Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki paid tribute to the memory of the victims of the Volhynian massacre in the non-existent village of Ostrówki, whose inhabitants were killed by UPA units. The head of the Polish government arrived in Ukraine early Friday morning in connection with the 80th anniversary of this crime, which fell on July 11.
Morawiecki arrived in Ostrówki at dawn. Together with one of the descendants of the Polish inhabitants of this village and the investigator of the Volhynian crime, Doctor Leon Popek, he dug a wooden cross on the site of the former cross and prayed over it.
Candle in front of the statue of Our Lady
The prime minister then lit a candle in front of the statue of the Mother of God, located next to where Ostrowiec’s church once stood, and visited the cemetery where the victims of the Volhynia massacre are buried. There he laid a wreath in front of the monument erected in their memory.
Dr. Popek, who showed the prime minister around the sites of the tragic events in Ostrówki, told PAP that the village, which dates back to the 16th century, ceased to exist in August 1943.
On August 30, 1943, this village, like neighboring Wola Ostrowiecka and more than 30 other villages in the Luboml district, was surrounded within hours and ceased to exist.
said the researcher.
Here, in Ostrówki, 475 people died. There are 580 people living in Wola Ostrowiecka. In total more than 1050 people. This was done by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
– he explained.
The residents of Ostrówki were killed by Ivan Kłymczak “Łysy’s” UPA chickens.
He later reported that he killed everyone from young to old and took possession for the chicken’s purposes
Pope stressed.
The researcher lost his grandfather Jan Szwed and his aunt with her husband and two children in the Volhynian massacre.
More than 20 people from immediate and extended family
– said doctor Popek.
Agreement with Ukraine?
When asked about the Polish-Ukrainian agreement on the issue of Volhynian crime, he stated that there is hope that it will happen one day.
I look at it with some optimism because I see such isolated signs of good relationships. Just a year ago, the Ukrainian community cleared more than ten cemeteries. Yesterday there was a joint cleaning of the cemetery in Ostrówki, in which Polish and Ukrainian youths took part. These are positive signs that things are moving in that direction
– he indicated in an interview with PAP.
80 years ago, on July 11 and 12, 1943, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army launched a coordinated attack on about 150 Polish-inhabited towns in the counties of Włodzimierz, Horochów, Kowel and Łuck in the former Volyn Voivodeship. It took advantage of the fact that people gathered in churches on Sunday, July 11. “Bloody Sunday” is considered the culmination of the genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists against Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia in 1943-1945. As a result, about 100,000 people died. Poland.
The perpetrators of the Volhynia genocide were members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – B (Bandera’s faction), the Ukrainian Insurgent Army subordinated to it, and the Ukrainian population encouraged by them, forming neighbors of Poland, often related to them by blood ties. Roman Shukhevych, the chief commander of the UPA, is directly responsible for issuing the punishment order. The OUN-UPA called its actions an “anti-Polish move” to make Ukraine an area inhabited exclusively by Ukrainians.
gah/PAP/Facebook
Source: wPolityce