It is no coincidence that Ukrainians attacked Poles at that time – on the eve of Christmas Eve, on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Eve... The point was to put Poles to sleep and their vigilance. Ukrainians knew precisely how crucial Christmas is to Polish Catholics, that Poles would gather familyly as always at the Christmas table and celebrate the coming of the Savior. In addition, the end of 1944 in Volyn was a time erstwhile there was no war. Poles hoped for this absolute minimum of normality... – speaks in a conversation with PCh24 Dr Leon Popek (INP Lublin).
Dear Doctor, we are gathering present to talk about the alleged Blood Christmas Eve in Volyn. Before this terrible slaughter, however, I would like to ask you to comment on the "breakthrough", as the Tusk government called the Kiev Declaration on the exhumation of victims of Ukrainian genocide in Volyn. erstwhile will the exhumation take place?
As the editor rightly pointed out, this was a declaration, and specified the Ukrainian side on the exhumation in Volyn made a large deal. From the declaration to the signing of contracts and then to concrete works in the field – exploration, exhumation – then to burials is simply a very long way.
I would like to point out that there is no mention of burials in Ukrainian declarations. So I make it clear and ask openly: where are we to bury our fellow countrymen if we can find them and exhume them, of course? We don't have places like this!
It reminds me of a situation from many years ago erstwhile Polish soldiers who died in September 1939 were waiting for burial for more than a decade. Their remains were recovered and exhumed close Lviv. They were soldiers who died fighting Germany. There were about 100 of them. For more than 10 years, their remains lay in the crypts of churches, in bell towers, etc. They were not buried due to the fact that there was no consent for their burial! Finally, as a consequence of diplomatic actions of the Polish side, they were buried in the cemetery in Mościska.
Compare the scale – here was the problem with the burial of a 100 soldiers. At least 60,000 of our people died in Volyn. Where are they buried? At the moment, we just don't have these places! We want to exhume and very well, but exhume isn't everything? I said, where are we going to bury our countrymen? Why does the Polish State not think about this at all, even though this has been pointed out respective times?
There's inactive a long way to go... Like we said – so far we have another Kiev declaration. I hope this time it won't end just with words, but we'll yet get started.
To be honest, I would like the autumn-winter period to be utilized for substantive preparation, logistics, so that it does not turn out to be spring 2025, and there are no signatures, stamps, any consent that there are inactive any obstacles to the exhumation.
The autumn-winter period is not conducive to field work, which I hope is apparent to everyone. So let us usage this time to settle all formal and authoritative matters so that we can go into the field in spring.
You called the doctor, no burial sites for the victims of the Volyn massacre. But the president of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski at the end of November said "exhumed victims of the Volyn massacre may remainder on Powązki". I don't know if he's made this declaration with a sincere heart. I remember his attitude towards the action “Vołyń na Powązki” and any attempts to commemorate the victims of Ukrainian genocide in Powązki. But it is known that the election run is governed by its rights. Is it possible to bury the victims of Volyn on Powązki?
Mr. Trzaskowski's thought is in my opinion not realistic, not even thought-out.
Why?
The subject concerns the search, exhumation and burial of about 130 1000 Poles murdered by the CNS-UPA in about 4000 localities in a immense area (Lvivian, Volynian, Stanislawovian, Tarnopolskie and partially Polesian). The area has changed a lot. Around 1500 towns disappeared from the map of modern Ukraine. Last witnesses left. The process of exploration and exhumation itself will take decades (if not hundreds) and will be very costly for the Polish state. Let us remember that Polish citizens who have lived there for many generations have died. There are graves of their families in Roman Catholic cemeteries, and if they were alive, they would remainder there too. They should be buried in Catholic cemeteries. Their graves will be guardians of the Polishness of these areas, just as the bones of their ancestors attest that Poland was erstwhile there. It is besides essential to take into account the decisions of individual families that will want to bring the remains of relatives to Poland and to bury them in household graves. They have all right to do so and their decision must be respected.
As you would like to comment, the doctor said to MP Paweł Kowal: “We are talking about the crime committed by Polish citizens on another Polish citizens. Crime does not burden the Ukrainian State due to the fact that it did not exist." To be honest, erstwhile I heard those words, I virtually fell off the chair...
This is simply a translation that I have already heard at any Polish-Ukrainian conference. It is very convenient for the Ukrainian side to put the case.
Indeed, everyone who lived within the borders of the Second Republic in 39-45 was Polish citizens: Poles, Jews, Czechs, Germany, Ukrainians, Belarusians etc.
It is specified a translation... a small substitute due to the fact that it appears that Polish citizens murdered Polish citizens. There are already articles in Ukrainian media that troops commanded by Poles and made up of Poles murdered Poles in Orzeszyn on 11 July 1943, that there was a civilian war in Volyn... That's absolutely not true. Unfortunately, specified voices increasingly appear and trigger further theories. possibly we will shortly hear 1 of the Polish or Ukrainian politicians say with an open text that in Volyn or in Małopolska east Poles murdered NKWD. So far, the issue is over, but I think there's something going on.
But that is not all. I met many times with narratives that in 1943 and 1944 there was no genocide in Volyn, no slaughter, no cultural cleansing, no "blood Sunday" and that it was any kind of invention. Later there was a communicative that the Volyn massacre was carried out by Germany. They actually pacified any villages in Volyn with the aid of Ukrainian police, among others, for helping the russian guerrilla or for hiding Jews. Already here, the Ukrainian police were very, very effective in killing intelligence, erstwhile military, social activists etc.
Surely, however, any things request to be distinguished, due to the fact that they may be different. In fact, any locality where the murders occurred should be checked very closely from the side of the documents. You can't put 1 calculus on the full area and say that everywhere was the same. The differences were terrible.
All right, Doctor. These differences can be seen from the example of Ukrainian crimes in Poles committed in the last 10 days of 1944... I put that question aside, but you can't escape it... "Blood Christmas Eve"... "Blood Christmas"... "Blood fresh Year"... Almost all day Ukrainians massacred respective twelve Poles in circumstantial towns, not to mention "single murders", which were not missing at the time. all day we have a slaughter, but as the doctor said – they all differ. The first example – a crime in Toustobabach on December 22, 1944. Ukrainians execution at least 82 Poles. If it hadn't been for the Red Army, more Poles would have died...
In 1944, erstwhile the Red Army enters the east territory of Poland, in any places in Volyn Ukrainian crimes and murders on Poles cease. Ukrainians begin to decision to the areas of east Małopolska, where they begin further slaughters and massacres in the areas of Tarnopolskie, Stanisławskie and Lvivian provinces.
I have deliberately stressed that it is “some places in Volyn”. It continues, that I will put it this way, burning and killing Volyn, that I will only callback the crime in Wiśniówec, where in February 1944 Ukrainians murdered about 300 Polish residents of the town of Wiśniowiewiec Nowy and about 160 Poles in the close village of Wiśniowiewiec Stary.
Later, the same UPA troops supported by SS police units led by the Germans murdered, for example, in Pieniacka Huta and another towns, e.g. in Podkań.
You cited the crime editor in Toustobabach. I propose to focus on the crime in Ihrovica, which took place on December 24, 1944. That is why we are talking about "Blood Christmas Eve".
The Red Army is already on Volyn, there are Soviets. It would seem that Christmas will be rather calm. Nothing more wrong...
During Christmas Eve in Ihrovica Ukrainians are 1 of the first to execution with the aid of Father Szczepankiewicz with their mother, sister and brother. erstwhile the priest heard the shots in the village he started to ringing bells so any Poles managed to escape the Ukrainians. Unfortunately, nearly a 100 of our people, including women and children, failed to escape. They were brutally murdered.
It is no coincidence that Ukrainians attacked Poles at that time – on the eve of Christmas Eve, on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Eve... The point was to put Poles to sleep and their vigilance. Ukrainians knew precisely how crucial Christmas is to Polish Catholics, that Poles would gather familyly as always at the Christmas table and celebrate the coming of the Savior. In addition, the end of 1944 in Volyn was a time erstwhile there was no war. Poles hoped for this absolute minimum of normality...
Unfortunately, those who were controlled by the Polish blood were attacked. They just wanted to execution as many Poles as possible. They knew that Poles on Christmas would not hide, they would not hide, they would be at the Christmas table. Everyone. tiny to old. Men and women. Healthy and sick. Everyone... And the Ukrainians were all about killing them all...
May I quote the account of the Janówka crime, which took place on 25 December 1944: “The self-defense of Janówka expected an attack on Christmas Eve. On December 25 in the morning, recognising that the threat had passed, members of the self-defense divided into homes for Christmas breakfast. In addition, as a consequence of the dissolution of false rumors by Ukrainians about the approaching Germans, Poles hid firearms. The colony was then invaded by upers supported by Ukrainian peasants, burning buildings and murdering civilians who rushed to flee towards the centre of self-defense in Zasmyki". I read this due to the fact that present it is being tried to tell us that the Volyn massacre is part of the alleged folk history, that is, in large simplicity: Ukrainian peasants rebelled against Polish masters. I'm sorry, but the crime in Janówka shows that it wasn't a sex offender, it was a well-planned and well-organized genocide...
Of course, it was a very good, even masterly prepared and carried out in a Satanic way. The worst part is that it's been 80 years and we inactive can't find, exhume, and decently bury our countrymen and loved ones...
I will say more: 80 years have passed, and Poles' cognition of the Volyn crime is inactive minimal. Many have surely heard of “Blood Sunday 1943”, but who has heard of “Blood Christmas Eve 1944”?
I think that few, and that is why I thank you very much, that you and the PCh24 portal aid publicise this subject and this terrible story.
Volyn continues to break into the wider awareness of Poles.
For me it is simply unimaginable, that on intent in specified an organized, thoughtful, criminal manner, families were attacked and on Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve, only due to the fact that they were Polish families... I repeat: then the front has passed and the russian Army is stationed in Volyn.
It would seem that Poles waited and survived all the worst and now it will be a small better. Unfortunately, the Ukrainians came to the conclusion that they had to velocity up due to the fact that – as I mentioned – they wanted to execution as many Poles as possible.
I'm sorry, but I don't understand, and I can't understand, nor explain...
Why did the NKVD lower the number of UPA victims? At least 89 Poles were killed in Ihrovica, NKVD in papers wrote about little than 70.
Because no 1 kept accurate lists of people killed after the village was burned, after Poles were murdered.
There were quite a few mixed families in Ihrovica, erstwhile Poles in relations with Ukrainians and Ukrainians in relations with Poles. It may have been that any of these mixed families were buried separately earlier, as individuals recognized as having relatives. On the another hand, where Poles had either escaped or all of the families died, they were buried in a collective grave under a fence, behind a cemetery.
Why there?
Because there was area for specified a large collective grave. If anyone is in these areas, delight look for collective graves at the end of the cemetery, under the fence, close the fence, close the parkan, due to the fact that there were free seats there.
Finally, I would like to callback the account of Łozowa, where on the night of 28 to 29 December 1944 The Ukrainians murdered more than 100 Poles: “At the home of Paul Kozioł, the ups killed his parent and beat his wife, of Ukrainian descent. The goat fell and found her own body and saved his life and pretended to be dead. Laying down, she noticed Ukrainian women accompanying the prisoners, looting the chamber; 1 of them was her own sister." I don't really know what to say, Doctor...
There were many more specified tragedies. We know many examples of husband and husband killings by his wife, father by his boy etc.
Let's be aware of how far the grain of crime has been sown. That's what we're inactive dealing with, and we inactive can't rather understand. But now think of those who survived and had to face this trauma, with this cognition all their lives. These people had to decision on, and no 1 helped them, no 1 treated them mentally.
About 50% of the surviving witnesses, these are children who witnessed terrible things and they had to deal with all this later. These children now have their children or grandchildren and this memory lives on. present we know that trauma is hereditary, sometimes untreated, that it functions for generations, and that is why I think that in Polish society present so many people support and are in favour of yet closing this chapter, and that there is only 1 way to do it: announcement AND barely TO Bury MERDERED.
And to hear my apologies from the Ukrainians... I'm truly sorry...
Let me put it this way, Mr. editor, apologizing is not a one-time thing. It's not adequate for individual to say that they're truly sorry, and that's it, that's it, that's it, we're never going back to her again.
We will return to this all time we stand on the graves of murdered Poles, while we mourn them erstwhile we remember. But there must be no desire for revenge or retaliation. We must remember not to repeat it. We must remind the Ukrainians constantly for the same reason.
We have the right to pain, we have the right to remember, we have the right to mourn, we have the right to bury. These are the basic things politics can't rule. Politics here can't dictate how it should be. We are Christians, raised in specified a cultural circle, and we know it best.
You just gotta ask the basic question: is this human? Is that okay? Is it lawful to do so that we cannot bury our fellow countrymen and loved ones 80 years after their murder? Is it lawful for thousands of our people and loved ones to proceed to lie in any mediocre place, unfound and unburied?
Is that all right?
In all of this, we forget to make amends, but this is simply a separate subject that we inactive have in common.
Thank you for talking.
Tomasz D. Kolanek
