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Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia

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The Massacre of Poles in Volhynia (Polish: Rzeź wołyńska (lit. Volhynian slaughter)) was a massive ethnic cleansing operation in Germany-occupied Volhynia and Eastern Galicia that took part during the World War II, between late 1942 and early 1944. The action, orchestrated by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and conducted together with various other Ukrainian groups as well as local Ukrainian peasants, resulted in tens of thousands, and perhaps hundreds of thousands, Polish peasants, children and women alike being murdered and many more fleeing the area. Peak of the massacres took place in July and August of 1943, when a senior UPA commander, Dmytro Klyachkivsky, stipulated the extermination of the entire Polish population between 16 and 60 years of age. The estimates of the number of causalities vary widely and continue to be the subject of scholarly as well as political debates. The slaughter was directly linked with policies of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, whose goal, specified at the Third Conference of the OUN-B, was to remove non-Ukrainians from the future Ukrainian state[1].

The tension between ethnic Poles and Ukrainians had its origin in the period when both nations strove to regain their independence following the First World War. Both nations claimed the territories of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia for themselves. The conflict escalated in the interwar period, particularly in the 1930s, due to nationalist policies of the Second Republic of Poland and Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and later, during the period of Soviet annexation of Western Ukraine in 1939-1941 (see: Polish September Campaign). It culminated in bloodshed when Germans occupied Galicia and Volhynia and began encouraging inter-ethnic violence in the territories they controlled.[2] It must be noted that the mass murders of Poles did not finish when the Red Army pushed the Wehrmacht from current territory of Western Ukraine; the massacres lasted well into 1945.

Background history of Polish-Ukrainian relations

Unlike Ukraine, Poland managed to regain her independence following World War I. While, after the initial conflicts, the Polish government of Józef Piłsudski allied with Ukrainian People's Republic against the Bolshevik Red Army and supported the idea of an independent Ukraine, the Poles did not keep up to their promises. With the signing of the Peace of Riga, Ukraine was divided between Poland and the Bolshevist Russia, with both Volyn and Galicia falling under Polish control.

Second Polish Republic (1921-1939)

For more information on the situation of Ukrainian minority in the Second Polish Republic, see History of Ukrainian minority in Poland.
Ethnic make up of Vohlynia in 1915[3]
Regional area Ukrainians Poles Jews
Kovel 78.49% 4.59% 11.48%
Kremenetz 82.72% 3% 12.13%
Lutsk 56.96% 9.7% 14.13%
Ostroh 76.68% 6.61% 10.08%
Rivne 60.48% 9.19% 15.97%
Volodymyr-Volynsk 72.09% 8.37% 10.42%
Dubno 72.09% 6.51% 11.48%

Some of the policies implemented by the Second Polish Republic in Volyn were aimed at suppressing Ukrainian language, culture and religion.[4] Despite the fact that the majority of the population of Volyn was ethnically Ukrainian (see the table), practically all government and administrative positions, including the police, were assigned to ethnic Poles.[5] By 1938, thousands of Polish colonists were encouraged to settle in Volyn and Galicia. This number was estimated at 300,000 by Ukrainian [6] and at only 17,700 in Volhynia (not including Galicia) by Polish sources (see osadnik) [7] While almost all of these colonists were soon to be deported to Siberia (the decision to deport all Polish settlers to Siberia was taken by Moscow on February 10, 1940[8]), their short presence contributed to the growing Polish-Ukrainian tension. The number of Ukrainian-language schools in Volyn was reduced from 440 to 8 and hundreds of Orthodox churches were either destroyed or converted to the Roman Catholic Rite.

The Ukrainian and Polish antagonism escalated in the 1930s, when the terrorist campaign of the OUN (including assassinations of prominent Polish politicians and both Polish and Ukrainian moderates, such as Tadeusz Hołówko) provoked increased pacification of Ukrainian settlements by Polish forces and a corresponding escalation of tensions.[9]

Soviet Union (1939-1941)

In September 1939, following the outbreak of World War II and pursuant to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was occupied in the west by Nazi Germany and the eastern provinces were annexed by the Soviet Union. Volyn was split into two oblasts (Rovno and Volyn) of the Ukrainian SSR. Upon the annexation, the Soviets started to eliminate the predominantly Polish middle and upper "bourgeoisie" classes. During 1939-1941 1.450 million inhabitants were deported by the Soviet authorities, of whom 63.1% were Poles, and 7.4% were Jews.[10] Others escaped from the Soviet-occupied territories to the areas controlled by Germans. Several hundred thousand Poles died at the hands of Soviets, including Polish officers from Soviet annexed territories murdered by NKVD in the Katyn massacre, and others.[11] [12] The deportations and murders deprived the Poles of their community leaders.

During the Soviet occupation, Polish members of the local administration were replaced with Ukrainians and Jews[13], and the Soviet NKVD subverted the Ukrainian independence movement. All local Ukrainian political parties were abolished, and between 20,000 to 30,000 Ukrainian activists, fled to German-occupied territory; most of those who did not escape were arrested. The elimination of the individuals, organizations and parties that represented moderate or liberal political tendencies left the extremist Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which operated in the underground, as the only political party with a significant organizational presence left among western Ukrainians. [14] Cases where Polish police collaborating with the NKVD handed over documentation regarding the activities of Ukrainian nationalists were common.[15]

The massacres

The prelude

The former areas of eastern Poland occupied by Soviet Union were attacked by German, Slovak and Hungarian forces on June 22, 1941. Soviet forces in Volhynia were better armed and prepared than in more northerly areas and were able to defend themselves for a couple of days. On June 30 the Soviets withdrew eastwards and Volhynia was soon occupied by the Nazis, who were initially supported by the Ukrainian nationalists, carrying out acts of sabotage. The Ukrainian pro-Nazi militia also staged pogroms and assisted the Nazis in executions of Poles and Jews[16]. Soon afterwards, the Ukrainian nationalists found themselves in conflict with the Germans.

Throughout 1942 both Poles and Ukrainians considered Volhynia to be a relatively peaceful area with no significant rise in ethnic tensions. As evidenced both by Polish and Ukrainian underground reports, the only major concern were strong Soviet partisan groups, operating in the area. The groups, recruited mostly from the Soviet POWs initially specialized in raiding local settlements, which disturbed both OUN and AK, who expected it to result in the increase of German terror. Indeed these concerns soon materialised, as Germans started the "pacifications" of entire villages in Volhynia in retaliation for their real or alleged support for the Soviet partisans. Polish historiography wrongly attributed most of these actions to Ukrainian nationalists, while in reality they were conducted by Ukrainian occupational police units under direct supervision of Germans. One of the best known examples was the pacification of Obórki village in Lutsk county on 13-14 November 1942. While most of the action was carried out by the Ukrainian occupational police, the murder of the 53 Polish villagers was perpetrated personally by the Germans, who supervised the operation.[17][18]

For many months in 1942, the OUN-B was not able to control the situation in Volhynia, where aside of the Soviet partisans, many independent Ukrainian self-defence groups started to form in response to the growth of German terror. The first OUN-B military groups were created in Volhynia only in autumn 1942 with the goal of subduing the other independent groups. Within several months, the newly created OUN-B forces managed to either destroy or absorb other Ukrainian groups in Volhynia, including four OUN-M units. In spring 1943 the OUN-B partisans started to call themselves the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), using the former name of the Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army, another Ukrainian group operating in the area in 1942. This new organization soon undertook steps to liquidate foreign elements, with posters and leaflets urging the Ukrainians to murder Poles[19].

On February 9, 1943, a group pretending to be Soviet partisans murdered 173 Poles in Parośle settlement in Sarny county. According to Polish historiography the perpetrators were a unit of UPA, commanded by Hryhory Perehyniak.[20][21][22] In March 1943 approximately 5,000 Ukrainian policemen defected with weapons and joined UPA. This fact contributed to the dominant position of UPA among other Ukrainian groups active in Volhynia and at the same time marked the beginning of large-scale UPA operations against the Polish population.[11] In the night of 22-23 April, Ukrainian groups, commanded by Ivan Lytwynchuk (aka Dubowy), attacked the model settlement of Janowa Dolina, killing 600 people and burning down the entire village. Those few who survived were mostly people that found refuge with friendly Ukrainian families, [23]

Volyn

The assault on Polish settlements began in early 1943, with a similiar scheme - the Ukrainian nationalists attacked at night, butchering all Poles, regardless of sex and age [24]. In mid-1943, after several killings of Polish civilians, the Poles tried to initiate negotiations with the UPA. Two delegates of the Polish government in Exile[25], Zygmunt Rumel and Krzysztof Markiewicz, together with a group of representatives from the Polish Home Army, attempted to negotiate with UPA leaders, but instead were tortured and murdered (on July 10, 1943, village of Kustycze).

Next day, July 11, is regarded as the bloodiest, with many reports of UPA units marching from village to village, killing Polish civilians. On that day, UPA units surrounded and attacked Polish villages and settlements located in three counties - Kowel, Horochow and Włodzimierz Wołyński. The events began at 3 in the morning, Poles had no chance to escape. After the massacres, the Polish villages were burned to the ground. According to those few who survived, the action had been carefully prepared, a few days before the massacres there had been several meetings in Ukrainian villages, during which UPA members were telling natives that slaughter of all Poles was necessary. Within few days a number of Polish villages were completely destroyed and their population murdered.[26]

The atrocities were perpetrated with cruelty, the victims, regardless of their age or gender were routinely tortured to death.[27] [28]

According to a Ukrainian historian from Lviv, Yuryi Kirichuk, the scenes taking place in Volynian villages in 1943 resembled the times of Jarema Wiśniowiecki and Maxym Kryvonis and the pogroms in Nemyriv (1648) and Uman (1768). He described the conflict as similar to the medieval religious wars or peasants's rebellions. [29].

Altogether, in July 1943 the Ukrainians attacked 167 towns and villages. [30] This wave of massacres lasted 5 days, until July 16. The UPA continued the ethnic cleansing, particularly in rural areas, until most Poles had been deported, killed or expelled. These actions were conducted by many units, were well-coordinated and thoroughly planned[31]. Also, even though it may be an exaggeration to say that the massacres enjoyed general support of the Ukrainians, it has been suggested that without wide support from local Ukrainians they would have been impossible.[11] Those Ukrainian peasants who took part in the massacres, created their own units, called Samoboronni Kushtchovi Viddily (Kushtchov Self-Defence Units). People who did not speak Polish, but were considered Poles by the perpetrators were also murdered. According to the Home Army report from 1943, in several cases the Poles were assured by their Ukrainian neighbours that they were safe, only to be attacked and massacred a few days later [22]. Those Poles captured by the Ukrainian nationalists had no chance of survival.

According to Władysław Filar from Polish Institute of National Remembrance, a witness of the massacres, it is impossible to establish whether these events were ever planned. There is no documentation proving that UPA-OUN made a decision to exterminate Poles in Volyn [32]. However, Filar cites numerous statements of the Ukrainian officers, who reported their actions to the leaders of UPA-OUN. For example, in late September 1943, commandant of the Lysoho group wrote to the OUN headquarters: "On September 29, 1943, I carried out the action in the villages of Wola Ostrowiecka and Ostrówki. I have liquidated all Poles, starting from the youngest ones. Afterwards, all buildings were burned and all goods were confiscated". Professor Filar adds that on that day in Wola Ostrowiecka 529 Poles were murdered (including 220 children under 14), and in Ostrówki, the Ukrainians killed 438 persons (including 246 children) [32].

In August 1943 UPA placed notices in every Polish village stating in 48 hours leave beyond the Buh or the Sian river - otherwise Death[33]. Ukrainian nationalists limited their actions to villages and settlements, and did not attack towns or cities. According to a journalist Adam Kruczek, a historian from the Lublin's branch of the Institute of National Remembrance stated[citation needed] that in 1943 the massacres were organized westwards, starting in March in Kostopol and Sarny counties, in April they moved to the area of Kremianets, Rivne, Dubno and Lutsk. In July massacres took place in such counties as Kowel, Horochow and Włodzimierz Wołyński, and in August - in Luboml. The slaughter did not stop after the Red Army entered into the areas, with massacres taking place in 1945 in such places as Czerwonogrod (Ukrainian: Irkiv), where 60 Poles were murdered on February 2, 1945,[34][35], the day before their departure to the Recovered Territories.

According to a Polish historian Piotr Łossowski, the scheme used in most of the attacks was the same. At first, local Poles were assured that nothing would happen to them. Then, at dawn, a village was surrounded by armed members of the UPA, behind whom were peasants with axes, hammers, knives and saws. Murdered were all Poles encountered, sometimes they were herded into one spot, to make it easier. After a massacre, all goods were looted, including clothes, grain and furniture. The final part of an attack was setting fire to the village. [36]. In many cases, victims were tortured and their bodies mutilated, with all vestiges of Polish existence eradicated. Even abandoned Polish settlements were still burned to the ground[37].

Eastern Galicia

Monument of Poles killed by UPA (1943-1945), in Przemyśl, Poland

In late 1943, after most Poles of Volhynia had either been murdered or had fled the area, the conflict spread to the neighbouring province of Galicia, where the majority of the population was still Ukrainian, but where the Polish presence was stronger. In this area, the Ukrainian nationalists used the same pattern as in Volhynia, with murdering of all Polish residents of villages, pillaging and burning them to the ground[38], . In the night of February 5-6, 1944, Ukrainian groups attacked a Polish village of Barycz, near Buchach. 126 Poles were massacred, including children and women. A few days later, a local group of OUN, under Petro Chamchuk attacked Polish settlement of Puźniki (February 12-13), killing around 100 persons and burning houses. Those who survived, moved mostly to Prudnik [39]

Then, in the village of Korosciatyn, 78 Poles were murdered, the victims were later counted by a local Roman Catholic priest, rev. Mieczysław Kamiński [40] Father Kamiński stated that local Greek Catholic priests were urging the Ukrainian faithful to kill all members of mixed, Polish-Ukrainian families, saying from the pulpits: Mother, you're suckling an enemy - strangle it[41].

One of the most infamous massacres took place on February 28, 1944, in a Polish village of Huta Pieniacka, which had served as a shelter for Jews [42] as well as a center for Polish and Communist partisans [43] [44] In the Huta Pieniacka massacre between 500 [45] and 1,200 [46] Poles were murdered, including a significant number of children. Some historians deny the role of the Ukrainian Galizien Division in the killings, and attribute them entirely to German units, while others disagree.[47]. Among scores of Polish villages, whose inhabitants were murdered and all buildings burned, there are such places as Berezowica near Zbaraz, Ihrowica near Ternopil, Plotych near Ternopil, Podkamien near Brody, Hanachiv and Hanachivka near Przemyslany [48] In the village of Semianivka near Lviv, the troops of the Galizien Division are alleged to have killed 30 persons. It happened on July 22, 1944, after the battle of Brody, where majority of the Division was destroyed by the Red Army. [citation needed]

The village of Pidkamen near Brody was a shelter for Poles, who escaped there, to hide in the monastery of the Dominicans. Some 2000 persons, majority of them women and children, were living there when the monastery was attacked in mid-March 1944, by the UPA units, cooperating with Ukrainian SS. [49] Around 300 Poles were murdered in the monastery, additional 500 were killed in the town of Pidkamen. In the nearby village of Palikrovy, 300 Poles were killed, 20 in Maliniska and 16 in Chernytsia. Armed Ukrainian groups destroyed the monastery, stealing all valuables. What remained is the painting of Mary of Pidkamen, which now is kept in Saint Wojciech church in Wrocław.

Authors of a monograph "Zycie religijne w Polsce pod okupacja 1939-1945" state that Roman Catholic priests were among those killed with most cruelty. Father Ludwik Wrodarczyk from the village of Okop was crucified by the Ukrainians, father Stanislaw Dobrzanski from the village of Ostrowka beheaded (with him 967 local Poles were killed) and father Karol Baran from the village of Korytnica was cut in half by a saw.

According to Kirichuk, the first attacks on the Poles took place there in August, 1943 and they were probably the work of UPA units from Volyn. In return, Poles killed important Ukrainians, including the Ukrainian doctor Lastowiecky from Lviv and a popular football player from Przemysl, Wowczyszyn. By the end of summer, mass acts of terror aimed at Poles were taking place in Eastern Galicia with the purpose of forcing Poles to settle on the western bank of the San river, under the slogan "Poles behind the San". The number of victims is unknown. Kirichuk estimates that 10-12,000 Poles were murdered in Galicia alone [50]

Approximately 366 Ukrainian and a few Polish inhabitants of Pawłokoma were massacred by a former Armia Krajowa unit aided by Polish self-defence groups from nearby villages. The massacre is believed to be an act of retaliation for earlier alleged murders by Ukrainian Insurgent Army of 9 (or 11) Poles [51] in Pawłokoma and unspecified number of Poles killed by UPA in neighbouring villages.

German and Soviet involvement

While Germans actively encouraged the conflict, for most of the time they attempted to remain not directly involved. However, there are reports[citation needed] of Germans supplying weapons to both Ukrainians and Poles. Special German units formed from collaborationist Ukrainian or Polish police were deployed in pacification actions in Volhynia, and some of their crimes had been attributed to either the Polish Home Army or the Ukrainian UPA.

According to Yuryi Kirichuk the Germans were actively prodding both sides of the conflict against each other.[50] Erich Koch once said: "We have to do everything possible so that a Pole meeting a Ukrainian, would be willing to kill him and conversely, a Ukrainian would be willing to kill a Pole". Kirichuk quotes a German commissioner from Sarny whose response to Polish complaints was: "You want Sikorski, the Ukrainians want Bandera. Fight each other". [50]

On August 25, 1943, the German authorities ordered all Poles to leave the villages and settlements and move to larger towns.[citation needed]

Also the Soviet partisan units present in the area were aware of the massacres. On May 25, 1943, the commander of the Soviet partisan forces of the Rivne area in his report to the headquarters stressed that Ukrainian nationalists did not shoot the Poles but cut them dead with knives and axes, with no consideration of age or gender.[52]

Number of victims

Estimates of Poles killed in Volhynia and Ukraine
Historian Volhynia All Ukraine
Norman Davies[citation needed] 60,000
Jan T. Gross[citation needed] 60-80,000
Ewa and Władysław Siemaszko[citation needed] 50-60,000 100,000
Ryszard Torzecki[citation needed] 40,000 100,000
Michał Fijałka[citation needed] 40,000
Józef Turowski[citation needed] 60,000 300,000
Grzegorz Motyka[citation needed] 35-60,000
Antoni Szczęśniak, Wiesław Szota[citation needed] 100,000
Bogumiła Berdychowska[citation needed] 34,647-60,000
Mykhaylo Koval[citation needed] 40,000 +
Orest Subtelny[citation needed] 60-80,000
Mikolai Siwicki[53] 35,000

The exact numbers of civilian victims of the Volyn Massacre remains unknown. Historians estimate the number as being between 35,000 and 60,000 in Volyn alone, while estimates of all Polish victims of the ethnic cleansing in Ukraine run as high as 100,000. UPA did not spare members of mixed families, including Ukrainians (Piotrowski writes that OUN-UPA nationalists would also murder Ukrainians, those who either did not want to kill Poles, helped them or cooperated with Soviet units). The ethnic cleansing was focused on unarmed countrymen as UIA partisans were not present in cities. Piotr Łossowski estimates that in the massacres, around one-third of Poles living in Volyn (50,000-60,000) perished, those who survived, were mostly inhabitants of towns and cities [36]. Władysław Siemaszko created a list consisting of 33,454 names, however, Łossowski emphasizes that the document is far from complete, as in numerous cases there were no survivors, who would later testify.

The Polish side however, also engaged in acts of brutality and vengeance.[54] Although the exact number of Ukrainian victims is not documented, according to Ukrainian estimates[who?] the number of victims from the actions of the Polish Home Army forces resulted in the deaths of an estimated 20,000 Ukrainians.[55] Research continues on arriving at a more accurate estimation of the number of victims for each side.

The Soviet and Nazi invasions of pre-war eastern Poland, the UPA massacres of Poles, and postwar Soviet expulsions all contributed to the virtual elimination of a Polish presence in the region, as those who survived left Volyn en masse, mostly to the neighbouring province of Lublin. After the war, the survivors moved further west, mostly to the territories of Lower Silesia. Polish orphans from Volyn were kept in several orphanages, with the largest of them around Kraków.

Responsibility

The question of the responsibility for the ethnic cleansing remains a matter of a dispute between the historians. It is often attributed to the rise in nationalistic attitude of Ukrainian political and military organizations.

The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, (OUN) of which the Ukrainian Insurgent Army would have become the armed wing, promoted removal, by force if necessary, of non-Ukrainians from the social and economic spheres of a future Ukrainian state. [56] The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists adopted in 1929 the Ten Commandments of the Ukrainian Nationalists, which all members of the Organization were expected to adhere to. This Decalogue stated "Do not hesitate to carry out the most dangerous deeds" and "Treat the enemies of your nation with hatred and ruthlessness".[57]

It is suggested that the decision to ethnically cleanse the area East of Western Bug river was taken by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army early in 1943. In March 1943, OUN(B) (specifically Mykola Lebed) imposed a collective death sentence of all Poles living in present Western Ukraine and a few months later local units of the UPA were instructed to complete the operation with haste.[58] The decision to cleanse the territory of its Polish population determined the course of events in the future. According to Timothy Snyder, the ethnic cleansing of the Poles was the work of OUN-B. No known documents exist however proving that the UPA-OUN made such an executive decision to exterminate Poles in Volhynia.[52] However, Polish investigators claim that the OUN central leadership decided in February 1943 to drive all Poles out of Volhynia, to obtain an ethnically pure territory in the postwar period. Among those who were behind the decision, Polish investigators see Dmytro Klyachkivskyy, Vasyl Ivakhov, Ivan Lytvynchuk, and Petro Oliynyk.[59]

According to prosecutor Piotr Zając, Polish Institute of National Remembrance in 2003 considered three different versions of the events in its investigation: [6]

  1. the Ukrainians at first planned to chase Poles out but the events got out of hand in the course of time.
  2. the decision to exterminate the Poles was taken by the OUN-UPA headquarters.
  3. the decision to exterminate the Poles was taken by some of the leaders of OUN-UPA in course of the internal conflict within the organisation.

Reconciliation

Efforts are ongoing to bring about reconciliation between Poles and Ukrainians regarding these tragic events. The Polish Institute of National Remembrance which is conducting an extensive investigation has collected over 10,000 pages of documents and protocols. The Polish side has made the first step towards reconciliation. In 2002 president Aleksander Kwaśniewski expressed regret over the resettlement program, known as Operation Vistula, stating that "Operation Vistula was the revenge for the slaughter of Poles by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army" in 1943-1944".[60]

The Ukrainian government however has not issued an apology.[55] [61]

On July 11, 2003, presidents Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Leonid Kuchma attended a ceremony held in the Volynian village of Pavlivka (previously known as Poryck).[62] They unveiled a monument to the reconciliation. President Kuchma however, did not offer an apology. The Ukrainians unexpectedly changed the inscription on the monument, even though it had been previously agreed upon with Poles.[63] Later, the Ukrainians issued an apology for what they stated was a mistranslation, and promised to correct the inscription.[64] Former chairman of Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn however, rejected calls for the Ukrainian state to apologize for the 1943 Volyn massacres. The Polish President stressed that it is unjust to blame the entire Ukrainian nation for these acts of terror, saying "The Ukrainian nation cannot be blamed for the massacre perpetrated on the Polish population. There are no nations that are guilty... It is always specific people who bear the responsibility for crimes".[65]

Reconciliation is hampered by the fact that the contemporary Ukrainian State is legally the continuation of the Ukrainian Soviet State[citation needed], and has no legal relationship with the Ukrainian state proclaimed in 1941 in Lviv. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army and other military formations operating on Ukrainian territory have to date not been recognised by the Ukrainian government despite numerous efforts by president Yushchenko to do so. As a result, the government structures of contemporary Ukraine do not have the legal right to discuss[citation needed] any aspects regarding reconciliation.

Notes

  1. ^ Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen, Immigration and Asylum, page 204
  2. ^ Дзюбан, О. Українсько-польське протистояння у вересні 1939 року у тогочасній пресі та споинах очевидців / Українсько-польський конфліцт під час Другої світової війни. Львів, 2003 (In Ukrainian); Dziuban, O. Ukrainian-Polish insurgence in October 1939 in contemporary press and witness memoirs / Ukrainian-Polish conflict during the second world war. Lviv, 2003 p. 98
  3. ^ Krzyzanovski A., Kumaniecki K., Statystyka Polska - Kraków, 1915 p. 54-55
  4. ^ Oleksandr Derhachov (editor), "Ukrainian Statehood in the Twentieth Century: Historical and Political Analysis", 1996, Kiev ISBN 966-543-040-8. section 2, subsection 2
  5. ^ Сивицький, М. Записки сірого волиняка Львів 1996 с.184
  6. ^ Subtelny, O. (1988). Ukraine: a History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pg. 429. ISBN 0-8020-5808-6
  7. ^ [Lidia Glowacka, Andrzej Czeslaw Zak, Military Settlers in Volhynia in the years 1921-1939
  8. ^ [Lidia Glowacka, Andrzej Czeslaw Zak, Military Settlers in Volhynia in the years 1921-1939
  9. ^ Snyder, The Reconstruction of Nations ..., p. 144
  10. ^ Poland's Holocaust, Tadeusz Piotrowski, 1998 ISBN 0-7864-0371-3 p. 14
  11. ^ a b c To Resolve the Ukrainian Question Once and For All: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ukrainians in Poland, 1943-1947, Timothy Snyder, Working Paper, Yale University, 2001
  12. ^ Previously it was believed that about 1.0 million Polish citizens died at the hands of the Soviets (Franciszek Proch, Poland's Way of the Cross, New York 1987 p.146) however recently Polish historians, based mostly on detaled studies of Soviet archives, estimate the number of deaths at about 350,000 people deported in 1939-1945.(Project In Posterum [1] (go to note on Polish Casualties by Tadeusz Piotrowski))
  13. ^ Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen, Immigration and Asylum, page 204
  14. ^ Orest Subtelny. (1988). Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 455-457.
  15. ^ Дзюбан, О. Українсько-польське протистояння у вересні 1939 року у тогочасній пресі та споинах очевидців / Українсько-польський конфліцт під час Другої світової війни. Львів, 2003(In Ukrainian) Dziuban, O. Ukrainian-Polish insurgence in October 1939 in contemporary press and witness memoirs / Ukrainian-Polish conflict during the second world war. Lviv, 2003 p. 92
  16. ^ Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen, Immigration and Asylum, page 204
  17. ^ Sowa, "Stosunki ...", p. 171
  18. ^ Feliks Trusiewicz, "Zbrodnie - ludobójstwo dokonane na ludności polskiej w powiecie Łuck, woj. wołyńskie, w latach 1939-1944, cz. 1" in "Na rubieży" nr 5, 1997, pp 36-39
  19. ^ Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen, Immigration and Asylum, page 204
  20. ^ Sowa, "Stosunki ...", p. 176
  21. ^ Motyka, p. 190
  22. ^ a b Od walk do ludobójstwa, Ewa Siemaszako, Rzeczpospolita, 10.07.2008
  23. ^ Wołyń - Janowa Dolina
  24. ^ Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen, Immigration and Asylum, page 204
  25. ^ Feliks Budzisz, The Day of Mourning in Kresy, Przeglad Weekly, number 28/2008
  26. ^ In the Polish village of Gurow, out of 480 inhabitants, 70 survived. In the settlement of Orzeszyn UPA killed 306 out of 340 Poles, in the village of Sadowa out of 600 Poles only 20 survived, in Zagaje out of 350 Poles only few survived. In August 1943, a Polish village of Gaj (near Kovel) was burned and some 600 persons massacred. In September in the village Wola Ostrowiecka 529 persons died, including 220 children under 14 and in Ostrowki - 438, including 246 children. In September 1992 exhumation took place in these villages. [2]
  27. ^ Norman Davies in No Simple Victory gives a short, but shocking description of the massacres. He writes: "The Jews of the region had already been killed by the Nazis. So in 1943-44 the wrath of the UPA fell on the helpless Poles (...) Villages were torched. Roman Catholic priests were axed or crucified. Churches were burned with all their parishioners. Isolated farms were attacked by gangs carrying pitchforks and kitchen knives. Throats were cut. Pregnant women were bayoneted. Children were cut in two. Men were ambushed in the field and led away. The perpetrators could not determine the province's future. But at least they could determine that it would be a future without Poles. They killed any number between 200,000 and half a million. Ironically, the USSR finished the UPA's work for them.The surviving Poles were 'repatriated', as they were from adjacent Byelorus and Lithuania. They were largely replaced by Russians. In 1991 West Ukraine became part of the independent Republic of Ukraine".
  28. ^ Timothy Snyder in his paper “To Resolve the Ukrainian Question Once and For All”: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ukrainians in Poland (November 2001) describes the murders: "Ukrainian partisans burned homes, shot or forced back inside those who tried to flee, and used sickles and pitchforks to kill those they captured outside. In some cases, beheaded, crucified, dismembered, or disembowelled bodies were displayed, in order to encourage remaining Poles to flee".
  29. ^ Gazeta Wyborcza 23.04.2003
  30. ^ Foreign Policy Association: Central and Eastern Europe|CE Europe
  31. ^ Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen, Immigration and Asylum, page 204
  32. ^ a b Antypolskie akcje nacjonalistów ukraińskich
  33. ^ Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 11, pg. 24
  34. ^ Wiktoria Śliwowska, Jakub Gutenbaum, The Last Eyewitnesses, page 187
  35. ^ [3]
  36. ^ a b "Nie tylko Wołyń", Piotr Łossowski, Przegląd, 28/2003
  37. ^ Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen, Immigration and Asylum, page 204
  38. ^ Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen, Immigration and Asylum, page 204
  39. ^ Zagłada Puźnik - Rzeczpospolita
  40. ^ Norman Davies - Teksty - EUROPA
  41. ^ History of Buczacz during World War II quoted from Norman Davies (1996), Europe: A History
  42. ^ Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, [http:// history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/16.pdf Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 5, p. 283]
  43. ^ Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, [http:// history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/16.pdf Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 5, p. 283]
  44. ^ Template:Pl icon [4]
  45. ^ Ukrainian archives
  46. ^ Template:En icon [5]
  47. ^ Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, [http:// history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/16.pdf Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 5, p. 284]
  48. ^ Po Polakach pozostały mogiły… - Rzeczpospolita
  49. ^ Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, [http:// history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/16.pdf Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 5, p. 285]
  50. ^ a b c Jak za Jaremy i Krzywonosa, Jurij Kiriczuk, Gazeta Wyborcza 23.04.2003
  51. ^ According to Polish-Ukrainian historian Eugeniusz Misiło, the Poles allegedly murdered in Pawłokoma by UPA, in reality were kidnapped by Soviet NKVD, in an attempt to start a series of retaliations. (Misiło, Pawłokoma ..., p. 20)
  52. ^ a b Antypolskie akcje nacjonalistów ukraińskich, Władysław Filar
  53. ^ Siwicki M. Dzieje konfliktow polsko-ukrainskich - Warszawa, 1994 T.II, S. 20-29
  54. ^ Subtelny, p. 475
  55. ^ a b Analysis: Ukraine, Poland Seek Reconciliation Over Grisly History, Jan Maksymiuk, RFE/RL, May 12, 2006
  56. ^ Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen Immigration and Asylum. From 1900 to the Present
  57. ^ Vic Satzevich, The Ukrainian Diaspora
  58. ^ Karel Cornelis Berkhoff, "Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine Under Nazi Rule", Harvard University Press, 2004, ISBN 0674013131 p. 291
  59. ^ Polish report on the massacres, article from Ukrainian webpage
  60. ^ Volhynia: The Reckoning Begins.
  61. ^ RFE/RL Newsline, 03-02-13
  62. ^ World Briefing | Europe: Ukraine: Joint Memorial To Massacre - New York Times
  63. ^ Warsaw Voice - POLITICAL PERISCOPE
  64. ^ BBC Monitoring European - Political. London: Jul 11, 2003. pg. 1
  65. ^ RFE/RL Newsline, 03-07-14

References

  • Template:En icon Subtelny, Orest (1988). "Ukraine: A History". Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-5808-6.
  • Template:En icon Filip Ożarowski Wolyn Aflame, Publishing House WICI, 1977, ISBN 0-9655488-1-3.
  • Template:En icon Wiktor Poliszczuk "Bitter truth": The criminality of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the testimony of a Ukrainian, ISBN 0-9699444-9-7
  • Template:En icon Tadeusz Piotrowski: Genocide and Rescue in Wolyn: Recollections of the Ukrainian Nationalist Ethnic Cleansing Campaign Against the Poles During World War II, McFarland & Company, 2000, ISBN 0-7864-0773-5.
  • Template:En icon Tadeusz Piotrowski: Vengeance of the Swallows: Memoir of a Polish Family's Ordeal Under Soviet Aggression, Ukrainian Ethnic Cleansing and Nazi Enslavement, and Their Emigration to America, McFarland & Company, 1995, ISBN 0-7864-0001-3.
  • Template:En icon Mikolaj Teres: Ethnic Cleansing of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, Alliance of the Polish Eastern Provinces, 1993, ISBN 0-9698020-0-5.
  • Template:En icon Norman Davies, "No Simple Victory: World War Two in Europe", page 352, Viking Penguin 2007. ISBN 978-0-670-01832-1
  • Template:En icon Timothy Snyder, The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10586-X Google Books
  • Template:Pl icon Andrzej L. Sowa (1998). "Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie 1939-1947". Kraków. OCLC 48053561.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Template:Pl icon Grzegorz Motyka (2006). Ukraińska partyzantka 1942-1960 (in Polish). Warszawa: RYTM. ISBN 83-7399-163-8.
  • Template:Pl icon Władysław Siemaszko, Ewa Siemaszko (2000). "Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939–1945". Warszawa. ISBN 83-87689-34-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Template:Uk icon Volodymyr Serhiychuk, Poliaky na Volyni u roky druhoyi svitovoyi viyny. Kyiv, 2003. 576 pages. ISBN 966-70-60-48-7
  • Template:Uk icon Volodymyr Serhiychuk, Deportatsiya Poliakiv z Ukrainy. Kyiv, 1999. 192 pages. ISBN 966-7060-15-2

See also

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