Orthodox feast of the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: slaughtered the entire Polish colony, by at least 137 Poles – although in July the UPA called meetings of Poles from this village and from the village of Sokołówka and assured that Poles could work calmly, not fear for their lives, because they they are watching over the safety. „About two weeks after taking Oman, the Ukrainians came to our house again, but this time they were no longer polite and kind, but downright menacingly and firmly demanded that his brother give them a gun, which he was hiding, saying: «Południewski, give back the weapons you keep !». But his brother did not confess, so they forcibly took him with them to the Świnarzyński forest. Together with him, they took two more Poles from the Jasionówka colony: Władysław Buczko, around 19, and his cousin, also Władysław Buczko, around 20. They investigated them in the forest and our brother Feliks confessed to having a hidden weapon: the Russian «Finka». as he confessed, they spared his life for the time being, but before his eyes they shot both Buczek, who still assured him that they had no weapons. Then they took my brother back to the cart and brought him to our family house so that we saw them  […] In August 1943, Ukrainian nationalists attacked our Jasionówka colony by armed forces and began murdering all those who still remained in their homes. as our youth, almost all of them, managed to escape to the city earlier, only middle–aged and elderly people remained in the huts. Most of them, because they did not want to leave their family homes, thought that as elderly people, even Banderites, they would not pick on sometimes there was also insufficient health and strength to cope with the hardships of the night escape. Still others could not come to terms with the idea of abandoning the achievements of their entire lives. Virtually all of them died on the same night, literally individuals rescued from the pogrom. Our colony was inhabited by the Polish family of Tomaszewski, who lived in the house of the Polish family Kruk, it was the second home from us. They all stayed until the end and didn't even try to hide. That night, when the Ukrainian bandits came and they all remained at home, the attackers brutally broke in and took both families out into the yard under arms. Then they all stood against the wall of the house, in this group was a little girl Helena Tomaszewska, about 8 years old, it was she who, miraculously saved from the hands of ruthless torturers, was chosen by God's providence, be to bear witness to the martyr's path of the Polish community in the vicinity of Swojczów. and when they were all dead, she alone survived, escaped to the city, and after the war she settled in the Regained Territories. after many years, I met her personally in Zamość, on the occasion of my trip to Swojczów to consecrate the Cross, which was built on the site of the temple destroyed in 1943 by the Ukrainians. During those days she told us with emotion the story of her life, the great tragedy of her family, she said: «Me and my family stayed in Jasionówka until the end, until that tragic night, when the Ukrainians attacked our colony. Because we got tired of hiding in fields, cereals and orchards, we felt tired of the endless wandering, which is why we stayed at home that night, by God's command. Meanwhile, unexpectedly Ukrainian thugs came home and ordered us all to leave the house. There was still a dark night when they laid us all face down, right under the windows of our house. My little pooch turned around me, and at that moment I heard the Ukrainians loading their weapons. Suddenly my little friend sprang to his feet and started running towards the nearby bushes, and I instinctively jumped up behind him, I didn't even know exactly what I was doing. and it was probably this power of God that made even the bullets that the Ukrainians poured densely behind me, none of them hit me. It is also the merit of my friend who was used by God's providence, the minister of life, grace and justice. Well, when I was running away, the pooch was tangling under my feet and I had to dodge left and right, so as not to simply crush the poor man. No wonder they couldn't hit me, and when I was safely awake, I saw that my winter coat, the coat I was wearing, was literally frayed from bullets in many places, and I wasn't even scratched. Today and always I am convinced that it is the truest miracle that I survived this nightmare. Unfortunately, all of my family died then, including my parents: daddy, mum Józef, aunt Rozalia, who was a nun who had to return home during the war, my dear grandmother and my siblings. Hiding in the bushes, I met other Poles who, like me, saved their lives from rezunami. I joined this group and together, under the cover of night, we reached the city of Włodzimierz Wołyński»  […] During this massacre on our Jasionówka colony, the Rutkowski family, our neighbors, was killed by the copper plate, including Rutkowski, about 40, his wife antonina, née Potocka, about 35, and their five or six children from 1 to 6 years old. antonina's brother Leon Potocki, around 45, and her sister Rudnicka, around 50, and her daughter Teresa, around 16, also died. This Tereska Rudnicka was my dear friend, although they were the most friends with my sister Reginka. During the growing Ukrainian revolt in our country, Tereska often hid with us, even after my escape to the city, she and Regina were still hiding together. In the end, when the rest of our people were escaping, it was planned that Teresa would run away with them, but she unexpectedly stayed where she was and to this day we do not know why. after a few days, Teresa's mother came to town with another group of refugees, and my mother's stepmother, whom we called Grandma Rudnicka. Only then it turned out that even she did not know anything about Tereska, her daughter. In this despair, she cried and immediately turned back to Jasionówka to find her. Unfortunately, she never came back to us, and all traces of her were lost. Some time later, my parents recalled that the Ukrainians murdered her by the road, it is very possible because Rudnicka was returning to Jasionówka during the day”.

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: Roch Sławomir Tomasz, „There was still a dark night when they laid us all face down ...”, Recollections of Leokadia Michaluk nee Południewska from the Jasionówka colony in the district of Włodzimierz Wołyński in Volhynia 1935-1944; in: „Recollections of those who survived”, portal: Volhynia of our forebearers — web page: www.nawolyniu.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]