The Ukrainians guaranteed security for the Poles of this old Polish village, with noble lineages, in exchange for providing food for the UPA. The attack took place at noon, parallel to the attack on the neighboring villages of Szeroka and Lulówka. Every Polish house was driven by a wagon with „Ukrainian rebels” and „was slaughtered from an infant to an” old man using axes, knives, bayonets and other murdering tools of our own production. There were horrific rapes of girls and women, mutilation and brutal torture. The slaughter lasted all day, and the next day „passed the second wave of”, catching the hiding and finishing off the wounded. Entire families were tied with barbed wire and burned alive or thrown into a well. Even the heads of women were cut off with axes, which the torturers then displayed, boasting their „heroism” in this „Polish–Ukrainian” conflict. Nearly all women who had been raped had their breasts cut off, their eyes gouged out, and their bellies ripped open. Yes „Ukrainian rebels” slaughtered 160 Poles. The looted and burned village became one huge cemetery, of which there is no trace of it.

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. 129—130

Edmund Żukowski testified as follows: „After a while, a few carts drove up to the house, they burst into the yard, dragged Mrs. Rabczyńska out of the house and pulled her to the trunk that stood in the yard. Three held hands and feet and the fourth held hair. They put it on the trunk and with the ax they cut off the head, which they then held up to show. We stayed hidden until the night. It was a terrible sight, the whole horizon was on fire, cattle roaring, dogs howling, screams, doomsday  […] I also found my grandmother Żukowska there. Her breast was cut with a knife and her neck was cut, wrapped in a handkerchief and was still alive for two days, after being transported to Horochów, she died  […] There was uncle Łazowski, aunt Pelagia, daughter–in–law with a 4‑year‑old daughter and son Henryk. The Ukrainians surrounded the buildings. Henryk's son managed to escape. The rest of the family were tied up with wires, locked in a barn and set on fire. Spłonęli żywcem”.

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. 1127

Samoobrona went on an excursion in the direction of Kupowalce to see what, where and what the murdered looked like, because the selected The Ukrainians reported that they were lying and nobody buried them. They went, and it was three weeks after the robbery, the murderous one. They got off the carts and walked, and surprisingly the mound of hay moved. They looked frightened, and in this hay piece sat a woman, 55 years old, Mrs. Szuryńska, who had a cut through her right collarbone with an ax. She fell and the Ukrainian thought she had been killed, and she woke up and came to a hay mound and fed there. She was sprinkling ears of grain: rye, wheat, and so she lived for three weeks. They brought her to Horochów, treated her in the hospital, but the wound was so bad that they immediately took her to Lviv to the hospital.

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

source: Wolf Józefa z. d Zawilska, „Memories”; in: portal: Volhynia pages — web page: free.of.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]

„In view of the terrifying reports about the murders of defenseless people by Ukrainians, we weighed the decision to leave Kupowalec. and we made such a decision on July 14, 1943. Preparations have begun. On that day, my mother took my youngest sister alicja to the county town of Horochów, leaving her with a priest from our parish, Kobyliński, who had taken refuge in Horochów earlier. On July 16, in the morning, my father went to the blacksmith to fix something on the cart. The atmosphere of anxiety was evidently felt, and many inhabitants of Kupowytec and nearby towns were considering leaving their homes. In the afternoon I went to the Łazowski family. When I got there, Henie's parents were not there, because around noon they took a cart to a plot of land, 1.5 km away, newly bought from a legionnaire, Colonel Wróblewski, rake the previously mown forage mixture. Heniek and his sister Pelagia also went there. I walked with them for a while, then turned home to the shed, where my mother was bringing me lunch. I had dinner with my mother, Brother alfred and Sister Monika. My father was at the blacksmith's and my brother, Sigismud, at my grandfather. We had barely finished eating when we saw a huge crowd of a hundred people marching along the road. a man with harmony was leading the way, and we heard him playing the melody of «Smert, smert Lacham» [Death, death to the Poles]. It was one of the groups of Ukrainian bandits surrounding Poles' homes. We were defenseless, because during the day the only rifle we had was in the glove compartment. I ordered my sister and brother to flee to the grain immediately. The column passed by, so we were not yet fully aware of their intentions, but in a moment I saw that several of them set up a machine gun behind the court, called by the Soviets «the dyekhtyarov». Three bandits were left with him. I showed them to my mom and we already knew what that meant. I asked my mother to run away, but she insisted on going to the barn and releasing the cows. I hid and saw the cows leaving, but at that moment three thugs entered the yard. They headed to the barn and I heard their words: «chto u are in chati?» [What have you got in the house?]. I didn't hear the answer because I started to run away, while looking for my sister and brother somewhere. at that time, the perpetrators dragged my mother to the apartment, where they cruelly murdered her (she was stabbed with knives). Grandfather of Kuźma Niżnik, who lived in friendship with my grandfather Walery Sawicki, later told my brother Zenek (in the hospital), that my mom and brother alfred were very massacred. at first, my father hid in the corn and stayed there until the night. at night, he went to our neighbor, Nikola Kovalchuk, who kept him for several days. I ran straight ahead and reached a low cherry field growing in the middle. I climbed on it and started looking around. I saw that the bandits are stretching into a line and after a few they head towards the buildings. Soon I was spotted and a machine gun burst was sent towards me. Leaves rustled but I was not hit. I jumped off almost immediately and most likely the Ukrainians decided that I was shot down because they didn't try to shoot anymore. I hid myself in the crops, took a position on the hill and waited what would happen next. I saw the stretch of road well, which led from Stojanów to Beresteczek. On the other side of the road, there were several houses about 250 meters away from me. among others, the Gadawa family lived there. at that time, unsuspecting anything, they were working in the garden. There was a widow mother with three children, and the eldest son was 14 years old. a Soviet soldier who escaped from a prisoner–of–war camp was also kept with them and hidden by the family. I saw four bandits headed there. The bandits chased all the inhabitants home. There, the mother, her three children and a soldier were cruelly murdered. It was behind this house that the family of my neighbors, the Łazowski family, worked on hay. When the bandits finished with the Gadawas, they went outside, and one of them knelt down and shot at the Łazowski family. after this shot, Heniek Łazowski threw the pitchfork and started to run towards Szeroka Street. When he was approaching the grain field, a thug with a rifle jumped out of the grain, he wanted to stop Heniek, but he did not succeed, because Heniek was running very fast. The Ukrainian started chasing him and firing a rifle. The shots were not on target. While running, Heniek burst into houses and shouted: «run away, they are murdering!». In the first house, on Szeroka Street, a Ukrainian chased Heniek, caught up with Drewnowski's mother and daughter, and shot them. Heniek rushed on and burst into the house of the Gilewicz family (aleksander Gilewicz). He alerted them, and they all ran away. Only grandfather Gilewicz, who was caught by a Ukrainian and shot, did not make it. Heniek continued running through Kupowka and alerted other residents. Thanks to him, many people managed to escape, especially to the crops, and avoid death. When Heniek Łazowski started to run away from the bandits, his relatives, working on the hay, started to run towards the wagon. However, they saw that there were The Ukrainians in the crop and they thought that Heniek had been killed. They were confused. But a German family lived nearby, so they decided to hide there. They hid in the barn. However, they did not manage to escape the pursuit. The bandits caught up with them. a German woman, Hapko, who lived there, said that they initially chased her and the Łazowski family to a barn, but when they found out that she was a German, they let them go free. She saw her mother, Łazowska, kneeling down in front of the thugs and asking them to kill her and Łazowski's father, and to spare her life for Pelagia's daughter, antonina's daughter–in–law, and her four‑year‑old daughter Inez. The Ukrainians, however, deliberately killed first Ineza, then Pelagia, then antonina and finally the seeing parents, Heniek Romana and aleksander. Then they set fire to the barn. It is not even known if they were all dead when the arson took place. Earlier, in the Łazowski house, the Ukrainians had murdered grandma Łazowska–Bogacka. This is how the Łazowski family died. My family had a milder fate. Sister Monika hid well in the crop and survived. Brother alfred, who was 14 at the time, was caught by the Ukrainians, dragged to his apartment and cruelly murdered. and my father, who was at the blacksmith's in Kupowalce, as I wrote before, managed to save himself. For some time I was sitting in the crops through which the mentioned line of bandits passed in the direction of Kupowalec. However, I noticed that from the side of Lulówka another line was approaching and the bandits were walking densely, so I knew that I had no chance and that there was nothing to wait for. I set off in the direction of the inhabitants of Halicz. It was a purely Ukrainian village and I was counting on the bandits not looking there and it would be safer to hide in the crops. I did so too. I found a good hiding place and stayed there until the night. From there I also watched what was happening. I saw how the Ukrainians plundered and plundered everything that was in the buildings, I heard screams and calls for the rescue of the murdered Poles. I saw them combing the grain and murdering the remnants taken out of it. and when they finished hunting for people and plundered what they could, they began to burn the Merchants. They blew up the school and church. all Kupowki and part of Szeroka were burnt. Some of the buildings near the forest were not burned that day, but were later pulled down. When night fell, I set off from Haliczany towards the Horochów 2 railway station, manned by an armed German outpost. To get there, you had to go through the Horochów–Beresteczko road, well guarded by bandits. The night was very bright. It was evident that bandit posts are standing every bit and they are eliminating all those who intended to cross this road. There was a small cherry orchard on the other side of the road where I was. I figured I could jump across the road and hide in it. I watched the surroundings for a long time and I did not notice anything suspicious. So I took a chance. a few jumps and I was on the other side. I fell among the cherries, but to my horror, right at the two armed thugs standing there. I was no more than one meter ahead of them. Fortunately, they were scared just like me – they shouted who was going, but before they could react, I made a twist and jumped back to the other side. They started chasing me and shooting me, but at night I had an advantage over them and I managed to escape. So I went to Kupowalec. There was a different situation, because the area was covered with dense smoke and the visibility was very low. However, I knew him very well and therefore I could cross the road relatively safely. and one more obstacle – the Gniła Lipa River, through which I managed to cross and find it at the tracks leading to the station. and so I got to the station Horochów 2, where it was safe and where the first refugees were, and still new ones were coming. It was early morning on July 17, 1943. The Germans gave us protection, and all the healthy and fit, and most of all young ones, were taken to Horochów, where they divided into groups – one of the lonely, the other married with their families, as well as whole families separately, and were accommodated wherever possible – in post–Jewish houses or with good people. I found myself in the first group, which consisted of the most agile people, mostly young, not burdened with the need to care for their relatives. We were lined up in four and led to the gymnasium next to the building of the German military police. We were armed there. They had a lot of Soviet weapons there, which they could hand over without any special formalities. The command over the unit was taken over by the pre–war commander of the Riflemen's association from Poluchno–Muciewicz. On the German side, a German officer of Czech origin, who spoke Polish fairly well, became the superior. This is how legal self–defense was created, which was aimed at resisting gangs murdering not only Poles but also Germans. From that time on, our organized service began, performed by the vast majority of tragically experienced people, almost all of whom experienced the loss of their loved ones. Our actions were primarily aimed at saving the survivors in the nearby cereals and other hideouts. after a f+R[2]Cew days, we started searching the Kupowalec area. We found many residents who were still alive, for example the family of Kazimierz Gilewicz, who had been hiding in the crops for 10 days, with their two young children (of course, we did not know then that by saving less than three‑year‑old Krzys, we were saving the current editor–in–chief of «Łańcut Newspaper» – Krzysztof Gilewicz), my Father Michał Sawicki, who, as I mentioned at the time of the murder, was with a blacksmith and many other residents of Kupowalec and nearby” ....

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

source: „Testimony of Czesław Sawicki, born on April 24, 1923 in Kupowalce”, June 2000 - completed, revised and authorized on July 8, 2003; in: Gilewicz Krzysztof, „Volhynia cross 1943”, in: part II

source: Sawicki Czesław, „I was running straight ahead”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.04.11]

Roman Witkowski: „Only one family, the Witkowski family, lived in Kupowalce. I am the only member of this family who survived the Volhynia tragedy. I was 10 years and 10 months old on the day of the attack  […] The attack of Ukrainian bandits in Kupowalce began in the afternoon of July 16, 1943. We were informed about it by Heniek Łazowski from Lulówka, who came running to Kupowalec and called for an escape. I remember that Irka Jasińska just chased the cows to graze them in the meadow. Heniek called to her: «Irka, run away or they are murdering! My parents are already dead!» They ran, I haven't seen them again. My parents were then in the meadow, laying hay there, but in this situation they quickly returned home. My father talked to my neighbor – Jan Żukowski. They did not know what to think about it, because the Ukrainians had previously said that Poles, living in this town for tens or even hundreds of years, they will not murder. So they decided to go find out what was going on. They headed towards Boroczyce. Near the house of a Ukrainian, called Kowalicha, they were, together with other neighbors, attacked by bandits who carried out the execution in the Kowalichy court. Most of them were murdered on the spot (the following were attacked: Jan Żukowski, antoni Witkowski, Stanisław Konopko, Kazimierz Konopko and most likely Mikołaj Konopko; probably 9 people were killed in this place, the rest were relatives of Józef Konopka's wife). The father, injured in the neck, fell asleep, was unconscious, but was still alive. He regained consciousness the next day and crawled to a Ukrainian neighbor, asking him to dress him up, who supposedly gave him some dirty rags. Then papa swam across the river because she was not very wide in this place and he was safer behind her. There, the Poles took care of him, but his condition was critical due to high blood loss and infection. He was transported to Horochów, but there was no way to save his life and he died. I was still home when Dad left. I saw people running towards the meadows towards the river. I told mommy: «I'm running!». My mother hastily prepared some clothes for me, which I took on my arm, I ran. I was running along the road towards the buildings of Bronisław Gilewicz, then I turned right, but bullets were already whistling around me. I turned into the yard and through some bordering I reached a haystack in a field. Two women sat under him – one, if I remember correctly, was a Borderland Ukrainian woman. When she saw me she screamed for me to run away because the Bandera followers will come and murder them as well. I ran to the meadows and noticed that a lot of people were fleeing from the side of Halicz. One of them had a heavily bloodied shirt – it was Franciszek Wójcicki. I joined them. Bronisław Gilewicz and his family were also in this group. He said we would go to the alder, where the river is the narrowest and maybe we can get through it. When we got there, from the other side of the river, a man came out of the woods to the shore, probably a Ukrainian officer, in a green uniform, with high boots and a characteristic tall cap, next to him a man in overalls and someone else. This officer, seeing so many people, started shouting that we should run away, because there is no passage here. When we managed to jump back, a red rocket fired upwards (it was probably a signal to destroy our village). and we, instead of towards Boroczyce, we started to run towards Halicz. There was a farm oat there and we stopped there. Right after that, we saw the bandits starting to smoke Kupowka. I had never experienced anything like this – it was the terrifying hum of the impetus of hot air, combined with human screams and the sounds of gunshots. and then we saw how the Ukrainians robbed our property, loaded everything onto carts and transported it towards Szeroka and Halicz. The pigs squealed because the Ukrainians were taking them onto carts, we heard the Ukrainians and the Ukrainians shouting to each other. and then no animals wandering around Kupowce were seen. I remember the glows and pillars of fire that lingered over the Merchants all night. This is how our town, which was connected with my childhood, was dying. What the Ukrainians did not loot – they destroyed and burned. They burned the houses and farm buildings not only of the murdered, but also of the living Poles and livestock, for example, at their neighbor Żukowski's they burned his two beautiful horses alive. at that time, many inhabitants of Kupowalec hid in the surrounding crops. I remember well that the family of Kazimierz Gilewicz was also there, although for safety we were in smaller groups, as far apart as possible. It seems to me that we hid in these cereals for less than two weeks. The attack began on Friday afternoon, and probably on Sunday the elders decided that we would go where Maria and Bronisław Gilewicz lived; through their yard, where there was still an undamaged well, we will get to tall, fertile crops. Gilewicz and Jasiński also wanted to find out if they could find something to eat. When we crossed the road and entered these crops Bronisław Gilewicz told his wife Maria that the following were murdered near Pograniczne: antonina Witkowska (my mother) with her child (my five‑year‑old brother Januszek, born in 1938) and old Sawicki called «Richmanz». Then I started to cry very much, and Mrs. Gilewicz said: «Don't cry because you will get sick again and what will we do with you?!» One day, it was probably Sunday, when we were sitting in Bronisław Gilewicz's crops, we heard that a cart rattling right on the Szeroka Street. Immediately after that, two shots were fired. It turned out that the Ukrainian killed Stanisław Żukowski, who was called «Palestine». Earlier, Stanisław burst into his yard and took a milk can, unfortunately, it was not sealed and a trace remained. A Ukrainian noticed it, followed him and shot Stanisław. We hid in this cereal for quite a long time, so there was almost nothing left to eat. In addition, cattle wandering around the area began to come there, which risked exposing our hiding place. So the elders decided that we would go to Nowe Gniezno, near the Galic family farms, where, after their deportation to Siberia, the settled The Ukrainians lived. The elders made contact with them, and we ended up living in a barn. I don't remember who the current user was, but it was definitely a Ukrainian, his family fed us when we were there. There was a rumor there that the Pope in Halychany could certify that we are Orthodox, but no one believed that it could help us. Today I do not remember why I went with Bronisław Gilewicz to Sołonynka (apparently a Ukrainian bandit), probably he gave my father dirty rags to bandage the wound. From this meeting I remembered Sołonynka's watchful gaze, which filled me with fear and terror, and the taste of scrambled eggs with cracklings, which we were served. When we were returning to Kupowalec, we saw carts coming from Horochów. We recognized familiar faces. They were people from self–defense who quickly spread over the rubble of their farms, dug up what had been saved (if «neighbors» had not preceded them). Everyone was getting ready to go to Horochów. I sat down on the wagon and cried. a young man came up to me and asked why I was crying. I said I had no one to go back to. He consoled me saying: «Don't cry, I have three sons, if necessary, there will be a place for you». When I got to Cechowo, I noticed that there was someone at home with the Rajchs and Strutyński families. I went to them and we went to Horochów together. I stayed with the Rajches until April 1945. In Horochów, I heard Hałas talking about the fate of his family. This story shocked us a lot, because we knew that Hałasowa was pregnant. We learned that during the escape, she gave birth to a child somewhere in the field and they were both immediately murdered by the Ukrainians. The noise ran away with his older daughter (my brother Januszek's age), but because he was chased by a Ukrainian, he knew that he would not be able to escape, so he threw the child aside and saved himself. Later, after the war, he couldn't forgive himself and, as he said, all his life he heard his daughter's voice: «Daddy, don't leave me!». I remembered when we were sitting in that barn Gilewicz and Jasiński brought the news that under the linden tree at Stanisław Sawicki (called «Secretary») someone's corpse was buried, because fair hair was sticking out from under the ground. Back then, when all this was happening, I knew nothing about the circumstances in which my mother antonina and brother Janusz were murdered. It wasn't until 1975, when I went to my hometown for the first time after the war, that I learned about some details. We stopped near the property of Józef Pograniczny (this is a family of Ukrainians, some of whom I knew were active members of gangs, but before the war they lived in harmony with Poles), by the Horochów – Beresteczko road. There was a small mound, most likely the grave of the murdered: my mum, brother and Sawicki. a lot of people gathered there, they asked me who I was. Turned out, that some remembered the Witkowski and Łazowski families. I asked Pograniczny if he knew the Witkowski family. He answered yes. When asked what he knew about their fate, he replied that Witkowska was with her children in Poland and her husband had died. When a Ukrainian acquaintance with whom I came with said that it was young Witkowski, «remembered» that he had buried Witkowska, a child, and Sawicki. A friend asked how they died. He replied that they had been brought to this place and shot by two bandits chasing them. Borderlands told me that he personally buried my mother, brother and Sawicki. Not all the accounts I heard were accurate and consistent, but from what I was told, my mother, along with Januszek and Sawicki, were running away in the wagon when shots suddenly began to be fired. The Ukrainians first hit and wounded the horse. Then everyone got out of the car and started to run away on foot. They didn't run away. They were murdered by bandits”..

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

source: Witkowski Roman, „This cannot be forgotten”; in: „The Miedzyrzecki Yearbook”, Society of Friends of Sciences in Międzyrzec Podlaski, in: 2011, vol. XLI

source: „They remember about those murdered in the Borderlands”, an account from Krzysztof Gilewicz's book „The Cross of Volhynia”; in: portal: Międzyrzec.info — web page: miedzyrzec.info [accessible: 2021.04.11]

source: „Borderlands Information Service”, in: No. 7/2013

Krzysztof Gilewicz: „almost every family was prepared to escape, there were baskets and bundles with the most necessary things waiting, at night detectors were placed, and in the months and warmer days they were spent the night in safer places – stacks, barns, in the woods, even in the crops. Bad news came more and more often, and it intensified at the beginning of July. and so it was until the fateful day of July 16, 1943. That day, after lunch, my mother put me and my sister for an after–dinner nap, which is around On the 15th day my father interrupted abruptly. The Bandera followers were already around. They surrounded Lulówka, Szeroka, Nowe Gniezno and Kupowalce with a horseshoe, which was closed by the not too wide but deep river Roth Lipa. This death parade narrowed towards the river and destroyed everything Polish, tormenting defenseless people and ruthlessly killing everyone. The Poles were surprised because they did not expect a robbery during the day. Nevertheless, two men, Henryk Łazowski and my father, had time to inform their neighbors about the situation, thanks to which many managed to escape (especially from those closest to the Kupowalec River) and hide in crops, in the forest, and (despite the bridges previously broken by the Banderites), get to the other side of the Gniła Lipa. It must be explained here that on the other side of the river, more than a kilometer away, there was the Horochów 2 – Boroczyce railway station, where the Germans had a well–armed unit and whoever managed to get there was saved. Therefore, the refugees headed either to this station or to the town of Chołoniów, located a little further, where a well–armed German unit was also stationed. a giggle of history – it was the Germans who saved our lives and ensured safety, and the Slavic brothers carried a cruel death. My immediate family was among those who made it. at my father's signal, my mother and the Ukrainian nanny kidnapped me, and my father kidnapped my sister and they all started to run away into crops, beautiful, beautiful fields, over 1.5 meters high. The Ukrainian mother slowed down and ordered her to go to her own people, running alone with me in her arms and she managed to blend in imperceptibly into a grain field. It was different with the Father. One of the bandits saw him and started chasing him, shooting all the time. Had it not been for the fact that my 4‑year‑old sister had also imperceptibly threw my 4‑year‑old sister into the grain somewhere between the cornfields, he would have had no chance. Banderowiec chased him for about a kilometer, but in turn, while firing a rifle all the time, his chances were smaller, the more so that my Father was then a very capable young man. My aunt Michalina Łaszczewska and two Jaroszynski ladies, refugees from Haliczany, also lived in our house. all three were stopped by the Banderites. after checking who they are, he set them up for execution. The bandit started with the Jaroszynski ladies. at the time when he was shooting them, my aunt, a rather short person, scuttled into the crops, and as a result managed to save herself. The Ukrainian was shooting balls that burst dum–dum and the father, who saw Mr. Jaroszyński after his death, said that one of them received a bullet in the head (it was smashed) and the other one in the chest (the chest was torn). When things calmed down a bit, we started looking in the grain. Mom managed to find my sister, and then our aunt found us. Only at night did my father join us. These moments when we fell into each other's arms, I remembered. I also remembered the red sky and the smell to which I was allergic to all my life. Because there was hell around. Until the end of the day and night we heard people's screams of despair, squealing of pigs, roaring of cows and barking, or rather howling of dogs. Who did the Ukrainians get – they murdered, then they robbed everything that had some value, and finally they burned and destroyed what was left of the Poles. Columns of fire and smoke lasted until the end of the day and throughout the night. Except it was almost as bright at night as it was during the day, and the sky was the color of blood. During this attack, the Bandera followers killed over 200 Poles. Mostly those people who had little chance to be rescued, i.e. the elderly, the sick and children. From my family, the Bandera followers killed my grandfather's brother, my sister–in–law, and two children playing in the yard. They killed their neighbors antonina Witkowska with her son Januszek in her arms, several children of the Tolwaj family, a Ukrainian, Stach Sołonyna, stabbed two children with a shovel – the Cwinarewicz siblings, etc., etc. There were also cases of miraculous rescue, for example the Bandera followers murdered the entire Markowski family in the apartment. But a local Ukrainian, Wojtowicz, who came to bury the body, noticed that a few‑year‑old Ola, who had been pulled with a bayonet, still showed signs of life. He secretly took her home and cured her. However, soon after that, he was murdered by his kin. However, Ola is still alive today. We sat in the grain for 10 days. If we were not friendly with The local Ukrainians (Chepiukos), who risked their lives to deliver water and basic food products, we probably would not have survived. On the tenth day, a patrol of «Self–Defense», equipped by the Germans with weapons, arrived in ladder carts. This was our survival”.

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

source: Gilewicz Krzysztof, „The Banderites Bandits - Mine 67 years ago”; in: portal: Onet News — web page: wiadomosci.onet.pl [accessible: 2018.07.01]

Ever since these murders started in spring, the Ukrainians, in order to win over some Polish villages or colonies, ordered to give them oxen, sheepskin coats and butter. All this went to the forest ranks and such were the colonies near Horochów, which were assured that a hair would not fall off their heads. Kupowalce, a wealthy village with 40 farmers and other villages such as Buroczyce, Chołoniów, Musin, Lilówka were full of Poles living in these places. And from Kupowalec they come by carriage to Horochów, to the Baptism of St. They brought a child, still with such a parade, and they say that they are quiet. They give the Ukrainians a tribute, and they protect them and tell them not to go anywhere. And we are here in the presbytery and we all say to them that Poluchno, Zagaje are murdered and burned, that so many survivors have flown to Horochów. We told them everything and we order them that when you go, tell everyone on your way to run away and then do not hesitate, because when they dealt with Zagaj and Poluchn, they will come to you this night or during the day and we tell them that they murdered 180 people in the church in Porycko, so that you would not delay, but would run away at night. Terrified, they listened and left. They went to Buroczyce to the well–known farmer Konopka and to the one who acts as an intermediary between them and the bandits. They told him what they had seen and heard and ordered him to let everyone know after Buroczyce so that they could run away tonight, and he said: wait, I'll go to the forest and talk to them. They beg him and say don't do it, but he went to the bandits in the woods and told them what he heard. What does it mean, that you promise us peace, and what was such a misfortune in Zagaje and Poluchno that so many murdered Poles and innocent children, what does that mean? The bandits did not explain much, they told him that it was not true and told him to go home and not to move anywhere, and he went home. Before he came home from the forest, the whole village was already surrounded, and then Konopko saw his huge mistake that he had lost so many people. They saved a lot, who were baptized, because they informed them on the way, quietly telling everyone that you should run away immediately and tell everyone to run away from Kupowalec. Half of the 50 farmers fled and the other half were murdered. A few people escaped from Lilówka to Beresteczek, and Konopka was released by the Ukrainians alive, but he despaired that so many people died because of him and he himself soon died. They also let their families know that the Kupowellers are safe, many relatives and daughters who married to other places came to them there, and that you can survive in your parents' place. So they all feared the cities, and the cities were empty, the houses left empty after the Jews. What a big mistake the Poles made that they did not escape to the cities in advance, and so no one enjoyed the harvest or the fruit. Everything was gone and the people were gone forever and were not even buried, only the dogs ate. that they did not flee to the cities in advance, and so no one enjoyed the harvest or the fruit. Everything was gone and the people were gone forever and were not even buried, only the dogs ate. that they did not flee to the cities in advance, and so no one enjoyed the harvest or the fruit. Everything was gone and the people were gone forever and were not even buried, only the dogs ate.

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

source: Wolf Józefa z. d Zawilska, „Memories”; in: portal: Volhynia pages — web page: free.of.pl [accessible: 2021.04.11]