The Banderites murdered 46 Poles. „Investigation of the IPN Wrocław S 48/01 / Zi – on the crimes committed by Ukrainian nationalists in the area of Brzeżany, province Tarnopol, in the years 1943—1945, incl  […] the murders in Buszczy on January 22, 1944 – 46 people”. „In the church square, antoni Zamojski (30) was shot by a machine gun. The three others: Jan Zamojski (19), Mikołaj Kościów (32) and Franciszek Skałuba (15) managed to run into the presbytery and hide in the chimney. There, however, the murderers broke in and shot them all. The next day they were dragged out dead and black with soot  […] Józefa Gajshajmer mentioned that while hiding from the Banderites in the attic, she heard the terrible screams of her sixteen‑year‑old neighbor anna Matejowska. On the second day it turned out that the Bandera followers, having entered her house, could not find the host. They directed all their anger at anna, who at the last moment tried to get out of the window. The murderers caught her on the windowsill. They smashed a window and pierced her body with pieces of glass and bayonets. They opened her belly, then cut her breasts and broke her arms. They left the dead woman hanging out the window. The choice of this house was not accidental, as anna's father had previously been a Polish community secretary  […] Jan Józef Zamojski, who was not at his home at the time of the attack and who miraculously survived, remembered what was left after his return. On the ground lay a mother killed from blows with a bayonet, who just before her death managed to scream only «Mother of God». Next to her was sister Marynia, killed by a burst from an automaton. Only the young sister Kasia survived the attack by a miracle, and she told what she had seen  […] Tekla Kuflińska witnessed how her father was murdered. He was dying for several hours before her eyes. The Banderites knocked on the door. Thecla's father thought it was neighbors and opened it. The attackers went inside. One of them asked «which one?» and the other replied «this» pointing to the Pole. a moment later a shot rang out. The injured father of Thecla asked to be put on the bed. The family tried to stop the wounds at all costs, but after a few hours the father got up, looked around the apartment, told «they wanted my blood, they drank it» and died  […] In the Zamojski family's house, the Bandera followers shot a young mother holding a child. Despite her wounds, she managed to get up and put her son on the couch. a moment later, the Ukrainians shot her again and she died. The famous Polish doctor, Jan Załuczkowski, also became a victim of the Banderites. The Banderites stormed his house and killed him with a shot to the head. Jan Załuczkowski was known by Poles and The Ukrainians as an honest man who treated everyone regardless of nationality  […] The transport of a dozen German soldiers, together with the hospital doctor in Brzeżany Stefan Biliński and the paramedic Józef Bereziuk, reached Buszcz in the very morning. according to the accounts of witnesses, German soldiers cried after seeing burnt houses and brutally murdered Poles. Doctors helped over a dozen people. The Germans ordered the wounded to be transported by sleigh to the hospital in Brzeżany, 25 kilometers away, so that Dr. Biliński could work peacefully on the spot. The funeral of 28 murdered people, buried in 20 coffins, was held in the Buszczek church. The service was celebrated by 3 priests. Then the coffins were placed on a sleigh and they headed towards the cemetery  […] The Banderites tried to catch Poles who had escaped death during the first attack on Buszcze for a few more days. Those caught were murdered in a cruel way. Piotr Zamojski was bound with wire and thrown alive into the lake where he drowned. Maria Zamojska was stopped on the road, beaten and thrown into the lake. Her body surfaced 10 years later. Then she was also buried. Józef Zamojski and his mother Maria were imprisoned in the basement of the village administrator from Buszcza for several days, where they were tortured to death. Later, they were found by Soviet soldiers”. .

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – January 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: Stadnicki Stanisław, „Murders committed on the Polish population living in the Eastern Borderlands near the town of Buszcze, poviat Brzeżany”; in: portal: raclawice.net — web page: raclawice.net [accessible: 2021.04.11]

I was born on October 20, 1927 in Kuropatniki, Brzeżany County, in a peasant family  […] On January 23, 1944 in Buszcze, Brzeżany county, Poles were murdered. Looking for shelter, they hid in a church and were all murdered there. It was so that the church was burned down with people who took refuge in the church. The Ukrainians carried out the act of this brutal murder. This fact was loud in Polish circles.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – January 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: Horbacz Marcin, „Recollections from Borderlands – Osiecki Stanisław”; in: portal: Borderlands Our Borderlands — web page: btx.home.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]

On Saturday, January 22, 1944, at 7 o'clock in the evening, the village commune of Buszcze, Brzeżany county, attacked a hundred and dozen individuals who came to the village on 50 sleighs and, falling into individual houses, murdered men, women and children with firearms, committing ranks incidents of cruelty (Fr Filip Zajac's nephew was smoked after his death in the chimney). The victims of brutality were: 23 people killed and 13 injured. Among the attackers, a local Ukrainian, Wołoszczuk, Piotr, s/o Symen, was recognized. After the bloody slaughter, the attackers departed at about 10 p.m. in the direction of Stryhaniec and Wierzbowo, a group in the rural commune of Buszcz. Among the dead is also a local Polish doctor, Dr. Jan Załuczkowski. The funeral of the martyrs took place on January 25, 1944. A delegation from Pol. KO in Brzeżany and the clergy from Brzeżany.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – January 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: „1944, January 25 - Letter from PolKO in Brzeżany to the RGO Delegate in Lviv regarding mass, cruel murders of the Polish population in the Brzeżany region”; in: National Ossoliński Institute, Wrocław, in: No. 16721/2, p. 99—100

According to other reports of witnesses, there were three attacks on Buszcze: on January 22, in March, and on April 7 and 8, 1944. Probably on April 8, a small group of Poles who survived the previous attacks was taken to church and burned together with the church.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – January 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

In February 1944, Krzysiak, the head of the railway station in Buszcz, about 35 years old, was murdered; they murdered him when he left for the train in the evening.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide, February 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: „1944, June? - List of murders of Poles and Ukrainian spouses favorable to them, sent to PolKO in Brzeżany”; in: National Ossoliński Institute, Wrocław, in: No. 16722/1, p. 129—130

21.II. Buszcze Shot dead. Krysiak station, by 4 individuals, when in the evening he went to the train at 9 pm.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide, February 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: „1944. February - March - Lists of murders and attacks on the Polish population drawn up in the RGO in Lviv on the basis of reports from the area”; in: National Ossoliński Institute, Wrocław, in: No. 16722/2, p. 219—253

23.II. in Buszcza near Brzeżany, four peasants from the village of Szumlany, a Pole Kysiak, were murdered at the station in broad daylight.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide, February 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: „1944, March - Report on the wave of Ukrainian murders that engulfed the Galicia District from mid-February 1944”; in: National Ossoliński Institute, Wrocław, in: No. 16722/2, p. 121—123

In early March 1944, during the day, The Ukrainians from the UPA murdered 11 Poles. „There are still a few Polish residents in Buszcz. However, they no longer lived in their houses, but in the church, which they entered through the sacristy. The main gate has been locked and well secured. Behind it, benches were arranged, making it difficult to get inside the temple. The church was set on fire during the attack. The fire, however, did not manage to digest the solid walls. The miraculous Image of the Mother of God survived, which was all that was left for the inhabitants. He prays for the murdered every evening, asking for his own salvation. Men were constantly watching in the church tower. They watched what was happening around the church. They had previously hidden weapons in the temple. Adults went to sleep downstairs and children were put to sleep in the tower. The Banderites attacked the church in March 1944, two months after they committed the first murders in Buszczu. The Poles had one Mauser rifle, bottles with flammable liquid, grenades and stones. The first attack was quickly repelled. The second came a few days later around midnight and focused on firing at the church tower. This made it impossible to defend the church square. Thanks to this, the Ukrainians managed to blow up the gate and tear it off its hinges. According to one of the witnesses of those events, the eruption was so strong that the planks from the torn–out gate reached the church altar (30 meters). The torturers wanted to break into the temple immediately. One of the Zamojski brothers who was on the tower quickly ran downstairs. Hiding from the hail of bullets, he managed to throw a grenade at the running Banderites. The Ukrainians fell dead. However, the shelling of the church continued until three in the morning. The Poles defended themselves. The temple survived, but all the buildings near it” burned down.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – March 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: Stadnicki Stanisław, „Murders committed on the Polish population living in the Eastern Borderlands near the town of Buszcze, poviat Brzeżany”; in: portal: raclawice.net — web page: raclawice.net [accessible: 2021.04.11]

On March 30, 1944, Józef, 73, was murdered.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – March 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: prof. dr hab. Jankiewicz Leszek S., „Supplement to the list of losses of the Polish population provided by Komański and Siekierka for the Tarnopol province (2004)”; in: Listowski Witold (ed.), „OUN-UPA genocide in the South-Eastern Borderlands”, in: Kędzierzyn-Koźle 2015, vol. 7

After the slaughter on January 22, 1944: „After the second, in March, attack on the Poles hiding in the church in Buszczec, another attack came. This time on Good Friday, April 7, 1944. On that day, all Polish buildings in Buszcz were set on fire. All living animals were also set on fire. Their terrifying scream was heard in the farthest corners of the village. Few Poles must have stayed in Buszcza at that time. On Saturday, April 8, the church and presbytery were set on fire again. The wooden roof of the church and the two towers burned down, and the fire melted the two bells. Only massive walls about 2 meters thick survived. Later it turned out that miraculously survived the painting of the Virgin Mary, still inside. Witnesses who saw the church after it was set on fire mention that the fire reached the place where the miraculous painting hung. Its frame was burned, but the image of the Mother of God was strangely left intact”.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – April 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: Żołnowski Władysław, „Our Lady of Buszczecka and the horsemen of the Apocalypse”, in: Music Publishing House Polihymnia, 1998

After the second, in March, attack on the Poles hiding in the church in Buszczek, another attack came. This time on Good Friday, April 7, 1944. On that day, all Polish buildings in Buszcz were set on fire. All living animals were also set on fire. Their terrifying scream was heard in the farthest corners of the village. Few Poles must have stayed in Buszcza at that time. On Saturday, April 8, the church and presbytery were set on fire again. The wooden roof of the church and the two towers burned down, and the fire melted the two bells. Only massive walls about 2 meters thick survived. Later it turned out that miraculously survived the painting of the Virgin Mary, still inside. Witnesses who saw the church after it was set on fire mention that the fire reached the place where the miraculous painting hung. His frame has been burned.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – April 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: Stadnicki Stanisław, „Murders committed on the Polish population living in the Eastern Borderlands near the town of Buszcze, poviat Brzeżany”; in: portal: raclawice.net — web page: raclawice.net [accessible: 2021.04.11]

Bartłomiej Taran on January 21, 2012 on the website www.stankiewicze.com/ludobojstwo.pl writes: „I am writing to you, asking you for help in finding out the facts about the slaughter in the village of my grandfather Mieczysław Dudziński. He came from the town of Buszcze in the former Tarnopol Province. Grandpa is now 16 years old. I rely on the message of my grandmother and my mother, to which he told what was going on there. This message shows that my great–grandparents, Michał Dudziński and Anna Dudzińska, née Bartek, owned a large farm. Grandfather had two brothers: an older brother Józef (he had a wife – who died in the pogroms) and an unknown young brother (murdered by the UPA during the purges, pierced with bayonets while hiding). Together with brother Józef, they separated during the escape and never met again, and attempts by various institutions to find them failed. The great–grandparents, along with the majority of Poles living in the village, were taken to the local church, where they burned down after setting fire to that church. From the information I have, I add the fact that grandpa was an artilleryman during the defense of Lviv (1939). Bartłomiej Taranbartektbg@poczta.fm”.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – April 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: Taran Bartłomiej

Easter Sunday – „On April 9, 1944, the Whip Antoni, 48”, was murdered.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – April 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: prof. dr hab. Jankiewicz Leszek S., „Supplement to the list of losses of the Polish population provided by Komański and Siekierka for the Tarnopol province (2004)”; in: Listowski Witold (ed.), „OUN-UPA genocide in the South-Eastern Borderlands”, in: Kędzierzyn-Koźle 2015, vol. 7

Myrosław Onyszkewycz „Orest Karat” gave the order: „I order you to purge your area immediately from the Polish element and Ukrainian–Bolshevik agents. The purge should be carried out in riverside hostels sparsely populated by Poles. To this end, create a militia near the area, composed of our members, whose task would be to eliminate the above–mentioned. Our larger hostels will be cleared of this element by our military units even in broad daylight  […] The clearing of the area must be completed before our Easter so that we can celebrate it without Poles. Remember that when the Bolsheviks find us with Poles in our territory, they will slaughter us all  […] Make a hard, ruthless fight with them. Not to spare anyone, even in mixed marriages. To take Lachs out of their houses, but The Ukrainians and children in these houses should not be liquidated  […] Get the gun. Death to the Poles. Stop, April 6, 1944. Glory to the heroes! Orest, Karat” This order is in the files of the investigation against Myroslav Onyshhevych.

source: Miszko Przemysław, Matkowski Krzysztof, „Crimes of genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists in Eastern Lesser Poland in 1939—1945 against persons of Polish nationality - in the light of investigations by OKŚZPNP in Wrocław”; in: „Crimes of the past, studies and materials of IPN prosecutors”, in: Warszawa 2008, vol. 2 — web page: ipn.gov.pl [accessible: 2021.02.04]

The following were murdered: Janicki Michał, Rokosz Stefania, Zamojska Maria I, Zamojski Józef I, Zamojski Józef II, Zamojska Maria II, Żak Michalina…

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – July 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: Kubów Władysław, „Terrorism in Podolia”, in: Warsaw 2003

In 1945, the following were murdered: Chamuga (?) Piotr, 35, (died on June 2, 45); Zamojska Maria, d/o Ignacy, aged 54 (born on June 2, 1945); Popiel Nicholas aged 65; Popiel Anastazja age 60.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – June 1945”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: btx.home.pl [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: prof. dr hab. Jankiewicz Leszek S., „Supplement to the list of losses of the Polish population provided by Komański and Siekierka for the Tarnopol province (2004)”; in: Listowski Witold (ed.), „OUN-UPA genocide in the South-Eastern Borderlands”, in: Kędzierzyn-Koźle 2015, vol. 7

In the summer of 1945, the following people were murdered: Kuziów Maria, 72, Medycka Anastazja, 32; Medical Katarzyna, 63.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – August 1945”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: prof. dr hab. Jankiewicz Leszek S., „Supplement to the list of losses of the Polish population provided by Komański and Siekierka for the Tarnopol province (2004)”; in: Listowski Witold (ed.), „OUN-UPA genocide in the South-Eastern Borderlands”, in: Kędzierzyn-Koźle 2015, vol. 7