attack, and arrived in Palikrowy on March 12, 1944. “I found shelter in the home of a Ukrainian I knew. Thanks to God’s Providence, I survived until the Soviet Army’s arrival in Palikrowy.”

Source: S. Piotrowska, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 12 (1995): 23–24; F. Niedźwiecki, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 54 (2001): 34; Z. Szlosek, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 60 (2002): 55.

Pieniaki, Pieniaki rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,500 inhabitants.

Two children who survived the pogrom in Huta Pieniacka on February 28, 1944, Stanisława Brzozek and Florian Brzozek, were attacked by a group of Ukrainian youths on their way back to their home village of Pieniaki. Their Ukrainian neighbor, who was friends with their father, intervened and took the children with him. He then handed them over to a local Ukrainian police station, from where they were transferred to their parents.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 84.

Podkamień, Podkamień rural commune – small town with ca. 4,000 inhabitants (Poles, Ukrainians and, until 1942, Jews).

Many refugees from the nearby villages and many survivors of the massacres in Volhynia found shelter in Podkamień and in the local Dominican monastery. About 600 Poles died in March 1944 as a result of a five-day attack by the OUN and UPA nationalists and soldiers of the “Galizien” SS Division. Some of the Ukrainians warned the Poles about the attacks.

Stanisław Baczewicz, a Pole, recalls: “Stefan Batoryna [a Ukrainian] was standing outside the house of his sister and our neighbor, Anna Bełej. When he saw us he cried out loud, ‘Baczewicz, utikajte, zara prijdut rizaty!’ [Baczewicz, run for your life! The murderers are coming!] Not long afterwards Stefan warned Baczewicz’s mother, who was hiding in her neighbors’ attic. He told her that the place was not safe and that she had to escape to a forest.

Kazimierz Szeremeta, a Polish boy of 12, was wounded by a Banderite’s shot. The same man also gunned down his mother. Batoryna dressed Kazimierz’s wounds and put him up in his home.

Maria Piaseczna−Broszczakow, a Pole, recalls: “One day our Ukrainian neighbor, Mrs. Bąk, came and asked us to leave immediately because she was unable to help us. I, my mom, and my brother left Podkamień on March 3, 1944 and on March 4 we were already at my brother’s [in Lvov]. Father didn’t want to leave despite our insistent pleading. The next day a Ukrainian, Grzegorz Szawardnicki, came to tell him to go with the Germans to Brody in the morning. He did just that. When the Banderites came for him on March 12, 1944 our house was already empty.”

Anna Jasińska-Borowska, a Pole, recalls the day before the tragic attack on Podkamień, that is, March 11, 1944: “We had had no news until that evening. Only late in the evening our Ukrainian neighbor, Paweł Salecki, who had a Polish wife, came and told us not to think ill of him, [he said] that he wasn’t hiding the fact that he joined that Ukrainian organization, he simply had no choice. He didn’t kill anybody or participated in any raids, he only made his horse and wagon available to them. He came to warn us and to convince us to send at least the children to Brody for a few days because they were about to murder the Poles day and night. The German Army made it possible for them. He promised to take care of my parents and do everything so that one day we would say that he was a good neighbor.”

The author of this account also describes the case of her sister, Aniela Iłowska, and her family. Two Banderites entered their home in the evening. “When the eight-year-old girl saw them she knelt before one of them and cried, ‘Mister, don’t kill mommy, please. Our daddy is in [German] captivity and we are alone – the three of us, sisters.’ And that child melted the Banderite’s heart. He lifted her and told my sister not to be afraid, [he said] that he would not hurt her because he had little children too and he promised that nobody else would ever come to her.”

Mieczysława Woskresińska, a Polish woman, recalls how she, her mother, and a few other people who were hiding in a monastery jumped out of a high window on the unguarded side of the building. After that Mieczysława and her mother were hiding in their Ukrainian acquaintances’ attic.

Source: S. Baczewicz, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 60 (2002): 49–50; K. Szeremeta, “Byłem świadkiem”, ibidem, 54; M. Piaseczna-Broszczakow, “Byłam świadkiem”, ibidem, 53–54; A. Jasińska-Borowska, “Byłam świadkiem”, ibidem, 52; AW II/2215/p, Mieczysława Woskresińska, Wspomnienia [Memoir], p. 3–4. More on the incidents in Podkamień see also: C. Świętojański, A. Wiśniewski, Możemy wszystko przebaczyć...,; Z. Iłowski, S. Iłowski, Podkamień. Apokaliptyczne wzgórze, vol. 1 (Opole, 1994), vol. 2 (Opole, 1996); Father Józef Burda’s account written then and there, Nasza Przeszłość vol. 93 (2000): 289–340.

Suchowola, Suchowola rural commune – village with over 1,500 inhabitants, most of whom were Ukrainians.

On January 17, 1944 Banderites attacked the Polish farms and slaughtered nearly 50 people. Franciszek Moliński, a Pole from the Zalesie settlement, recalls: “All the Poles and members of mixed families who hid at their Ukrainian neighbors’ survived because the Banderites didn’t look for them there.” Moliński’s sister, Janka, and her friend, Dziunka Bajewicz, aged 12, found shelter on a Ukrainian farm during the raid. After her parents’ death at the Bandera followers’ hands, Bajewicz was sheltered by her Ukrainian neighbors.

Edward Gross, a Pole, writes about Ivan Hrycyn, a Ukrainian who was particularly friendly toward the Poles. “He warned many of them about the Banderites’ plans and thus rescued them.”

Source: F. Moliński, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 53 (2001): 35; E. Gross, Zbrodnie..., 361.

Wołochy, Jasionów rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,000 inhabitants..

On Christmas Eve 1943 an armed group of the Ukrainian nationalists attacked the Żeglińskis’ home and murdered the men, including Mr. Żegliński’s Ukrainian son-in-law, Volodymyr (Dymitr) Benedyk. Benedyk did not denounce either his father-in-law or the latter’s cousin. He was tortured before death, which was regarded as a punishment for his refusal to murder his wife and her father.

Source: E. Gross, Zbrodnie..., 186–187.

Żarków, Jasionów rural commune – small village with a majority of Ukrainian inhabitants and six Polish families.

On January 1, 1944 Banderites in Ukrainian police uniforms massacred 17 Poles in Żarków. Władysław Muzyka, a Pole, writes about that day: “On my way back from the church I dropped by my Ukrainian friend, Ksej, who lived on the outskirts of our village. [...] I asked him while we were talking how to recognize the Banderites, how to distinguish them from those who aren’t Banderites. Stakh Ksej told me that when the police come to me I must know that it’s them.” The attack began later that day and Muzyka survived partly because of that knowledge. After that incident he and his whole family slept at their Ukrainian acquaintance’s.

Source: Relacja Władysława Muzyki [Władysław Muzyka’s Account], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 589.

BRZEŻANY COUNTY

Augustówka, Koniuchy rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 800 inhabitants.

A Greek Catholic priest, Pavlo Oliynik, writes about Petro Vasylchyshyn, a Ukrainian Baudienst (German compulsory construction service) worker. The latter joined the UPA in the fall of 1943, but after three months he refused to participate in the anti-Polish attacks. He hid at his parents’, but the OUN Security Service (SB) (“partisan Gestapo”, as Oliynik calls it) soon captured and executed him. His parents, who were loudly mourning the loss of their son, were murdered too.

Source: Father P. Oliynik, Zoszyty (Kiev, 1995), 87.

Brzeżany – county seat, over 12,000 inhabitants (50 percent Poles, 30 percent Jews, until 1942, and 20 percent Ukrainians).

During 1943–1944 the UPA massacred several dozen Poles. Physician Stefan Biliński, a Pole who was generally held in high esteem, died on February 26, 1944. Witness Witold Rapf, a Pole, writes that the plans to kill Biliński “must have been well-known in Ukrainian milieux for he received several warnings from some sympathetic Ukrainians. One of them was Oksana – the daughter of a local Ukrainian priest, Bachyński, whom the Bilińskis were friends with. The girl asked him to watch out and not to leave either his house or the hospital alone, particularly in the evening and at night. Unfortunately, doctor Biliński ignored those warnings as he simply couldn’t believe that his life was in danger.” He was called to a sick child, which was a trap, and he was murdered upon his arrival.

Source: W. Rapf, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 16 (1996): 13.

Buszcze, Buszcze rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 1,000 inhabitants.

The UPA massacred several dozen Poles in 1944. “On June 2, 1944 a Ukrainian, Piotr Gamuga, aged about 35, was murdered for helping the Poles. He was beaten to death with clubs in the yard, while his landlady, Maria Zamojska, a Pole aged about 54, was stabbed to death with knives. Then the attackers tied up the bodies with a barbed wire and threw them in a river.”

Source: BOss. 16722/II, vol. 1, List (niepodpisany) z 1944 r. do Polskiego Komitetu Opieki w Brzeżanach [(Unsigned) Letter of 1944 to the Polish Welfare Committee in Brzeżany], p. 129.

Gaik, Brzeżany rural commune – colony near Brzeżany, ca. 150 inhabitants (mostly Polish).

On September 18, 1939, one day after the Soviet invasion of Poland, an armed OUN group raided the colony killing seven people. Some of the Ukrainians helped resist the attackers. Janina Giżycka, a Polish woman, writes: “Three elderly Ukrainians arrived by wagon around noon. They talked about something and then took Wolna [a wounded Polish woman] to Brzeżany to a hospital.” Joanna Giżycka’s mother and brother hid in a haystack during the raid: “After the Ukrainians had left my mother and Anatol went out of the already burning haystack. Then they met an elderly Ukrainian, who took them home with him. He gave my mother a Ukrainian outfit to change into and told his household members that they would have to answer to him if something happened to her. [...] When it got quiet, that good man requested help for mommy in her search for the rest of her children.”

Source: Relacja Janiny Giżyckiej [Janina Giżycka’s Account], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 621.

Hinowice, Brzeżany rural commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 800 inhabitants.

On the night of March 23–24, 1944 armed UPA groups attacked the Polish farms and murdered 22 Poles. Witness Józef Bereziuk, a Pole, writes: “There were no men in the Polish homes so the women made coffins however they could. Some received help from the Ukrainians. Stefan Lipka made coffins for the bodies of Jan Jakobiec and Józef Borek. Another Ukrainian, Stefan Kozak, helped him (later on the two men died in mysterious circumstances).” The same witness writes that his father found shelter in Brzeżany in the home of a Ukrainian, Lutsyshyn.

In April 1944 two Ukrainians, Elyash Bilyk and Dmytro Vitkovskyi “Kruk”, were murdered for warning and helping the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 110; Relacja Józefa Bereziuka [Józef Bereziuk’s Account], ibidem, 612–613.

Huta Szklana, Narajów rural commune – Polish-German village with ca. 400 inhabitants.

The Banderites massacred several dozen Poles in March 1944. Krystyna Dudzicka describes how she and her mother avoided death from the attackers’ hands during their escape from their own house. “It’s night. We approach the lone cottage of the Ukrainian family of Snovyda. They don’t want to let us in. There aren’t any men. A woman says, ‘Pani, idyte, ja sia boju’ [Lady, go away, I’m scared]. Despite her protest we enter the home and collapse onto the benches totally exhausted from what we had gone through and from the difficult march in the snow. The night passes, bright from the glow of the fires. The Ukrainian woman keeps guard outside the house all the time. She is afraid of the Banderites. She says they will burn the house and kill her for providing shelter.”

Source: K. Dudzicka, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 16 (1996): 19.

Kotów, Potutory rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,400 inhabitants.

Father Władysław Biliński (the Kotów parish administrator) was kidnapped and murdered by the UPA on his way back from a church celebration in Litiatyn on August 15, 1943. His body has never been found. The priest’s maid learnt about the incident from the Ukrainian family on whose field the victim had been captured and shot. Another Ukrainian woman from Kotów told her more about the torture the victim had been subjected to. A curate from Brzeżany, Father Zygmunt Barmiński, a Pole, wrote in 1948: “The murder of Father Biliński was confirmed later by a Greek Catholic nun who was so shocked by the crimes committed by her countrymen that she even lost trust in her own Greek Catholic priest. She secretly contacted our rectory in Brzeżany and – perhaps to have a clear conscience – often warned the Poles about planned Ukrainian raids.”

Source: Father J. Wołczański, “Relacja o śmierci ks. Władysława Bilińskiego w 1943 roku z rąk ukraińskich nacjonalistów”, Studia Rzeszowskie, vol. 5 (1998): 154.

Kozowa, Kozowa rural commune – town with over 6,500 inhabitants (mostly Poles as well as Jews, until 1942, and Ukrainians).

In 1944 the Banderite kidnapped a Ukrainian midwife and obstetrics nurse, Kateryna Kusna, and murdered her for helping the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 113.

Kuropatniki, Koniuchy rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 2,000 inhabitants.

In April 1944 the UPA massacred over 30 Poles.

Adam Adamów, a Pole, testifies: “A Ukrainian gets an order to kill a Polish priest, he comes at night, pounds on the door and the priest opens. ‘I’ve come to kill you, this is my order.’ ‘Well, my son, shoot if I’ve done anything to you.’ The victim and the attacker look into each other’s eyes. The attacker leaves. He returns a week later, a similar story, ‘I know that you’re innocent but I have to kill you ‘cause otherwise they’ll kill me.’ ‘If you must, shoot,’ says the priest. ‘I can’t,’ says the attacker and leaves. The next day he bids farewell to his family and says, ‘They’re calling me. This might be our last goodbye.’ Many years later somebody made a cross on an abandoned nameless grave on the Ukrainian cemetery and attached a plate with the name of that Ukrainian who did not kill the priest. The murderers from the organization carried out the sentence on him.”

In 1950 the UPA murdered a Ukrainian, Dmytro Kutsiel, because he had helped his sister Katarzyna Kogut, who was married to a Pole, to leave to Poland with her children.

Source: AW, II/17, A. Adamów, Wspomnienia [Memoir], p. 3–4; H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 114.

Mieczyszczów, Kurzany rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,700 inhabitants.

On the night of February 23, 1944 the Banderites attacked the Polish farms and slaughtered over 20 people. A few wounded Poles received help from the local Ukrainians. For example, Rozalia Drzewiecka received help from her neighbor, who took her to a hospital in Brzeżany, where she recovered. Franciszek Steiner, aged 80, also received help from his Ukrainian neighbor, Malitskyi. Malitskyi took Steiner to his daughters living in Brzeżany.

Source: T. Nowak, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 45 (2000): 50; Relacja Tadeusza Nowaka [Tadeusz Nowak’s Account], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 637–638.

Narajów Miasto, Narajów Miasto rural commune – Ukrainian-Jewish-Polish village with over 3,600 inhabitants.

In the first half of 1944 about a dozen Poles died at the hands of the Bandera followers. A Ukrainian woman, Kateryna Yatsyk, was also murdered because she had begged the attackers to spare the victims’ lives. At the same time the OUN Security Service (SB) killed another Ukrainian (first name Hryts), for his refusal to murder Poles.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 118.

Płaucza Mała, Płaucza Mała rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, nearly 1,300 inhabitants.

At the beginning of 1944, in fear of their lives, Janina Radaczyńska’s family (Poles) began to sleep at their Ukrainian neighbors’, usually at Froska Tsislo’s. Radaczyńska, aged 12, also slept at the Ukrainian home of Marynka Psiurska in Tomaszówka. Once she came across a group of Banderites at Marynka’s. Luckily, she managed to escape thanks to the lady’s presence of mind and she went to a Ukrainian widow, Luchkiv, who had already put her up once. Radaczyńska recalls: “That woman took pity on me. She gave me some hot milk, made a bed for me near the stove and put me to sleep. I could feel that she was scared because helping Poles was punishable even with death. I was very grateful to her.” Next, the author’s family found shelter in the Ukrainian part of the village in the home of her father’s friend, Ivan Baran. “They were very reluctant to let us in, especially due to the arrival of more Polish refugees related to the Mr. Baran’s wife. The house was full of people. We were sleeping on the straw on the floor. After the third day of our stay the Mr. Baran’s son, who was in the UPA, told my father they couldn’t shelter us any longer and that we had to find another place.”

At the end of March 1944 the UPA raided two neighboring villages: Płaucza Wielka and Płaucza Mała. Radaczyńska continues: “Mom saw our Ukrainian neighbor lady from a small attic window and started begging her to help us get out of there. The woman ran somewhere and returned shortly with a few neighbors and a long rope and they threw it to us to the attic and started putting out the burning building. We came down the rope. The neighbors were Dmytro Babyak and Milian Revny. They are both dead now. When I jumped down the rope onto the ground Milian Revny told me in Ukrainian, ‘Child, ran as far as you can.’ And I ran off scared out of my wits.”

Source: J. Krzykała (née Radaczyńska), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 53 (2001): 42–43.

Płaucza Wielka, Płaucza Mała commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, nearly 2,500 inhabitants.

112 people were slaughtered during the UPA raid on the Polish farms on the night of March 30–31, 1944. Jan Rybaczyk and Maria Majcher-Tarniowa, whose letter Rybaczyk quotes, write about the help some of the local Ukrainians’ provided to the Poles.

Three members of Tarniowa’s family would have died “if it hadn’t been for the intervention of a Ukrainian neighbor, Myketa, who ordered the other attackers to let the victims be. [...] Karol Błaszków’s family of five and Antoni Muszynski’s family of three found shelter at their friendly Ukrainian neighbors’. They survived. The Banderites didn’t spare some of the Ukrainians during the raid either. They murdered four Ukrainian families then. They murdered three members of Mykola Velyshny’s family: the husband and wife and their daughter. [...] One of the reasons for the murder was their help to the Poles and that their daughter had openly expressed her sympathy [for the Poles] after the raid.”

Source: J. Rybaczyk, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 16 (1996): 24.

Rohaczyn Miasto, Rohaczyn Miasto rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 900 inhabitants.

On April 13, 1945 the Bandera followers slaughtered over 30 Poles. The account of Władysław Żołnowski, a Pole, reads: “Vasyl Drobnitskyi was one of those Ukrainians who refused to cooperate with the UPA in murdering Poles. He sheltered and fed the Polish survivors of the pogrom in the Huta settlement. That night [April 13–14] the Bandera followers executed him for sheltering Poles.”

The same witness also writes about another Ukrainian, Bohdan Narayevskyi, who was a UPA provindyk [leader] in the village. “[H]e had participated in the massacres of the Jews and Poles, but he underwent a radical change. He came to the conclusion that it made no sense to kill neighbors, women, the elderly, and children just because they were Poles. From a murderer he turned into a defender of his kindred people. My whole family found shelter in his apartment and in the home of his father. It was he who allegedly stood on the bridge leading to the village and said, ‘You’ll pass over my dead body,’[...] when the Banderites were heading to my home village [...] on March 25, 1944 after they had burnt and murdered the Poles in Huta. They promised not to kill anybody and not to burn any Polish homes. The Banderites then marched through the village, but they only threatened the Poles. They looted a few farms and burnt a house on the outskirts of the village. Bohdan Narayevskyi was later killed for his humanitarian stance toward the Poles.”

Source: W. Żołnowski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 16 (1996): 26. Cf. also W. Żołnowski, W trzecią noc po Wielkiejnocy (Opole, 2004), 97; AW II/1506/2k, W. Żołnowski, Czas morowy. Ostatnia niedziela w niepodległej II Rzeczypospolitej [Pestilential Time. The Last Sunday in Independent Republic of Poland], p. 48–52.

Szarańczuki, Potutory rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,300 inhabitants.

In March 1944 the UPA massacred about a dozen Poles. Warned by a friendly Ukrainian, most of the Polish villagers fled to Trościaniec.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Brzeżany”, part 4, Na Rubieży 53 (2001): 51.

Zapust Lwowski, Narajów Miasto commune – village with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 1000 inhabitants.

Over 100 people died as a result of two UPA raids on the nights of April 11–12, and 13–14, 1944.

Władysław Żołnowski, a Pole, enumerates a few Ukrainians who rescued many Poles.

A Bandera follower, Stefunko Oleksa, supposedly informed a UPA detachment in the nearby Błotnicki Forest about the escape route the Poles planned to take in case of an attack on Zapust Lwowski. He advised the Polish inhabitants to look for shelter in Narajów. What is more, he told his compatriots to go in a totally opposite direction. When the UPA members learnt about that trick, they severely beat him up and he died in consequence.

A Ukrainian woman from Nowosiółka, Franciszka Gidur, was a UPA informer. She provided false and exaggerated information on the weapons of the self-defense in Zapust. She also warned the Poles about the upcoming raid by the agency of her Polish friend from Zapust, Ewa Kasak.

Nechypor, who was a UPA member, participated in the attack on April 12. In one of the houses he came across his good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Krzak. He told his companions that he would take care of the “Liakhs” himself. He escorted the couple behind the barn onto a field, told them to run and shot twice in the air. He, too, was killed when the secret got out.

A similar fate befell another Ukrainian farmer from Zapust, Grzegorz Kuka. He sheltered Maria Prucnal in his home in the summer of 1944 when she returned to her village to get a sewing machine (she had lost her husband and two children in April and had taken her five surviving children to Brzeżany). Grzegorz Kuka also helped his other Polish neighbors in need.

A Ukrainian farmer, Ivan Prots, sheltered Franciszek Cebula, aged 15, in his home on the night of April 12–13. Another Bandera follower, Fedyk, told his subordinates to take the crib with Ania Kujstra, who was just a few months old, out of the house and to put it against the wind in case of fire. That saved the baby girl’s life.

The Polish Dereniowski family was warned by the following Ukrainians: Dmytro Kutsyi, Vasyl Nahirnyi, Dmytro Oleksiv, and Ivan Horlatyi.

The Polish Janowiczes received help from their Ukrainian neighbor, Karmazyn. Earlier, the Ukrainian village reeve of Zapust, Zorii, told them to hide. Władysław Żołnowski writes: “Zorii fooled some and deceive them to weaken their vigilance. By contrast, he also warned certain other people. He was rent between fear of his informal superiors, that is, the Banderites, and sympathy toward his neighbors, with whom the colony.”

Source: W. Żołnowski, W trzecią noc..., 129–130, 160–164, 192, 230–237. See also AW, II/86/ł, A. Dereniowski, Wschodnie losy Polaków [What Befell the Poles in the East]; AW, II/1304/2k, T. Janowicz, Powstanie i zagłada Zapustu Lwowskiego [Establishment and Extermination of Zapust Lwowski].

BUCZACZ COUNTY

Barysz, Barysz rural commune – town with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians, nearly 7,000 inhabitants.

The Bandera followers frequently raided Barysz during 1941−1945, killing a total of ca. 200 Poles. One of the people whom the Ukrainian nationalists sentenced to death was the Polish priest Adam Dziedzic, whom the Germans used as an interpreter while collecting levy from the local farmers. Witness Piotr Warchał, a Pole, writes: “A friendly Ukrainian warned him about that, while another Ukrainian friend of his hid him on a wagon and took him to the railway station in Monasterzyska. The priest left for central Poland in the second half of 1943.”

Source: P. Warchał, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 59 (2002): 3.

Bobulińce, Kujdanów commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,800 inhabitants.

On the night of March 13–14, 1944 an armed UPA band attacked the Polish homes with the support of the local Ukrainians. The number of victims exceeded 40. Some of the Poles who hid at their Ukrainian neighbors’ survived.

Source: Relacja Stanisława Zimroza [Stanisław Zimroz’s Account], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 691.

Buczacz – county seat with ca. 12,000 inhabitants, most of whom were Jews (exterminated during 1941−1943). The rest of the inhabitants were Polish and Ukrainian.

On February 4, 1944 an estate steward from the village of Leszczańce, Tomasz Miziołek, was apprehended on a road by the Banderites and taken into a forest. He disappeared without a trace. A Ukrainian woman, known as “Czarna Paraska”, [Black Paraska] witnessed the kidnapping while collecting dry sticks in the forest. She notified Miziołek’s wife and daughter, who unsuccessfully looked for him for a long time.

Source: H. Komański, L. Buczkowski, J. Skiba, M. Dumanowski, “Powiat Buczacz”, part 1, Na Rubieży 14 (1995): 12.

Czechów, Monasterzyska rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians and a small number of Polish families, over 700 inhabitants.

At the beginning of July 1941 the Ukrainian nationalists attacked the Polish homes and massacred 14 Poles and 9 Ukrainians. Among the Ukrainian victims was a woman named Plominska and her child. She did not want to reveal her Polish husband’s hideout.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 149.

Jezierzany, Jezierzany rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,500 inhabitants.

On December 18, 1945 the UPA slaughtered four Poles and a Ukrainian, Mykola Rivny, aged 18, who had refused to participate in murdering Poles.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 153.

Koropiec, Nowosiółki Koropieckie rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 6,400 inhabitants.

In December 1943 the UPA murdered a Ukrainian woman, Yustyna Machkov, who was married to a Pole, and her three children. After that incident the Polish villagers stopped sleeping at home and hid in the homes of their Ukrainian acquaintances. The nationalists threatened to burn them as a punishment so the Poles gradually went to safer localities.

A Greek Catholic priest, Skorokhid, called for a discontinuation of the massacres, for which the Banderites banished him from the village.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 154; C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 86.

Leszczańce, Zubrzec rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,300 inhabitants.

On the night of September 18–19, 1939 (that is, right after the Soviet invasion of Poland) an armed group of the OUN members attacked the family of a land estate owner, Władysław Gołębski. They murdered his brother-in-law and then captured and tortured Władysław’s sister and daughter – Zofia Harsdorf and Jadwiga Pragłowska. An elderly Ukrainian saw the Polish women, whom the attackers had left by the forest, and took them to a Ukrainian gamekeeper, Podlisny. The latter sheltered the victims in a barn and on the next day organized their transport to a hospital in Buczacz, where they recovered.

Source: Relacja Jadwigi Pragłowskiej [Jadwiga Pragłowska’s Account], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 674−675.

Olesza, Hrehorów rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 750 inhabitants.

The OUN was fairly strong in the village and a field UPA staff was stationed there. Warned by the friendly Ukrainians, most of the Poles fled to Monasterzyska in the second half of 1944.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 164.

Petlikowce Stare, Petlikowce Stare rural commune – village with a majority of Poles and Ukrainians, ca. 2,600 inhabitants.

About a dozen Poles died at the hands of the Banderites during 1943−1945. Bronisława Drozd, a Pole whose father Tadeusz disappeared without a trace on September 29, 1943, writes: “I was looking for my father for a long time with my family. During the search some of my Ukrainian girlfriends advised me to stop because it could end badly for me and my family. [...] Late in the fall of 1944 Maryshka Kurmylo by chance found and recognized his body (she was from a mixed family, Ukrainian father and Polish mother). This had become possible because somebody had opened a dam and the level of the water dropped. Maryshka notified a Soviet officer, who lived in Petlikowce, about her find. [...] Having learnt about the discovery of the corpse, the Banderites came to Maryshka Kurmylo’s house on the same day and kidnapped her. She was heavy with child. They murdered her. [...] I learnt about the circumstances of my father’s death from a few people, both from direct and indirect witnesses. [...] I also got information from some persons of Ukrainian ethnicity, but I cannot reveal their surnames for obvious reasons.”

In the second half of 1945 the entire Polish population left the village and moved to Poland. In November 1945 Józef Skotnicki, a Pole, returned from forced labor in Germany to his home village. His family had left Petlikowce Stare and there were already no Poles. He went to his Ukrainian neighbor, Kotonis, who gave him a hot meal and told him to immediately run for his life. The warning came just in time for Skotnicki had already been seen on his way to the village and an attack on him was being prepared. After many dramatic adventures (two murder attempts, severe wounds) he managed to depart to Poland, where he settled.

Source: B. Drozd, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 14 (1995): 17–18; Relacja Józefa Skotnickiego spisana przez Mieczysława Dumanowskiego [Józef Skotnicki’s Account Written down by Mieczysław Dumanowski], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 678−679.

Przewłoka, Petlikowce Stare rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians, over 3,300 inhabitants.

A Ukrainian miller, Myhailo Khomut, was murdered in March 1945 for helping the Poles and for milling cereal for them. The same perpetrators had killed his Polish wife a month earlier.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Buczacz”, Na Rubieży 27 (1998): 7.

Puźniki, Koropiec rural commune – village inhabited almost exclusively by Poles, over 900 inhabitants.

The UPA murdered over 100 people during 1944−1945. The attack on February 13,1945 resulted in the greatest number of victims (over 80). A collective account of the village inhabitants reads: “Two days before the UPA raid on Puźniki, Jan’s wife, Joanna Krzesińska, was staying at her relatives’ in Nowosiółka, where she learnt from her Ukrainian acquaintance that the Poles in Puźniki were in danger. She warned them that something bad might happen. Due to the warning some of the Polish families went to Buczacz in fear of their lives.”

Source: Relacja zbiorowa mieszkańcow Puźnik [Puźniki Inhabitants’ Collective Account], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 656.

Skomorochy, Potok Złoty commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,400 inhabitants.

In 1943 the Ukrainian police arrested Father Baranowski and sent him to the Gestapo in Stanisławów. The Ukrainian policeman who was escorting the priest led him outside the railway station in Stanisławów and released him after they had walked a few blocks. The policeman only told the priest not to return to Skomorochy.

Two out of 14 fatalities of the Banderites’ attack on the Polish farms on March 17, 1944 were Ukrainian. Mykola Feskiv was murdered for coming to the Poles’ defense. Jadwiga Kroczyńska, a Pole, recalls: “[T]hat night they also murdered a Ukrainian, surname Rego. He was nailed to the planks in a barn for his critical remarks about murdering the Poles.” The author of the account, who was child then, was rescued during the funeral of the victims of the attack by a Ukrainian woman, Kateryna Feskiv. “Suddenly, a fusillade started. [...] Feshkiv covered me with the lap of her long sheepskin coat and told me in Polish, ‘Come with me ‘cause they’ll kill you here.’ That woman sheltered me in her home until Orthodox Easter. Then she secretly escorted me through a forest to the Roman Catholic rectory in Potok Złoty.”

Source: Father S. Bizuń, Historia krzyżem znaczona. Wspomnienia z życia Kościoła katolickiego na Ziemi Lwowskiej 1939–1945, 2nd ed. (Lublin, 1994), 190; J. Kroczyńska, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 27 (1998): 19–20.

Soroki, Zubrzec commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,700 inhabitants.

About 30 people died on the night of March 24–25, 1944 during the attack on the Polish farms. Rozalia Jezierska, a Pole, lost her husband and daughter, aged 5, and herself was wounded. “Thinking that I was dead, the attackers left me. I came round after some time and crawled to my Ukrainian neighbor, Dymitr Krzyżanowski, who sheltered me. But on the next day the Banderites found me and tried to murder me again. [...] Thinking that I was already dead, the murderers left me unconscious at my Ukrainian neighbor’s, from where I was taken to my husband’s sister [...].”

Source: R. Jezierska, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 27 (1998): 8.

Trościaniec, Uście Zielone commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,600 inhabitants.

In April 1944 the UPA massacred ca. 30 Poles and three Ukrainian women whose young sons had died during the attacks on the Polish villages. Those women had publically called the Banderites criminals and had blamed the UPA leaders for their sons’ deaths. A Ukrainian, Churenko, was murdered for his refusal to murder the Poles.

In February 1944 the Banderites murdered a Ukrainian, Ivan Hronat, who was a great friend of the Poles. He frequently warned them about attacks and rescued many of them.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 175.

Uście Zielone, Uście Zielone rural commune – Ukrainian-Jewish-Polish village, over 2,400 inhabitants.

Despite the resistance of the Polish self-defense force, the number of the Polish victims of the UPA raid on February 2, 1945 exceeded 130. A Ukrainian, Slavko Holub, was murdered for his refusal to participate in murdering the Poles. The nationalists put a piece of paper on his chest with the following sentence: “khto ne z namy, toj proty nas” (if you’re not with us, you’re against us).

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 177.

Zalesie Koropieckie, Zubrzec commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, nearly 700 inhabitants.

On February 7, 1945 the Banderites stopped in the village of Zalesie on their return to their base after the pogrom of the Polish population of Barysz. In Zalesie they began to gather the Poles whom they had captured in the area. Then they burnt alive ca. 70 people in a tobacco drying room. Still, there were some survivors. Danuta Ławruszczak was among the Poles gathered near the mill: “There were many armed Banderites around us. The Ukrainian owner of the mill, Slavko Danelevich, asked the Banderites to let me go because I was still a child. But they smiled and didn’t answer his plea.” The author of the account was interrogated and beaten and then the nationalists tried to shoot her. “I came round at dawn and I saw my dead grandmother Borkowska and little Stasia Jarzycka lying next to me. Then an elderly Ukrainian acquaintance of my father entered the room. When he saw all this he started to cry and curse at the Banderites. He told me to go with him and promised to hide me. I was very scared then. I didn’t trust him fully. He lifted me and when I was on my feet I felt more confident and I was able to walk on my own.”

Franciszek Markowski, a Pole, survived even though the Banderites sentenced him to death. His account was written down by Mieczysław Bierancki: “The Banderite who was escorting him to the execution site knew F. Markowski very well and told him, ‘Save yourself, you’ve got little children, run!’ He fired three times in the air and left. Half-conscious after the lashing, Markowski crawled to the house of a Ukrainian he knew. The man sheltered him until morning and then put him on a wagon, covered him with straw, cracked the whip, and took the victim back to Puźniki, which saved his life.”

The above-mentioned Ukrainian mill owner, Slavomir Danelevich, was murdered by the Bandera followers a few days later because he refused to carry out the UPA order to kill his Polish mother.

Source: Relacja Danuty Ławruszczak z d. Borkowskiej [Account of Danuta Ławruszczak (née Borkowska)], in H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 670; Relacja Franciszka Markowskiego spisana przez Mieczysława Biernackiego [Franciszek Markowski’s Account Written down by Mieczysław Biernacki], ibidem, 671; Relacja Feliksa Proroka [Feliks Prorok’s Account], ibidem, 675.

Zubrzec, Zubrzec commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 2,000 inhabitants.

In 1944 and in the first half of 1945 the Ukrainian nationalists murdered a few dozen Poles.

According to the account of Marian Fedorowicz, a Pole, not only Banderites but also Melnykites (from a more moderate OUN faction headed by Andriy Melnyk) and UNDO members (members of the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance [Ukrayin’ske Natsional’no-Demokratichne Obyednannia, UNDO], which operated legally in Poland until 1939) were active in the village. “The Ukrainians from the last two organizations were friendly toward us Poles. They often put the Poles up and sheltered them and warned them about the danger. My family and I received such help.”

Fedorowicz also recalls instances of the UPA murdering the Ukrainians who opposed the nationalists’ anti-Polish activity. One of the victims was a former non-commissioned officer of the Austrian army. Another victim, Ivan Pivovarchuk’s wife, died for her public condemnation of the murder of a Greek Catholic priest, Tereshkun, who had allegedly “betrayed Ukraine.”

Source: M. Fedorowicz, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 27 (1998): 10–11.

CZORTKÓW COUNTY

Czerkawszczyzna, Jagielnica Stara rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 400 inhabitants.

Weronika Jastrzębska (née Skikiewicz) told the story of an acquainted Polish-Ukrainian family. Mr. Kowalczyk, who married a Ukrainian woman named Olesya, was warned that the Banderites would raid the village at night. “This was why he had been vigilant for quite some time. He and his wife took turns keeping guard so as to be able to escape during the attack. And one happened. The murderers came one night in March 1944. After midnight they forced the door open and asked Olesya, Kowalczyk’s wife, where her husband was. He had hidden in the attic of the house and had pulled up the ladder. Olesya answered that she didn’t know where her husband was. Then the bandits from the UPA started beating her and when it didn’t work they gang raped her, strangled her, and hanged her on a hook in her house. [...] Kowalczyk had escaped before they got to the attic [...] Mr. Kowalczyk crawled into our home, he looked like a living corpse, his hair was totally white.”

Source: Relacja Weroniki Jastrzębskiej z d. Skikiewicz [Account of Weronika Jastrzębska (née Skikiewicz)], Na Rubieży 62 (2002): 35–36.

Kosów, Kosów rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,400 inhabitants.

The UPA murdered two Ukrainians, Fedorkov and Bindura, for their refusal to participate in murdering Poles.

Source: C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 93.

Połowce, Pauszówka commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles and a colony inhabited by 600 Poles and 20 Jews; the total population was ca. 2,200.

On July 6, 1941 the Ukrainian nationalists murdered 16 Jews and 9 Poles. According to the account of Jan Jankowski, a Pole, the nationalists attacked, among other homes, Mikołaj Pawłowski’s – they threw two grenades inside. The Pawłowskis ran for their lives. “The mother, Maria, quickly ran across the road with her children to her Ukrainian neighbor, Nestor Korchynskyi, who had a Polish wife. As it turned out the Ukrainian had been watching the whole incident from his window and when he saw the escapees he quickly opened the garden porch door and let in the escapees. Little Lusia was the last to come in. Nestor Korchynskyi noticed that one of the Banderites threw a grenade after the running girl. He took her by the hand at the very last moment and pulled her into the home, but the grenade exploded right at the doorstep and wounded the girl’s back. Luckily, the wound was not serious. The girl recovered after two weeks in a hospital.”

Source: J. Jankowski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 15 (1996): 19.

Przechody, Czortków rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish-Ukrainian families.

On January 6, 1945 the UPA murdered Mr. and Mrs. Drażniowski and their daughter. Their surviving son writes: “My father was Ukrainian, my mother was Polish. [...] my father was a Greek Catholic and regarded himself to be Ruthenian. [...] As for politics, he opposed Bandera’s ideology and that was why he rejected any cooperation with the Banderites. As it turned out later he paid with his life for that.”

Source: E. Drażniowski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 15 (1996): 16.

Skorodyńce, Byczkowce commune – village with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 1,400 inhabitants.

On July 7, 1941 the Bandera followers captured nine Poles and put them on trial. They murdered eight of them. The sole survivor was Stefan Bandura, who was being led at gunpoint by two Bandera followers. Antonina Sitko reports: “One of them stopped by the bridge and tried to light a cigarette. The other one was standing a little bit further away. Stefan Bandura tried to light the man’s cigarette and then that man told him, ‘Stefan, run into the cornfield ’cause we’re leading you to be executed. I’m gonna shoot at you but don’t be scared.’ [...] Stefan took his advice and survived.”

The attempt to rescue another arrested man, Tomasz Chmieluk, is described by his daughter Stefania: “My father got dressed and since he felt innocent he went to that interrogation. In the meantime our Ukrainian neighbor, Ludwik Szczepański, entered our house, but through the other door. He came to tell my father not to go to that interrogation because he could die. Unfortunately, it was already a few minutes too late. [...] The sentence was carried out that night. [...] One of the Ukrainians from Biała buried the body and told us about that when he brought my father’s shoes to our home.”

Eugenia Suchorolska, a Pole, talks about a few times when her family received help from the Ukrainians. Warned about a planned attack, Eugenia slept with her mother in the home of a Ukrainian, Kobasyuk. “I remember that one night the Banderites knocked on his door shouting, ‘Open up!’ The neighbor lady immediately hid me and my mom under the loom and covered us with sacks. A Banderite came into her home asking if there were any Pollacks. She said, ‘Why, mister, there aren’t any here!’ Her daughter, Hanka, went out of the other cottage and took them to her place. And so it happened that the Banderite didn’t look for us. We both survived.” The author also mentions her father, whom the attackers captured during his escape attempt. “Daddy was walking, tall and thin. A Ukrainian priest was leading a funeral procession. When the priest saw him he stopped and said, ‘Why are you leading him like Jesus Christ? Shame on you! Can’t you see? His children are crying.’ Then the Banderites said to my father, ‘Go home.’ And they released him. They gave in to their clergyman’s authority. Apparently, he was supposed to live on.” Suchorolska also talks about her journey to the neighboring village to attend her uncle’s funeral. “A Ukrainian woman and her husband were driving to Biały Potok and they agreed to give me a ride. When we drove into a forest we saw two armed Banderites rushing at us on horses. They stopped the sleigh and asked who she was transporting and where. The Ukrainian woman called one of them by his first name and said that I was her sister’s daughter. They asked if I could pray in Ukrainian. I knew a few words of that prayer but I was having some difficulty. Then that Ukrainian woman said: ‘That girl’s so cold that she can’t speak.’ They believed her, gave it a rest, and left.”

A Greek Catholic clergyman, whom a few witnesses of the events in Skorodyńce mentioned in their accounts (according to Stefania Kurasiewicz, his name was Przewołodzki), publically condemned the attacks on the Polish population. He said that independent Ukraine had to be built together with God. At the end of 1944 he was attacked by the UPA and had to flee to another locality.

The UPA raided the village on October 8, 1944. Bronisława Bandura recalls her family’s escape and their attempts to find shelter at their Ukrainian neighbors’, among others, at the Chornynskyis’. “They let us in and put us in their attic, but they did so with reluctance and fear. [...] At that time my husband was sleeping in the home of the Ukrainian family of Sushko. But when the Banderites started to massacre the Poles near his hideout, he jumped out the window and ran barefoot across the fields toward the river. [...] we returned to the smoldering ruins of our farm, we salvaged what we could and went to Czortków.”

Wiktor Szatkowski, a Pole, recalls how he and his father were hiding at their Ukrainian neighbor’s in March 1945. His mother and brother stayed at home and died at the hands of the Banderites. Only his grandfather survived. “They probably thought that he was already dead because they took off his shoes. After they had left, my grandfather came round and saw the corpses of my mom and my brother. He then immediately left the home and found shelter in the home of an acquainted Ukrainian neighbor. Seeing that my grandfather was wounded, the man took him to a hospital in Czortków.”

Also in March 1945 Tomasz Bandura, his sister, and her little daughter were about to leave the village. “A few of our Ukrainian neighbors refused to put us up because they feared for their life. The Banderites could kill them for that. We decided to hide in our Ukrainian neighbor’s stable or barn, but without his knowledge. Before we finished the preparations to leave two acquainted Ukrainian women, Kateryna née ‘Kaminets’ with her 11-year-old son (her older one was in the UPA) and her sister, came to ask us to put them up because [they feared that] the Soviets [would] come back and deport them to Siberia. We didn’t refuse. My sister prepared a bed for them in the other room.” The Bandera followers came at night. “One of them said, ‘Whoever is not a member of this family must get dressed and go out,’ and the other one pointed a machine gun at us. One of the two Ukrainian women who were sleeping at our place came to me and said, ‘Ivan (my name is Tomasz), get dressed and let’s go home.’ I was paralyzed with fear. I don’t know how fast I got dressed and walked out with her. [...] Katarzyna took me to her home, told me to take off my shoes and hide behind the stove. She herself sat at the edge of that stove and covered me with her body. In the other room the Banderites had a feast with lots of alcohol. They partied and sang until dawn.

Volodymyr, Kateryna’s son, came over at night and, lighting up the place with his torch, he asked his mother, ‘De je Tomko?’ (where is Tomek?). His mother told him that I wasn’t there and that I ran away somewhere in the village after she had walked out with me into the backyard. He obviously believed her because he left the house.”

Source: A. Sitko, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 62 (2002): 45; S. Kurasiewicz (née Chmieluk), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 45 (2000): 28; E. Suchorolska, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 62 (2002): 47; B. Bandura, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 45 (2000): 26; W. Szatkowski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 45 (2000): 33; T. Bandura, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 45 (2000): 26–27.

Wawrynów, Czortków rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few Polish-Ukrainian families.

In April 1945 the UPA murdered a Ukrainian, Heuko, and his family because he refused to participate in an anti-Polish attack and then did not carry out the order to kill his Polish wife.

Source: C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 94.

Zalesie, Kolędziany commune – village with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 2,200 inhabitants.

In July 1941 the nationalists murdered a Ukrainian, Korostil, and his family. Korostil had criticized the persecution of the Poles by both the Soviets and the Bandera followers.

Source: S. Rakowski, H. Komański, “Powiat Czortków”, part 1, Na Rubieży 15 (1996): 25; C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 94.

KAMIONKA STRUMIŁOWA COUNTY

Busk, Busk rural commune – town with 8,000 inhabitants: 4,000 Poles, 2,500 Jews (until 1942) and 1,500 Ukrainians.

The UPA massacred several dozen Poles during 1944–1945. A Ukrainian, Lukash Chuchman, died for his refusal to cooperate with the UPA, i.a., in its anti-Polish attacks.

In May 1944 a few local Ukrainians warned the Busk parish curate, Father Antoni Adamiak. They assured him that the town inhabitants would not hurt him, but they said they had some information that the Bandera followers concentrated in the village of Sokole were planning to kill him. The priest left Busk as one of the last Poles to do so.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 206; Father Bishop A. Adamiuk, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 13 (1995): 21; M. Trojan-Krzynowa, Miasto Busk i okolice na kresach II Rzeczypospolitej (Racibórz, 1998), 146.

Czanyż, Grabowa rural commune – village with the Gajowskie settlement, inhabited by 1,200 Poles and Ukrainians.

Warned by a few local Ukrainians about the danger from the UPA, most of the Polish villagers left in April 1944. In the second half of 1944 two Ukrainians from a Polish-Ukrainian family, the Stopnytskyi brothers, were executed for their failure to carry out the order to kill their Polish mother.

Source: B. Szeremeta, Watażka. Wspomnienia nierozstrzelanego i jego zbrodnie (Wrocław, 1995), 19–20.

Ruda Sielecka, Kamionka Strumiłowa rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,500 inhabitants.

At the beginning of April 1944 a Ukrainian warned the Poles about an upcoming UPA attack. Most of the Polish inhabitants fled to Kamionka Strumiłowa. The attackers massacred 16 people.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 218.

Wolica Derewlańska, Grabowa rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 900 inhabitants.

On February 7, 1944 a local Ukrainian warned the parish priest, Father Jacek Łukasiewicz, a Pole, that he was in danger from the Banderites. The priest left to Lvov and returned to the parish after two weeks. “During my two weeks’ stay at home I did not undress at night at all. I waited until midnight and then lay down exhausted on the sofa and listening into the dark to be ready to escape in case of an attack.” Łukasiewicz returned to Lvov on March 7. On March 20 the Banderites attacked and plundered his rectory and massacred about a dozen Poles in the Wólka settlement.

Source: Father J. Wołczański, Eksterminacja narodu polskiego i Kościoła rzymskokatolickiego przez ukraińskich nacjonalistów w Małopolsce Wschodniej w latach 1939–1945. Materiały źródłowe, vol. 1 (Cracow, 2005), 185.

KOPYCZYŃCE COUNTY

Czabarówka, Husiatyn rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village with 4,200 inhabitants.

On February 2, 1944 the UPA murdered a Ukrainian, Vasyl Bodnar, because he rang a bell in the Orthodox church when the Banderites were approaching the village.

Source: H. Komański, F. Iskra, “Powiat Kopyczyńce”, part 3, Na Rubieży 23 (1997): 32.

Kluwińce, Chorostków rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 2,000 inhabitants.

According to the account of Tadeusz Piaskowski, a Pole, the UPA attacks on selected village inhabitants began as early as 1942. “We stopped sleeping at home in August 1944 – [we slept] in basement, barns, attics, wherever we could. [...] On December 24, 1944, Christmas Eve, a Ukrainian woman secretly warned Mrs. Łupkowska, our neighbor, that the “Herods” would be walking around with the goat. The whole village was immediately alerted. Everybody left their homes and hid just like they did every day. We hid at grandmother Burska’s [...] At about 11 p.m. we heard some commotion and the silent calls of the Banderites, who were searching every nook and cranny [...] they did not smash the door to the hall, which was packed with people. [...] they searched the whole village, they looked into every mouse hole, but they didn’t find anybody.” The next day the inhabitants who were in hiding went to the nearby town of Chorostków.

Source: AW, II/2212/p, Relacja Tadeusza Piaskowskiego [Tadeusz Piaskowski’s Account], p 1–2.

Kociubińce, Kociubińce rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 2,700 inhabitants.

In February 1945 the Bandera followers murdered two Ukrainians, Petro Bala and Myhailo Yurkov, for their refusal to murder Poles and for their public condemnation of the UPA crimes.

Source: C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 110.

Majdan, Kopyczyńce rural commune – village with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians (mostly Polish-Ukrainian families), nearly 1,000 inhabitants.

The total number of the Polish victims of the Banderites’ raids in March 1944 and January 1945 amounted to over 150. Stanisława Żywina, one of the Polish survivors of the latter attack, recalls: “On that tragic night of January 26, 1945 I was 23 years old. I went to sleep in the home of a friendly Ukrainian neighbor, Leon Ziółkowski, convinced that I would be safe there. [...] He was in bed, as he was severely ill, his legs were paralyzed. [...] Soon after that we heard machine gun fire and the screams and moans of the victims. [...] I knew that to flee the house would be tantamount to death. I had nowhere to escape to. I was afraid that when the Banderites came to the house, the Ukrainian neighbors would denounce me. I hoped that they wouldn’t look for me in a Ukrainian home. All anxious and scared, I hid in a recess under the stove and covered the entrance with an eiderdown. More or less at that moment the lady of the house ran out into the yard and I heard her shouting that she was Ukrainian and [she was] begging them not to set her house on fire. At some point the Banderites went into the house and approached the Mr. Ziółkowski’s bed asking if there was anybody else in the house. He said he was alone. Shots were fired – the Banderites killed the sick man. [...] I jumped out the window [...] I ran toward my home.”

Source: S. Żywina, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 21 (1997): 38

Niżborg Nowy, Kopyczyńce rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,600 inhabitants.

A Ukrainian, Kuzma, aged 45, was shot by his own son, who was a Banderite, for his condemnation of the UPA crimes.

Source: H. Komański, F. Iskra, “Powiat Kopyczyńce”, part 3, Na Rubieży 23 (1997): 24.

Zielona, Majdan rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 500 inhabitants.

At the beginning of 1944 the Banderites executed a Ukrainian, Mykola Muzyka, for refusal to murder Poles.

Source: H. Komański, F. Iskra, “Powiat Kopyczyńce”, part 3, Na Rubieży 23 (1997): 30.

PODHAJCE COUNTY

Boków, Boków rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,500 inhabitants.

About 60 Poles died as a result of the UPA raid on the night of February 10–11, 1944. Father Ludwik Chrapek avoided death from the hands of the Banderites thanks to the Ukrainian reeve, who drove him to Brzeżany at night.

Source: K. Bulzacki, H. Komański, “Powiat Podhajce”, part. 2, Na Rubieży 17 (1996): 23.

Bożyków, Boków rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,100 inhabitants.

On February 8, 1944 the UPA massacred about a dozen Poles. Bronisława Huber (née Gut), who lost almost all her family, was hiding in her attic during the raid. “A single elderly Ukrainian woman, our neighbor, sheltered me for three days at her place. During that time a relative from Lvov came and took me to live there.”

Source: B. Huber (née Gut), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 63 (2002): 23.

Hnilcze, Zawałów rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 3,000 inhabitants.

About a dozen Poles died in August 1944 during yet another UPA attack on the village. The survivors included the Srokowski family. They got a warning from their Ukrainian neighbor, Olga Misyurak, who then sheltered them in a hideout beneath the floor of her barn. The writer Stanisław Srokowski, who was a child then, created a moving vision of that event in his story titled “Anioły.”

Source: S. Srokowski, Nienawiść (opowiadania kresowe) (Warsaw, 2006), 209–218, 253.

Markowa, Toustobaby rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,200 inhabitants.

On the night of January 14–15, 1944 the UPA massacred over 50 Poles including a local parish priest, Father Mikołaj Ferens. Janina Czubak, a Pole who participated in his funeral, described the attempts to rescue the parish priest. “A woman, perhaps the priest’s housekeeper, told the gathered people: ‘The priest could have survived because a Ukrainian priest sent his seminarian to him three times to tell him to come over because he was in danger.’ Unfortunately, the plea was unsuccessful. The third time he ordered the seminarian to communicate the following: ‘The whole village has been surrounded. Save your life, please. I’ll shelter you. You’ll be safe at my place.’ But the parish priest from Markowa said: ‘I cannot leave my parishioners. Whatever awaits them shall happen to me too.’ [...] He thanked the Ukrainian priest for caring about his life.” That Ukrainian priest was Myhailo Shchurovskyi. Father Antoni Kania from the Huta Nowa parish, who made a list of the Markowa victims in the beginning of February 1944, also writes about his stance: “Father Shchurovskyi arrived. He did not organize a Jordan procession, he did not say Mass on Jordan’s Day [Epiphany]. He celebrated an official Mass for the soul of late Father Ferens, which he had announced from the pulpit, and then [he prayed] for all the victims and he invited the families. On the last Sunday, that is on January 30, he announced that he was leaving the village [...] ‘I don’t want to die among bandits. Thirty years of my efforts have proved fruitless,’ he said during his sermon.”

Romualda Rafalska, a Polish woman who was one of the villagers who listened to the warnings and thus survived, recalls: “After that my mother and I didn’t sleep at home anymore. We were hiding at our neighbors’, often at our Ukrainian neighbors’. [...] I remember that one night the Banderites searched the house and the farm of our Ukrainian neighbor, Myketa Semak, during their hunt for the Poles. They asked whether there were any Poles at their place. The neighbors denied there were. An elderly Ukrainian woman hid me in her home and mom was hiding in straw in the barn. They didn’t find us during that search. The situation was getting extremely dangerous which was why we escaped to Monasterzyska after a few days in hiding.”

Source: Z. Żyromski, “Zagadka tragedii w Markowej”, Na Rubieży 77 (2005): 26–27 (according to Janina Czubak’s account); Pismo ks. Antoniego Kani [Father Antoni Kania’s Letter], in Father J. Wołczański, Eksterminacja narodu polskiego..., 298; R. Kucy (née Rafalska), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 73 (2004): 41–42.

Michałówka, Wiśniowczyk rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, over 600 inhabitants.

In April 1944 the Banderites detained 14 Poles and made them dig their common grave. A local Ukrainian woman warned the Poles from neighboring Białokiernica about the nationalists’ plan to conduct a massacre. The Poles called some Germans, who came to Michałówka, disarmed the Banderites, and released the detained.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 265.

Sławentyn, Sławentyn rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,700 inhabitants.

On the night of September 17–18, 1939 members of OUN massacred 50 people. One of the victims was a teacher, Irena Zdeb (Małaczyńska), a Pole who lived with a Ukrainian family. Her brother, Jan Małaczyński, writes that that family “tried to rescue her, they dressed her in a Ukrainian outfit and hid her in the orchard by their house. But the attackers found her there and stabbed her to death with a pitchfork. [...] My sister’s daughter, Bożena, born in 1937, continued to live with that Ukrainian family. He sheltered her and thus saved her from death.”

According to Janina Mazur’s account, another Ukrainian, Perekop, died during that raid for sheltering a Pole, Władysław Świrz.

Source: J. Małaczyński, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 48 (2000): 51; J. Mazur, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 3 (1996): 25.

Toustobaby, Toustobaby rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 3,600 inhabitants.

Significant UPA forces attacked Toustobaby on December 22, 1944 murdering ca. 80 Poles. Szczepan Siekierka, a Pole, recalls: “I walked on and I came across the body of my uncle, Jan Siekierka. His wife was sitting by his corpse all in tears. She was of Ukrainian origin. Crying, she told us about her husband’s murder. She said that she had begged the Banderites on her knees to spare his life. But they were merciless. They only said: ‘[W]e’ll spare you, we won’t kill you because you are Ukrainian, but we have to kill your husband because he has been baptized in a Catholic church.’”

Source: S. Siekierka, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 5 (1993): 24.

Zawałów, Zawałów rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,000 inhabitants.

In January 1944 a group of locals from Zawałów participated in the funeral of a few dozen victims of the UPA massacre conducted in the neighboring village of Markowa. Janina Czubak, a Polish woman who went to the funeral with her mother, recalls: “I don’t know what happened with the women and children who stayed in Markowa because we had to escape from Zawałów. A Ukrainian neighbor lady of ours told us to flee immediately to a town with just what we had on us, that is without taking any parcels or baggage with us. The rest of the Polish inhabitants of Zawałów were also warned by their Ukrainian neighbors, ‘We don’t want your death, run.’ We left our homes and all our belongings. We found shelter in the Polish homes in the town.” The decision to escape was justified. By the end of 1944 the UPA had massacred about 30 Poles in Zawałów.

Source: Z. Żyromski, “Zagadka tragedii w Markowej”, Na Rubieży 77 (2005): 26–27 (according to Janina Czubak’s account).

PRZEMYŚLANY COUNTY

Ciemierzyńce, Dunajów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village with over 2,800 inhabitants.

In 1944 the Banderites massacred about 100 Poles. In his description of the raid on Ciemierzyńce on February 18, 1944 Bolesław Sienkiewicz (a Polish mill owner, who was severely wounded by the Banderites in December 1943) talks about the Ukrainians who came to the Poles’ defense. “My sisters and two children managed to escape across the river and find shelter in the home of a female Ukrainian neighbor, Paranka Forysh. Then the Banderites went to Józef Czak’s home and executed him. They also shot Stefan Rosicki who was at Czak’s. A Ukrainian, Pavel Petryk, who came to their defense, got severely shot in the stomach. Transported to a hospital in Przemyślany, the wounded Ukrainian underwent surgery and recovered after some time. [...] Another time a Polish blacksmith’s daughter, Stanisława Wilk, was killed in the backyard of a Ukrainian woman, Irena Chruściel. Mrs. Chruściel embraced Stanisława and shouted, ‘Ne dam, ne dam.’ [I won’t let you, I won’t] And so they were both killed.”

Source: B. Sienkiewicz “Żuraw”, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 59 (2002): 16–17.

Kopań, Świrz rural commune – village with a large majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 580 inhabitants.

On February 14, 1944 the Bandera followers set fire to 30 farms and massacred five Poles. The Polish Żółtański family of ten was hiding in a shelter throughout the raid. “Having found nobody at home, they looted the place, took their things, and then devastated the house with grenades before setting it on fire. The smoke and fire got into the shelter and almost choked the Poles hiding there. Their Ukrainian neighbor heard their moans and, with some help, he took the half-dead Poles out of the shelter and helped them regain consciousness.”

Source: Meldunek tygodniowy, opracowany przez pracownika lwowskiej ODR Kazimierza Świrskiego, z 22 IV 1944 [Weekly Report of 22 April 1944 Prepared by a Lvov Regional Delegation of the Polish Goverment in Exile employee, Kazimierz Świrski], in Kwestia ukraińska i eksterminacja ludności polskiej w Małopolsce Wschodniej w świetle dokumentów Polskiego Państwa Podziemnego 1942–1944, introduction and editing by L. Kulińska and A. Roliński (Cracow, 2004): 91–92.

Łahodów, Pohorylce rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 2,500 inhabitants.

On February 24, 1944 the Banderites murdered the Pole, Piotr Śnieżyk. “The remaining members of that family survived thanks to help from a Ukrainian, Aleksander Laba. Piotr Śnieżyk’s family went to the Nowy Sącz region. Aleksander cultivated their land hoping that they would return. He took the risk of telling his neighbors that. When the Banderites heard about that they took revenge, murdering Aleksander Laba’s entire family (five people) in July 1944.”

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Przemyślany”, part 1, Na Rubieży 20 (1997): 23.

Pleników, Dunajów rural commune – village with a large majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 700 inhabitants.

Recalling the war years in her village and its vicinity Stanisława Palka, a Polish woman, stresses the two ethnic groups’ peaceful coexistence. “The Ukrainian families helped the Poles even after the nationalists’ detachments appeared in the area. They warned them about planned attacks and sheltered them in their homes. [...] In early spring, 1942 (I cannot recall the exact dates) my mom, aunt, and grandfather were warned about a planned attack of the already rampant Banderites. At the same time the family of Vasyl Sheremeta [a Ukrainian] invited us to sleep at their place. We slept on the floor on bedding collected from all over the house. [...] Due to the nationalists’ terror the Poles had to speak Ukrainian so as not to attract their attention. [...] I could play only with the children of an Ukrainian forester we knew, Borowski, whose wife was Polish. Soon, it turned out that we badly needed their help. In April 1943 (it was very cold) a Ukrainian inhabitant of Pleników (I cannot recall the surname) warned my grandfather about another anti-Polish attack planned to take place on a specific night. That time we went to the forester, Borowski [...] We escaped into a nearby forest and from there we returned at dawn to the forester’s lodge. The forester’s farm had had been set ablaze.”

Source: S. Palka, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 59 (2002): 31–32.

RADZIECHÓW COUNTY

Batyjów, Łaszków rural commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 400 inhabitants.

A Ukrainian, Vasyl Masluk, aged 16, was murdered with his mother in February 1944 in Podbatyjów, a Polish-Ukrainian sub-settlement of Batyjów, for helping the Poles.

In April 1944 the local Ukrainians warned the Polish inhabitants of Batyjów about the danger from the UPA. Most of the Poles fled to Radziechów. The group of seven people who stayed in the village was massacred.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Radziechów”, part 5, Na Rubieży 63 (2002): 26.

Kustyń, Łaszków rural commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 800 inhabitants.

In December 1944 the Banderites murdered a Ukrainian, Hrytsko Shevchuk, for his coming to the Poles’ defense.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Radziechów”, part 5, Na Rubieży 63 (2002): 26.

Pawłów, Chołojów rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,600 inhabitants.

Like many other witnesses of the events in the Eastern Borderlands, Antoni Grzeszczuk, a Pole, stresses that the Poles and Ukrainians coexisted peacefully before the war and during its initial phase. “In 1943 there was grievous news from Volhynia and one could see the distant glow of fires. The people talked about the massacres of the Poles conducted by the Banderites, UPA, and Ukrainian chauvinists. The Ukrainians in our village split. Some of the Ukrainians, our neighbors, particularly the elderly ones, warned [the Poles] about planned attacks. Some put up the Polish families in their homes.”

On the night of April 1–2, 1944 the UPA massacred over 30 Poles. Józef Kuśnierzewski, a Pole, recalls: “Our friendly Ukrainian neighbor, Zanchuk, sheltered my family for two nights after that attack and thus saved us because the next day at night a group of eight Banderites surrounded our house and broke into it. Having found nobody inside, they left. We saw that from our hideout. In that situation after the second day of our stay our Ukrainian friend told us, ‘You must escape to Radziechów because they might find you here and then they’ll kill you and my family, too.’ Early in the morning we left the hideout with bundles on our backs and went to Radziechów.”

Source: A. Grzeszczuk, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 10 (1994): 6; J. Kuśnierzewski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 52 (2001): 45.

Smarzów, Szczurowice rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, nearly 1,400 inhabitants.

Warned by their friendly Ukrainian neighbors about a UPA attack, the Poles fled to Radziechów in the second half of 1944. After their departure their farms were completely looted and destroyed.

Source: C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 127.

Witków Nowy, Witków Nowy rural commune – village inhabited by over 2,100 people: Jews (until 1942), Ukrainians, and Poles.

In the first half of 1944 the UPA killed ca. 40 Poles. The local Catholic church was looted and set on fire. A Ukrainian, Lukash Bilous, took a painting of the Virgin Mary of Consolation from the church and hid it. He then notified the parish priest, Father Tadeusz Pilawski, about that. Disguised as a woman, Father Pilawski secretly took the painting in the winter of 1945 to western Poland with help from a trusted Ukrainian (nowadays the painting is in a church in Oława).

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Radziechów”, part 5, Na Rubieży 63 (2002): 33.

SKAŁAT COUNTY

Hlibów, Grzymałów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village with 2,200 inhabitants.

A Ukrainian, Pavlo Kisel, sheltered the Polish woman Michalina Gęsicka and her daughters for a few months in his home. The Banderites discovered the Polish women in October 1944 and murdered all three of them together with Kisel.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 336.

Kokoszyńce, Turów commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,700 inhabitants.

The victims of the Ukrainian nationalists’ terror included not only about a dozen Poles, but also a Ukrainian teacher, Oleshka Savka, aged 25, who was murdered for being friends with the Poles.

Source: D. Wyskokolski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 48 (2000): 47.

Krasne, Krasne rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 2,000 inhabitants.

On the night of July 16–17, 1944 the UPA massacred 52 Poles. The Roman Catholic parish priest, Father Łukasz Makolądra, survived thanks to the local Greek Catholic priest, who sheltered him from the attackers at his parsonage at the very last moment.

Source: C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 133; H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 339.

Okno, Grzymałów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, over 2,000 inhabitants.

In February 1944 the Banderites massacred about a dozen Poles. In April they murdered a Ukrainian, Dymitr Neveshchuk, for calling on his fellow countrymen to discontinue the killing and looting of the Polish population.

Source: W. Marmucki, “Powiat Skałat”, part 2, Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 8.

Orzechowiec, Kaczanówka rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,350 inhabitants.

Throughout 1944 members of the UPA murdered a number of Poles. They also killed a Ukrainian woman, Kateryna Havryliuk, for her public criticism of the killing and looting of the Polish population and for having called some of the perpetrators fascists.

Source: W. Marmucki, “Powiat Skałat”, part 2, Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 8.

Poznanka Hetmańska, Grzymałów rural commune – village with a large majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 1,100 inhabitants.

In March 1944 the Banderites massacred ca. 20 Poles as well as two Ukrainians, Dmytro Holoyada and Petro Shparaga, who were executed for their refusal to participate in the murdering of Poles.

Source: W. Marmucki, “Powiat Skałat”, part 2, Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 11; E. Gross, Zbrodnie..., 381.

Stawki Kraśnieńskie, Krasne rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 400 inhabitants.

In February 1944 the Banderites murdered several Poles. In March the UPA shot and then hanged a Ukrainian, Pavel Sorokaty, for sheltering the Poles.

Source: W. Marmucki, “Powiat Skałat”, part 2, Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 13.

TARNOPOL COUNTY

Bajkowce, Łozowa rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 1,000 inhabitants.

In 1944 most of the Poles did not sleep in their homes for fear of attacks. They spent nights in hideouts or at their Ukrainian neighbors’. Henryk Komański, a Pole, writes: “One night a group of Banderites was seen entering the house of a local Ukrainian, Hylek Shkula. A Ukrainian priest, Baczyński, was notified about that and he immediately went to that house and after a conversation he caused the Banderites to leave the village. They probably planned to conduct a massacre of the Poles that night.” The Greek Catholic parish priest, Juliusz Baczyński, made the Bandera followers promise that there would be no Polish victims in his parish. The Bandera followers kept their word and no attacks in Bajkowice or in neighboring Rusianówka took place.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Tarnopol”, part 3 Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 32; J. Kanas, Podolskie..., 150.

Chodaczków Wielki, Chodaczków Wielki rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 3,000 inhabitants.

In April 1944 the soldiers of the Ukrainian “Galizien” SS Division under German command massacred ca. 860 people. We know that the Poles received help from a local Ukrainian woman, who stayed in her basement together with a hiding Polish family. When one of the soldiers came over she talked with him and gave him food, which caused him to refrain from throwing a grenade into the basement.

Source: A. Korman, “Kilka uwag do pracy Jerzego Węgierskiego Armia Krajowa w Okręgu Stanisławów i Tarnopol”, Na Rubieży 40 (1999): 5

Czerniechów, Jankowce rural commune – Ukrainian village with ca. 1,000 inhabitants, about a dozen of whom were Polish.

During his sermon a Greek Catholic priest condemned the UPA crimes against the Poles. He was found dead the next day.

Source: C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 142.

Czernielów Mazowiecki, Borek Wielki rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 1,300 inhabitants.

In December 1943 the Banderites were planning an attack on the Poles. According to several accounts, two Ukrainians prevented that attack: a Greek Catholic priest, Krawczyk, and a physician, Lutsyan Karachko.

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 364.

Gaje Wielkie, Borki Wielkie rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

A Ukrainian girl was murdered on March 27, 1945 for warning a Polish woman, Mrs. Szpilska.

Source: C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 142.

Ihrowica, Ihrowica rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, 2,800 inhabitants.

On December 24, 1944 the UPA massacred over 80 Poles, then celebrating Christmas Eve. Kazimiera Białowąs, who was 17 then, recalls how she and her female neighbors were wondering where to flee. “We ran to our Ukrainian neighbor lady [according to the other accounts, her surname was Kotun], who was willing to shelter us. But it was impossible to hide nine people in one home. We squeezed into various nooks. Some of us escaped into the field. Józia and I told our mothers to flee with us. They categorically refused and stayed in that Ukrainian home. [...] We decided to go to Obręczówka to a Ukrainian woman, Tiutiunnyk. There were already some Poles at her place and we waited with them until morning. [...] we then returned to our homes, which had been destroyed. [...] In the neighbor lady’s backyard there were the bodies of the executed women: my mom, Józia’s mom, and an elderly lady, Maria Nakonieczna. [My sister] Jadzia and I set out to Tarnopol. It was already dark when we reached Iwaczów. We dropped by Ukrainian woman we knew. She treated us to some milk and bread and offered to put us up. But we couldn’t sleep and cried the whole night. In the morning Maria gave us breakfast and said she hoped that we would get to Tarnopol safe and sound.”

During the raid the parents of Jan Białowąs “Kęs” hid in the home of their Ukrainian neighbor, Mykola Holyk. They left to Tarnopol on January 10, 1945.

Halina Konopka-Białowąs recalls the same Ukrainian family with gratitude. “For a long time, perhaps for two years, we didn’t sleep at home but rather in various hideouts, usually in the attic of a Ukrainian, Mykola Holyk. A family from Volhynia was staying at our place in 1944. We expected that something bad could happen on Christmas Eve. Our neighbor, Anna Holyk, came over for the Christmas Eve supper. We sat at the table and suddenly we heard shots and saw the glow of fires. I took the tablecloth with the food and we escaped to our neighbors’.”

In January 1945 Stefania Syroka and her neighbor, Józefa Barylska, both Polish women, returned to Ihrowica to look for food. On their way they stopped for the night with one more Polish woman at their Ukrainian neighbors’. Jan Białowąs, Syroka’s relative, writes: “The Banderites came at night. They took them from under the beds and the commander of the band passed a sentence – death penalty for the fact that they dared come there. [...] The Ukrainians were begging for mercy for their neighbors and were listing their neighborly virtues. My aunt and the two Polish women were kneeling before the attackers begging them to spare their lives. [...] Suddenly, the Banderite who had been standing in the hall went into the house. He stated that there was a mitigating circumstance as far as my aunt was concerned: a few months earlier she had helped two Ukrainians from the ‘Halychyna’ [Galizien] SS Division. Fleeing from the Soviet Army, they came to her house and asked for help. My aunt fed them and gave them two civilian outfits of her husband. By satisfying their demands, she was saving herself and her daughters. She had no other choice. That fact served as a mitigating circumstance. Only Mrs. Marcela Burakowska was taken outside and executed [...]. The attackers spared my aunt and Józia Brylska, but ordered them to leave at dawn and never come back.”

Source: Relacja Kazimiery Białowąs z Kanady [Account of Kazimiera Białowąs from Canada], in Jan Białowąs, Wspomnienia z Ihrowicy na Podolu. Banderowska rzeź ludności polskiej w Wigilię 1944 roku, (1997), 130; Relacja Haliny Konopki-Białowąs z Warszawy [Account of Halina Konopka-Białowąs from Warsaw], ibidem, 139; Jan Białowąs, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 26–27.

Kozłów, Kozłów rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 4,600 inhabitants.

On February 12, 1945 the UPA massacred ten people including a Ukrainian, Dmytro Kushner, who had a Polish wife. The Ukrainian died for helping the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Tarnopol”, part 3, Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 35.

Kozówka, Baworów rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,950 inhabitants.

In October 1944 the Banderites murdered a Ukrainian woman, Barbara Bondarchuk, who publically condemned the nationalists’ crimes against the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Tarnopol”, part 3, Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 35.

Kurniki Szlachcinieckie, Łozowa rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 550 inhabitants.

Izydor Szpilur, a Pole, recalls how his family found shelter in the home of their Ukrainian neighbor, Ivan Hrymak, during the UPA raid on the nearby village of Łozowa on the night of December 28–29, 1944. In February 1945 the UPA murdered a Ukrainian, Petro Khomitskyi, his wife, and two daughters for warning and helping the Poles. Two daughters of a Pole, Paweł Łagisz, died too. They had baked bread at the Khomitskyis’ for the journey to Poland.

According to Szpilur, there was a summary OUN or UPA court in the village, which passed death sentences on the Poles and on the so-called disloyal Ukrainians. One such sentence was carried out in November 1944 on a Ukrainian, Oleks Mayolovskyi, for having helped the Poles. His cousin was killed, too, because he had refused to murder Mayolovskyi at the nationalists’ order.

Source: Izydor Szpilur, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 58 (2002): 47–48; H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 374.

Łozowa, Łozowa rural commune – village with a large majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 800 inhabitants.

On the night of December 28–29, 1944 the Bandera followers massacred over 100 people.

Jan Kanas, a Pole, described a few instances of Ukrainian help provided to the Poles. A Ukrainian, Volodymyr Markovich, saved his aunt, Anna Dubiel, and her daughter-in-law by stopping the attackers at the very last moment from storming into her home.

Stefan Plaksa came to the defense of his Polish wife when the UPA members came for her. “He opened the door and stood in the doorstep. ‘You’ll come in over my dead body.’ They shot him in the forehead. It remains unknown if went in or if the wife managed to hide. Be that as it may, she survived.”

Source: J. Kanas, Podolskie..., 146.

Romanówka, Borki Wielkie rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village with over 1,000 inhabitants.

At the end of 1944 the local Banderites murdered a Ukrainian teacher, Tetyuk, for his refusal to cooperate with the UPA in murdering Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Tarnopol”, part 3, Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 37.

Stechnikowce, Łozowa rural commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,200 inhabitants.

The account of Anna Derkacz, a Pole, reads: “In the village of Stechnikowce one of the Ukrainians had a Polish wife and two daughters from that marriage. At the end of 1943 he got a letter from the Banderites from the UPA with an order to immediately kill his wife and their two daughters because they were Polish. That Ukrainian husband and father didn’t carry out the order. So he got another letter with the same order and with threats, but he didn’t carry out that order either. Some time later he got a third letter with similar content, and there was a warning that if he didn’t do it himself, others would. After that third letter he knew that the murderers would come. So he sharpened his axe for defense, but not to carry out the order. A few days later at night somebody started banging on the door so he grabbed the axe and stood behind the door in the hall. The door was forced open, the first murderer stormed in and the defender hit him with the axe’s blade as hard as he could. The attacker collapsed and another one stormed in. The same thing happened to him. There were no more attackers. Then the man lit a lamp to look at the Banderites. But what he saw were the bodies of his father and brother.”

The-then steward of an estate in Stechnikowce, Mieczysław Bratkowski, a Pole, describes a similar case. In the fall of 1943 a Ukrainian, Danylo Hemii, who had a Polish wife, came to him for advice. He had two children: a son and a daughter. The Banderites ordered him to kill his wife and daughter (his son was considered a Ukrainian, as he had been baptized in an Orthodox church in accordance with tradition). Bratkowski advised him to immediately take his wife and daughter to their family in Tarnopol. Consequently, both women survived.

Source: Relacje Anny Derkacz i Mieczysława Bratkowskiego [Accounts of Anna Derkacz and Mieczysław Bratkowski], Na Rubieży 29 (1998): 38.

Tarnopol – voivodeship capital. In 1939 its population was about 40,000 – mostly Jews (by 1943 the Germans had exterminated 15,000 of them), as well as Poles and Ukrainians.

In February 1944, before the arrival of the Soviet Army, a Ukrainian physician, Lutsyan Karachko, informed the Poles about a planned UPA attack on the Polish homes (marked with spruce twigs stuffed in a door, window, or wall). “This was probably why there was no massacre on a few streets of Tarnopol.”

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Tarnopol”, part 3, Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 39.

Zastawie, Baworów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 780 inhabitants.

Władysław Kosowski, a Pole, recalls that the police called him for an interrogation after the Germans’ arrival in June 1941. The interrogation lasted until August 8. “I escaped on the way to the latrine thanks to a Ukrainian policeman, Novosad, who whispered to me, ‘Run away.’ He shot at me, but intentionally missed. He was a devoted friend of my parents. My escape succeeded. That Ukrainian policeman, Dymitr Novosad, told everybody that I was badly shot and that wolves and wild dogs tore me to pieces in a forest. The people believed him.”

Later, the author was a member of a local “destruction battalion” (Istriebitielnyj batalion) and repatriated himself to Poland in 1945.

Source: AW, II/2103, Relacja Władysława Kosowskiego [Władysław Kosowski’s Account], p. 22.

TREMBOWLA COUNTY

Budzanów, Budzanów rural commune – town inhabited by Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews (until 1943), 5,500 inhabitants.

In March 1944 the Banderites set ablaze 120 building and murdered several Poles. The farm of a Ukrainian, Yosyp Dyuk, known as Gedzyk, was also burnt down. He rescued the horses and cows of his Polish neighbors, the Hreczuchs, by smashing down the stable door during the fire.

Source: K. Witomski, “Byłem mieszkańcem Budzanowa”, Na Rubieży 35 (1999): 49.

Iwanówka, Iwanówka rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 2,800 inhabitants.

Nineteen people died as a result of a UPA raid on March 12, 1944. Father Franciszek Napieracz, a Pole, managed to hide in a Greek Catholic presbytery. A fragment of his report written a few days later reads: “Fearing that there might be some lookouts, I decided to put on some women’s clothes and go ask the local Ukrainian parish priest what to do next. [...] I went from the church to the Ukrainian presbytery. They were happy that I was alive and they promised I would be safe there, but I could well feel that they were afraid. I spent the night there. I received about 120 zlotys and some food in a sack and early in the morning I put on the same women’s clothes and they drove me to Trembowla’s suburbs.”

Source: Pismo ks. Franciszka Napieracza z relacją o napadach i mordach ukraińskich nacjonalistow w parafii Iwanowka [Writing of Father Franciszek Napieracz Including the Account of the Ukrainian Nationalists’ Attacks and Murders in the Iwanówka Parish], in Father J. Wołczański, Eksterminacja narodu polskiego..., 450.

Słobódka Janowska, Janów rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 1,280 inhabitants.

According to the account of Wojciech Pleszczak, a Pole,, on September 9, 1944 the Banderites murdered nine members of various Polish families and a Ukrainian woman, nickname Sivorisikha, who was heavy with child. The woman died for having warned the Poles about the Banderites’ arrival in the village.

Source: AW, II/1906, W. Pleszczak, Ludzie jednej polskiej wsi Podola [The People of a Polish Village of Podola], p. 201.

Sorocko, Sorocko rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 2,900 inhabitants.

On November 23, 1944 the Banderites slaughtered over 90 Poles. Zygmunt Harc decribes how he survived the attack: “A local Ukrainian miller, Petro Dutka, saw me entering the barn. He took me to a house and bandaged by left arm. That home belonged to an elderly Ukrainian woman. Together with the miller she bandaged my dislocated and bleeding left hand and arm. The Banderites who were after me came to that barn [...]. When they didn’t find me there they went into that Ukrainian woman’s home and asked whether she had seen a wounded Liakh [i.e., Pole]. She categorically said that she had not seen him and that he was not at her place. [...] During that time I was hiding in the attic behind a wide chimney shaft holding my last F-1 type grenade ready to commit suicide in case of discovery. [...] Those Banderites came back a second time to that Ukrainian woman’s cottage and one of them took out a whole roll of Soviet banknotes from a bag and told that woman that it would all be hers if she said where the wounded Liakh was hiding. She repeated that there was no Liakh at her place.”

One of the victims was Father Adam Drzyzga. Earlier, the Sorocko Greek Catholic parish priest had warned him that the UPA had passed a death sentence on him. He advised the Polish priest to leave immediately. “Father Drzyzga decided to do so, but it was too late and he died a martyr.”

Source: Z. Harc, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 25 (1997): 36; Pismo ks. Jana Ferensa w sprawie zamordowania przez ukraińskich nacjonalistow ks. Adama Drzyzgi [Writing of Father Jan Ferens Regarding the Murder of Father Adam Drzyzga by the Ukrainian Nationalists], in Father J. Wołczański, Eksterminacja narodu polskiego..., 443.

Stadnica, Iławcze rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, 140 inhabitants.

On February 12, 1945 the Bandera followers massacred 25 Poles. Witness Władysław Biliński recalls: “That night many Polish families slept in their friendly neighbors’ attics, usually with, but sometimes also without their knowledge. Our family was sleeping in the attic of our Ukrainian neighbor, Vasyl Ptashynskyi. [...] That night the Banderites came to his house, too. They stopped in the hall and asked Vasyl if he knew where the Polish neighbors were hiding. When he said that he didn’t know, a Banderite told him, ‘Vasylu u tebe spiut proklatyje Lachy!’ [You are sheltering those damned Poles!]. And he said, ‘I’m a hero! I fought with Michał Biliński against the Bolsheviks and I wouldn’t hesitate to hide him from you, he’s my friend. But he doesn’t believe me nowadays and he’s afraid of me as much as he is afraid of you – young Ukrainians. If you don’t believe me, then search the place.’ After that firm answer of his the Banderites left and continued the search somewhere else.”

The witness thinks that resisting the UPA was impossible because the number of the Poles in the area was too small. “The only thing that guaranteed survival was to hide during the day and at night and to constantly change the place of one’s stay in the village and outside of it. Our Ruthenian–Ukrainian neighbors helped us survive by frequently warning us or sheltering us from the Banderites.”

Source: W. Biliński, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 65 (2003): 45–46.

Strusów, Strusów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 2,500 inhabitants.

In October 1943 the Bandera followers murdered a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest, Panasyuk, who had a Polish wife and who had condemned the UPA crimes against the Poles in his sermons. His wife, who was heavy with child, was also murdered.

Source: K. Turzański, “Powiat Trembowla”, part 1, Na Rubieży 9 (1994): 19.

Tiutków, Darachów rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 1,100 inhabitants.

On March 23, 1944 the Banderites massacred 22 Poles. Paweł Bury and Kazimierz Pelc, both Poles, write: “Despite the terror against the disobedient, many decent Ukrainians refused to be drawn into participation in the crimes, and numerous examples show this. For instance, a Ukrainian in our village, Mykhailo Kapusta, sheltered two Polish families in his home during the raid. He also told the Banderites who were looking for those Poles that there were no ‘Liakhs’ at his place. He saved their life. That Mykhailo Kapusta’s brother, who was a Banderite, severely beat him up for his refusal to participate in murdering the Poles. That night during the raid another inhabitant of our village, a Pole, Skrętowicz, tried to drive the cattle out of a burning barn. One of the attackers caught him doing that. He not only let him finish that activity but also told him, ‘Escape ‘cause when the others come they’ll kill you.’ J. Skrętkowicz survived.”

Source: P. Bury, K. Pelc, “Byliśmy świadkami”, Na Rubieży 25 (1997): 38.

Wierzbowiec, Mogielnica rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 2,500 inhabitants.

During 1943−1944 the Banderites massacred over 60 Poles. Antoni Gomułkiewicz, a Pole, writes that the local Ukrainians, with a few exceptions, refused to help the Poles. “Most of them for fear of the Banderites, most of them.” According to the account of Jan Szozda, a Pole, a Ukrainian nickname “Krzyworęki”, [crooked hand] warned the Poles about the attack planned to take place on March 12, 1944. Consequently, the Poles prepared proper shelters and hideouts.

Michał Berbeć, a Pole who was 12 then, recalls how he survived the raid on March 22, 1944: “At dawn I went to my aunt in Laskowce. Her husband (my uncle) was a Ukrainian. I really made sure that nobody saw me. I hid in their barn. When my aunt came in to get some hay she saw me. She immediately took me into her home, fed me, and hid me on the bed under the eiderdown. My uncle came a while later and asked me if anybody had seen me walk in. I said ‘no’. Then he forbid me to leave the house and said, ‘Your father is already dead.’”

Source: A. Gomułkiewicz, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 37 (1999): 35; J. Szozda, “Byłem świadkiem”, ibidem, 37; M. Berbeć, “Byłem świadkiem”, ibidem, 33.

Zazdrość, Darachów rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,000 inhabitants.

On February 12, 1945 the Banderites massacred ca. 40 people. One of the survivors was Father Kazimierz Lechman, a Pole who was sheltered by a local Greek Catholic priest.

Source: K. Turzański, “Powiat Trembowla”, part 1, Na Rubieży 9 (1994): 20.

ZALESZCZYKI COUNTY

Burakówka, Koszłowce rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, over 2,000 inhabitants.

On May 2, 1945 the Banderites murdered a Ukrainian who had come to his Polish wife’s defense.

Source: BOss, 16630/I, vol. 1, Materiały Józefa Opackiego... [Józef Opacki’s Materials...], p. 213.

Czerwonogród, Drohiczówka rural commune – village with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 360 inhabitants.

Kasper Kazimierz Karasowki, a Pole, recalls: “I remember that at the beginning of 1944 our Ukrainian neighbors – Myhailo Stakhera, Pavlo Kolba, and Pavlo Vytrykush – came to our house and told my father, Ignacy Karasowski, to escape from the village and look for shelter because the Poles were in danger. They also mentioned consecration of knives and weapons by Ukrainian priests, who encouraged the massacres of the Poles and absolved the perpetrators.”

In her description of the wartime history of her Polish family, Maria Józefowska also talks about their departure from Czerwonogród. “My father secretly contacted our family’s trusted friend and he agreed to drive us to Zaleszczyki – he was a Ukrainian. The enterprise was highly risky for us and for our driver. We had to get through the area controlled by the band.”

Source: K. Karasowski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 57 (2004): 49; M. Józefowska (née Szuba), “Byłam świadkiem”, ibidem, 47.

Latacz, Drohiczówka rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,600 inhabitants.

On January 15, 1945 the Banderites massacred 90 Poles. Celestyna Litwińczuk, a Polish girl aged 11, survived the attack. At first, she hid with her father in a barn of their female Ukrainian acquaintance, but without her knowledge. “When the morning came, my father carried me to the home of another Ukrainian woman we knew, and she let me stay there while my dad went to find some clothes for himself and for me. Then a few armed men with their faces painted black and red came into the house [...] They were Banderites. Luckily, right after them a young woman, probably a daughter or a daughter-in-law of the elderly Ukrainian woman who took me in, ran into the house and engaged those men in a conversation and took them to another house. In the meantime my older sister came running up with some clothes for me. That elderly Ukrainian woman told her to take me from there and flee as fast as possible because we were in danger. [...] For a few days our whole family was hiding with about a dozen other inhabitants in a Ukrainian priest’s basement, with his knowledge. One evening he came to us and said that his servants had already informed the Banderites that he was sheltering Poles and he couldn’t guarantee our safety and so he advised us to flee immediately. He helped us find some Ukrainians who drove us to Tłuste by wagons and we stayed there until our departure to Poland.”

Another Polish inhabitant of Latacz, Eugeniusz Tuligłowski, was also hiding with his family at his Ukrainian neighbor lady’s. After a few days the woman told them that somebody had informed the Banderites that she was sheltering Polish children and she told them to leave her home because of the danger.

Source: C. Litwińczuk, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 18 (1996): 21; E. Tuligłowski, “Byłem świadkiem”, ibidem.

Torskie, Uścieczko rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 2,500 inhabitants.

In October 1944 the UPA massacred over 40 Poles. In his detailed account Aleksander Chmura, a Pole, talks about the Ukrainians who helped the Poles. He mentions the Pakholchaks, who sheltered Genowefa (née Kobylańska) and her child from the attackers. He also writes about a Kostyuk (a senior monk in the Greek Catholic church), who died as one of several dozen victims of another raid. The Ukrainian was murdered with his family for his disapproval of the UPA crimes.

In January 1945 the UPA murdered the Polish-Ukrainian couple, the Sędziszewskis. Their son, Franciszek, survived. Chmura writes: “During the guard’s absence Franek [diminutive for ‘Franciszek’] managed to untie his legs and, with his hands still tied up, he crawled out of the barn using a passage known only to him and he escaped. On the way he met an acquainted elderly Ukrainian woman, very religious, who untied his hands.”

Source: A. Chmura, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 18 (1996): 27–28.

Uhryńkowce, Uhryńkowce rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,600 inhabitants.

Maria Sosnowska recalls December 1944: “A few days after Christmas a Ukrainian neighbor lady warned us about the possibility of a UPA raid and advised us to flee to the town. We took her advice and I went with my father to Zaleszczyki, where we stayed at our relative’s.” After two days the daughter and father returned to Uhryńkowce. “At some point I saw from a window that the Polish side of Uhryńkowce was burning. Terrified by that sight, we escaped to our Ukrainian neighbor. He let us in and my father and I made sure that the Banderites weren’t coming in our direction.” The father and daughter managed to avoid the fate of the several dozen Polish victims slaughtered on January 1, 1945.

Source: M. Sosnowska, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 18 (1996): 29.

Uścieczko, Uścieczko rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles and Jews, more than 2,200 inhabitants.

According to the account of Edward Jaworski, a Pole, in 1944 the Bandera followers massacred 17 Poles. Father Piotr Chomiak was rescued by a Ukrainian, who secretly drove him to Tłuste. Perhaps that act of help was the reason why the Ukrainian was later murdered with his wife and two sons.

Source: Edward Jaworski’s Account (in Romuald Niedzielko’s collection).

Żeżawa, Zaleszczyki Stare rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 800 inhabitants.

On November 13, 1944 the Banderites massacred five Ukrainians who sympathized with the Poles and condemned the UPA crimes.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Zaleszczyki”, part 4, Na Rubieży 74 (2004): 43.

ZBARAŻ COUNTY

Czachary Zbaraskie, Maksymówka rural commune – village with a large majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 700 inhabitants.

Rudolf Milaszewski, a Pole, recalls: “My whole family and I survived thanks to a Ukrainian from our village, Mykola Syvyi. I met him one evening [summer 1943] on my way back home from another village and he told me, ‘]un away from the village because something bad might happen, you are in danger.’”

According to Edward Paliniewicz, another Pole, on February 2, 1945 Gustaw Drobnicki, a Pole aged 17, was kidnapped from the house of a Ukrainian, Pavlyshyn, who was sheltering him and his mother. The Ukrainian nationalists murdered him, but his severely beaten-up mother survived thanks to the help of the Ukrainian neighbor.

Source: R. Milaszewski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 56 (2001): 29; E. Paliniewicz, “Byłem świadkiem”, ibidem, 27.

Koszlaki, Koszlaki rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,500 inhabitants.

The Koszlaki Uniate parish priest, Father Teofil Łucyk, wrote a letter to the Roman Catholic Metropolitan in Lvov in which he informed him that on November 5, 1944 the UPA had kidnapped a Polish curate of the local Roman Catholic parish, Father Włodzimierz Siekierski. He also wrote that he had personally taken care of the funeral of the Catholic parish priest, Father Biliński, who had died of natural causes.

Source: Father J. Wołczański, Eksterminacja narodu polskiego..., p 347.

Prosowce, Skoryki rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village with ca. 450 inhabitants.

In November 1944 the Banderites murdered a Ukrainian, Hryhorii Khinii, and five members of his family for their condemnation of the murdering and looting of the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Zbaraż”, part 2, Na Rubieży 19 (1996): 20.

Stryjówka, Maksymówka rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 1,800 inhabitants.

The Banderites raided the village in 1943. Władysława Lewczuk (née Robak), a Polish woman, recalls: “When they came in the evening on November 11, 1943 to kill my father, Jan Robak, they forced open the door in the hall and stormed in. When they started banging on the door my grandfather went out of the room and walked to the door saying, ‘Damn it, who’s that making such a racket at night?’ The Banderites, who had already broken into the hall, told him, ‘Be quiet, we won’t hurt you!’ They lit up the place with electric flashlights looking for our father. But about two hours earlier our Ukrainian neighbor, Mykhailo Kushliak, our father’s schoolmate, took our father out of the house almost by force and the two of them hid in the home of our neighbor, Jan Sowa. Kushliak did not tell my father why he was taking him out.”

Antoni Sokół, a Pole, writes that during the raid his mother and sister found shelter in the home of a Ukrainian, Turanskyi. “When the firing subsided and the Banderites left, Turanskyi and my mom went to our house, where they found my father, Jan Sokół, executed.”

Bolesław Łukasiewicz, a Pole, writes: “The Ukrainians in the village must have known the details of the attack plan because how else could one explain the actions of Michał Kushliak or Palashka Nahayova from Skałaszczyna? The latter dragged her neighbor, Stach Ganowski, almost by force to her home and hid him there from the attack. This shows the diversity of the stances of the Stryjówka population, the Ukrainian population, of course. Some were trying to help the Poles regardless of the consequences, while others, perhaps their relatives or friends, were murdering their own neighbors.”

Source: W. Lewczuk (née Robak), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 56 (2001): 33; A. Sokół, “Byłem świadkiem”, ibidem; AW, II/2089, B. Łukasiewicz, Wspomnienia ze Stryjówki [Memories from Stryjówka], 64.

Tarasówka, Załuże rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village with ca. 450 inhabitants.

In July 1943 the Ukrainian nationalists massacred ca. 500 inhabitants of Kołodno (Krzemieniec county, Volhynia voivodeship) located 7 km from Tarsówka. Stanisław Maleńczuk writes: “None of the Poles from the village of Tarasówka died in the village. This was largely thanks to the stance of the Ukrainian villagers, who did not engage in the massacres of their neighbors.”

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Zbaraż”, part 2, Na Rubieży 19 (1996): 23.

Zbaraż Stary, Czernichowce rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 1,100 inhabitants.

Jan Konysz describes an event in which he participated in July 1941. The Ukrainian policemen gathered 60 Poles allegedly for forest labor. “I was in that group, too. As I soon learnt, everybody was to be executed. The massacre did not take place only thanks to the intervention of the Greek Catholic priest, Bohatyuk, and the psalm singer (organist), Didukh. Those two contributed to a change of an earlier decision. I also remember well that that psalm singer, Didukh, rescued my older sister. The Ukrainian policemen got that German drunk and one of them said that my sister was Jewish. The drunk German immediately took out his pistol and pointed it at my sister. Then that psalm singer, Didukh, struck his arm with the pistol and the bullet missed my sister.”

Source: J. Konysz, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 19 (1996): 21.

ZBORÓW COUNTY

Białogłowy, Załoźce commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,600 inhabitants.

Michał Gerc, a Pole, recalls: “One afternoon in August 1944 my parents were visited by a woman married to a Pole-hater infamous in the village and whose son was a UPA officer. She told them to immediately escape from the village or spend that night at her place. [...] As it was very dangerous to leave the village before evening – the nights belonged to the UPA – there was no choice but to spend that night in the ‘lion’s den.’ [...] they thanked the neighbor lady, loaded some of their belongings onto a wagon and went to Załoźce to continue their wandering.”

In January 1945 the Banderites murdered a Ukrainian, Sheremeta, for his refusal to kill his Polish wife.

Source: AW, II/1286/2k, M. Gerc, Okruchy wspomnień z lat okupacji 1939–1945 we wschodniej Małopolsce [Crumbs of Memories from the Occupation Years 1939−1945 in Eastern Galicia], p. 23; M. Gerc, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 56 (2001): 42, 44.

Pomorzany, Pomorzany rural commune – town inhabited mostly by Ukrainians as well as by Poles and Jews (until 1943), 4,300 inhabitants.

A Ukrainian, Pavlo Roshchenko, sheltered a Pole in the attic of his barn and thus saved him from death at the Banderites’ hands.

Source: C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 169.

Reniów, Załoźce rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village with over 1,200 inhabitants.

Franciszek Łakomski, a Pole, recalls: “A Ukrainian married couple, Zakharya and Maria Romaniv, lived by the forest on the Białe Pole farmstead in the Reniów village. They were Greek Catholics and considered themselves Ruthenians and Polish citizens. They sympathized with the Poles and Jews. From September 1939 to 1944 they sheltered Gracki, a Polish Army Captain from Załoźce, in their home. From 1941 to 1944 they sheltered three Jewish families (12 people) at their place.”

Source: Relacja Franciszka Łakomskiego [Franciszek Łakomski’s Account], Na Rubieży 56 (2001): 36.

Urłów, Zborów rural commune – Ukrainian village with a few dozen Polish inhabitants, total population over 1,000.

In 1943 the Bandera followers murdered a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest who condemned the massacres in Volhynia and called for reconciliation in his sermons.

Source: C. Blicharski, „Petruniu ne ubywaj mene!”..., 169.

ZŁOCZÓW COUNTY

Bużek, Biały Kamień rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, 1,000 inhabitants.

In the spring of 1944 the Banderites murdered a Ukrainian, Roman Kozhushyn, who refused to kill his Polish wife’s brother (surname Góral).

Source: H. Komański, S. Siekierka, Ludobójstwo..., 497.

Czyżów, Remizowce rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 750 inhabitants.

Jan Żuliński, a Pole, writes about an attack that was thwarted on his home village in the fall of 1943. A group of Banderites from the villages of Koropiec and Uhorce came to the Ukrainian village reeve, Myhailo Panovyk, to murder the local Poles. The massacre did not take place thanks to Panovyk’s stance. “I don’t know what arguments the village reeve used or what motivated him. But it’s a fact that we avoided the planned massacre. The Banderites murdered our village reeve in the spring of 1945. Ten other Ukrainians died with him at the Banderites’ hands.”

Source: Jan Żuliński, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 54 (2001): 52.

Gołogóry, Gołogóry rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,700 inhabitants.

On the night of March 30–31, 1944 the UPA massacred 28 Poles. One of the survivors was Maria Barańska, who was sheltered by her Ukrainian neighbors, the Furdas, with her daughter Aleksandra, aged 9, and some other Poles.

Source: M. Barańska, A. Kaban (née Barańska), “Byłyśmy świadkami”, Na Rubieży 49 (2001): 33.

LVOV VOIVODESHIP

BÓBRKA COUNTY

Bóbrka, Bóbrka – county seat, inhabited by Poles, Ukrainians, and Jews: over 5,400 inhabitants.

In June 1944 the Poles from the surrounding villages stayed in Bóbrka at night due to the risk of UPA raids. Some of the Ukrainian families sheltered their Polish neighbors and relatives. The local OUN–UPA leadership banned putting up the Poles under threat of death. The nationalists tried to intimidate the Ukrainians into obedience in other ways, too: for instance, on the night of June 19–20, 1944 several shots were fired at the windows of the house of a Ukrainian with the surname Chaban.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Bóbrka”, Na Rubieży 23 (1997): 12.

Kniesioło, Strzeliska Nowe rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,100 inhabitants.

Władysław Łabiak, a Pole, recalls that during 1942−1944 Kniesioło had a Ukrainian reeve, Vasyl Berezovskyi. “He told my mother, among other people, ‘As long as I am the reeve you don’t need to worry, ‘cause I’ll never allow the murder of Poles. But you need to know that the Ukrainian nationalists will remove me from office by force.’ That happened at the beginning of 1944.”

Seven people died as a result of the Bandera followers’ raid on March 8, 1944. The victims included four members of the Łabiak family and a Ukrainian, nicknamed “Kholevka”, who had a Polish wife and lived in the house of his Polish father-in-law. During the attack the Ukrainian hid his father-in-law in the attic and claimed to be the owner of the house.

After another attack and the looting of the farm “my mother decided to leave Kniesioło. Our Ukrainian neighbor, whose surname was Chmyr, undertook to drive the rest of our family to Chodorów. My mother, my sisters, and my brother loaded what was left of our possessions and set out. While they were passing through the village of Leszczyn, 12 armed Banderites ran onto the road and stopped the wagon. Then my mother, sisters, and brother started crying and praying out loud. When they approached the wagon my mother recognized her Ukrainian acquaintance, who was a superintendent of the Ukrainian police from Strzeliska Nowe and who had been in our house a few times. He must have recognized my mother because he started asking about various things. His conscience must have spoken up because he told the Banderites gathered around the wagon, “Don’t do them any harm.” And he told my mother, “Go to Chodorów.” [...] We warmly thanked our Ukrainian neighbor, Chmyr, for driving our mother and our family and we rewarded him handsomely.”

In 1944, after the front had passed, another dozen or so people died at the hands of the UPA. One of the victims was a Ukrainian woman, Yashchyshyn, and her two children. Convinced that the Soviets’ arrival would stop the massacres of the Poles she publically declared: “This is the end of the rule of bandits.” The Bandera followers murdered her the next night.

Source: W. Łabiak, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 37 (1999): 19–20.

Łopuszna, Chlebowice Wielkie rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 1,000 inhabitants.

The Bandera followers murdered Piotr Stopyra on March 27, 1944. The Pole went to the mill in Milatyn despite warnings from the friendly Ukrainians from Łopuszna. His wife Emilia, who set out in search of her husband, was also murdered. The Stopyras’ Ukrainian neighbors, the Trushes, took care of the victims’ children in the village (daughter Janina, aged 6, and her brother, who was less than three years old).

A few Polish families left the village and a Ukrainian, Vasyl Bega, helped them to transport their belongings by lending them a wagon with horses. In April a Ukrainian woman, Maryna Lobas, took care of the elderly who stayed in Łopuszna.

Source: S.N., “Kolonia Łopuszna Nowa na Wschodzie (fragmenty wspomnień)”, Na Rubieży 66 (2003): 31–32; “Karczowani”, Karta 8 (1992): 60–64 (Janina Stopyra-Gawrońska’s Account). See also: J. Stopyra-Gawrońska, Bez dzieciństwa (Warsaw, 1997); extended edition: (Grajewo, 2003).

Nowosielce, Bortniki rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,400 inhabitants.

Father Roman Daca, a Polish priest, survived the UPA raid on his rectory on the night of September 28–29, 1943. His mother and housekeeper, however, were killed. He recalls: “The other members of the household, and there were many at that time, including a Ukrainian, Fedyo Kostyshyn, were beaten unconscious just because they did not reveal my hideout [and] did not denounce me.

At daybreak on September 29, 1943, swollen and injured by the attackers and with his indispensable ax, Fedyo Kostyshyn began to look for “the good priest” [...] in the abandoned rectory, which was full of debris, destroyed, and completely looted and where the murdered women’s bodies were lying. All other members of the household had fled in various directions at their sight. He, Fedyo Kostyshyn, my servant, was the only one that stayed. He began to look for me in the debris and the rubble. He wanted to rescue me even at the cost of his own life because, even though he was a Ukrainian, he would not avoid death from the hands of the Banderites if they found out what he was doing. Even though that good, faithful, and heroic servant had caused me some trouble with his work, this time, with his indispensable ax, found me early in the morning after that tragic night. I was hiding in a shelter under the floor. He pried open the lid with his ax and saw me barely alive, unable to move, numb, and covered with slimy mold and stinking mud.”

Father Daca also recalls the earlier periods in his life when he received help from the Ukrainians:

“During the first days after the war (with the Soviets] began on September 17, 1939, when I was in danger from the Ukrainian nationalists a Ukrainian from Chodorów, Dr Stefan Seniginovskyi, helped me a lot or even saved my life while risking his. In 1940 that Ukrainian physician saved my mother’s life by arranging a transfusion of my blood in extremely difficult and primitive surgical conditions. [...]

In his unfathomable omnipotence and mercy [...] God saved my life with the hands and actions of that noble man, Berezovskyi – a Greek Catholic psalm signer in Nowosielce and a Ukrainian. He sheltered me in his room under his eiderdowns and pillows when I was in danger of death at the hands of the Ukrainian fascists. This was in the summer of 1942.

I was rescued again in the winter at the end of 1942 while passing through the Ukrainian village of Wierzbica one night. A detachment of armed Ukrainians suddenly stopped me on the road in the center of the village. It was probably a local UPA detachment, which was doing nighttime military training. [...] a sack of rye was found on my wagon [...] This was considered an act to the detriment of the German state. Transport of rye was punishable with death. The commander of that detachment passed a death sentence on me in the name of the German authorities.

I was to be executed. [...] Suddenly, a crowd of women and children, perhaps from the whole village, surrounded me. They started shouting, crying and calling by name their husbands and sons and all the riflemen [striltsi] standing there. They shouted, “Don’t kill him like a dog, let him go, he’s a Polish gentleman from Nowosielce who treated us and our children and saved our lives and the lives of our children.

The detachment members got confused. The execution of the sentence was cancelled. I was let go. And to my dismay those who were about to execute me escorted me for my own safety almost to the very rectory. As they were saying goodbye they said that I was lucky and told me to be more careful next time and not to come to their parts.”

Source: Father R. Daca, “Byłem świadkiem (fragmenty wspomnień z 1985 r.)”, Na Rubieży 52 (2001): 35–36.

DROHOBYCZ COUNTY

Majdan, Kropiwnik Nowy rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 950 inhabitants.

Fourteen people died during the raid on the forester’s lodge on August 29, 1943. The victims included the Polish forester, Jan Pittner, and his grandson. His Ukrainian housekeeper survived, even though she refused to reveal the landlord’s hideout and told the attackers that the child was hers.

Source: J. Pit (née Pittner), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 77 (2005): 48–49.

GRÓDEK JAGIELLOŃSKI COUNTY

Lelechówka, Janów Lwowski commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 600 inhabitants.

On April 7, 1944 the Bandera followers attacked the forester’s lodge in the Buława grange and murdered two Poles. One of the victims was Antoni Smyrski, who was a forester. His life was spared during an attack the previous day because a Ukrainian gamekeeper, Paslavskyi, interceded on his behalf.

Source: J. Smyrska, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 20 (1997): 10–11.

JAWORÓW COUNTY

Pyszówka (Rehberg), Szutowa rural commune – Polish village, ca. 200 inhabitants.

On April 7, 1944 the Bandera followers murdered 63 people. Maria Tyma (née Heleniak) recalls that a day before the attack “a Ukrainian whom Józef Heleniak knew informed him about a planned attack on our village. Thanks to this warning our parents put the four of us (me – Maria, aged 12, and my brothers: Franek, aged 9, Janek, aged 8, and Staś, aged 2) to sleep in a brick-walled chamber.”

Source: M. Tyma, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 17 (1996): 28. See also W. Rydzik, Ocalić od zapomnienia. Tragedia Pyszówki spowodowana przez ukraińskie bandy UPA w dniu 7.04.1944 roku, typescript, (Skierniewice, 1994) (Warsaw IPN Library).

Rogoźno, Szutowa rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,200 inhabitants.

At the end of April 1944 an armed band of the OUN Security Service murdered the Rogoźno Greek Catholic parish priest, Father Myhailo Telep, with his family (four people). This was punishment for the priest’s public condemnation of the raid on Pyszówka on April 7, of the murder of over 60 Poles, and the destruction of the local church.

Source: Father W. Piętowski, Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie po wybuchu II wojny światowej. Zarys, typescript, (Czarna k. Łańcuta, 1988), 338.

Szutowa, Szutowa rural commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles, over 800 inhabitants.

In February 1944 the UPA murdered a few dozen Poles including the parish priest, Father Albin Barnaś. Father Franciszek Malak, another Pole, recalls that the local Greek Catholic priest, who was sympathetic toward “the bereaved Polish parishioners, was killed at night with his wife [...] Priests like that one from Szutowa (who encouraged his kin to let the Poles go to Easter confession first because they were like orphans, like sheep without a shepherd) were a rare exception. Besides, they were soon killed off.”

Source: AW, II/2472, Father F. Malak, Dzieje rzymskokatolickiej parafii Lipina, dek. i pow. Jaworów, diec. Przemyśl [The History of the Roman Catholic Parish in Lipina, Jaworów decanate and county, Przemyśl Diocese], p. 14–15.

LVOV COUNTY

Chałupki, Biłka Szlachecka rural commune – a settlement near Barszczowice, a village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians.

At the end of February 1944 the UPA massacred about 20 Poles. There was also a Ukrainian victim, Antoni Murmyla, who died because he refused to call on his Polish brother-in-law, whom the attackers wanted to apprehend alive, to come out of the house.

Source: J. Węgierski, Armia Krajowa – oddziały leśne 19 pułku piechoty (Kraków, 1993), 90.

Chrusno Stare, Ostrów rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, over 900 inhabitants.

In late April and early May 1944 the UPA slaughtered a Ukrainian family of six, the Uhryns, on suspicion of helping the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Lwów”, Na Rubieży 66 (2003): 48.

Mikłaszów, Biłka Szlachecka rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 600 inhabitants.

At the beginning of June 1944 Józef Wojdyła, a Pole, was attacked and shot on his way back from Lvov. His brother, Jan Wojdyła, recalls: “Convinced that the victim was dead, [the attackers] left him on the road. His wife and Józef’s mother, Maria Wojdyła, returned to the crime scene. The victim was only wounded and was conscious. The two women escorted him to the nearby cottage of a Ukrainian, Ivan Puhach, who took the wounded man home on his wagon. The attackers severely beat him up for that later. [...] The next day the Polish Home Army leadership from Biłka Szlachecka sent wagons and a well-armed convoy to evacuate the wounded man and the endangered Poles. [...] Unfortunately, the wounded man got pneumonia and died on June 7, 1944.”

Source: Relacja Jana Wojdyły [Jan Wodyła’s Account], Na Rubieży 43 (2000): 14, 18.

Miłoszowice, Ostrów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

In Miłoszowice a Ukrainian, Myhailo Zhminka, rescued his Polish neighbor, Kazimierz Jednoróg, and his family by telling the attackers that the Poles had already escaped.

Source: B. Bednarski, “Akcja SS „Galizien” w Siemianówce dnia 26 lipca 1944 roku”, Na Rubieży 66 (2003): 41.

Pustomyty, Nawaria rural commune – village with a large majority of Poles over Ukrainians, 1,400 inhabitants.

On the night of May 20–21,1944 the UPA massacred the Polish Surmiak family between Siemianówka and Pustomyty. A Greek Catholic clergyman condemned the attackers during the victims’ funeral at the cemetery in Pustomyty. The murderers went to the Greek Catholic church in Leśniowice to request a blessing. The local Greek Catholic priest refused. Bolesław Bednarski, a Pole, reports: “He fell on his knees before them saying that he should be the first of the new victims in Pustomyty. The clergyman’s stance dampened the attackers’ murderous fervor and perhaps saved further potential victims.”

Source: B. Bednarski, Akcja SS „Galizien” w Siemianówce...

Rakowiec, Krasów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village with over 600 inhabitants.

Bolesław Bednarski, a Pole, writes: “On March 26, 1944 armed men dressed in German uniforms stormed into the Roman Catholic church in the village of Rakowiec during Father Błażej Jurasz’s sermon. They terrorized the people, forced them out of the church, arranged them in threes, for a total of 96 people, including the priest and nine men. There were 36 attackers on horses. They surrounded their victims and drove them onto the road to the forest. Helena and Maria Czubata with a child and Janisiów from Nowosiółka died during an escape attempt. Chorkawy’s maid, Marysia, and Jan Oleszczuk got wounded (the latter died after two days).

Something unexpected happened at the clearing in the forest. The local Ukrainians arrived with their reeve Ptashnik and the Greek Catholic priest from Polana, Berezyuk, and they interceded for their Polish neighbors. Their stance saved the Poles. The attackers made do with a ransom: three pairs of horses and a sleigh, a substantial amount of bread, and 10,000 złoties. The village became lifeless after the attack. The men were hiding in the shelters and some of the families left the village.”

Source: B. Bednarski, Akcja SS „Galizien” w Siemianówce..., 39–40; Cf. also J. Węgierski, W lwowskiej Armii Krajowej (Warsaw, 1989), 101.

MOŚCISKA COUNTY

Arłamowska Wola, Twierdza rural commune – Ukrainian village with over 2,000 inhabitants and five Polish families.

In March 1944 the Bandera followers attacked four Poles who were going by wagon to their home village to get food and clothes. Three Poles were murdered, while the fourth one managed to escape. Jan Wojtków, a Pole from Rudniki, was driving a wagon behind that first one. A Ukrainian he encountered warned him off, and so he turned back and thus avoided death.

Source: Relacja Michaliny Rabiej z d. Kowalskiej [Account of Michalina Rabiej (née Kowalska)], Na Rubieży 40 (1999): 34.

RAWA RUSKA COUNTY

Bruckenthal, Bruckenthal rural commune – Polish village with over 360 inhabitants and a few Ukrainian families.

In the spring of 1944 the Bandera followers conducted another raid on the village and massacred several dozen Poles. Jan Ostrówka escaped and found shelter in the home of the Ukrainian family of Bachek in neighboring Woronów. Pylyp Bachek bandaged his wounds and called a Ukrainian physician from Bełz, Myzyuk, who enjoyed trust among the Poles, as well. The doctor took the wounded man to a hospital.

Source: AW, II/1264/2k, M. Darowski, Odwet lub banderowcy [Retaliation or Bandera Followers], p. 105–107 (book edition: Krwawy odwet [Podgorzyn–Wrocław, 2000], 145–148).

Ostobuż, Bruckenthal rural commune – Polish village, ca. 300 inhabitants.

In the spring of 1945 the Polish Darowski family was warned about a planned UPA attack by a Ukrainian acquaintance from Korczów. “He didn’t want us to die unnecessarily. He came to warn us even though it meant putting himself in great danger, even in danger of certain death.”

Source: M. Darowski, Odwet lub banderowcy...p. 110 (book edition: Krwawy odwet [Podgorzyn–Wrocław, 2000], 152).

Staje, Tarnoszyn rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, over 800 inhabitants.

In the fall of 1943 a Ukrainian railway cashier, Stefan Kril, was shot in unknown circumstances. He was known for his condemnation of the UPA massacres of Poles.

On November 15, 1943 the Bandera followers murdered nine Poles. Aleksander Kijanowski, a Pole, got out of the attackers’ hands, although he was wounded. A Ukrainian physician from Bełz, Myzyuk, bandaged his wounds and organized his transport to a hospital in Tomaszów.

Mieczysław Darowski, a Pole, writes: “After that tragic incident almost nobody slept at home at night. The people hid in various hideouts and shelters, some even found shelter at their Ukrainian friends’.”

The Ukrainian family of Maznik died at the hands of the Banderites for condemning their crimes and for sheltering Poles.

According to the account of Kazimierz Górnicki, a Pole, in December 1944 the Bandera followers attacked the Pole Paweł Legeżyński and “would have strangled him if it had not been for the intervention of an armed Ukrainian, who regarded himself a communist and condemned the Banderites.”

Source: M. Darowski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 25 (1997): 18; M. Darowski, Odwet lub banderowcy..., p. 5−19 (book edition: Krwawy odwet [Podgorzyn–Wrocław, 2000], 38−41); K. Górnicki, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 25 (1997): 21.

RUDKI COUNTY

Komarno, Komarno rural commune – small town with ca. 5,500 inhabitants. Before the war half of its population was Jewish. Ukrainians and Poles constituted 30 and 20 percent of its population respectively.

In July 1944 an armed group of the OUN Security Service (SB) executed three Ukrainians: Yozef Koss, Aleksander Shpyc, and Vladyslav Kruk. The victims had refused to join the UPA and participate in murdering the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Rudki”, Na Rubieży 42 (2000): 24.

Rumno, Komarno commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 2,500 inhabitants.

On the night of June 2–3, 1944 and during the next few days the UPA massacred ca. 40 people in the village.

The Polish family of Tadeusz Pater (nickname “Steć”) managed to survive thanks to the help of their female Ukrainian neighbor. “Our parents woke the five of us and, carrying some bundles grabbed in haste, escorted us to a Ukrainian family. I can recall that the woman’s name was Katarzyna Shydlo, nicknamed Grushka. We could see the burning stable and barn when we were running across the garden in the fusillade. [...] The Ukrainian man Myhailo Podibka (Karabyn) secured our house by watching over it; after the return from the other side of the San River he took in our cow and horse (the stable had burnt down). Being our neighbor, he was friendly toward our family. We are grateful to him for that help.”

Józef’s son, Stanisław Pater, recalls: “Mom, Dorota, and Tadeusz found shelter in the cottage of our Ukrainian neighbor lady, Nachka [...] That widow, Anastazya Kalandyak (called Nachka Dykoho), showed herself to be decent and humane until the end, as she had asserted earlier, and brave, she was a real heroine (after the departure of the Poles she suffered a lot from her neighbors and Ukrainian organizations).”

Józef Pater “Marcinko”, a Pole, writes: “When that horrible attack ended and a new day began the four of us returned home. In the gardens, where we lived, they did not burn or murder because our close neighbors didn’t let them. Our Ukrainian neighbor, Ivan Panchyshyn ‘Hawryshko,’ was a good man. He let my father, my grandma, and my uncle Wojtek into his house during the attack and they stayed there until it all ended. The others also provided help to the Poles – for instance, two Ukrainian ladies who frequently informed their Polish neighbors about the Banderites’ plans. They even told us when they planned to murder the Poles. But when I told the Polish farmers about that [...] they didn’t want to believe it and said: ‘Such things (that is, cruel murders) cannot happen,’ and they told me, ‘What do you know? Why, you’re young.’ Unfortunately, it later turned out that it was all true. Those sympathetic women were two Annas: Anna Lyshchyshyn ‘Bundziowa’ and Anna, who was married to Fedek, but I can’t recall her surname.”

Jan Gerus was 11 year-old Polish boy in the fall of 1944 when his Ukrainian neighbor, who went to the forest to collect some dry sticks, protected him from an armed Bandera follower he encountered by claiming that Jan was his nephew.

The Polish boy Tadeusz Pańczyszyn, aged 11, survived the Bandera followers’ attack on the night of June 2–3, 1944. Here is a fragment of Pańczyszyn’s book devoted to the village of Rumno: “[Q]uite many families in the Ukrainian milieux disapproved of the UPA genocide. Even though contacts with the Poles were forbidden and punishable even with death, some of the Ukrainians secretly informed their Polish neighbors about the approaching danger. Consequently, some of the Poles prepared provisional shelters for their families in their gardens, orchards, and other places. Many families survived thanks to those often ingenious shelters and hideouts.”

Source: Relacja Tadeusza Patera „Stecia” [Account of Tadeusz Pater “Steć”], in Father T. Pater, Oczyma i sercem. Wieś Rumno w latach 1939–1945, vol. 2 (Przemyśl, 2000), 85; Relacja Stanisława Patera [Stanisław Pater’s Account], ibidem, 117; Relacja Józefa Patera [Józef Pater’s Account], ibidem, 80; Relacja Jana Gerusa [Jan Gerus’ Account], ibidem, 183–184; Tadeusz Pańczyszyn, Rumno: pomnik pamięci 1944–1945 (Przemyśl, 1998), 103; See also Mieczysław Pabis, “Zginęli, bo byli Polakami. 60. rocznica ukraińskiego ludobójstwa w Rumnie”, Nasz Dziennik, 16 March 2004.

SAMBOR COUNTY

Dublany, Dublany rural commune – village with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 2,700 inhabitants.

The Polish woman Genowefa Łomecka recalls her survival in the fall of 1943: “We went to the mill in the neighboring village to mill cereal for flour. [...] Suddenly the Ukrainian owner of the mill, whose surname was Beca, approached us and said that in a while the soldiers would come to the mill and check documents, and at the same time he told the Poles to hide. Having heard what the miller said, Maria Krilych [a Ukrainian woman married to a Pole] said that when they ask me what my name is and where I am from I should say that my name is Anna Zazula and that I come from the Kończaków settlement, which was a district of the Dublany village where the Ukrainians were a majority, and she told Franciszek Chełpa to pretend to be a deaf-mute. And the soldiers did come about a dozen minutes later [...] and they had the tryzubs [tridents] on their caps. [...] Maria Krilych told them that we had no documents on us and that we didn’t take them because we lived nearby and we were Ukrainians. We answered in Ukrainian. They must have believed Maria and me because they let us be. But they took Franciszek Chełpa, who pretended to be a deaf-mute, for an interrogation. He returned after a while severely beaten up and bleeding. [...] A Pole, whose surname was Żuk, [...] was led by the Banderites over the footbridge to the other side of the river and murdered there with the other captured Poles.”

Source: G. Łomecka (née Kasperska), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 74 (2004): 31.

Olszanik, Sambor rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, more than 1,700 inhabitants.

In June 1944 a local Ukrainian woman warned most of the Polish villagers about a planned UPA attack. Almost all of them fled to Czukwia. The attack did take place and the UPA murdered two Polish families that stayed at home.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Sambor”, Na Rubieży 37 (1999): 48.

Stara Sól, Stara Sól rural commune – village with over 1,100 inhabitants, most of whom were Poles, but there were also some Ukrainians and Jews.

On the night of May 29–30, 1944 a Ukrainian, Liskevich, was murdered with his Polish wife for having helped Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Sambor”, Na Rubieży 74 (2004): 35.

Strzelbice, Stary Sambor rural commune – village with over 1,900 inhabitants, most of whom were Ukrainian. Poles and Jews each constituted 10 percent of the population.

Barbara Radyńska, a Pole, recalls that her mother turned for advice to her Ukrainian neighbor from Sambor due to the danger from the Bandera followers, which had been increasing since mid-1943. “It turned out that he was somebody important in the UPA. His name was Volynec. He let mom in and told her to go to a different place within a week. He said that he could no longer protect us. After that conversation [...] we went to my father to Wańkowa near Olszanica in Lesko county.”

Source: B. Radyńska, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 37 (1999): 52.

SOKAL COUNTY

Ostrów, Krystynopol rural commune – village with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians and more than 2,000 inhabitants.

A Ukrainian woman, Roza Zhurovska, who had a Polish husband, survived the burning of her family home started by the Bandera followers. Her husband and children hid in a church. “From my hideout I could see my house burning and I saw my Ukrainian neighbor pouring water on the door to the basement. He was convinced that we were hiding in the basement. He wanted to save us in that way.”

Source: R. Żurowska, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 22 (1997): 31.

Poturzyca, Krystynopol rural commune – village with ca. 1,500 inhabitants, most of whom were Ukrainian. There were also 100 Polish inhabitants and a small number of Jews.

In March 1944 the UPA murdered a Ukrainian, Tymoshuk, because he refused to participate in murdering the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Sokal”, Na Rubieży 55 (2001): 38.

Żużel, Bełz commune – village with ca. 1,500 inhabitants, most of whom were Ukrainian.

In March 1944 some of the Polish villagers fled west after the UPA from Volhynia had attacked some neighboring localities (among others, Bełz and Ostrów). The local Ukrainian self-defense led by Father Żuk undertook to protect the Polish and Polish-Ukrainian families that had decided to stay in the village. Consequently, the Polish inhabitants of Żużel survived the war.

Source: Relacja Piotra Szkoły [Piotra Szkoła’s Account], in 1947. Propamiatna knyha, ed. B. Huk (Warsaw, 1997), 212–213.

TUREK COUNTY

Łomna, Łomna rural commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles and more than 600 inhabitants.

On September 15, 1943 the UPA robbed a care institution ran by the Franciscan sisters from Warsaw. Sister Salomea Rydzik, a Pole, recalls: “They took everything from the storeroom they could. One of the Ukrainian bandits warned about another attack. He asked for his surname to remain a secret. But Mother Superior did inform Warsaw about that incident and a decision was sent from Warsaw to immediately leave Łomna.” The institution moved to Warsaw with the children.

Source: W. Rydzik, Ocalić od zapomnienia. Tragedia Pyszówki..., 19 (IPN Library).

Sokolniki Górskie, Tarnawa Niżna commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,700 inhabitants.

In the summer of 1944 the UPA massacred ca. 30 Poles who were hiding in a forester’s lodge. According to the account of Alfred Steinhardt, a Pole, one of the Ukrainians warned the Polish inhabitants about the attacks.

Source: A. Steinhardt, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 38 (1999): 31.

ŻÓŁKIEW COUNTY

Borowe, Mosty Wielkie rural commune – village with over 700 inhabitants, most of whom were Ukrainians. There was also a small number of Polish and Jewish inhabitants.

In the spring of 1944 a Polish man whose surname was Has (Hass) survived an attack on one of the Polish houses. Wounded, he crawled to his Ukrainian neighbor, who bandaged his wounds and drove him to Mosty Wielkie.

Source: A. Gołąb, “Powiat Żółkiew”, Na Rubieży 36 (1999): 21.

Butyny, Butyny rural commune – village with over 2,200 inhabitants, most of whom were Ukrainians. Over 120 Polish inhabitants and ca. 100 Jews.

In the summer of 1944, after all of the Poles had been murdered or driven out, one Polish woman stayed in the village with her two little children. They were sheltered by their Ukrainian neighbor. Because of the constant danger, at the risk of his own life the Ukrainian drove them at night to Mosty Wielkie.

Source: A. Gołąb, “Powiat Żółkiew...”, 22.

Wolica, Mosty Wielkie rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 1,000 inhabitants.

Some of the Ukrainians helped their Polish neighbors from the fall of 1943 to the spring of 1944, that is, during the period when there was a danger of UPA attacks. Those Ukrainians were: Maria Khizhynska, Mykola Khizhynskyi, Anna Holota, Serafin Humanyuk, Vasyl Ivanevich, Andrei Nahirnyi, Kateryna Nahirna, Kateryna Stodolna, Roman Stodolnyi, and others. They put up the elderly and children in their homes and let the young sleep in their barns and stables.

On the night of April 2–3, 1944 the UPA massacred ca. 20 people.

Two Polish families survived the attack in the home of Stefan Marmash. Stefan and his mother, Anastazya, helped significantly with the transport of the bodies to Mosty Wielkie. In 1944 the UPA kidnapped Stefan Marmash and murdered him for helping the Poles.

Source: A. Gołąb, “Powiat Żółkiew...”, 33; C. Filipowski, “Moja ty biedna sierotko”, in L. Kulińska, Dzieci Kresów II (Krakóow, 2006), 99.

Żółtańce, Kłodno Wielkie rural commune – village with over 4,800 inhabitants, most of whom were Ukrainians. Żółtańce also had over 500 Polish and ca. 350 Jewish inhabitants.

In March 1944 the UPA killed several Poles.

Bronisława Jaszczyszyn, a Pole, recalls: “After some time dad went with our relatives by two wagons to Żółtańce to get potatoes from the cellar and a few sacks of wheat. On the way back a Ukrainian from our village, Dmytro Zhylynskyi, joined them. He showed my father a sawed off gun, a so-called ‘circumciser’ [obrzezak], and told him, ‘I have an order to kill you, but my conscience won’t let me. Don’t come here again.’

Unfortunately, my father listened neither to him nor to my mom’s pleading and he went back for the harvest. He never returned home. Two Banderites murdered him in the forest and his body was dumped into a pit. One Ukrainian woman, whose sons and fathers-in-law had also been murdered by the Banderites, told us this. In the pit where my father’s body was dumped were the bodies of other victims, too, including those of Ukrainians who had condemned the UPA crimes.”

Source: B. Jaszczyszyn, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 36 (1999): 35.

STANISŁAWÓW VOIVODESHIP

DOLINA COUNTY

Broszniów Osada, Broszniów rural commune – Polish village.

In October 1943 the Bandera followers kidnapped 18 forest laborers from a narrow-gauge train and then murdered them (the laborers were coming back from a meeting in Dolina). A forestry secretary, Jarosław Busko, survived because his Ukrainian acquaintance had warned him and he did not go to the meeting.

Source: A. Gołąb, “Powiat Dolina”, Na Rubieży 62 (2002): 13.

Czołhany, Bolechów rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, over 2,200 inhabitants.

On February 14, 1943 the Bandera followers killed Jan Pukalski and kidnapped a few other Poles. They also murdered three Ukrainians who publically condemned the crimes against the Poles.

Source: B. Pukalski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 62 (2002):13.

Dolina – county town, ca. 10,000 inhabitants, inhabited by Poles, Ukrainians and, until 1942, Jews.

On December 24, 1944 the UPA attacked the home of the Polish Bolechowski family, murdering five people. “Benedykt and Władysław Bolechowski were severely wounded. They survived because the attackers thought that they were dead. A local Ukrainian woman, Benedykt’s fiancée, sheltered them in her home, and that saved their lives.”

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Dolina”, Na Rubieży 29 (1998): 4.

Iłemnia, Spas rural commune – village, ca. 1,200 inhabitants, inhabited mostly by Ukrainians and by a few Polish families.

At the turn of 1943 and 1944 the UPA raided the home of a Polish forester named Pichur, who was in the basement at the moment of the attack. The attackers found his Ukrainian servant in the kitchen. Krzysztof Donigiewicz, a Pole, recalls: “The servant told them that the forester was not at home and that he had gone to the forester’s lodge a while ago and had not come back yet. The answer did not satisfy them. They started beating the woman and demanded that she tell them where the forester was hiding. Despite the beating the servant was repeating that the forester had gone out and had not returned yet. In the end the bandits left the woman and went away after having searched the forester’s lodge.”

Source: K. Donigiewicz, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 29 (1998): 4.

Polanica, Polanica rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, over 1,000 inhabitants.

In the fall of 1943 the Bandera followers massacred about a dozen forest inspectorate employees. Kazimierz Sosenkiewicz, a Pole, testifies, “A few days before that incident I got a warning from my Ukrainian acquaintance, who told me in confidence, ‘Mister forester, take your family west because they are planning to slaughter you all.’”

Source: K. Sosenkiewicz, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 29 (1998): 25.

Trościaniec, Rachiń rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 1,300 inhabitants.

According to a Home Army report, a Greek Catholic clergyman was murdered in February–March 1944 for “opposing the massacres.”

Source: Archiwum Akt Nowych w Warszawie [The Central Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw, Poland] [later: AAN], Armia Krajowa [Polish Home Army], Komenda Obszaru Lwów [Lvov Region Command], 203/XV-14, Meldunek „Spirytusu” do „Apteki” z 8 III 1944 [Report of “Spirytus” to “Apteka” of 8 March 1944], p. 137.

KAŁUSZ COUNTY

Dąbrowa, Tomaszowce rural commune – Ukrainian village with ca. 600 inhabitants and a colony inhabited by 40 Poles.

In March 1944 the Bandera followers murdered several people, including Józef and Michał Żak. Zofia Żak recalls, “Some of the Żaks stayed in the colony. Most of them slept in various shelters located outside their farms and survived the March raid of the Banderites. Their Ukrainian acquaintance, Ivan L., helped them for some time. He gave them food and information.”

Source: Z. Żak (née Skrybat), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 29 (1998): 17.

Dołha Wojniłowska, Tomaszowce rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, nearly 2,000 inhabitants.

On September 18, 1939 (one dau after the Soviet invasion of Poland) the Ukrainian nationalists murdered two Polish soldiers who were coming back from the war. A Dołha Wojniłowska inhabitant, Walenty Wór, aged about 30, witnessed that event. Walenty, a Pole who was also returning from the war, was apprehended by the OUN armed band together with the two soldiers. In the armed band there were two Ukrainian brothers, the Bulanchuks. One of them, Onufryy, was an apprentice in the Wórs’ carpentry shop and was friends with Walenty Wór [...] The Pole was released thanks to Onufryy, but had to promise never to tell anybody about the other two soldiers’ fate. Onufryy Bulanchuk also warned Walenty Wór’s wife in 1944 about a raid planned for the night of April 1–2, 1944. That enabled her to escape and she survived.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Kałusz”, Na Rubieży 66 (2003): 50.

Mysłów, Podmichale rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,300 inhabitants.

On April 13, 1943 the UPA murdered three members of the Polish Masłowski family.

Aniela Róż (née Masłowska) recalls: “The attackers poured kerosene or gasoline on the house and set it on fire with the two of us still alive inside. It was a miracle that I, Aniela, aged 13, and my younger brother Kazimierz, aged 7, managed to get out of the burning building and hide in the home of our Ukrainian neighbor lady, “grandma” Kuchera. Grandma hid both of us behind the stove, bemoaned our fate, and mourned the dead from our family. At about 4 a.m., at dawn, grandma’s son, Aleksander Kuchera, returned home with a few friends from the band who participated in the massacre of the Poles including our parents and sister. When they saw us they really wanted to kill us. But grandma Kuchera managed to beg them into sparing our young lives. They let us be.”

Source: A. Róż (Masłowska), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 46 (2000): 27.

Niegowce, Tomaszowce rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, over 1,800 inhabitants.

Adam Rutyna, a Pole, recalls: “Already at the beginning of 1944 the nearby Polish farms were burning at night and there were more and more attacks by the bands of the so-called UPA. One evening a Ukrainian we knew, Piotr Nasada, came to our house. He advised my father to leave the village and go to Kałusz because he was in danger. His son-in-law, Kablachek, was in the UPA and that was how Piotr Nasada knew what they were planning next with regard to the Poles. We didn’t own a horse then. Our kind Ukrainian neighbor lent us his horsewagon. We took some of our property and went to Kałusz, where we moved into one of the abandoned post-Jewish houses.”

Source: A. Rutyna, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 46 (2000): 28.

Podmichale, Podmichale rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,900 inhabitants.

On the night of January 6–7, 1944 the UPA attacked several places, including the Roman Catholic rectory.

Michał Starczewski, a Pole, testifies: “At the very last moment [Father Michał Sempowicz] managed to jump out the window in his underwear and barefeet. His cook, Marysia Watras, threw out his pajamas after him, which got caught on a rosebush. The attackers aimed their machine gun fire at the pajamas. That enabled the priest to divert their attention from himself and run to the farm of Hryhorii Hryniv (Starousin, an Old Ruthenian,), who helped and sheltered him. In the evening, dressed as a peasant, he went to Kałusz, where he found shelter at a Roman Catholic rectory.”

During the next months the UPA massacred over 60 people, including the Ukrainian, Stefan Yatsiv (along with his wife, daughter, and son), for his helping the Poles.

Source: M. Starczewski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 29 (1998): 18–20.

KOŁOMYJA COUNTY

Debesławce, Matyjowce rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 2,000 inhabitants.

In February 1944, due to the danger from the Banderites and thanks to warnings about the attacks from friendly Ukrainian neighbors, most of the Poles left their farms and fled to Kołomyja. One of those families was the family of Zbigniew Berling [the Polish military commander].

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Kałusz”, Na Rubieży 33−34 (1999): 23.

KOSÓW COUNTY

Czerhanówka, Kosów Stary rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 900 inhabitants.

In March 1944 the UPA massacred about 20 Poles. One of the survivors was Biruta Dziwińska and her daughter, Zofia Zdziechowska, who was a teacher. The Hutsuls [i.e., Ukrainian highlanders] hid them during the raid and sheltered them until as late as June 1944, when they were evacuated to the Śniatyń area.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Kosów Huculski”, Na Rubieży 48 (2000): 9.

Kobaki, Rożnów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

The UPA raids on the Polish villagers began in March 1944. Wanda Jaskołowska, a Pole, recalls a night she spent in hiding with her family as a safety precaution. “The weather was awful. We could no longer sleep in the field. So my mom asked our very good Ukrainian neighbor lady, Ilona Romanyuk, to take the children in for the night. She didn’t refuse, she took us in. In turn, our parents went to another Ukrainian, to old “grandpa” Myhailo Sorokhanyuk. He told them to take off their clothes and get up onto the stove. He and his wife sat by the window and watched. [...] They knocked and said that they were Banderites and demanded that they open the door right away. [...] they asked, ‘Are there any Poles here?’ “Grandpa” told them that there weren’t any at his place. The Banderites left. My mom was shaking with fear and was unable to say a word. It was a miracle that they survived. [...] Ilona continued not to refuse her help. She often took us in even though she knew that if the Banderites found Polish children at her place they would murder her together with us.”

The author’s family had to hide again in the fall of 1944 when the inhabitants of the neighboring villages of Rybno and Nowosielica were being killed at the hands of the UPA. They stayed in hiding until their departure to Poland.

Source: AW, II/157, Relacja Wandy Jaskołowskiej [Wanda Jaskołowska’s Account], p. 3–4.

Kosów Huculski – county seat, over 7,000 inhabitants. Before the war half of its inhabitants were Jewish, with Ukrainians, Poles, and Armenians constituting 40, 10 and 10 percent of its population respectively.

According to the account of Jan Sitnik, a Pole, in 1944 the following Ukrainians risked their lives to help the Poles by warnings them and sheltering them before the Bandera followers: Ivan Kovaluk and Marika Kovaluk, Iryna Mlynchak, Vasyl Porchak, Mykola Sorokhan, and Petro Strynadyuk.

In April 1944 a Ukrainian woman, Maria Maydanyuk, told Ewa Ostrowska’s mother, a Pole, to go into hiding for the night because her family was in danger from the UPA. Another Ukrainian woman, Katarzyna Pavlyk, escorted Ewa to her aunt who was living in the village of Czerhanówka.

Lesława Maślankiewicz (née Wołoszczuk), a Pole, recalls that she was so confused during the raid of the Banderites in 1944 that she was running around her burning family home, which made her an easy target for the attackers. “Our Ukrainian neighbor lady, Stopchycka, noticed me then, laid me down in her backyard and covered me with some potatoes’ leaves, which had been lying there since fall, and said, [‘B]e quiet, don’t shout, don’t move.’.” This is how she saved Lesława’s life.

In 1944 the Kosów county forest inspectorate was headed by forestry engineer Józef Wołoszczuk, a Pole. “I lived in the forest inspectorate’s building with my wife and little daughter. Warned by my Ukrainian acquaintance about a planned raid, I hid with my family in a special hideout prepared in advance in the Jewish cemetery.”

Władysław Huk, a Pole who lived in the Kosów residential district of Moskalówka, recalls Ukrainian help provided to the Poles during the period of 1944 when there was a threat of UPA raids. “On the night of March 29–30 we slept in Kuty on the farm of Yurak, a Ukrainian bricklayer we knew. My wife and I [slept] on the hay in a shed and our son [slept] in the Yuraks’ home. The lady of the home gave us supper and breakfast. Then we returned home, carefully avoiding any roads or paths [...]. I often got warnings from a Ukrainian gamekeeper. My wife’s parents slept every night in the home of their Ukrainian acquaintances. My brother, Stanisław, had a shelter under the floor in his home but he, his wife, and two children often hid in Moskalówka in the home of their Ukrainian acquaintances and about a dozen times in the home of a Ukrainian woman, Bilińska, who condemned the Banderites’ crimes. My wife’s cousins, Jadwiga Walter and Stefania Stankiewicz and their children also spent nights in a Ukrainian home [...] . Doctor Tobiczyk’s wife, who was a teacher, warned everybody who lived on Pistyńska Street. Consequently, there were no victims there. The Ukrainians slept in the Polish homes to prevent the Banderites from burning them down. [...] A Ukrainian, Miroslav Romanov, sheltered two Polish sisters.”

Source: J. Sitnik, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 54 (2001): 41; E. Ostrowska, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 31 (1998): 33–34; L. Maślankiewicz (née Wołoszczuk), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 54 (2001): 38; J. Wołoszczuk, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 54 (2001): 39; W. Huk, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 31 (1998): 32, 33.

Kuty, Kuty rural commune – town with ca. 7,000 inhabitants. Poles, Armenians, and Ukrainian Hutsuls (Ukrainian highlanders) constituted 40, 40, and 20 percent of its population respectively.

Helena Łysiak, a Pole from Rybno, recalls how she found shelter in Kuty during her escape from the Banderites in March 1944. “A friend of our murdered uncle Kulbicki, Dmytro Babyuk, took care of us in Kuty. He was a Ukrainian. He had a Polish wife. The two of them were very good people. We lived at their place until our departure to the Recovered Territories [i.e., Poland’s new, postwar provinces].”

In his account Jerzy Zieliński recalls that a Ukrainian, Stefan Polek, warned his family about a UPA raid. Consequently, the Zielińskis managed to escape into the fields and survive (with the exception of the grandmother, who was murdered).

Source: H. Łysiak, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 48 (2000): 10; Relacja Jerzego Zielińskiego z 14.02.2004 [Jerzy Zieliński’s Account of 14 February 2004] (in Romuald Niedzielka’s collection).

Rybno, Kosów Stary rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,300 inhabitants.

In March 1944 Helena Łysiak, a Pole, was hiding with her mother, aunt, and uncle in her neighbor’s barn: “The Ukrainian neighbor was a very good man. He knew that we spent every night in his barn and he only asked us not to tell the band that he let us stay there if they found us. Otherwise they would murder him just like they would murder us.”

Source: H. Łysiak, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 48 (2000): 10.

Tudiów, Kuty Stare rural commune – Ukrainian village with one or two Polish families.

In March 1944 an armed group of the OUN Security Service (SB) murdered two members of the Slivinskyy family (a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest from a Polish-Ukrainian family and his son) for helping the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Kosów Huculski”, Na Rubieży 48 (2000): 15.

NADWÓRNA COUNTY

Bednarówka, Majdan Średni rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians.

Four Ukrainians – the gamekeeper Petruchuk “Petlura” and his three sons – were murdered in June 1944 for their cooperation with the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Nadworna”, Na Rubieży 33−34 (1998): 43.

Majdan Średni, Majdan Średni rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles.

In November 1944 the Banderites murdered two Ukrainians from the UPA because they had informed the Poles about the attack dates.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Nadworna”, Na Rubieży 33−34 (1998): 49.

Paryszcze, Majdan Średni rural commune – Ukrainian village, over 1,700 inhabitants, four Polish farms.

A local Greek Catholic priest’s wife rescued the Pole Franciszek Pronobis and his family in the summer of 1944. That Ukrainian woman took his whole family by her horsewagon to Nadworna. The other Polish families in that village died.

Source: F. Pronobis, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 33−34 (1998): 50.

Worochta, Worochta rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians, over 2,700 inhabitants, 25 percent of whom were Polish.

The local Ukrainian population (Hutsuls) did not participate in the UPA raids on the village.

During the raid on the night New Year’s Eve 1944 many of the Poles found shelter in the homes of their Hutsul neighbors. The local Hutsuls [Ukrainian highlanders] did not tell the attackers which farms were Polish, and that saved many of them.

Source: W. Marmucki, “Powiat Nadworna”, Na Rubieży 33–34 (1998): 53.

ROHATYN COUNTY

Dytiatyn, Konkolniki rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, over 1,000 inhabitants.

Maria Czarna, who was a Polish child then, survived the UPA raid on her family village in 1944: “I ran to see what was going on. On my way back our Ukrainian neighbor told me to hide in his mother’s home.” Maria Czarna’s mother and siblings died during that raid. The girl had to carry on hiding. “I ran to the other side of the village to my uncle’s wife, who was hiding in the attic of her Ukrainian neighbor with her two sons, Piotrek and Bronek. And then we escaped from the village together. I got lost on the way. I walked through the fields as far as Szumlany, where a Ukrainian woman I knew sheltered me and where I grazed cows with the other Ukrainian children.” After quite some time her father found her in Szumlany.

Source: M. Czarna, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 60 (2002): 36.

Firlejów, Firlejów rural commune – village, over 1,500 inhabitants. Ukrainians and Poles constituted 75 and 25 percent of the population respectively.

During the Bandera followers’ raid of February 16, 1944 Władysław Kossakowski, a Pole, was hiding behind a painting in a church. The attackers did not find him even though they discovered and murdered many other Poles hiding in the church. The next morning “a Ukrainian woman, whose name was Kichula, entered the church. She said a prayer out loud, made a promise to God and said the following to those in hiding: ‘If somebody’s alive then come out. I know that Władysław Kossakowski is here. His children are crying outside the church. You are safe now, but what will happen later, this I don’t know.’ [...] About a dozen people came out of the church and they all went home.”

Józef Ziemba, a Pole, recalls that during the Banderites’ attack on the village of February 15, 1944 a little boy survived in one of the houses because the attackers did not notice him. “When his Ukrainian neighbor lady went into that house during the day on February 16 she found the surviving boy and escorted him to his aunt, that is, to my mother, Ludwika Ziemba, with the Ukrainian authorities’ permission.”

Source: W. Kossakowski, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 17 (1996): 14; J. Ziemba, “Byłem świadkiem”, ibidem.

Fraga, Fraga rural commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles, over 850 inhabitants.

During the Bandera followers’ raid of April 14, 1944 Michał Matys was in hiding with some members of his family. “The day after the massacre a friendly Ukrainian neighbor drove us at daybreak to Chodorów.”

Source: M. Matys, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 42 (2000): 2.

Podkamień Rohatyński, Podkamień Rohatyński rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, ca. 1,500 inhabitants.

Tadeusz Strużyński’s account reads that due to the danger from the Bandera followers “many were hiding in the homes of their friendly Ukrainian neighbors.”

Source: T. Strużyński, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 60 (2002): 39.

Poświerz, Bukaczowce rural commune – village inhabited by Ukrainians and a few Polish families; over 300 inhabitants.

In the spring of 1944 Stanisław and Stanisława Kamiński, Poles, got a letter from their Ukrainian neighbors in which they were warned about a planned UPA attack. The Poles immediately went to Rzeszów.

Source: W. Żołnowski, W trzecią noc po Wielkiejnocy..., 229.

Słobódka Bołszowiecka, Słobódka Bołszowiecka rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village; over 700 inhabitants.

On February 4, 1944 the Banderites attacked the Polish farms. A Ukrainian woman warned the Poles who were getting off a train at the local railway station. According to another account, a Ukrainian woman, Zasyadko, warned one of those Poles while he was trying to get to his home. She told him to escape for the Banderites were there.

Source: J. Bogusiewicz (née Kruszelnicka), “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 17 (1996): 20; E. Kruszelnicki, “Byłem świadkiem”, ibidem, 21.

STANISŁAWÓW COUNTY

Delejów, Delejów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, over 2,400 inhabitants.

Polish Witness Jan Wierzbicki writes that in the spring of 1943 most of the Poles began to sleep in hideouts or in the homes of their friendly Ukrainian neighbors due to the increasing threat to their lives and property. Wierzbicki writes: “It must be said that in many cases some of the Ukrainian neighbors warned the Poles about the possible dates of the Banderites’ raids.”

Source: J. Wierzbicki, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 35 (1999): 25.

Łysiec, Łysiec rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles and Jews, over 1,500 inhabitants.

The Ukrainian superintendent of the local Ukrainian police station, Bazyli Bocmanyuk, was murdered by the Security Service of the UPA on December 12, 1943. This was a punishment for his helping the Poles and preventing the massacres of the Poles in his village.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Stanisławów”, Na Rubieży 35 (1999): 26.

STRYJ COUNTY

Żupanie, Ławoczne rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, over 1,100 inhabitants.

On April 21, 1944 the UPA massacred ca. 30 Poles. Warned by their Ukrainian neighbor, Bronisław Turzański’s family managed to hide in time and thus survived.

In January 1945 the Security Service of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists murdered a Ukrainian, Myhailo Yevchynec. This was a punishment for, among others things, his sympathy toward the Poles and the help he provided to them. He also objected to murdering the Ukrainians for their opposition to the UPA.

Source: Z. Turzański, “Wieś Żupanie”, Na Rubieży 79 (2005): 44, 47.

ŚNIATYN COUNTY

Rudniki, Dżurów rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles and Jews, over 1,800 inhabitants.

In the summer of 1943 the Banderites from the Security Service of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) murdered a local Ukrainian clergyman, Senchuk. This was a punishment for having sheltered a Polish invalid, Leon Zakrzewski, in his home for a year (Senchuk was unaware that Zakrzewski was an officer of the Polish Army and of the Polish Home Army).

Source: F. Kuczyński, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 61 (2002): 21.

Śniatyn – county seat. It had over 10,000 inhabitants, almost half of whom were Ukrainian. The rest of its inhabitants were Jewish, Polish (over 2,000), and German.

On March 28, 1944 a mounted detachment of Banderites arrived in Śniatyn. The nationalists turned to, among others, a local Greek Catholic parish priest, Father Ilya Orenchuk, with a request to give them the addresses of the Poles. The parish priest warned them that the Poles had a lot of weapons and ammunition, which could have been why the Bandera followers refrained from the attack.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Śniatyn”, Na Rubieży 61 (2002): 24.

Trójca, Zabłotów rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 3,500 inhabitants.

The UPA attacked the village on October 23, 1944 slaughtering 75 people of Polish ethnicity. On that day some of the Ukrainian families (for instance, the Bloshkos, Hrynkos, Manyluks and Sakhruks) sheltered Polish families and warned them about the danger, which saved many of the Poles. The Banderites burnt those Ukrainians’ homes in revenge and murdered nine members of the families of Manyluk and Sakhruk.

Stanisław Jankowski, a Pole, recalls that a Ukrainian woman, Marusia Bloshko, whom they met on the road, warned his family about a possible UPA attack on Trójca, which was planned to take place on October 23, 1944.

Franciszka Musionek, a Polish woman, writes that during the raid on the village in March 1944 “a Ukrainian, Petro Budzyk, who fought on the Polish side, died from the Bandera followers’ bullets.” After the raid Franciszka herself was hiding in the home of her Ukrainian neighbor.

Damian Różycki, who was of Ukrainian descent and was raised by his Ukrainian mother and Polish stepfather, was 10 when the Bandera followers attacked the village on October 23, 1944. He recalls a Ukrainian woman from that village, Kocykha, who on that tragic day wanted to escort him to a safe place to his Ukrainian grandmother. On the way the woman consoled three little Polish girls, who were crying out of fear. She wanted to take care of them, but suddenly the Bandera followers arrived and murdered her with two of the girls. Różycki managed to escape.

Bogusława Czyżewska, a Pole from nearby Matyjowce, got a warning that the Bandera followers were planning a raid on Trójca. The information came from her Ukrainian childhood friend, Marijka Sorochynska, who was the village reeve’s daughter. Marijka put her up at her place and hid her from the Banderites when they came to the Sorochynskys during the raid.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Śniatyn”, Na Rubieży 61 (2002): 26; Relacja Stanisława Jankowskiego [Stanisław Jankowski’s Account], Na Rubieży 6 (1993): 16; Relacja Franciszki Musionek z d. Podlaskiej [Account of Franciszka Musionek (née Podlaska)], ibidem, 17; D. Różycki, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 61 (2002): 27, 29; B. Czyżewska, “Byłam świadkiem”, ibidem, 26.

TŁUMACZ COUNTY

Hostów, Tarnowica Polna rural commune – Ukrainian-Polish village, nearly 2,000 inhabitants.

In September 1944 the Banderites hanged a Greek Catholic Ukrainian clergyman, Voloshchuk, because he had participated in the funeral of 10 Poles murdered a few days earlier. Voloshchuk condemned that murder during the funeral: “Those Poles were innocent. So many children have lost their fathers.”

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Buczacz”, Na Rubieży 32 (1998): 29.

Lackie Szlacheckie, Markowce rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, over 2,800 inhabitants. There was also a small number of Jews and Germans.

In his memoir Roman Zuber, a Pole, writes about a Ukrainian teacher, Knihinicka, a woman who warned him on March 29, 1944 about a planned raid. “Go to your Polish friends right away and tell them not to sleep at home tonight. They should hide somewhere.” She also informed the other Poles.

Source: R. Zuber, “Rzeź Polaków” [a fragment of a memoir], Na Rubieży 76 (2004): 42.

ŻYDACZÓW COUNTY

Derżów, Rozdół rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, nearly 1,500 inhabitants.

Jakub Kraszewski recalls the Banderites raid on the village on the night of May 9–10, 1944. “My father and my two brothers, Stefan and Józef, escaped to a forest. In turn, my mom took me to our Ukrainian neighbor, who let us in and hid us.”

Source: J. and J. Kraszewski, “Byliśmy świadkami”, Na Rubieży 42 (2000): 10.

Rozdół, Rozdół – town, over 5,000 inhabitants, before the war most of its inhabitants were Jewish. Poles and Ukrainians constituted ca. 30 and 15 percent of its population respectively.

On May 6, 1944 a Ukrainian, Turko, came to the defense of a group of Poles. They were all coming back from the Rozdół train station and they fell into a UPA trap. Turko was murdered with those Poles as a punishment.

Danuta Bździuch, a Pole, recalls that during the Banderites’ attack in 1943 she and her mother were sheltered by their Ukrainian neighbor, Sharan. That night a group of Bandera followers came into his house and stayed there for a few hours, but the neighbor did not denounce the Polish women. He was murdered some time later for his sympathy toward the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Żydaczów”, Na Rubieży 42 (2000): 16; D. Bździuch (née Chorosza), “Byłam świadkiem”, ibidem, 19.

Żyrawa, Ruda commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 850 inhabitants.

Wanda Sznajder, a Pole, recalls the fate of two Ukrainian families which opposed the Banderites and came to the Poles’ defense. Jan Frey refused to kill his Polish wife, for which the Banderites sentenced him to death. Severely wounded, he escaped from the execution site and then a Ukrainian, Andruszka, transported him to a hospital in Stryj, which saved his life.

The eldest son of the Ukrainian family of Łyzaks refused to kill the Poles because he did not think it a good way to build Ukrainian statehood. The Banderites murdered him at the end of 1944 for his views. Later on his father and mother, who openly criticized their son’s murderers, were killed too.

Source: Relacja Wandy Sznajder spisana przez Eugeniusza Jaworskiego [Wanda Sznajder’s Account Written Down by Eugeniusz Jaworski], Na Rubieży 42 (2000): 12–13.

RZESZÓW VOIVODESHIP

BRZOZÓW COUNTY

Dylągowa, Dynów rural commune – Polish village with about a dozen Ukrainian inhabitants.

In July 1944 the UPA planned to murder two Polish priests: parish priest Franciszek Paściak and curate Kazimierz Pyś from Dylągowa. Warned by a Ukrainian woman they knew, who was a teacher, they fled to Dynów and avoided death.

Source: A. Gołąb, “Powiat Brzozów”, Na Rubieży 39 (1999): 19.

Niewistka, Nozdrzec rural commune – village with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians, over 400 inhabitants.

In 1945 a Ukrainian, Jan Kic, was murdered by the Security Service (SB) of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) for warning the Poles about a planned raid.

Source: A. Gołąb, “Powiat Brzozów”, Na Rubieży 39 (1999): 22.

Siedliska, Dynów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village with ca. 600 inhabitants.

In 1946 the Security Service (SB) of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists murdered a Ukrainian family of five for helping the Poles and warning the Poles about the threat of a UPA raid.

Source: A. Gołąb, “Powiat Brzozów”, Na Rubieży 39 (1999): 23.

JAROSŁAW COUNTY

Cetula, Radawa rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,500 inhabitants.

The following Ukrainians were murdered in 1945 for “betrayal of Ukraine”, that is, for sympathizing with the Poles, helping them, and warning them against the Bandera followers: Olga Burshtyga and another Ukrainian woman, Salka, as well as Dymitr Sydor and Aleksander Velichko.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Jarosław”, Na Rubieży 32 (1998): 13–14.

Nielepkowice, Wiązownica rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village with over 88 inhabitants.

On March 27, 1945 Michał Hartlip, who was keeping guard with five other Poles, was apprehended by the UPA and shot and wounded. His stepbrother, Prekash, who belonged to the UPA, interceded for him.

Source: S. Kaniowska, Z. Kaniowska, “Byłyśmy świadkami”, Na Rubieży 32 (1998): 18.

Ryszkowa Wola, Wiązownica rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,800 inhabitants.

In 1945 some of the Ukrainians, including the Greek Catholic priest, Teodor Levickyy, warned the Poles about UPA raids.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Jarosław”, Na Rubieży 32 (1998): 20.

LESKO COUNTY

Baligród, Baligród rural commune – village with ca. 1,700 inhabitants, predominated by Jews, as well as by Poles and Ukrainians.

On August 6, 1944 a UPA detachment conducted a roundup of the Poles leaving the church and of those who were hiding in their homes. Over 40 people were executed. Father Józef Miezin, a Pole, survived because the local Greek Catholic Ukrainian priest, Oleszko, interceded for him. Similarly, a Polish barrister, Stanisław Śmietana, survived thanks to the help of the local Ukrainians who sheltered him in their homes.

Source: Father W. Piętowski, Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie..., 222.

Krzywe, Zatwarnica rural commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 980 inhabitants.

In 1943 the UPA murdered a Ukrainian married couple, Hryhorii and Anna Myshko, along with their mother-in-law, for sheltering the Poles.

Source: H. Komański, M. Seredyński, “Powiat Lesko”, part 3, Na Rubieży 29 (1998): 22; J. Pawłusiewicz, Na dnie jeziora (Warsaw, 1981), 306.

Ropienka, Ropienka rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,100 inhabitants.

In 1944 the family of a Ukrainian from Ropienka, Yaroslav Andrukh, sheltered a Pole, Mieczysław Kolor.

Source: Relacja Jarosława Andrucha [Yaroslav Andrukh’s Account], in 1947. Propamiatna knyha..., 492.

Tworylne, Lutowiska rural commune – village with over 900 inhabitants, most of them were Ukrainian, just two Polish families.

On January 18, 1945 the Banderites murdered Maria Kucharz and her two children. The Poles had been hiding in the home of the Ukrainian Galushko family. The helpers (four people) were also killed for “sheltering the Lakhs.”

Source: H. Komański, M. Seredyński, “Powiat Lesko”, part 3, Na Rubieży 29 (1998): 33.

Wołkowyja, Wołkowyja rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 560 inhabitants.

During a meeting of village reeves in 1943 the Wołkowyja commune secretary, Vladymir, called for creation of special armed groups in every village. They were to be ready to “kill every last Pole” at any moment. The Bukowiec village reeve condemned that appeal.

Source: Father W. Piętowski, Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie..., 234.

Zawóz, Wołkowyja rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 600 inhabitants.

In 1945 a Ukrainian told his Polish wife to leave the house and hide in the forest. The woman returned the next day and found her son’s body in the house. He was a UPA member and had been ordered to murder his mother. It was probably his father who murdered him. After some time the father was found hanged with a piece of paper on his chest saying, “For betrayal of Ukraine.”

Source: Relacja Antoniego Matuszewskiego [Antoni Matuszewski’s Account], in Z. Ziembolewski, W morzu nienawiści. O takich, którzy nie przestali być ludźmi (Krosno, 2001), 103–107.

LUBACZÓW COUNTY

Brusno Nowe, Horyniec rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

On March 28, 1945 two Ukrainian men, Ilko Baran and Stefan Kruchko, were murdered for helping Poles. The latter died with his wife and daughter.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Lubaczów”, Na Rubieży 7 (1994): 17.

Nowa Grobla, Oleszyce rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

In October 1945 a Ukrainian woman, Anna Petryshyn, was murdered for helping Poles.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Lubaczów”, Na Rubieży 11 (1995): 20.

Radruż, Horyniec rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

Two Ukrainians, Jacyna and Taraban, were murdered in Radruż for helping Poles (the latter died in 1946).

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Lubaczów”, Na Rubieży 7 (1994): 18.

Wólka Horyniecka, Horyniec rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

In May 1944 the UPA attacked nearby Horyniec. The Pole Andrzej Litwak, who was 6 then, recalls that his mother decided to escape with him. “We were running across the field and a man with an ax was chasing us. That man caught up with us and it turned out that he was a local UPA providnyk (leader), and he told mother that he had been chasing us to protect us from his kin and he showed us which way to escape.”

Source: Relacja Andrzeja Litwaka z lutego 2004 [Andrzej Litwak’s Account of February 2004] (in Romuald Niedzielka’s collection).

PRZEMYŚL COUNTY

Iskań, Dubiecko rural commune – village with over 1,300 inhabitants, most of whom were Ukrainian. Poles constituted 15 percent of the population.

In 1945 a Ukrainian, Yan Kashytski, whose wife was an activist of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), warned Jan Furman’s family about the danger from the Banderites. Encouraged by Furman, most of the Polish families left the village.

Source: Relacja Kazimierza Furmana [Kazimierz Furman’s Account], in Z. Ziembolewski, W morzu nienawiści..., 102–103.

Kuźmina, Kuźmina rural commune – village with a vast majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 1,000 inhabitants.

On the night of November 2, 1945 the Banderite company “Hromenko” attacked the village. Just a few Polish farms and 15 Ukrainian farms survived the fire. On that night two Ukrainian families provided shelter to a few Polish families and thus saved their lives.

Source: H. Komański, “Powiat Przemyśl”, Na Rubieży 64 (2002): 51.

LUBLIN VOIVODESHIP

HRUBIESZÓW COUNTY

Obrowiec, Moniatycze – village inhabited by 57 Polish and a few Ukrainian families.

At the beginning of April 1944 the UPA slaughtered over 40 Poles. The local Ukrainians warned their Polish neighbors about the raid. That enabled a substantial number of the Poles to flee in time to nearby Sławęcin. The Ukrainians’ farms were set ablaze in revenge.

Source: H. Smalej, Zbrodnie ukraińskie na terenie gminy Moniatycze pow. Hrubieszów w latach 1939–1944 (Zamość, 2003), 74 (according to Stanisław Czekanowski’s account).

Oszczów, Dołhobyczów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

On March 11, 1944 the Ukrainian village reeve, Yurchak, called a meeting in the Village Hall allegedly to prevent the pro-independence conflicts. A Catholic priest (a Pole) was also invited. A local Ukrainian stopped the priest on the way to the meeting, warned him about the danger, and escorted him to the Piotrowskis’ home. Later, it turned out that a UPA company came to the Village Hall and murdered the Poles who came to the meeting. There were two survivors.

Source: J. Markiewicz, Partyzancki kraj, 2nd edition, (Lublin, 1985), 158–159.

TOMASZÓW LUBELSKI COUNTY

Chodywańce, Jarczów rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village.

On the night of April 12-13, 1944 the UPA attacked Chodywańce and the Plebanka colony. “Only some of the Polish houses in Chodywańce were not abandoned as many of the Poles had already gone to the area controlled by the Polish resistance movement. Some of the people left the village the day before the attack because a Ukrainian woman had informed them about the planned raid.”

Source: Związek Walki Zbrojnej – Armia Krajowa w Obwodzie Tomaszów Lubelski. Relacje, wspomnienia, opracowania, dokumenty, ed. I. Caban (Lublin, 1997), 261–262.

Korczmin, Tarnoszyn rural commune – village with a large majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,000 inhabitants. Until July 22, 1944 in Rawa Ruska county in the Lvov voivodeship.

On February 22, 1944 the UPA attacked three Poles. Filip Kurpisz freed himself from the hands of the attackers. Katarzyna Kurpisz writes: “He made avail of a moment of their inattention and ran to the nearby forest. The murderers opened fire. The sun was already setting down. Father was just in his underwear so it was quite difficult to see him against the snow. He managed to escape. He got to a Ukrainian family’s cottage. There he got boots and clothes from an elderly man, who then escorted him to the manor in Korczmin.”

In 1946 the Banderites murdered four Ukrainians who opposed killing the Poles and had provided them with help. Those Ukrainian victims were: Ivan Vygranovskyy, his wife, and their brother-in-law, Dmytr Kakaluk, and a student, Ivan Koval.

Source: K. Kurpisz, “Byłam świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 25 (1997): 14; H. Komański, M. Darowski, “Powiat Rawa Ruska”, part 1, ibidem.

Łykoszyn, Telatyn rural commune – Polish-Ukrainian village, over 500 inhabitants.

On August 28, 1944 members of the UPA surrounded the Polish part of Łykoszyn and murdered the people taken out of their homes and the encountered Polish villagers. Marianna Romańczuk, a Pole, decided to escape with her daughter, aged 6. “We started running followed by a group of kids. I didn’t even know where I was running to. Terrified and in tears, we stormed to the farm of a Ukrainian woman, Anna Novosad. I began to beg her to shelter us in a combination of Polish and Ukrainian. Anna Novosad stood terrified and couldn’t utter a word. ... One of Anna’s daughters ran out to the front of the house and shouted to her mother, ‘Nie pryjmuj Lachiw, bo i nas wybijut’ [’Don’t take the Lakhs in, ‘cause we’ll be killed, too]. But her other daughter got involved and began convincing her to help us. Without much thinking, Anna Novosad nodded at us and began to squeeze us into various nooks and crannies of her house. Thanks to her we and four children avoided certain death.”

Source: Relacja Marianny Romańczuk [Marianna Romańczuk’s Account], in Związek Walki Zbrojnej – Armia Krajowa w Obwodzie Tomaszów Lubelski..., 267.

Poturzyn, Poturzyn rural commune – village with a majority of Ukrainians over Poles.

Stanisława Starczewska, a Pole, recalls the UPA attack on her village on April 1, 1944: “I was woken up by a fusillade [...] I started running even though I didn’t know where to. I ran to the farm of a Ukrainian, Elyash Radomyak. There were already a few Poles there. We begged for shelter. He hid us in his home without a word. He saved perhaps as many as 15 people.”

Source: Relacja Stanisławy Starczewskiej [Stanisława Starczewska’s Account], in Związek Walki Zbrojnej – Armia Krajowa w Obwodzie Tomaszów Lubelski..., 274–275.

Tarnoszyn, Tarnoszyn rural commune – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, more than 1,200 inhabitants.

On the night of March 17-18, 1944 the UPA massacred ca. 80 people. “On that night some of the Ukrainians showed real heroism. For instance, Vasyl Koshchukh sheltered about 30 Poles on his farm and thus saved, among others, Franciszek Wawrzyszczuk and his family, Jan Kopel, Władysław Piotrowski, Antoni Lewandowski, and Małoń with his family of four.”

In his memoir Tadeusz Wolczyk states that his family received a warning about the attack from a Ukrainian, Grokholskyy, and that he survived hidden in a chamber by another Ukrainian, Maksym Bida, who also sheltered about a dozen other people, mostly women with children.

Source: Związek Walki Zbrojnej – Armia Krajowa w Obwodzie Tomaszów Lubelski..., 283. According to Jerzy Węgierski, the attack took place on the night of March 18-19, and there were ca. 60 victims (Armia Krajowa – oddziały leśne 19 pułku piechoty [Cracow, 1993], 41); T. Wolczyk, Tarnoszyn w ogniu (Chełm, 1998), 23.

Wasylów, Tarnoszyn rural commune – village with a vast majority of Ukrainians over Poles, ca. 1,000 inhabitants.

During 1943–1946 the UPA murdered about 90 Poles. On November 3, 1943 four people died as a result of the attack on the home of Maciej Hałasa, a Pole.

Władysław Hałasa recalls: “A few days before that attack our Ukrainian neighbor, who was a friend of my father Maciej, warned him to be on his guard ‘cause ‘there are rumors that your son, Władysław, is in the Polish partisan units and that the Banderites could come murder you’. Dad listened to that warning and gradually took the youngest children, grain, some things, and some of the cattle to his home village of Huta Różaniecka. In turn, I was in hiding in a shelter near our home during all that time. I and the rest of the family did not manage to leave. On Tuesday my parents were murdered [...] it was a miracle that I survived.”

Source: W. Hałasa, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 27 (1998): 41.

Wiszniów, Poturzyn rural commune – Ukrainian-Polish village, inhabited by over 200 families.

Many Ukrainians from Wiszniów “risked their lives (the nationalists from the OUN mercilessly punished the ‘traitors’) to warn the Poles about the UPA or OUN plans, for instance, in March 1944 a Ukrainian from Wiszniów, Shymon Shviderskyy, told Wacław Pikuła, a Pole, that the nationalists were planning to murder all Polish inhabitants of the village. Upon that news most of the Polish population left Wiszniów [...] and moved to the north-western area of Tomaszów Lubelski county.”

Source: Związek Walki Zbrojnej – Armia Krajowa w Obwodzie Tomaszów Lubelski..., 288.

APPENDIX: POLISH HELP TO UKRAINIANS

Bełz, Sokal county, Lvov Voivodeship

In 1945 Father Kania, a Roman Catholic priest (and Pole) condemned from the pulpit the Polish attacks on the Ukrainians. The Polish Security Office (UB) wanted to arrest him for that, so he fled from the town in the summer of that year. According to a Ukrainian woman, Anna Kit, Father Kania issued a Roman Catholic birth certificate to her.

Source: Relacja Piotra Szkoły [Piotr Szkoła’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 215. Relacja Anny Kit z d. Łeśkiw [Account of Anna Kit (née Leskiv)], ibidem, 319.

Binczarowa, Nowy Sącz county, Kraków Voivodeship

At the beginning of July 1947 Seman Madzelan, a Ukrainian who was to be deported with other Binczarowa inhabitants within the framework of Operation “Wisła”, saw an elderly Polish man bless a horse-drawn wagon carrying the departing Ukrainians with a sign of the cross.

Source: Relacja Semana Madzelana [Seman Madzelan’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 24 (in the account the village is called Bilcarowa); see also: S. Madzelan, “Spowiedź z nie popełnionych grzechów”, in Mniejszość w warunkach zagrożenia. Pamiętniki Łemków (Wrocław, 1996).

Caryńskie, Lesko county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

In January or February 1946 a platoon of the Polish Army got an order to deport the whole village. But the “Bir” sotnya [company] surrounded the detachment, which then refrained from the deportation in consultation with the Ukrainian village reeve and the sotnyk [company captain].

Source: G. Motyka, Tak było w Bieszczadach..., 287–288.

Duńkowice, Jarosław county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

In March 1946 a Polish woman, Simińska, called the Ukrainians to her home to rescue the Ukrainian wagoners who were being detained there by a Polish detachment.

Source: Relacja Marii Marushko [Maria Marushko’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 424.

Gorajec, Lubaczów county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

Maria Syglova, a Ukrainian, recalls that in May 1947 Chropusta (the Płazów Polish communist police [MO] superintendent) warned the inhabitants of Gorajec about a planned operation of the Polish Army. According to the Ukrainian Mykola Koshil, the Pole Leon Gniewnik sheltered the Ukrainians before the army attacks.

Source: Relacja Marii Sygłowej [Maria Syglova’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 148; Relacja Mikołaja Koszila [Mykola Koshil’s Account], ibidem, 157.

Grąziowa, Przemyśl county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

Before his departure to Poland’s new western territories, a Greek Catholic parish priest, Father Hamilka, often celebrated Sunday mass for the Border Protection Troops (Wojska Ochrony Pogranicza, WOP) in the watchtower. “He and the soldiers thought that there was only one God and that a rite was something secondary.”

Source: Relacja Władysława Tarnawskiego [Władysław Tarnawski’s Account], in Zbigniew Ziembolewski, W morzu nienawiści..., 119.

Hubinek, Tomaszów Lubelski county, Lublin Voivodeship

The Ukrainian inhabitants of Hubinek who wanted to avoid deportation to the USSR bought birth certificates from a Roman Catholic priest or sought shelter in Polish homes.

In June 1947 the railway transport escort stopped the train so that its Ukrainian passengers could get some grass or hay for their cattle. The transported people got three food rations a day.

Source: Relacja Bazylego Spodarka [Bazyli Spodarek’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 172, 174.

Huta Brzuska, Przemyśl County, Rzeszów Voivodeship

In January 1946 Stefania Tkhir, a Ukrainian, was shot in the legs during the pacification of Żohatyn conducted by the Polish Army. Her brother found her and wanted to take her to a hospital in Sanok. But on their way they came across a manhunt in the village of Huta Brzuska. Stefania stayed in a cottage with an elderly lady who was also unable to escape. Two Polish soldiers not only did not set the cottage on fire, but they also took the girl outside and covered her with an eiderdown. Only one farm was not burnt down.

Source: Relacja Stefanii Tchir [Stefania Tkhir’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 203.

Ihrowica, Tarnopol county, Tarnopol Voivodeship

A Polish woman, Stefania Syroka, provided help to two Ukrainians from the “Galizien” SS Division when they came to her home in the fall of 1944 while they were fleeing from the Soviet Army. She fed them and gave them two civilian outfits of her husband’s. Consequently, the Banderites spared her life during the raid in January 1945.

Source: J. Białowąs, “Byłem świadkiem”, Na Rubieży 26 (1998): 26–27.

Kamionka, Sanok county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

On April 15, 1945 at the very last moment a Pole warned the Ukrainian family of Kovalchyk about a Polish attack.

Source: Relacja Włodzimierza Kowalczyka [Vladimir Kovalchyk’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 101.

Komańcza, Lesko county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

According to Julia Koshil, a Ukrainian, the Komańcza reeve allegedly exempted 50 families from Komańcza from deportation to the USSR.

On September 15, 1945 the Ukrainians from the Komańcza commune petitioned the Ministry of Public Security for deportation exemption. The petition was signed by the Komańcza Commune Council and Board, the Komańcza reeve Stanisław Kasiewicz and the chair of the Commune Board of the Peasant Self-Help Union (Zarząd Gminnego Związku Samopomocy Chłopskiej) in Komańcza.

On February 16, 1946 the commune heads of Radoszyce, Komańcza, Dołżyca, Turzańsk, Jawornik, and Osław petitioned the Marshal of Poland Rola-Żymierski for the Lemkos’ (the western group of Orthodox Ruthenians) exemption from deportation from the Komańcza commune.

On March 23, 1946 the convent of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who had made great contributions to the local Lemko and Polish populations, was about to be set ablaze by the UPA detachment which was burning the village. The building was spared, however, thanks to the intervention of the chief of a local OUN cell, “Makarenko.” The attackers allowed the nuns to remain in the convent, which was absolutely exceptional during that period.

Source: Relacja Julii Koszil [Julia Koshil’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 273; Archiwum Ministerstwa Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji w Warszawie, Ministerstwo Administracji Publicznej [Archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration in Warsaw, Ministry of Public Administration] [later: AMSWiA, MAP] , 304; AAN, Główny Przedstawiciel Rządu ds. Ewakuacji Ludności Ukraińskiej [Main Government Representative for the Ukrainian Population Evacuation], 397/164; M. Koprowski, “Nazaret na stokach Birczy”, Gość Niedzielny 37 (2001).

Korczmin, Tomaszów Lubelski county, Lublin Voivodeship

Yosif Lapchuk testifies that on June 26, 1947 a Polish Army detachment conducted a hunt on the Bandera followers. The young managed to escape so the soldiers apprehended Semen Lapchuk, aged 54. While he was being escorted by two soldiers along a footbridge on the Rzeczyca River one of them pushed him into the water to drown him. But the other soldier jumped into the water and saved him. Lapchuk was detained at the camp in Jaworzno, where he died in January 1948.

According to Anna Kit (née Leshkyv), a Ukrainian woman, on June 24, 1947 the army arrested her father as well as Marek and Dmytr Bis. The Korczmin village reeve Marcin Lipieński, a Pole, interceded for the arrested Ukrainians with the Polish Army officers.

Source: Relacja Józefa Łapczuka [Joseph Lapchuk’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 316, 331; Relacja Anny Kit [Anna Kit’s Account], ibidem, 323.

Krosno, Krosno county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

On March 29, 1946 three Krosno inhabitants – L. Zajdel, J. Przybyła and engineer H. Wójtowicz – petitioned Władysław Gomułka, a leading communist in People’s Poland, for the Lemkos’ exemption from deportation.

Source: AAN, Prezydium Rady Ministrów [Presidium of the Ministers’ Office], 21/3.

Kulaszne, Sanok county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

On February 11, 1946 the Kulaszne village reeve Piotr Dębicki, a Pole, along with the village reeves of Szczawne, Wysoczany, Płonna, Morochów, Rzepedź, Przybysze, and Mokre signed a petition to the Presidium of the Ministers’ Office to exempt the Kulaszne commune’s Lemkos from deportation.

Source: AAN, Urząd Rady Ministrów [Council of the Minister’s Office], 14/19.

Lesko, Lesko county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

The Lesko county governor Pawłusiewicz helped some of the Ukrainians avoid deportation to the USSR.

Source: AMSWiA, MAP, 304.

Lubaczów, Lubaczów county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

According to Father Myshchyshyn, this was how a Roman Catholic dean from Lubaczów, Father Sobczyński, supposedly commented on the death a Ukrainian child from the hands of a Polish soldier: “[T]he soldier has stained the Polish uniform with the blood of an innocent child.”

A Polish woman, who was married to a Ukrainian, Stronskyi, renounced her Polishness after the Poles had killed her husband. She also wanted to baptize her child in an Orthodox church in Lubaczów.

Source: Relacja ks. Myrosława Myszczyszyna [Father Myroslav Myshchyshyn’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 340–341.

Lubliniec Nowy, Lubaczów county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

In March 1945 a Pole, Kowal, warned the Ukrainians about a planned attack on Lubliniec Nowy.

Source: Relacja Agaty Hryćko [Agata Hrycko’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 377.

Łuh, Lesko county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

In February 1947 a group of UPA members came to an acquainted Polish family to eat something. The daughter of the owner offered to shelter them, but they turned the offer down.

Source: Relacja Michała Szymańskiego [Michał Szymański’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 368.

Mielniki, Lubaczów county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

In February 1947 Olga and Zosia Piotrowska from Mielniki sheltered some UPA members.

Source: Relacja Michała Szymańskiego [Michał Szymański’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 369.

Miękisz Nowy, Jarosław county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

Some of the Poles from Miękisz Nowy were crying while bidding farewell to the Ukrainians who were being deported west.

Source: Relacja Piotra Kowala [Piotr Kowal’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 412.

Mikołajów, Żydaczów county, Stanisławów Voivodeship

According to Yaroslav Pryshliak, a Ukrainian, an armed uprising against the Polish authorities, which were regarded as “occupants”, broke out in Mikołajów and the surrounding area on September 10, 1939 at the OUN’s initiative. The heavy fighting lasted a few days. Then a penal expedition of soldiers and policemen reached Mikołajów. The farm of Pryshliak’s father was burnt down. He was about to be shot, but a Catholic parish priest and Polish nuns, who ran an old folks’ home, rose to his defense.

Source: Y. Pryshliak, Za Ukrajinu! Zapysky człena ZP UHWR (Mykołaiw–Montreal–Lvov, 1999), 12–13.

Mizocz, Zdołbuny county, Volhynia Voivodeship

At the end of August 1943 the UPA massacred ca. 100 people. Before the raid the Ukrainian nationalists murdered a Ukrainian carpenter, Zakhmast (or Zakhmach), and his family for refusal to join the UPA. Only the carpenter’s son, aged 8 or 9, survived. He was taken care of by some Poles.

Source: W. Siemaszko, E. Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo..., vol. 1, 977–980.

Nowosielce Kozickie, Lesko county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

Father Ryczan rescued young Ukrainians he knew from mobilization to the UPA. Thanks to the Roman Catholic birth certificates that he issued the men were exempted from joining the UPA.

In the village there was a care institution for children run by five Roman Catholic nuns. The nuns’ mother superior, Sister Czerwiec, “saved the health and life of everybody without any exceptions, [she even helped] the Banderites wounded in combat with the Polish or Soviet Army or with the communist police. She enjoyed great respect. She could be severely punished for that activity. She must have been aware of that, but for her there were no Poles or Ruthenians – just people.”

A Polish woman, Maria Sidor, sheltered a wounded rifleman from a sotnya [an armed company of Ukrainians]. “How could she refuse to shelter him? She had known him since he was a child and they had been friends.”

Source: Relacja Władysława Tarnawskiego [Władysław Tarnawski’s Account], in Zbigniew Ziembolewski, W morzu nienawiści..., 116–119.

Nowosiółki, Hubieszów county, Lublin Voivodeship

An Orthodox priest from Nowosiółki, Mykola Golc, together with a local Roman Catholic priest visited the local villages at the turn of March and April 1944 to prevent Polish-Ukrainian conflicts.

Source: Relacja Jurija Makara [Yuri Makar’s Account], in Chołmszczyna i Pidlaszszja w perszij połowyni XX stolittia (Lvov, 2003), 51.

Olszanica, Lesko county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

Two Polish women from Olszanica told some women returning to Komańcza from the USSR to go around the village of Uherce because some troops were stationed there.

Source: Relacja Julii Koszil [Julia Koshil’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 272.

Pawłokoma, Brzozów county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

On March 3, 1945 a Polish Home Army (AK) detachment commanded by “Wacław” raided the village with support of the Poles from the nearby localities. This was revenge for the earlier kidnapping of 10 Pawłokoma inhabitants and 3 Dynów inhabitants conducted by the UPA. 120−150 Ukrainians were executed (according to the Ukrainian data, the death toll exceeded 360).

After the 1947 Operation “Wisła” three ex-members of the UPA from Pawłokoma found shelter in Polish homes.

Source: Z. Konieczny, Był taki czas. U źródeł akcji odwetowej w Pawłokomie, 2nd extended edition, (Przemyśl, 2005), 64. Cf. also: P. Poticznyj, Pawłokoma. Istorija seła 1441–1947 (Lvov, 2001); Darovano zhyttia, shchob pravdu rozkazaty. Pawłokoma 3 III 1945, ed. E. Misilo, M. Pankiv (Warsaw, 2006).

Piskorowice, Jarosław county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

On April 17, 1945 the Polish National Military Organization (Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa) detachments commanded by “Mewa” and Józef Zadzierski “Wołyniak” raided the village killing 120−400 Ukrainians (the estimates vary).

During that Polish raid one of the Poles hid a Ukrainian woman, Anna Sroka, and then sheltered her for a week.

According to Anna Papa, a Polish communist police superintendent, Józef Brużko, refused to participate in the raid on Piskorowice for which he was executed by the Polish detachment. During the raid one of the Polish families sheltered a Ukrainian family.

Source: Relacja Anny Sroki [Anna Sroka’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 470; Relacja Anny Papy [Anna Papa’s Account], ibidem, 473.

Podłuże, Dubno county, Volhynia Voivodeship

On June 1, 1943 the UPA murdered several mill employees, including Eugeniusz Czarniecki, who enjoyed the respect of both Poles and Ukrainians for his impartiality and decency. Wacław Czarniecki recalls that already in mid-1942 some of the Ukrainians told all three Czarniecki brothers not to sleep at home.

During the preparations for the funeral of the two murdered Poles the Czarniecki brothers encountered a company of Hungarian soldiers under command of an acquainted lieutenant, who “asked whom we suspected and from which village could the murderers be from. We didn’t know what to say. Why, our brother lived in perfect harmony with everybody! [...] Then Lieutenant Keczkejs ordered his soldiers to surround a few of the closest cottages and to set them on fire. My brother Stefan began shouting hysterically, ‘There are women and children! That’s the worst thing you can do! Don’t intensify the hate!’ I backed my brother up. The Lieutenant turned to me again and simply ordered me to say who I suspected, even if I didn’t have any proof. I told him that even if I knew I wouldn’t want to pay back the alleged perpetrators in kind. We buried my brother the next day at the cemetery in Dubno. He bereaved his wife and orphaned two children. After some time some friendly Ukrainians told us that I and my brother Stefan too were to be murdered on that day.”

Source: AIPN, 27 WDAK, VIII/6, Relacja Wacława Czarnieckiego [Wacław Czarniecki’s Account], p. 15.

Potok, Biłgoraj county, Lublin Voivodeship

During 1942−1944 Polish neighbors sheltered and helped the family of a Ukrainian woman, Maria Dzus. The Ukrainians “had to hide from the Polish bands.”

Source: Relacja Marii Dżus [Maria Dzus’ Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 477.

Ryszkowa Wola, Jarosław county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

In the spring of 1946 the Polish village reeve of Ryszkowa Wola, Ryzner, made it possible for eight Ukrainian families from the colony of Chodanie to avoid deportation to the USSR.

Source: Relacja Wołodymyra Ślusara [Volodymyr Slyusar’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 486.

Rzyczki, Rawa county, Lvov Voivodeship – village with a majority of Poles over Ukrainians, ca. 2,000 inhabitants.

In early May 1944 the UPA started to murder the Polish wives of the Ukrainians. The husbands were called to a meeting to the community center so that they would not come to their wives’ defense. In the meantime, the UPA members went to murder their wives. One of the victims was Agnieszka Moroz (Żyłak). Her two daughters (3 years and 11 months old) were wounded. The nuns in Jarosław took care of Agnieszka’s grieving Ukrainian husband and their daughters.

Source: J. Węgierski, Armia Krajowa – oddziały leśne..., 41.

Sanok, Sanok county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

According to Julia Shyshko’s account, Stanisław Gibała warned a Ukrainian, Volodymyr Tymtsyo, about his impending arrest and death.

On October 6, 1945 the County Inter-Party Reconcialiation Commission (Powiatowa Międzypartyjna Komisja Porozumiewawcza) in Sanok submitted a petition to the Ministry of Public Security against further deportation of the Lemkos and against the army’s participation in the operation. The petition was also signed by the Chair of the County National Council (Powiatowa Rada Narodowa) in Sanok, Michał Gula.

Source: Relacja Julii Szyszko [Julia Shyshko’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 91; AMSWiA, MAP, 304.

Srogów Górny, Sanok county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

On September 15, 1945 the Srogów Górny village reeve petitioned the Polish Army Command (Polska Komenda Wojskowa) in Sanok against deportation of the Ukrainians. The Jurowka communist police station superintendent, Piczyński, confirmed their loyalty.

Source: AMSWiA, MAP, 304.

Śliwnica near Krasiczyn, Przemyśl county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

Father Jan Lasek issued “Latin” birth certificates to the Ukrainian Greek Catholics in order to rescue them from deportation to the USSR.

Source: Relacja Augusta Stanisława Fenczaka [August Stanisław Fenczak’s Account], in Zbigniew Ziembolewski, W morzu nienawiści..., 129–131.

Telatyn, Tomaszów county, Lublin Voivodeship

In 1946 the local Polish Home Army (AK) soldiers sheltered a family of Ukrainian escapees from Żniatyn (Sokal county) so that they would avoid deportation to the USSR. A local Pole, Polak, also helped the Ukrainians.

Source: Relacja Marii Łucaś [Maria Lutsas’ Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 198.

Uhrynów, Sokal county, Lvov Voivodeship

On June 12, 1946 a Polish Army officer told the Ukrainians from Uhrynów to hide because the treaty regarding deportation to the USSR would expire in three days’ time and the Ukrainians who did not leave would not be deported.

Source: Relacja Stefana Macijewicza [Stefan Matsievich’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 124.

Ulucz, Brzozów county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

In 1945 an elderly Polish woman from Ulucz protested against the Polish Army’s looting of the Ukrainian homes.

Source: Relacja Michała Pogańskiego [Michał Pogański’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 500.

Wierzbica, Tomaszów county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

A Polish Army soldier rose to the defense of a Ukrainian woman who was being beaten by another soldier.

Source: Relacja Stefanii Łewko [Stefania Levko’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 80.

Witoldów, Poryck commune, Volhynia Voivodeship

After the UPA murdered several Poles from the Staszczyk and Stankiewicz families on July 11, 1943 a group of armed Polish railroaders came from Włodzimierz Wołyński. The Stankiewicz brothers were among them. The men captured a Ukrainian, Shtykala, whom they regarded as the perpetrator of the massacre. Czesław Staszczyk interceded for the Ukrainian claiming that “it couldn’t have been him.” Shtykala was set free.

Source: AW II/2665, C. Staszczyk, Oświadczenie w sprawie mordów w Kolonii Witoldów pow. Włodzimierz Wołyński gmina Poryck [Declaration Regarding the Massacres in the Witoldów Colony in the Włodzimierz Wołyński County in the Poryck Commune], p. 3–4.

Wola Krecowska, Sanok county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

Two First Lieutenants of the Polish Army allowed for one Ukrainian family from the village to be exempted from the deportation to the USSR.

Source: Relacja Julii Szyszko [Julia Shyshko’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 89.

Zagórz, Lesko county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

During the 1946 deportation of the Ukrainians, a Pole named Kasiewicz issued loyalty certificates to them.

Source: Relacja Stefanii Bojiwki [Stefania Boyivka’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 284.

Załuże, Lubaczów county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

A Polish Army Lieutenant, Mikołaj Grodzińki, provided help to the Ukrainians gathered at the railway station in Żałuże, particularly to children and to a mother and her newborn baby.

Source: Relacja Józefa Żarko [Yosif Zharko’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 400–401.

Zawadka Morochowska, Sanok county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

The Polish Army detachments pacified the village in January, March, and April 1946. There were about 70 Ukrainian victims.

According to the account ofAnna Babyak, a Ukrainian, one of the Polish Army soldiers did not let his companion shoot a young Ukrainian girl during the pacification at the end of January.

Source: Relacja Anny Babiak [Anna Babyak’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 225.

Żohatyn, Przemyśl county, Rzeszów Voivodeship

In the village of Żohatyn two Polish Army soldiers called a doctor to a Ukrainian woman, who was unwell after giving birth.

Source: Relacja Mirona Paliwody [Miron Paliwoda’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 584.

Żużel, Sokal county, Lvov Voivodeship

According to Piotr Szkoła’s account, in the village of Żużel a OUN staniczny (commander) and his deputy from Żabcze sheltered a Pole during 1943−1944. Later, that Pole sheltered those Ukrainians, but then he denounced them.

In 1946 the Border Protection Troops [WOP] stationed in Żużel protected the villagers from a raid of the Polish communist police functionaries from Bełż. The commandant of the Border Protection Troops’ watchtower in Żużel, First Lieutenant Ryngwalski, helped the Ukrainians and disarmed the group of Polish communist police functionaries who wanted to loot the village.

Source: Relacja Piotra Szkoły [Piotr Szkoła’s Account], in 1947. Propamyatna knyha..., 214−216.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AAN – Archiwum Akt Nowych w Warszawie (The Central Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw, Poland)

AIPN – Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Warszawie (Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw, Poland)

AK – Armia Krajowa (Home Army)

AMSWiA, MAP – Archiwum Ministerstwa Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji w Warszawie, Ministerstwo Administracji Publicznej (Archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration in Warsaw, Ministry of Public Administration)

AW – Archiwum Wschodnie w Warszawie (Eastern Archive of the Karta Centre, Warsaw, Poland)

BOss – Biblioteka Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich we Wrocławiu (Library of the Ossollinski National Institute, Wrocław, Poland)

MO – Milicja Obywatelska (Citizen’s Militia)

OUN – Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists

SB – Służba Bezpieczeństwa (Security Service)

UPA – Ukrainska Povstanska Armiia (Ukrainian Insurgent Army)

27 WDAK – 27 Wołyńska Dywizja Piechoty Armii Krajowej (27th Volhynian Infantry Division of Home Army)

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