The worst memories are from Volhynia in 1943. It was then that the cruel slaughter of Poles took place there. — I remember Kazik Kaczor, I stayed with them. He was 21 years old, he fell in love with a Ukrainian woman. They got him. You wanted a Ukrainian, you've got it! they shouted. And smashed them with bayonets. And then they tied their legs to the cart and dragged them two kilometers, head on the ground. They brought it and threw it at the gate of the house. I passed out when I saw him. You can also see the cruel massacre in the villages of Stare Gaje and Nowe Gaje. It was July 11, Sunday. The Ukrainians announced that people should stay after the mass, because there would be meetings for a settlement with Poles. Enough quarrels, enough Germany for the enemy. It was supposed to be fun. The orchestra played and the slaughter began. The UPA Banderites surrounded the building. — One of the men managed to escape. He notified the partisans. We went there the next day to bury those unfortunates, she says in a trembling voice. — The sight was terrible. Scattered remains, children nailed to rails, women with torn bellies. 63 people were killed then. Meeting The war left a tragic mark on the whole family of Mrs. Barbara. Janek's father and sister probably died in 1943 during the Volhynia massacre.

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

source: Waszkiewicz Barbara, „Scattered remains, women with torn bellies. Wołyń - slaughter of Poles in 1943. It cannot be forgotten”, was written by Alicja Zielińska; in: portal: Morning Courier — web page: www.poranny.pl [accessible: 2009.09.20]

Siemaszko et Siemaszko  […] mention the colony Gaj, Kowel district, consisting of two parts – Nowy and Stary Gaj, and document the slaughter of about 600 Poles, carried out on August 30, 1943.

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

source: Siemaszko Władysław, Siemaszko Ewa, „The genocide perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists on the Polish population of Volhynia 1939 - 1945”, in: Warsaw 2000, p. 383—386

The UPA and Ukrainian peasants from nearby villages murdered over 600 Poles with the help of crutches, axes, knives, scythes and other tools. They attacked the colony at dawn, when most of them were asleep, or were busy on farms. Everyone was herded to school and murdered with firearms or sharp tools. The bodies were thrown into the shooting ditch next to the school, filling it to a height of 1m. Some people were murdered in their own yard, on the road, in the field or in the bushes – caught up on the escape route. Still others died in the shelters detected as a result of grenades thrown inside by the UPA. After that, farms were looted and the colony burnt down. „Bolesław Czelebąek's wife was sawed in a different state, holding it with a pole placed on her breast, as witnessed by the husband next to him in the shelter. Maria Wiurkiewicz, 36, cut in half”. In the summer of 1943, a Ukrainian, Ituch, shot himself under the statue in Gaj, not wanting to participate in the murders.

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

source: Siemaszko Władysław, Siemaszko Ewa, „The genocide perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists on the Polish population of Volhynia 1939 - 1945”, in: Warsaw 2000, p. 393—396

Bogusław Szarwiło writes: „I was looking for witnesses and reports about what happened there and I must admit that I did not find much. Stanisław Sobolewski, who was 15 years old at the time, lived in Słobodarka, Rożyszcze commune, Lutsk county, for many years he did not mention those events. Only after 65 years did he start telling his daughter about his traumatic experiences. The road from Rożyszcz ran through Słobodarka straight as far as Sokól, and 8 km further there was Gaj. This town belonged to the Gaj community, Wielick commune, Kowel county, Sokól parish (Sokul). The village had 105 numbers, only Poles lived there. There were rich Ukrainian villages in the neighborhood: Kaszubka, Podlisy, Mielnica. The inhabitants of Gaj were not rich, they often took up field work for farmers in neighboring villages. Mr. Stanisław recalls that we met the inhabitants of Gaj, because we belonged to one parish in Sokól. None of us expected everything that the year 1943 brought us  […] . In the distant Słobodarka, a glow of fires was noticed, and the next day numerous self–defense units from more distant areas appeared here. The most of us, says Stanisław, with weapons from Helenówka Stara, also from Rożyszcz, and many people from the area of Przebraż. We were shocked that the UPA murdered about 800 people, mostly entire families. Houses, clothes, shoes and lots of blood were burnt down in the yards. as I was standing there, I couldn't believe it, I remembered the 3rd May holiday, a pre–war holiday – a trip to the church in Sokól  […] . The main celebration was in the church square. In addition to the children from our school, children from Gaj school came with women, which were dressed in national costumes – they were probably Opoczno costumes – because I remember colorful – striped capes and aprons They were very beautiful and colorful. These women were standing next to the children of the Grove. and now. the victims of the murder were buried in two graves. a forge stood nearby. I don't know how many families managed to escape or someone from the «hell» that the Banderites gave them. But I remember that the boy escaped then he was about 8 years old with his uncle / mother's brother / after spending many days in the woods, they managed to reach Maniewicz – where his uncle was taken by the Germans and sent to work in Germany. after many more trials – the boy was taken to the Fabrycki family from Helenówka Stara, which already had three children of their own – and they accepted him as their own child. In a few days, the Schutmannschaften unit from Rożyszcze came to the scene of the crime and partially unveiled a mass grave in the shooting ditch, from which blood spilled out, finding massacred bodies in it. The area was searched and about 10 people were found, hidden in sheaves and other hiding places, eating grain ears, almost insane. The survivors were so shocked that they were afraid to come out of their hiding places and call the Poles looking for them. They were all taken to Rożyszcz. The agitated unit burned down several Ukrainian houses and shot some Ukrainians. During the retreat, the unit was attacked by well–armed UPA members, as a result of which one of the participants of the expedition, Marian Czarnecki, was killed. among the rescued were Edward and Stanisława Pietrzyk who were in the field during the attack and managed to hide, but two children and Edward's parents remained at home. They were consumed by UPA hell”.

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

source: Szarwiło Bogusław, „Crime in the Grove”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.04.11]

At the Ukrainian–Polish cemetery in the village of Sokół (Ukrainian: Sokił) near Lutsk in Ukraine, a ceremonial funeral was held of the exhumed remains of at least 79 Poles, who were only a part of the inhabitants of the former Polish village of Gaj, murdered on the morning of August 30, 1943 by the UPA  […] General Vicar of the Lutsk diocese, Fr Canon Jan Buras, appealed in his homily for disclosure of the graves hiding the bodies of the murdered people. – These bodies cannot be left somewhere in the ditches, in forests or in the former collective farm fields. If we know where these bodies rest, it is our sacred Christian duty to bury them with respect and love under the cross of Christ, exhorted the priest. Dr. Leon Popek from the Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin was the only speaker who called the perpetrators of the extermination of the Polish village, recalling that 70 years ago it was done by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. He emphasized that the remains of many murdered Poles still rest in unknown graves – in Gaj, Sucha Łoza and Skalenica, as well as in many other places that no longer exist. As you know, about 60,000 people died at the hands of the UPA in Volhynia alone. Poles in 700 localities, and only 5% of the places where the bodies of the victims were buried are known. – They also have the right to our full memory, to a Christian burial, our prayer and the sign of the cross on the grave – said Dr. Popek, whose close relatives were murdered in Gaj. He thanked, among others Polish and Ukrainian archaeologists for the exhumation works, youth of the VLC from Lublin and all volunteers – for their help in carrying out these works. He also expressed to the Ukrainian present at the ceremony, Mykhailo Potocki, great gratitude to his family for saving his grandmother. – My grandmother, Franciszka Popek, hid in the attic of the cowshed of the Ukrainian Potocki family in the nearby village of Arsenowicze. They fed her and kept her. A few days after the robbery, they brought her to her house to take some of her things. At that moment, a group of young boys from the UPA arrived, who put Franciszka against the wall and wanted to shoot her. And then the father of 12‑year‑old Mykhailo, Ivan Potocki, who was a respected farmer in the area and knew these boys, forbade them to shoot – and they obeyed him. However, he immediately warned Francis: „Let us run, because I know these boys and they will not kill you, but those who do not know me may come soon and they will kill you, me and my entire” family – reported this story by Dr. Popek in statements for journalists. The bones of the murdered, solemnly buried in five large black coffins, were exhumed a month ago from an old shooting range in a village that was already overgrown with forest. These were the remains of Poles sent to a nearby village school and murdered there. This place was indicated 15 years ago by The local Ukrainians and for 12 years the ROPWiM has been applying to the Ukrainian authorities for permission to carry out exhumation and burial. An indefinite number of bodies lying in the further parts of the village and in the surrounding fields, were buried a few days after the attack in a forest cemetery from World War I, called by the locals „Polish” graves. According to the estimates of the Institute of National Remembrance, in the attack on the Polish village of Stary Gaj and Nowy Gaj, the Bandera followers killed approx. 300 Poles, and so far it has been possible to establish the names and surnames of 250 of them. For the time being, a large wooden cross has been erected on the cemetery grave in Sokole, and a stone commemoration is planned next year. Eyewitnesses and relatives of the victims shared their dramatic memories with journalists. Alfreda Lech from Wrocław mentioned a 17‑year‑old relative who managed to break free from the hands of the UPA executioners and ran home with one eye supported by his hand, warning his family to run away from the Flagellates, then, wearing a blindfold, he escaped into the forest and then entered the forest. to the Polish partisans. Władysław Guza from Gdańsk, who lost his older brother and many family members in Gaj, recalled how one of his relatives the next day after the criminal attack recognized his mutilated sister by the braids, cut in half with a saw. A Ukrainian woman from Sokół, Halina Puszkarczuk, says that many Poles lived in this mixed village before the war. – We got along well, friendly. My father was especially friends with the Duda family in Gaj. He was a buddy to them. When they were supposed to murder this Polish village, my father went there at night and warned Władek and Janek Dudów, and they escaped. And in our village, the Banderites did not kill the Poles, but burned the church. Later, the Soviets took his father to the war, from which he returned in 1945 without a hand. And when he became the manager of the mill, the Bandera followers murdered him. He was 30 years old and I became an orphan at the age of 7 – he recalls with a tear in his eye. Dramatic, but at the same time optimistic, was the case of 72‑year‑old Hanna, who participated in the funeral (after her husband Muszyk, and after foster Ukrainian parents – Bojmistruk). Her story was told by Hanna's adoptive sister, Ms Ola, who could hardly refrain from tears. Well, 70 years ago, three days after the attack on the village of Gaj, Ukrainian residents of the nearby village of Kasazine came there under the escort of two village boys from the UPA to bury the bodies of the dead. Next to the pigsty of one of the farms, they heard a child's cry. After opening the door, they saw a crying 2‑year‑old girl sitting in the hay next to the killed two brothers and her grandfather. One of the boys must have been called Tadzik, because the girl repeated this name after leaving the pigsty. Seeing a bucket by the well, she threw herself to drink water. She drank for a long time. Meanwhile, two young UPA with automatic machines wanted to shoot the girl. One said to another: „shoot her!” and the other replied – „no, you shoot!” In the end, neither of them fired and people brought her to Kasewka. They asked the residents if anyone wanted to take it, but no one wanted it because people were afraid. Finally, Ms Ola's grandmother and grandpa said: „come on, we'll take”. When the tax for childless people was introduced in 1949, the grandparents handed over Hania to one of their daughters, who had no children. With time, Mrs. Hania found out about her true origin from people from the countryside, because everyone knew that she was a Polish woman rescued from a murdered Polish village. – I do not know the name of my parents, because my foster mother never told me that – admitted Mrs. Hania in Ukrainian. She has never been to Poland. Would she like to go? – If there is an invitation, I would go and go. Well, but only with my sister, because she is not alone. Only, that I do not have a passport – said Ms Hania smiling. – Would she like to receive the Pole's Card? – Why not? When asked by a Ukrainian journalist whether giving such details about Ms Hanna's life was not intended to contradict the two nations, Ms Ola replied decisively: – After all, this is an example that the Ukrainians did not fear anyone, took a Polish child into their family and raised him. So how could this conflict between The Ukrainians and Poles? This is what serves our reconciliation! So how could this conflict between The Ukrainians and Poles? This is what serves our reconciliation! So how could this conflict between The Ukrainians and Poles? This is what serves our reconciliation!.

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

source: Borzęcki Jacek, „Bury with respect and love under the cross”; in: „Galician Courier”, in: No. 20, 2013

Reports in an interview with „Nasz Dziennik” prof. Andrzej Kola, who started the first survey research in this place 12 years ago. Their effect is the location of the mass grave. – „In 2001, some bones were found on the surface. 9 survey boreholes were drilled with a geological drill and a grave was found, approximately 3–4 meters wide and 10–12 meters long. Then the matter went quiet. It took a long time to complete the exhumation work. Only this year, as a result of the efforts made by the Council for the Protection of Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom and Dr. Leon Popek from the Institute of National Remembrance, whose grandfather died in Stary Gaj, and the rest of the family in Ostrówki, the work was resumed – indicates Michał Siemiński, head of the work in Stary Gaj. The team from Poland has been here since September 9. A trench was established (4 by 14 m) and a 30–centimeter layer of humus was removed, then the first loose bones began to show. – Later, when we started cleaning the surface of the trench, it turned out that in its central part, more or less in the middle of the grave, a pit had been dug for the rubbish that was then thrown there. It was about 6 m long, about 3.5 m wide and up to 1 m deep. Two–thirds of the grave was destroyed because of this dumpster, the archaeologist points out. Under the dumpster, archaeologists found several skeletons in an anatomical arrangement. The rest of the remains were badly damaged. From their observation and analysis of the objects, it was concluded that the victims were not shot at the burial site, i.e. the shooting ditch. – It turned out that, according to the testimonies of the witnesses, they were actually shot somewhere on the school grounds, and the bodies were dragged into a ditch and covered with a layer of earth – says Siemiński. According to the anthropologist's findings, the remains of 80 people were preserved in the grave. Children up to 7 years old – 11. Children 7–15 years old – 18. Juwenis, i.e. 15–19 – 12. – Adults whose age at death was estimated from 20 to 35 years old, I counted 31, adults aged 35–50 years – 4 people, 55–60 years – 3 people, and 1 person who at the time of death could have been over 60 years old – enumerates anthropologist Dr. Iwona Teul–Świniarska from the Department of Normal and Clinical Anatomy of the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin. This is an estimated so–called casualties minimal, there may be more bodies below. The anatomical coherence of the skeletons in the cavity was not preserved, which made it impossible to explore and analyze individual people. In such a situation, other methods are used. – I did it on the basis of the number of frontal and occipital bones and counting the long bones. However, it should be taken into account that children aged 0–2 years could be more, at least 10 people. This is indicated by a very large number of damaged shafts of long bones, which were tiny. These children died under one year of age. It should also be taken into account that some of the women who died were pregnant – adds Dr. Teul–Świniarska. The analysis of the gender structure showed that there were more women (37%) than men (11%) in the grave; most are young mothers with young children. How did they die? It is possible that by shooting. But no bullet marks were found on the skulls and other bones. Perhaps the torturers were shooting in the chest and stomach? A lot of skulls have damaged facial parts. – These people could have died from a blow from some other weapon. On the long bones, however, I did not find any obvious evidence of this in the form of cuts or other damage – explains Dr. Teul–Świniarska. On three skulls, including the child's skull, a visible depression was found – a trace after being hit by an object. Doctor Teul–Świniarska specializes in palaeopathology, hence research that was to determine the physical condition of the victims at the time of death. The analysis showed that they were young, healthy people, not suffering from tuberculosis, not even tooth decay. About 200 names of victims from Stary Gaj have already been established. It is not known, however, whether the dumpster destroyed the remains of the remaining 120 or they were buried elsewhere. The Ukrainians were in a hurry to execute the Poles because the German front was approaching  […] There are many more places in Ukraine, where Poles rest in undiscovered mass graves, and individual graves are practically impossible to count. One of them may be Dry Loz. – Perhaps a dozen or so people are lying there. They were murdered while escaping and buried where they had fallen. Today, looking for these places is based mainly on eyewitness accounts and a bit of luck – sums up Michał Siemiński”.

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

source: Czartoryski-Sziler Piotr, „Garbage can in the grave”; in: „Nasz Dziennik”, in: October 7, 2013

source: „Try on for identification”; in: „Nasz Dziennik”, in: 19-20 October 2013

Jarosław Walkiewicz: „We know about what happened in Stary Gaj on August 30, 1943 from the stories of the aforementioned uncle, who was an eyewitness  […] My uncle saw all The Ukrainians well, but there was no way to escape. Those who tried to sneak out of the UPA gang were murdered in the fields. My uncle saw men being led out of their houses and killed, and whole families were killed in houses or in the courtyards. His wife, son–in–law, daughter and their child were also murdered. /. Uncle reported that he saw the murdered woman lying in his farmyard, and next to the baby, which had rolled from her hands to the ground. He also saw how the Ukrainians burst into his house and dragged his wife, cut off her breasts, cut open her belly and pulled out her insides. She was dying in agony, her uncle could not help her in any way. He heard her moans and saw how terribly mutilated, she dies. Nobody expected everyone to be murdered so brutally. Most of the deaths were children, which is most shocking. Also, from our family, both pregnant women and many young children, even infants, were murdered  […] [Polish partisans] They arrived a few days late, most of them did not survive. However, there were a few people on the carts with them who managed to hide. He and his uncle went to the shooting range, where in the ditch he recognized the body of his daughter cut with a saw. There were also abandoned bloody tools of the crime – axes, saws, scythes, digging hoes and pitchforks. The bodies had been lying in the heat for several days, not covered with earth, so they decomposed quickly. Uncle recognized her daughter only by her hair, she had characteristic long hair braided in a braid. After this traumatic experience, he later settled in Kolonia Marysin near Chełm, where he lived alone”.

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

source: Czartoryski-Sziler Piotr, „They died with their children in their arms”; in: „Nasz Dziennik”, in: October 26-27, 2013