Stara Huta, Volyn Oblast

Stara Guta (Stara Huta - Стара Гута in Ukrainian) is a village in Starovyzhivskyi Raion, Volyn Oblast, Ukraine. The population of the village is 1024 people.

History

Between the wars, the village was located in the Second Polish Republic, in the Buchach County, Tarnopol Voivodeship. Up till the Nazi German and Soviet invasions of Poland in September of 1939 it was the location a Polish settlement known as Stara Huta. During World War Two, the village was the site of Polish and Jewish mass murders between 1942 and 1945, perpetrated by local Ukrainian peasants and Ukrainian nationalists of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

The village endured two Ukrainian raids. The first, took place on the night of March 4, 1944. Almost all farmhouses numbering at around 200 were set on fire and burned down. Around 25-30 were saved partially. In the mass killing at least 30 to 35 Polish men and women were killed. During the first raid, Ukrainian nationalists concentrated themselves on killing men and boys.

The second pacification operation took place on February 28, 1945 and this time, the Ukrainians killed all Poles they encountered, including infants and seniors. At that time, the village was erradicated completely and the remaining inhabitants murdered. Among the murdered, were four female members of the Biernacki family, as males had been killed with axes on March 4, 1944. A local Roman-Catholic church, had also been burned. The Ukrainians were led by Pavlo Kirychuk, a member of the banderite movement, who himself was later shot by the UPA for desertion.

Sources

• Template:Pl icon Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski,Anihilation of Korosciatyn
• Template:Pl icon Janusz Stankiewicz, Huta Stara 2007

See also

• Massacres of Poles in Volhynia