[The Ukrainians] murdered over 20 Poles who had not escaped earlier, from a 2—month—old girl to old people. Franciszka B.—Dz (born 1921): „We lived in Józefin with my husband, three children: Halinka (4 years old), Henia (2 years old) and aldona, born in May 1943. Our mother—in—law, Maria N. (70 years old) also lived with us. In July 1943 I decided to visit my father in Kalinówka; mother was dead. We did not go on Sunday because it was raining a lot. On Monday, I told my husband that after such rain he would not go to the field and to go to my father. I took a babysitter and we went. all the way, about 20 kilometers, all the places we passed looked extinct, we didn't see any people. We drove to Bielin, where my eldest sister Maria K. lived, we drove up to her house. She ran to us, said that we were lucky that we did not come the day before, because yesterday Bielin was attacked by the Ukrainians  […] all Polish houses were surrounded. When the Ukrainians departed after some time, it turned out that that day they did not kill anyone, but robbed almost the entire village. They came in carts and took whatever they liked. When they ran out of wagons, they forced some of the Polish farmers to take their stolen goods with their wagons  […] My husband and I decided to go home. In passing places, as before, not a living soul. Only a kilometer from the house we saw a wagon. The Ukrainians rode on the cart, a peasant in the front, a woman in the back. at the same time, we saw a glow over Josephine and a terrible fire further on the horizon. The husband asked the Ukrainian what was on fire. The peasant lowered his head and did not speak, while the woman folded her hands and said: «Oh, bida, panoczku» — and they went. We came to the yard. My husband's brother Franciszek was there. He pointed to the glow and said that Polish villages were already burning there  […] He said that maybe they wouldn't get to us that night, but a guard should be posted. The husband and brother agreed that they would watch the night, and the women and children would sleep. Brother went home. after supper, I put the children to sleep, and my husband went out to watch the yard. In the morning he came to the apartment, sat down at the table, lit a cigarette and said that it was getting daylight, then nothing would happen. I woke up, we started talking. Suddenly, the door opened and several The Ukrainians burst into the house. One shouted: «first the host/farmer». They seized my husband, twisted his arms, and two took him outside. Two others approached the mother—in—law who was lying on the bed. They hit her with the butt and dragged her outside. One boy, about twenty years old, stayed with me  […] . We started to speak Polish, he was polite. He told me to go out with the kids sooner. I started putting them on. Seeing that I could not cope, he shouted to his friends to bring his mother—in—law. My mother—in—law took Henia, I wrapped my youngest daughter in a swaddle and took it on my left hand, and I took Halinka's hand. Halinka crouched down and did not want to go. I told her: «Come on because daddy stayed there». Outside, I saw my husband facing the wall of the house. a Ukrainian was standing next to him  […] holding a pointed pepeshka. When we left, he released his husband, who approached us and took Halinka in his arms. Then I noticed that there are several Ukrainians. They were in plain clothes, had no uniforms, and no visible military markings. Some searched buildings. I guess, that they wanted to murder us right away, but they didn't know where. They felt sorry for the flats, barns and stables. after a while, one who was rummaging around the farm, pointing to the shed, said: «There is nothing» there. They started pushing us to the shed. They were in a hurry, they were nervous because it was already daytime. There was a pile of bricks in the shed. Before the war, we planned to build a brickyard. We stood by the brick wall, my husband on my right and my mother—in—law on the other. Until then, I was convinced that the Ukrainians only wanted to search us, now I understood that it was over. In the last second, I thought that I would find out what it was like in the other world and I saw that this polite young Ukrainian, who was standing next to me at home, aimed his pepesha at us and started shooting. The husband probably died right away, along with Halinka. I was holding the baby on my left hand. The bullet pierced my hand about 15 centimeters from my wrist  […] The bullet that pierced the arm caused a much larger wound at the outlet than the inlet. Then he probably pierced my daughter's body, then superficially tore open the muscle above my right breast. I must have passed out after the shot. When I woke up, I couldn't remember what had happened, all I could see was fire. The shed was on fire  […] On all fours I started to move further from the fire. The shed was leaky and I found a hole that let me out into the garden. I had no idea what I was doing. I fell into the big pit where we kept bagasse in winter for livestock. Downstairs, I realized that I had something in my hand, and soon realized that I was holding my daughter. I immediately remembered everything and at that moment blood spurted out of my hand. I tightened my wound with a cape. I thought if my kids were alive they would scream, but the shed burned down and I didn't hear any sounds  […] I heard a conversation in the yard; I thought the bandits had returned, but I recognized the voice of my neighbor P. Few survivors started to come to our yard. I asked people to find the bodies of my relatives in the ashes. The mother—in—law, husband and youngest child were completely burnt. From a two—month—old aldonka we found as much corpse as on my hand. The older girls were whole, their hair and skin unburned. I saw the places where they were shot — the average one in the mouth, and I don't remember Halinka anymore, I just remember that her tongue was sticking out of her mouth. We put the corpse in a chest from the pantry, and we put the chest in the garden. P. harnessed our horses — he wanted to run away with his family and take me. I went back to the house and saw the children's clothes in the open wardrobe. I wasn't able to take anything  […] That night, the Ukrainians murdered almost the entire Polish population of Józefin and the adjoining Fundum. Only survivors like me remain  […] The Ukrainians, when they failed to kill the farmers, set fire to their buildings, but when they killed the whole family, they did not set fire to them, as they planned it would be theirs. Our farm, apart from the shed, was not burned”.

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

source: Odonus Barbara, „Summer 1943”; in: „Card”, in: No. 43 /2004/