The Ukrainians murdered Kajetan Wartanowicz.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „75th anniversary of the genocide – December 1943”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

13.XII.43. Czerwonogród, Czortków: Rompach Karol, forester, murdered.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „75th anniversary of the genocide – December 1943”; 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

Around 10 p.m. the attack was carried out by the UPA „Siri Wowky” and „Chernomorča” under the personal command of Petr Chamczuk „Bystry”. The UPA in white, masking clothes broke into houses and killed people they met, regardless of sex and age. Wooden buildings were set on fire. The Polish population evacuated to the established places of refuge (mill, castle, church and People's House), where they were defended by IB soldiers. Chota „Burłaki” from sotnya „Siri Wowky” managed to capture the castle, but the people gathered there under IB cover were evacuated to the church. After conquering the castle, the 4–person Roma family tried to take refuge in it, as a result of which they were captured and murdered using torture. The defenders of the People's House barricaded the doors and windows on the ground floor and stung the attackers with shots from firearms and grenades. During the attack, the UPA also seized the Monastery of Charity in Nyrków. The sisters Henryka Bronikowska and Klara Linowska were murdered there. In the hiding place under the altar, Sister Władysława was saved with two women and two children. In Chervonogrod as a result of a heart attack, the priest of the local parish, Fr canon Szczepan Jurasz, hiding in a rock cave. In the morning, the UPA withdrew. canon Szczepan Jurasz, hiding in a rock grotto. In the morning, the UPA withdrew. canon Szczepan Jurasz, hiding in a rock grotto. In the morning, the UPA withdrew.

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

source: „IPN Bulletin”, in: No. 1—2 (96—97), September-December 2003, vol. 11

65 Poles were killed or murdered, 20 were injured, some of whom later died.
„It was the First Friday of February 1945  […] — the day of the Feast of Our Lady of Candlemas  […] I went with the children  […] to the parish church [in Czerwonogrod]  […] After all, Fr C[anon Szczepan] Jurasz asked me to tell the Superior, that the Sisters with the children should go to Chervonohorod for the night [from the convent in Nyrków], because there is bad news. We stayed in the convent, but we encouraged the children to go to school for the night  […]
The children did not want to leave the monastery  […] Around At 21, we could hear the movement of the sledge crossing the road near the monastery  […] After a while I went to the window  […] Launched rockets illuminated Chervonogród, then I saw many men armed with rifles near the wall [walking] towards the village  […] I saw white figures with torches coming down  […] the first fires of the houses on the edge of the village — they had straw thatch  […] Soon rifle shots, people in panic, seeing fires, burning barns, pigsties, roaring cattle, escaped, and suddenly they died from knives or bullets when attacked. Screams, human groans and the howls of burning animals reached my ears  […]
The village is surrounded by local Banderites on all sides. The local people fell into their hands because they called them together. They did not recognize the dark night, so cruelly massacred victims fell  […] Suddenly I noticed that a group of Banderites was approaching the monastery  […] . I gathered all the children, together with the Mother Superior, we went to the chapel, to prepare for the last moment of your life.
The entrance door was barricaded for the night. They began pounding on the door and hitting with axes, shouting «Lachy [i.e. Poles], open up»  […] Suddenly I felt that I was dying, my eyes were dark, I collapsed somewhere in a dark space, suddenly as if there was a great bang and a great light lit up, it lasted for a second, at that moment I heard the command from that light «Go to the altar». I woke up at that moment and repeated these words  […]
The sister Superior quickly pushed the mensa away and the children immediately entered there, but she also ordered me to be there with the children. She quickly closed the altar entrance and entered the sacristy next to itand, followed by S[ister] Bronikowska  […] . The altar was small, so it was tight. The kids weren't that small again  […]
At this point, I believe to this day that when the altar was so full, I was inspired by a thought sent from God and I said [to] the children: «Move away from the planks to make the space deaf»  […] When they burst into the chapel, lit candles and the search for us began  […] .
One of the girls recognized through his voice and a small gap that it was the son of a deacon from the village of Nyrków. Suddenly he tries to move the altararz, but the altar was attached to a heavy step. So he knocks on the altar wall right next to me. After several strokes from three sides, he announced: «Empty, silence»  […]
Suddenly I see that the marble in the altar with the relics is lifting one, lifting the tablecloth. I can see fingers above the head of one girl, terrified that he might now notice [us]  […] I was sure they could get us out soon. He left  […] , but fired at the side walls of the chapel  […]
After a while of searching, they began hitting the door to the sacristy. There was the Mother Superior and the other sister. As they entered, they began to threaten that they would be burned as Lachy/Poles  […] I heard how the Mother Superior was forced to say where I am and the children. When she replied that she did not know, she was beaten  […]
They went out to look for it in the attic, where the machine guns started shooting around, probably thinking that we were there. When there was silence, they went back down. And straw was brought to the chapel and set on fire, but fortunately the straw was damp and only smoldering  […] After that, Sr. Superior Klara Linowska and Sr. Bronisława Bronikowska were led to the ground floor. Being hidden in the altar, I heard four shots that massacred the head and face of Sr. Klara Linowska, and Sr. B. Bronikowska had a knife stuck in the back, giving her a fatal blow. After these criminal acts, our belongings were plundered”.

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

source: „Sister Władysława Sobierajska from the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Vincent de Paul”, fragments of reports from the collection of Ewa Siemaszko

The first shots brought the entire village to its feet. Flaming torches were surrounded by Chervona. Rifle bullets struck from all sides. Fires broke out in three corners of the village. From the side of Szutromieniec, the buildings were burnt, from where people were escaping. as it turned out, 8 houses were burnt there and 10 people were killed. Whoever was alive retreated to the center. There was a fire at the opposite end of the so–called „angle”. There, 14 houses were burnt and 20 people died. The Winiarski House was burnt down. Marta Winiarska died there. Bronisław Stachurski was seriously wounded in the hip near the People's House. abolished from his post by his daughter Czesława and her friend, he was bleeding a lot. They couldn't stop the blood. Meanwhile, two younger brothers were defending access to the interior, where the father lay. Moans and shots were heard all around. Finally, the girls, having provided their father, saved other wounded, which grew. The wounds were terrible. among other things, Cesia Stachurska, wounded in the stomach of Dmytruszyński, was pulling wool from a sheepskin coat entangled in the wound. Czesław Świderski reports: a shooting and wild screams of arsonists mixed with dogs barking and cattle roaring in burning stables, and there were moans of murdered people who had not managed to escape from the immediate threat. after the first shots, I started getting dressed. Mother woke her sister, who got up unconscious on the bed and collapsed with a groan, crying: I am wounded in the very heart. I saw a fountain of blood gushing from her breasts. a bandit standing under our window fired a shot at it. In a moment the Bandera followers burst into the apartment, where my sister Janina was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. They took the straw out of the mattress and lit a fire around it. at that time, the mother hid in a cell under the forage harvester. My brother and I hid in the second apartment under the stove where we were blocked by a bandit looking for the rest of the house's inhabitants. They were people I knew, because they immediately recognized my sister, which they reported to my grandmother who still lived in Nyrków the next day. after the bandits left, we extinguished the burning straw. In a moment they burst in a second time and pulled the straw out of the other bed, kindling again. We put out the fire again by putting my sister on the bed. Then the bandits realized that there was someone in the house who had taken the injured girl. So they poured gasoline over the house, set it on fire and left. We heard my sister's strong snoring and silence. Both my brother and I jumped out of the burning house, hiding among the sheaves of corn on the fence, where we stayed until the morning. In the third section of the defense from the so–called „levada” were defended by Wysocki Marcin with „snaryadka”, Wierzbicki Marcin with „Mauser”, Dąbrowski Ignacy and Okoński Marcin with „papashas”. The four did not leave their positions, with good cover behind their backs, and lowered anyone who jumped out of the forest and walked with a lit bundle of straw to the buildings. It was only when Marcin Okoński was injured in the jaw that the bandits broke into the houses. Until now, most of the townspeople managed to escape and hide in the church. Only old Grzesińska and her daughter Maria Sutyk did not manage to escape. Her one and a half year old daughter Hania was found the next day in a pool of blood. She took her and looked after her until her father, Pani Samogowa, returned from the front. Marcin Wysocki, despite his leg wound, did not leave his episode until the end. after dividing, 12 pools of bandit's blood were counted on this section  […] In the captured castle, the attackers murdered the Roma family and all the inhabitants of the outbuildings. While defending access to the town from the side of the captured castle, Eugeniusz Bobryk and Ignacy Karasowski died, 16‑year‑old alojzy Glezner was fatally wounded. He died after the attack, just like Bronisław Stachurski. Józef Rycz died near his home, rushing to save his wife and child. Maria Sutyk died holding her eighteen–month–old daughter Hania in her arms. after the attack, the child was found with the deceased mother. It survived. The attackers, despite their considerable advantage, could not capture the village. It began to dawn when the cries were heard: „brother, brother” (brothers leave). Testimony of the miller Szuba: „We were prepared, because the mill was near the forest, so we expected that the first assault of the gang will take place here. In front of the mill, there were 12 wagons waiting in line for the grinding. It was 9: 30 p.m., the mill was working at full speed, all employees were at their positions, the mill yard was lit. The night was frosty, a lot of snow, but it was also exceptionally bright. Grzybiński and accountant Żołyński came with the words: «but a beautiful evening, bright, lots of snow – maybe we will survive this night calmly». There was a disturbing silence in the air, drowned out by the sound of the waterfall, the silence of those that herald a great misfortune. Suddenly, shots were fired from the waterfall onto the mill. a commotion ensued, anxious people lounged by their carts, workers emerged from the mill. We were supposed to get to the People's House where our raid assembly point was. Unfortunately it was too late since we were under fire from the gang situated above, we would be killed anyway. People in panic hid wherever they could, for example the Owad brothers hid between the rollers and survived, only Kasia Rzepiej was killed. The gang members were dressed in white to disguise themselves, only the black spots in the snow were their heads, they huddled down the snow in the top. a real massacre began, noise, noise, cries of people, calls for help came from everywhere. Everything is on fire; houses are on fire, presbyteries, moans of people mingle with the roar of maddened cattle, howling dogs, screaming horses, squealing pigs. Smoke in the air, stench – deadly terror. There is news; the castle, which was one of the defensive sites, is under heavy attack, from the castle the defenders and the people who fled retreat to the church – that's wrong; if they attack the church it's over. The garrison in Uścieczek promised to help, so it sent a sign – firing five green rockets, the answer came immediately; there was a green light in the sky, five beeps. I am in charge of the defense situated in the People's House, where there was a designated assembly point for civilians (the second in the castle and in the church). The gang is coming closer to the People's House, those who defended it from the outside are now hiding in the house; the gang advances. Defenders tightly lock the lower entrances and shutters. Panic among the people who take refuge here, screams, lamentations, crying children. Defenders defend the house from the upper windows of the building, after all, no ammunition, only grenades are left. Grenades are thrown through the windows towards the gang, the grenades have run out – despair. Each of the defenders takes out his personal pistol, each «cartridge is worth its weight in gold», they leave two rounds in their pockets – for themselves – because they won't put themselves alive in enemy hands. In the church, some of the defenders gathered there fight bravely, they do not allow the gang to enter from the side of the castle. There is Father Jurasz and a lot of people in the church. Detonations are getting stronger; the gang convenes, becomes silent – they withdraw; it's already daytime, it's getting closer to 5 am. The morning silence, the shots ceased, the attackers withdrew, the silence after the tragedy, people went mad with pain, fear, despair, from «their hiding places». There is no strength, no tears to mourn the murdered and the ruins – all the achievements of life, people look around, call their loved ones. In the outbuildings of the castle they find the brutally murdered Romach family – they were demolished, crosses were cut out on their bellies and the inscriptions were cut out, «the end of lachiv» [the end to the Poles], the skin on the neck was cut and pulled over the eyes legs and arms broken. Bloody spots, you can see that they were dying in torment”. As told by Władysława née Roma, Kucy z Czerwonogród: „I was born in Czerwonogrod in 1932 to a Roma family. It was my parents and siblings who were cruelly murdered in the castle. Dad was 39 years old, Mum 37, Sister Cesia 16, brother Binio 11. I escaped with aunt aniela Szymańska to school there, together with our teacher, Eulalla Wendlowa, stayed until morning. and my Grandma Zofia Szymańska hid with the priest Canon in the cave and there she witnessed the death of the priest, he died of a heart attack (.) My Grandma Zofia Szymańska, 67, often told me how while escaping she met Father Jurasz at the church, they decided to hide in the grotto, located on the hillside. Someone else was with them, some boy or girl, but fearing that they can find them there, he left. Grandma was left alone with the priest. The priest was very scared, he was shaking and repeating: «Mrs. Szymanska, what will happen when they find us here?» Grandma reassured the priest that they were safe. after some time, the priest began to breathe heavily, wheezed and stopped speaking. Grandma said it took quite a long time. The priest didn't say anything anymore, just panted, and after a while he fell silent. Grandma started yanking him, but he was already dead. and so she sat with the dead priest until morning. In the morning the priest was brought to the church and put in the coffin, it did not fit in it, because it was prepared for the boy who was to be buried on February 3. My parents ran away towards the castle and there they were cruelly murdered in the courtyard. Dad was in the army, in the fall of 1944 he was put on leave, he had a serious heart defect, so he did not participate in the defense. Dad always said, if we are attacked, we run to the park and from there to the castle, we hide in the dungeons there. Unfortunately, they were there earlier and my family fell into their hands. They stripped everyone naked, cruelly tormented them, as evidenced by the pools of blood and the screams and groans they heard hidden in the neighborhood. They did not burn my dad and my mother and sister Cesia and brother Binia were burnt  […] My aunt wanted me to say goodbye and the next day she took me to the church, there were all murdered lying in a row around the church. The bodies were laid down in a lime pit”. The church square was used as a grave for 47 victims. There were no coffins. Only one was killed for Father Jurasz and all were buried in a common grave. all the martyrs of this tragic night were brought together. There was no priest to do Catholic executions. This is how the destruction of Czerwonogrod took place, a historic town that remembered the Ruthenian princes and the invasions of Tatars, Turks and others, the Polish king Casimir the Great and Kazimierz Jagiellończyk, as well as other mighty in this world, a place where some historians attribute the leading role of Czerwienskie Castle. The wounded were transported on 17 sleighs to the hospital in Horodenka. The others took refuge in Tłuste or Zaleszczyki, only to leave for the unknown in a few months, as the so–called „repatriates”! Nothing is left of Chervonogrod! There is not a single house left, and the Soviet authorities renamed this fabulous corner „Uroczysko Czerwony” [„Red Secred Spot”]!.

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

source: Stecki Jerzy, „The Holocaust”; in: „Borderlands Book - Jarosław”, Borderlands Heritage Association — web page: jaroslawskaksiegakresowian.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]

Czerwonogród – some historians derive the name of Grody Czerwienskie, and even the whole Red Ruthenia from him. Today this place is not on the map. In one tragic night, the history of the thousand‑year‑old town ended. Cattle from Ukrainian farms graze in the ruins of the church and the palace. And only the cross on the grave reminds us that Poles stayed here forever. The Dżuryn (tributary of the Dniester) falls from a height of 16 m, creating the largest waterfall in Podolia. Kasper Kazimierz Karasowski, whom I met at the waterfall, witnessed the extermination of Czerwonogrod; as a sixteen‑year‑old boy, he belonged to the Polish self–defense, and on the feast of Our Lady of the Candlemas in 1945, he took part in repelling the UPA sotnya attack. His father was among the fifty buried victims. „Together with my mother, we wrapped the deceased father in a sheet and dragged him about 500 meters in the snow to the” church, he wrote in his memoirs. „There was a pit in the church square where lime was once slaked for renovation of the church. The seizure victims were placed in this” cavity. There were no coffins, no funeral. Ukrainian nationalist militias surrounded the village on the night of February 2–3, 1945, setting fire to the buildings. Some of the inhabitants took refuge in the people's house, in the mill and in the church, but the attackers tried to break in there as well. „I have reservations about my father and the other men who ran self defense for putting it in such a place. It was a valley with very easy access. Chervonogród was simply not suitable for such purposes” – Karasowski claims years later. The village was burnt down. None of the 79 houses survived. In the years 1944—1945, 125 parishioners were killed here – sometimes brutally murdered – here; the burial places of 75 people are still unknown today. The survivors left the Podole region, settling mainly in the Opole region. Earlier, twelve defenders of Chervonogrod were arrested on the basis of false accusations by Ukrainian families from Nyrkov of robbery and plunder of property, and then sentenced to long imprisonment and exile deep into the USSR. Karasowski spent over eight years in Gulag camps, incl. in the Urals and Kolyma, to leave for Poland after more than a year  […] Władysław Kucy née Romach was thirteen at the time. Her parents and siblings were cruelly murdered in the castle; the miller Stanisław Szuba, who headed the defense in the people's house, saw the victims in the castle outbuildings: they were demolished, their stomachs were cut with crosses and the inscriptions „End Lachom”, the skin on their neck was cut and pulled over the eyes, and their legs and arms were broken. She saved herself by escaping with her aunt to school, where she and her teacher stayed until the morning; her grandmother hid with the priest canon Szczepan Jurasz in the cave and witnessed his sudden death there. During the day, the priest celebrated a solemn Mass in the church, praying with tears for help and favors for the parishioners for the coming days, as if feeling the uncertainty of life. „It was a shared experience of parting with the family parish, which housed the miraculous painting of the Mother of God” – noted Sister Władysława, the Sisterhood of the Nyrków monastery, where two sisters were murdered a day later. Józef Juzwa remembered that Maria Sutyk died while holding her six–month–old daughter Hania. After the robbery, the child was found alive with the deceased mother. The attackers, despite a significant advantage, could not get Chervonogrod. They departed at dawn. Thanks to the determination of the defenders, about a thousand Poles from the area who had taken refuge there were saved. A few months later, the Soviet authorities changed the name of the abandoned village to „Uroczysko Czerwony”. In 1995, thanks to the efforts of Stanisław Grabowiecki, born in Zaleszczyki, now an inhabitant of Tarnów Opolski, a cross with a plaque in honor of the murdered was funded. Holy Mass in the ruins of the church in Chervonogrod, Fr Kazimierz Grabowiecki. Five years later, Mr. Karasowski decided to make a permanent tombstone so that the remains of the dead would not be trampled by the cattle grazing here; for this purpose, he traveled to Ukraine seven times. Built of red stone, the monument to the fifty murdered was solemnly consecrated on October 22, 2000 at the crime scene. „In memory of those who died here on February 2, 1945. Let them rest in room” – and there is no information here that they were murdered by UPA militants only because they were Poles. Ukrainian believers, both Greek Catholics and Orthodox, prayed together over the Polish grave in the valley where the village once flourished. Unfortunately, only a dozen or so people from Poland dared to come to Chervonohorod. Parishioners from Zaleszczyki with Fr parish priest Stanisław Żela, who celebrated the Holy Mass. It was attended by Ukrainian priests: Orthodox Fr Aleksander Proceszyn from Nyrków and the Greek Catholic priest. Michał Witowski from Uścieczka. „In memory of those who died here on February 2, 1945. Let them rest in room” – and there is no information here that they were murdered by UPA militants only because they were Poles. Ukrainian believers, both Greek Catholics and Orthodox, prayed together over the Polish grave in the valley where the village once flourished. Unfortunately, only a dozen or so people from Poland dared to come to Chervonohorod. Parishioners from Zaleszczyki with Fr parish priest Stanisław Żela, who celebrated the Holy Mass. It was attended by Ukrainian priests: Orthodox Fr Aleksander Proceszyn from Nyrków and the Greek Catholic priest. Michał Witowski from Uścieczka. „In memory of those who died here on February 2, 1945. Let them rest in room” – and there is no information here that they were murdered by UPA militants only because they were Poles. Ukrainian believers, both Greek Catholics and Orthodox, prayed together over the Polish grave in the valley where the village once flourished. Unfortunately, only a dozen or so people from Poland dared to come to Chervonohorod. Parishioners from Zaleszczyki with Fr parish priest Stanisław Żela, who celebrated the Holy Mass. It was attended by Ukrainian priests: Orthodox Fr Aleksander Proceszyn from Nyrków and the Greek Catholic priest. Michał Witowski from Uścieczka. where once a village flourished, Ukrainian believers, both Greek Catholics and Orthodox, prayed together. Unfortunately, only a dozen or so people from Poland dared to come to Chervonohorod. Parishioners from Zaleszczyki with Fr parish priest Stanisław Żela, who celebrated the Holy Mass. It was attended by Ukrainian priests: Orthodox Fr Aleksander Proceszyn from Nyrków and the Greek Catholic priest. Michał Witowski from Uścieczka. where once a village flourished, Ukrainian believers, both Greek Catholics and Orthodox, prayed together. Unfortunately, only a dozen or so people from Poland dared to come to Chervonohorod. Parishioners from Zaleszczyki with Fr parish priest Stanisław Żela, who celebrated the Holy Mass. It was attended by Ukrainian priests: Orthodox, Fr Aleksander Proceszyn from Nyrków and the Greek Catholic priest. Michał Witowski from Uścieczka.

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

source: Kaczorowski Andrzej W. , „Czerwonogród - the pearl of Podolia”; in: „IPN Bulletin”, in: No. 1—2 (96—97), January-February 2009

After the extermination of Chervonohorod, Ukrainian families made a false accusation against 12 Poles who defended themselves on February 2, 1945. They were accused of robbery and robbery in Nyrków. They were arrested and imprisoned in Tłuste  […] I was given an additional two years and was planted as an adult. The same was done with others who were not of legal age. During our stay in the prison in Tłuste, where twelve of us were sitting, a strange event happened. Danyla Pastuszuk, a Ukrainian, a Banderite man we know, joined our NKVD cell. He told us that he was arrested by the NKVD and we were all facing death. The only salvation is a prison break. He managed to smuggle a hammer and a steel punch, with which it will be possible to make a hole in the wall and run away  […] After two hours, the borehole was ready. He encouraged us to run away together. Bronisław Dmytruszyński and Paweł Krzywy suspected that this was a provocation prepared jointly by the UPA and the NKVD. We were forbidden from approaching that opening. In fact, it turned out that the Bandera followers were waiting there with the intention of murdering us. We did not allow Danyle Pastuszek to be provoked  […] It is impossible to describe what we have gone through. Life in the gulags was terrible. Those who returned lost their health. Some died prematurely.

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

source: Krasowski Kasper Kazimierz, recollections; in: Komański Henryk, Siekierka Szczepan, „The genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists on Poles in the Tarnopol Province 1939-1946”, in: Wroclaw 2004, p. 900—901