In May 1945, Mikołaj Gierczak from Kopysno was murdered by the SB‑OUN militia, „B II”, „Chołodny Jar”, for suspicion of cooperation with the Polish Army and NKVD. The SB clerk with the pseudonym „Roman” was responsible for the murder.

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

source: „History”; in: portal: Kopysno — web page: kopysno.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]

While the villages were burned down after the Ukrainians had been displaced, they murdered 6 elderly Poles who had not left their farms. Probably one of the murdered was Michał Gierczak.

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

source: Zapałowski Andrzej, „Border on fire”, in: ASPRA-JR Publishing House, History of the Peasant Movement Museum, Warsaw 2016, p. 220 — web page: ptg.edu.pl [accessible: 2021.06.10]

According to the data contained in the archives of the Polish Army, on December 17, 1945, on the road leading from Rybotycze, in the „Grabnik” forest, a fusiliers company from the 28th Infantry Regiment of the 9th Infantry Division sent to Kopysno to protect the contingent collection was attacked by the UPA „Burłaki” sotnya. Two officers and three privates were killed in the ambush (2nd Lt. Jan Darmograj, platoon commander of the anti–tank guns company – s/o Paweł, born on April 8, 1918 in the USSR; 2nd Lt. Zenon Radulewicz – s/o Wincenty; Senior Lt. Piotr Kiszkis – Władysława, born in 1926 in the USSR, private Bronisław Pożoga – s/o Emil, born in 1922; private Ryszard Witek – s/o Józef, born in 1923), 3 privates were wounded. Several UPA members were killed. The 1st battalion of the 28th infantry regiment stationed in Rybotycze was alerted to everything. According to the UPA data, 3 soldiers were killed in the ambush, 5 managed to escape, and 3 of the wounded were taken prisoner. Two captured officers (Second Lieutenant Jan Darmograj and Second Lieutenant Zenon Radulewicz) were executed on the basis of a court judgment convened by the commander of the U–4 unit (code name of one of the four sotnyas led by Lieutenant „Konyk”). However, the private was released, he reached Rybotycze and notified his command of everything. According to others, all the soldiers died in the ambush, except for one who, escaping through the valley of the Kamienny stream, reached Rybotycze and notified the police station. He reached the militia only in his underwear and his feet were bloody (he took off the uniform hastily). According to the testimonies of the inhabitants of Kopysno, the attack on a group of soldiers was carried out by members of the UPA unit dressed in civilian clothes, which meant that the inhabitants of Kopysno were responsible for it. According to the witnesses of those events, the UPA members who took part in the operation had stayed in the house of one of the inhabitants of Kopysno before the action. According to the witnesses of those events, Kopysno was to be pacified in retaliation for the UPA's attack on the fusiliers company. Fortunately, this did not happen thanks to the common sense of one of the Polish Army officers from the 1st battalion stationed in Rybotycze, who, having gathered all the inhabitants on the square next to the church, ultimately decided to confiscate their cattle and pigs. Anyone who could, gave the army what they had. Leaving Kopysno with confiscated possessions, the soldiers encountered an approaching unit near Rybotycze (prob. 218 border regiment of NKVD troops), which was to pacify. However, they were informed that the problem had already been resolved and the village avoided it. According to the version included in the UPA sources, this event took place on December 20, 1945. In their opinion, the Polish Army, which arrived in Kopysno in the number of about 150 soldiers, beat up and robbed the peasants. Among others, the widow Sus Emilia, whose last clothes were stolen and 600 zlotys. The last herd, ie 13 cows and 7 horses, was taken from the 10 Ukrainian farmers who were still in Kopysno (own footnote – there were also Poles among them). They arrested several men of different ages, severely beaten them and released them the next day. They also detained a 6‑year‑old boy in the village whom they asked by shooting him over his head where the Bandera followers were. They took Mikołaj's deputy mayor, Kulhawiec, with them to Żurawica near Przemyśl. The Polish Army burned down 6 huts, 3 of which were abandoned and 3 were inhabited. Among other things, the wagon's hut was burnt, who transported the killed Polish soldiers to Huwniki, the farmer who helped to put the bodies on the wagon and the farmer's hut, who talked with the Poles in Ukrainian all the time. The entire property burned down in the huts, because the Polish Army did not allow anything to be saved.

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

source: „History”; in: portal: Kopysno — web page: kopysno.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]

Ukrainian side: „On December 17, 1945, chota 512 made an ambush at 5 am. The ambush was located in the south, near the village of Kopysno, in a forest and in a ravine on the edge of the Rybotycze – Kopysno road  […] The Polish army arrived in Strzelce formation. From our first shooters, the machine gun was neutralized. The rifle took the ammunition from him, but he also fell from our shooters. Two officers of the Polish army told the rest to withdraw by jumping and both fell from our bullets. On the battlefield, 5 were killed and 3 wounded fled, 4 of them wounded. The wounded private testified that both officers6 are communists and «if you let them out, they will hang us later». The commander of the «U–4» unit called a field court and on its basis, after proving their guilt, the officers were shot. a wounded private member of the Polish army was sent a submarine which took him to Rybotycze. as the documents and testimonies of the Polish army private showed – one of the executed Polish officers was an adjutant of the colonel of the 28th infantry regiment. The adjutant had a pass until December 31, 1945. The entire group of the Polish army belonged to the first fusilier company of the 28th Infantry Regiment, the 9th «heroic infantry division». The documents were sent to the SB. a letter was sent to the «commander» of this unit, in which he was advised to stop the plundering activities. The Polish army in Huwniki was so taken over by the whole action that it sent messengers to the Bolshevik border post and to Przemyśl for help, because «is cut off». On December 19, 1945, the Bolsheviks sent 6 cars and one armored car with the army, first to Huwniki, and then to Rybotycze. On December 19, 1945, companies of the Polish army were sent from Krasiczyn, marched through Rybotycze and Brylińce to the village of Kopysno. In the village of Kopysno, the Polish army burnt 6 huts, arrested several civilians, some of whom fled (the rest were released) and robbed a few head of cattle. action results: – enemy losses: 5 killed; one seriously and four slightly injured. among the killed two officers. – «Diegtiariowa» machine gun with three disks, 2 PPSZ with six cartridges, 2 rifles, 2 pistols was obtained. – no losses”.

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

source: „Litopys UPA”, in: No. 33 — web page: kopysno.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]

In the village of Kopyśno, poviat Przemyśl, the SB‑OUN militia [OUN Security Forces] murdered a Pole, M. Gierczak.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – May 1946 and Spring of 1946”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.06.10]

source: Zapałowski Andrzej, „Border on fire”, in: ASPRA-JR Publishing House, History of the Peasant Movement Museum, Warsaw 2016, p. 233 — web page: ptg.edu.pl [accessible: 2021.06.10]

„In May 1946  […] an active SB‑OUN [OUN Security Services] militia under the leadership of a regional head W. Capiak, aka 'Potap'. For cooperation with the authorities of the Polish state, the militia murdered, among others: a Pole, Mikołaj Gierczak from Kopyśno, and a Pole, Jan Mirowski, was listed as dead, a Ukrainian, Mikołaj Herczak, as an informer of the UB, and a Ukrainian, Vasyl Stach (a gamekeeper from Kormanice), suspected of being an informer. The murder of J. Mirowski and W. Stach was carried by Wasyl Harbacz, nom‑de‑guerre 'Tiller'. A Pole, Michał (?), Ukrainians: Dmytro Szmilyk, Andrzej Michajleć and Wasyl Litwinow, as well as Poles: Kazimierz Zazula and F. Ferliński were also killed”.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – May 1946 and Spring of 1946”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.06.10]

source: Zapałowski Andrzej, „Border on fire”, in: ASPRA-JR Publishing House, History of the Peasant Movement Museum, Warsaw 2016, p. 169—170 — web page: ptg.edu.pl [accessible: 2021.06.10]

In the village of Kopysno, poviat Przemyśl: „In the middle of June 1946, according to the testimony of Ochota — known as 'Ostapa' — the commander of the UPA's 'Burłak' 3rd czota (platoon), during the haymaking in Kopysno, a sub–unit (24 cadets) from the Officer's School of Sappers of the 9 Infantry Division of Polish Army, despite security provided by usage of machine guns, was captured by 1st and the 3rd chotas of UPA 'Burłak' sotnya. The soldiers were disarmed, their uniforms were removed, and after handing out propaganda leaflets, all were released. According to the version included in the UPA sources, the event took place on June 14, 1946, when 23 soldiers of the Polish Army (including 1 second lieutenant, 5 non–commissioned officers and 17 privates) who came to the village of Koniusza from the village of Kopysno, where they planned to help in mowing the grass. The commander of the sotnya gave orders to the czotas 510 and 511 to disarm the entire group of 23 cadets. To this end, the two czotas, taking advantage of the convenient location, encircled the entire group in the clearing between the villages of Kopysno and Koniusza, unexpectedly hitting it so that all soldiers surrendered without firing a single shot. All soldiers were disarmed and 'undressed' from uniforms, and after an appropriate conversation with them, in agreement with the OUN–UPA Security Services, they were released. Doubts are raised as to the number of captured soldiers (23 or 24?). And the place of the action (according to UPA sources, the map shows that the arrest was carried out in Kopysno, not in Koniusza or between these villages)”.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – June 1946”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.06.10]

source: „History”; in: portal: Kopysno — web page: kopysno.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]

Extract from a statistical study of the OUN regional political clerk on Ukrainian victims of armed formations of the Republic of Poland in the region of the 2nd 'Chłodny Jar' subregion in District I of the Zakerzonya Region in 1945—1946  […] :
„PRZEMYŚL II (region):  […]
9. Kopysno — 2  […]
Stopover, December 4, 1946 B[ojczu]k”.

source: „Chołodnyj Jar'O. II. Statystyczni dani na deń 30 weresnia 1946”; in: Institute of National Remembrance IPN Rzeszów, in: Acta OAIPN Rz 072/1, vol. 3, sh. 120

source: Huk Bogdan with a group of friends, „Murders of the Ukrainian population 1944-1947”; in: portal: Ruthenian apocrypha — web page: www.apokryfruski.org [accessible: 2021.09.30]

On May 2, 1947, as a result of wounds sustained in Kopysno during fights with the UPA, 2nd Lt. Stanisław Włodarczyk, so. Piotr (28th Infantry Regiment), died in the hospital.

source: „History”; in: portal: Kopysno — web page: kopysno.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – year 1947”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2022.03.02]

A soldier of the Polish Army, Jan Łoboda, b. 1925 in Warsaw, died at the hands of the UPA, his grave is located at the municipal cemetery in Zasanie.

source: web page: w.kki.com.pl [accessible: 2020.10.12]

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – year 1947”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2022.03.02]

Private 1st Class Jan Łoboda, so. Stanisław, b. 1925 in poviat Żywiec. His grave is in Przemyśl, in the Zasanie cemetery, field 14.

source: „History”; in: portal: Kopysno — web page: kopysno.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – year 1947”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2022.03.02]

„In all likelihood we will never know many victims, about whom no reports mention, and nowadays cases of new discoveries are rare. An example of revealing the crime years after its occurance is the information about the tragedy that took place in Kopyśno, where members of SB‑OUN Kopko and Lewicki from Cisowa murdered an unknown pregnant woman. The deceased was thrown into the well (the body was pulled out of the well by Polish Army and buried next to it)”.

source: Zapałowski Andrzej, „Border on fire”, in: ASPRA-JR Publishing House, History of the Peasant Movement Museum, Warsaw 2016, p. 270 — web page: ptg.edu.pl [accessible: 2021.06.10]

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – year 1947”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2022.03.02]