Calendar card: Ewa Czaszko: July genocide - from our archive

To the collective murders of the Polish people Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (CNS) Stepana Bandery joined in February 1943, although individuals, tiny groups (family) were murdered as early as 1942 and in January 1943. For the depolonization of Volyn, and later another areas jointly inhabited by Poles and Ukrainians, the CNS has been preparing for a long time. The concept of a Ukrainian state, where there is no place for non-Ukrainians, and above all for Poles as a nation, which resurrected Polish statehood at the end of the First planet War, besides in part of the pre-opportunity territory where Ukrainians lived, OUN already formulated at the founding convention in 1929. Later programming and organizational meetings of the CNS and the resulting provisions confirmed this concept and determined the way of implementation, i.e. at the right time the ruthless, merciless demolition of the Polish component and another alleged occupiers of Ukrainian land, to which only Ukrainians were entitled. To this end, the CNS has since its inception led to the expansion of the organization, chauvinist formation of members and indoctrination of Ukrainian society resulting in the gradual expansion of hostile anti-Polish sentiments. planet War II appeared to nationalist leaders as an chance to get free of Poles and make an independent Ukrainian state. In 1942, the creation of armed Ukrainian troops was started in Volhynia, which were supplied in March 1943 by respective 1000 Ukrainian policemen who escaped on orders from the CNS from serving with Germans, with weapons and ammunition, who had already persecuted the Polish population. They were named the Ukrainian Insurgency Army (UPA).

Violent Ukrainian behaviour has occurred since the beginning of the war. Poles have long treated them as isolated incidents of no greater importance. In the summertime of 1942, just before the harvest, in the conversation of 2 Ukrainians from Rudna in gm. Stydyń in the area of Kostopolska 1 of them announced that first there would be harvests "for rye" and later "for wheat". After the misunderstanding shown on the part of the interviewer, the interviewer explained that first there would be "the liquidation" of Jews and later Poles. And it was in the Kostopolska territory in August 1942 that the Germans, with the participation of Ukrainian police, murdered Jews from ghettos. Then it was heard erstwhile the police said, "We're done with the Jews, we're done with the Poles," and more and more frequently here and there the Ukrainian neighbour was sneaking distant the announcements of "budemo lachiw rizaty". It spread, entered the iron repertoire of UPA previously sung by Ukrainian policemen a song with a crucial chorus "Smert ́, smert ́, lacham smert ́, smert ́ moss-Jewish communist".

Since February 1943 there has been an escalation of mass murders, which lasted for 1943 throughout Volyn, with varying strength in individual districts and in individual months. The UPA and the OUN militias, as well as the crowds of Ukrainian peasants drawn by them, unleashed hell on the Volyn village. The bestial treatment of victims regardless of age and gender, fire, looting, demolition of property, manhunts for survivors, hunting for runaways to cities, working in fields, hiding, preventing burials. Parallelly criminal panic against those Ukrainians who did not lose humanity and did not want to be participants in the crime. The territory of Ukrainian nationalists tried to annihilate all Poles who managed to scope them, to destruct them only due to the fact that they were Poles. In March, the largest strength of the attacks was taken by the Kostopolska and Sarneński districts and part of the Łutsk county. In April 1943, there was a crucial increase in attacks on Poles in the Szymieniecki district. In May 1943, a larger wave of murders passed through the districts: Sarneński, Dubienski and Zdołbunowski. In June 1943, the most victims were in the Łutsk region in 3 neighbouring municipalities and in the powiat zdołbunowski.

Horrifying news and murders in the immediate surroundings have mobilized protective action. Most Poles expecting a robbery at night and counting on the alleged calming of the situation independently of the weather spent nights in makeshift hideouts outside the home - in the woods, in the depths of the area, bushes, in the field, etc. any families, and with small children, for months, thus spread between life and death. They besides fled to places considered safer - to cities and towns, where the presence of German crews inhibited to any degree the criminal raids of UPA, to assets under German management, due to the fact that there was organized armed protection, sometimes among Polish refugees, and to fewer Polish self-defense centers.

Despite the solidarity of Poles who have not yet become victims themselves, there was a deficiency of shelter and hunger everywhere. In the worst situation were those who survived the robbery, lost loved ones, and reached the city as they stood, in underwear, partially dressed or in torn clothes. The Germans took advantage of this situation by taking them to alleged transition camps, from which they exported refugees to work in the Reich. Those who did not want to fall into German hands decided to go through the General Government (provided by Tarnopolskie, Lviv and Lublin), separated from Volyn from the border, due to the fact that they felt that there was no flag threat. erstwhile the murderous attacks on Poles began, they went further west.

On the another hand, in the northern part of Volyn, in the districts of Sarne and Kowel, the rescue was sought, going to the north, on marsh-forested Polesa, the area little threatened by the bander militias. Poles travelled there for months with large groups with belongings on carts in forests, wilderness, staying briefly in towns not controlled by UPA, established camps in mid-bag areas which were moved from place to place. In front of families who, despite hard conditions, stayed in a safer place, who took food with them, after any time became a ghost of hunger. This forced a household associate to return on his own farm to supply food. They besides returned to do field work and later to be able to reap any harvest for survival. This was frequently paid for by life, and the household did not really know the details of the killings.

Spontaneously emerging self-defense facilities, and so specified places, where watchmen, patrols and where there were any weapons, were mostly temporary shelters of Poles. Only a twelve larger self-defence facilities in Volyn, which were called self-defence bases, persisted, rolling respective battles from UPA, to enter the 1944 Red Army and partially calm the situation in this area. The others were in considerable advantage to Ukrainian nationalists: either there was a pogrom in which people were killed, or a preemptive attack of evacuation of the population with defenders into the city erstwhile no chance was seen of effectively opposing the attackers.

However, it was not only the physical torment that plagued Volyn Poles. It was besides despair of losing loved ones and fear, not leaving the fear of getting into the hands of an advanced or Ukrainian peasant with an axe, an axe, forks, knives and akin home tools, of cruelty to and adults, and children, frequently so barbarous, degenerated that they prayed for death from a bullet and begged murderers to shoot. The gruesome images of killing a household from which the imagination could not be released - they took intellectual balance.

The constant deadly danger, killings and fire have completely invaded the existence of Volyn Poles. It was impossible to do farm work in average mode even close the city or a strong self-defense centre. In the northeastern regions of Volyn, it was hard to rob fields in spring. Despite all this, and as long as possible, Polish peasants tried either individually, or grouply, or with a group of self-defence guards at least partially to cultivate the land. For life's needs, heart's needs, and peasant duty.

Several thousand, estimating modestly, murdered defenceless Volynian Poles, respective tens of thousands dispersed in an exterminating camp, thousands of burnt and robbed farms - this is simply a balance of hatred and crimes of the CNS-UPA in the first half of 1943, called the fight for independent Ukraine, yet infinite, due to the fact that after all, there remained a large area of Volyn, where Poles were stubbornly "on their own" in spite of ominous circumstances. They hoped to remember the Ukrainian neighbors that possibly their vicinity would be spared. They didn't realize why their neighbors, who they didn't interfere with, could execution them. They hoped that it would end with threats, and moving distant somewhere unknown, where they didn't know what to live for and how to keep the household - she was terrified. And regret to leave the farms, erstwhile the harvest is so good, due to the fact that despite human dramas, what was planted and sown grew wonderfully. The crop was unique, as if nature wanted to compensate for all the harm to the war and support the undernourished population, robbed by the German occupier and "warriors" of independent Ukraine. The grain so advanced that even an adult man hid from unwanted sight, saving many from axe and knives.

It came to July 1943, in which the CNS-UPA entered into a massive attack on Poles in areas where they concentrated to survive, jointly guarding and defending themselves, and in Western counties where they had previously been attacked sporadically.

On the night of 4th to 5th July 1943, OUN-UPA attacked with a wide-ranging ringing of Poles surviving in villages around the center of self-defense. Since the spring of 1943 Poles from the area have protected themselves in this colony for fear of Ukrainian attacks, but not all of them have moved there. The aim of the action was to "clean up" a large area from Poles and to destruct a strong self-defense centre. UPA did not win the Scare, but respective 100 people died in 20 respective burnt colonies. On 8 July 1943, a delegation of the territory Government Delegates in Volyn headed by Zygmunt Rumle "Krzysztof Poręba" was cruelly murdered by the UPA in the vicinity of Kustycz (gm. Turoszko, St. 3 days later, i.e. on 11 July 1943 (Sunday), OUN-UPA proceeded to liquidate Poles in a immense area comprising Horochów region and Włodzimierski region and on a part of Kowelski County. It was the largest genocidal action carried out in Volyn in 1943, the course of which is perfectly reflected by the Akowski study by Jan Cichocki "Wołyniak", a teacher from the territory of Włodzimierski: "At 2 min. 30 after midnight on 11 July 1943, the slaughter began. Each Polish home was surrounded by no little than 30-50 peasants with a dull tool and 2 with firearms. They said to open the door or if they refused, they would cut the door. They threw hand grenades into their homes, chopping the population with axes, pricking forks, and who ran away, they shot at them with device guns. any injured people struggled after 2 or 3 days before they died, any wounded managed to scope the border of the Sofalz territory with the remaining force (...). After the murder, just this afternoon, there was a robbery. The peasants from neighboring villages came and took: horses, wagons, clothes, sheets, cows, pigs, chickens - livestock and dead".

Mass murders continued in this area until July 18. peculiar attention should be paid to attacks on churches and chapels in which they were gathered at Masses of Saint Poles. 11 July 1943 in 4 churches (Kisielin, Chrynów, Poryck, Zabłoćce) and 1 chapel (Krymno) Ukrainians murdered about 540 people, including 3 priests.

On 16-18 July, a large self-defence centre in Kostopolskie territory was defeated, protecting the cluster of Polish settlements in gm. Stepań and Stydyń around 2 villages Huta Stepańska and Wyrka and respective colonies in the neighboring municipality of Antonówka in the Sarne district. After 2 days of dramatic conflict with overwhelming UPA forces, the Polish population gathered in the Stepansk Huta together with self-defense evacuated to the municipalities of Antonówka and Rafałówka in the territory of Sarny, having suffered immense losses earlier and in the way. On July 30, 1943, another massive attack of UPA on the Polish settlement cluster in the municipality of Antonówka and Włodzimierc of the Sarne district, which resulted in its liquidation - all Polish settlements were burned, Polish population fled to railway stations on the Kowel - Sarny line. On July 31, OUN-UPA undertook a second, besides unsuccessful effort to annihilate Poles in the Dress. The centre of self-defence then fought hard against the overwhelming forces of UPA, so respective 1000 nomadic Poles survived.

The July genocide was not limited to the large actions described above - Poles were murdered in all districts, in addition to the Lubomel district, in smaller robberies. In this 1 period respective 1000 Poles died, respective twelve left Volyn and inactive failed to "purify Ukraine from Lachów" who had no place to flee and more than death, thought about harvests. So August became another period of Volyn massacre.

Mass genocidal actions on August 29-31, akin to the July 11 action, were affected by the northern part of the territory of Włodzimierz and the Lublin district. Poles were besides attacked in another powiats and another August days - in fewer Polish settlements and in mixed nationalities, where hope was placed in good neighbourly contacts with local Ukrainians - Kowelski, Horochowski, Łutki, Ryeński, Dubienski and everywhere where Poles came to harvest. These reapers were peculiar - delayed, unfinished and not even started by their legitimate Polish hosts. The "Failed" was the harvest of death: in the following month, in August, respective 1000 Poles were murdered, and during the full period of the genocidal actions of the CNS-UPA - 60 thousand.

The death of the Poles, victims of the Volyn-Małopolskie crime, in which the genocide actions consumed the full area of their execution by the CNS-UPA, not only in Volyn, 130 1000 fatalities, thousands of orphans, people physically and mentally mutilated, dead from wounds and as a consequence of inhuman conditions caused by Ukrainian nationalists - is inactive not treated decently by the Polish state. We inactive have "worse" and "better" victims of criminal ideology. After respective decades of a appropriate place in the national memory, Katyn victims were right. Unfortunately, the victims of the CNS-UPA crimes are irrelevant to the independent Polish state. Reported by the PSL draft Resolution on the establishment of the Day of Martyrdom of Kresowian on 11 July fell off the agenda of the Sejm. The questions arise: with whom is the Polish Sejm solidarity - with the victims or with the executioners and their perfect heirs, what with the consciences of the representatives of the Polish Nation and where did average human decency go?

The author is simply a investigator of the crimes of Ukrainian nationalists committed on the Polish population of Volyn during planet War II, the creator of books and exhibitions devoted to this issue.

Ewa Szupaszko, together with his father, Władysław Szupaszko, were honored with the Józef Mackiewicz award "Only the fact Is Interesting" for 2000-2001 and with the "Chairman of National Memory" award in 2011.

Eva, hi.

www.naszdanik.pl

http://www.naszdnik.pl/index.php?dat=20110709&typ=my&id=my11.txt

[Lines: C. 1 http://solidarni2010.pl/n,551,8, Ukrainian-to-Ukrainian-on-volyn-cz-1.html and

Part 2 http://solidarni2010.pl/n,560,8, Ukrainian-popularity-on-volyn-cz-2.html].

It is made available with the approval of the author and courtesy of Mr Krzysztof Bąkała, editor-in-chief of PRO MEMORIA, in which this article was published in 2003 [15 September 2003/ no. 6 (7)]