In the directive of the command of 'Piwnicz' group of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's from 1943, we read: „We should carry out a great action to liquidate the Polish element. The moment of leaving the village by the German army should be used to eliminate all men between the ages of 16 and 60. We cannot lose this fight and we should reduce Polish forces at all costs. Villages situated in forests and next to forest massifs should disappear from the face of the earth”.
Following the above–mentioned guidelines, on the night of August 29‑30, 1943 the UPA from kuren 'Łysy' attacked Kąty (up to 213 murdered), then attacked the village of Jankowce (87 murdered) and arrived in Ostrówek on the same day. Partisans forced out Polish families from their houses and herded to a school and to the school square. Then the women and children were directed to the church. They demanded that the valuables be handed over and began to take the men away, who were then murdered and buried in previously dug pits. Poles died in various places, some of them were murdered near the cemetery. Some of them were murdered by hitting the back of the head with an ax or a club. About 80% of the parishioners from Ostrówek, that is from 476 to 520 people, were murdered. After the murders, the Banderites' devastated the parish church and burnt it down. The last parish priest, Fr Stanisław Dobrzański, had a head cut off and impaled in a fence.

source: Żurek Waldemar W., „Murdered on August 30, 1943 in the parish of Ostrówka in Volhynia”; in: „Yearbook of the Lublin Genealogical Society”, in: No. 3/2011, p. 134 — web page: bazhum.muzhp.pl [accessible: 2021.09.12]

The UPA and Ukrainians (men and women) from the neighboring villages: Sokół, Połapy, Przekurka, Huszcza, Sztun and others committed genocidal slaughter of about 520 Poles. They were armed with firearms, axes, forks, scythes, axes, hammers to kill animals Poles were defenseless, not believing that after several hundred years of harmonious coexistence, they could be threatened by their neighbors. Ukrainians killed Poles to the school square, then men to school and women with children to church. Ukrainian elders ordered: „Lachy, widdajte hodynnyki i zołoto, a to zaraz was wybijem” („Poles, return the watches and gold, and if not, we'll knock you out in a moment”). They locked up a few hundred men at the school, who started the song „Who will bow to the Lord”. They led out several men in groups: to the circular of Jan Trusiuk, behind the farm of Suszka (81 corpses), and to the vicinity of Edward Bałanda's forge (about 20 people), where they murdered them with blows to the back of the head with an ax or a large mat wooden zugs. There were 5 bodies in the fourth grave, near the church. Father Stanisław Dobrzański was murdered by cutting off his head in a circular by Jan Trusiuk, which was then impaled. Many people were killed in their apartments, in farmyards, on fields and roads, and they threw them into wells, e.g. 90‑year‑old Władysław Kuwałek. Two hours later, when the men were killed, the women with children and the elderly were going to burn praying and singing religious songs, but cars with Germans appeared in the area. Therefore, the tormentors in a hurry led this group of over 300 people and rushed to stubble to the Kokorowiec forest near the village of Sokół. Here they took 10 people, most often with families, made them lie face down on the ground and murdered them with shots in the back of the head and bayonet strikes. Those awaiting their turn saw the slaughter of their predecessors carefully. Among the murderers, Ukrainian acquaintances from neighboring villages were identified. After the slaughter, the perpetrators checked whether they were all killed, and killed the wounded. Despite this, 13 or 25 people survived, including 10 children aged 3 to 16. In Ostrówki, the Ukrainians murdered about 520 Poles. On the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on September 8, 1943, the Ukrainians from the village of Równo burned down the wooden church under the invocation of st. Andrew the Apostle, built in 1838 with interior decorations and paraments. In 1992, Poland obtained permission and one mass grave was exhumed in the circular of Jan Trusiuk, excavating the remains of 80 Poles, including two children aged about 6. At that time, the remaining graves were not found, including the graves of women and children near the village of Sokal, and the local Ukrainians did not want to identify them. The Polish side asked the Ukrainian side for further exhumations for several years. This was the result of the friendly embracing of successive presidents of Poland with the President of Ukraine Yushchenko, who was building Ukraine on the ideology of Banderite genocides. It was only in 2010 that he exhumed the so–called Field of Death, Dr. Leon Popek from the Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin. The witness, Alexander Pradun, relates: „There were a lot of people in the school yard, mostly women with children and old people. Youth and men were at school. Those who were led were allowed inside, but no one was allowed outside. It was also difficult to leave the square, because the Bulba men were guarding it from all sides. People were scared and determined. Some tried to escape, but only a few succeeded. I saw someone run across the Kloc meadow to the buildings in Dąbrowa, but a shot was fired immediately. In horror, people began to say that a man had been killed, and then everyone understood why we had been called. It was the first murder done in front of people. In the school yard, I saw Brother Stasek. When we started talking, my mother came up to us and asked if he had seen his father. Unfortunately, he had no information about him. My mother and I started persuading my brother to run away. At that moment, we saw Czesiek Kuwałek, my brother's friend, passing through Kloca's meadow. He was walking towards the buildings. And we started to persuade him again to hide somewhere. My mother said: «Look, Czesiek left and there was no shot. Apparently they didn't notice. Go slowly, if they see they will turn back». but my brother disobeyed our advice and went to school. We didn't see him anymore. The ring of Ukrainians began to tighten around the school. They forced the men and the youth to go to school by force. They left the women, children and old men in the square. At that moment, she left the Blatowa school with her son. She stood before the gathered people and said: «People, we already know why they called us, let's kneel and pray». They all knelt and she began the song «Under Your Protection». After short prayers, the order was given to move from the school square to the vicinity of the church. Some women and children started crying. The road from the square to the church was about 200 meters. It was lined with bulbs on both sides. Some of them were with dogs. They kept wolfhounds on a leash and pissed people with them. The dogs were breaking out and barking hard. People started to shout, and the bulwarks laughed and shouted: «Beri Lachiw» [Catch the Poles]. A group of Ukrainian peasants stood behind the school across the street. They were armed with axes. Drunk, they laughed out loud. They had to be the main torturers. The elders said they would murder us. When we were herded into the church, the door closed behind us, and suddenly there were explosions like grenade explosions all around us. It must have been a scare too, because nothing got inside the church. People started praying and singing. Some went to the choir. I saw someone come up to the attic. Probably survived. I knew the way around the church well, because I served at the Mass. I started telling my mother to put down the linen at the high altar and hide. There was a large tomb with the image of the Lord Jesus. It could easily accommodate four people. Mom replied that there was nowhere to hide in the church. He also said for the second time: «What will happen to people will also be to us». About an hour later the front door opened and a few bulrushes peeked into the church. They pointed the weapons in our hands and told us to leave. They also warned against trying to escape. After going outside, we saw that the street from the church to the school was surrounded. The Bulba men stood side by side with their weapons ready to fire. They were very nervous. Some asked among themselves where they would rush us and why everything was happening so suddenly. We've come to school. The countryside began to burn in several places. Trusiuk's circular was also on fire – that is, my aunt's buildings. My aunt was with us because when people understood what awaited them, they started grouping with families. They wanted to be close to each other. Then my aunt told my mother that she saw something being dug in her buildings. She said it was definitely a men's pit, because the school was empty and the door was open. «Now they set it on fire so that there would be no trace» – and she started to cry hard. Her son, Jan Trusiuk, buried himself in the straw in the barn. She was afraid that she would burn alive. The Ukrainians started to drive us along a dike that led near the cemetery towards Wola Ostrowiecka. The road was lined with bulbs. They stood every several meters. With screams and beatings, they urged us to walk faster. When we were on the dike, we heard a shooting from the side of Borów. Machine guns were fired. The spheres whistled like a swarm of bees over our heads. We also heard explosions and soon after us, about 200 meters in the grove near the cemetery, missiles began to burst. People said it was probably Germany. The Poles did not hide, while the bulwarks walked stealthily, some fell to the ground and threatened to march fast. Someone suggested to take advantage of a favorable moment and run away to the village. They said they would not kill everyone, and they would not chase us because they were afraid. Several people have turned back. They were mostly older men. They did not get far, because the shots were fired immediately, and they fell to the ground. Perhaps this escape would be successful if they all turned back and ran through the bushes at the same time. However, it was impossible, because almost all women were walking, most of them with small children in their arms. Well then, the poor were to do. We have relied on God's grace. My aunt and mother said that they murdered the Jews first, and now it is our turn. «Doing us in is one matter, but these babies, they should live. What times have we lived to see, what are we guily of?» – they despaired. The Bulba men were thrashing, screaming, pushing and hitting us. People tried to walk as slowly as possible, hoping for salvation from the d side. Just in front of the cemetery, the road entered a ravine. There was a high sandy hill on either side of it that blocked the view from the west from where the shots were fired. When we flattened to the cemetery, some older people refused to go any further. They said: «We know where they are driving us and what awaits us. Better to stay in the cemetery than somewhere in the bushes. A cemetery is always a sacred place». After these words, a few people left the column and headed towards the cemetery. They tried to quickly cross its gate. Shots were fired and the dead fell to the ground. I do not know their surnames because it was impossible to find out because the bulwarks started shooting. Beating and screaming, they made us take a quick pace. Right in front of the cemetery, the road entered a ravine. There was a high sandy hill on either side of it that blocked the view from the west from where the shots were fired. When we flattened to the cemetery, some older people refused to go any further. They said: «We know where they are driving us and what awaits us. Better to stay in the cemetery than somewhere in the bushes. A cemetery is always a sacred place». After these words, a few people left the column and headed towards the cemetery. They tried to quickly cross its gate. Shots were fired and the dead fell to the ground. I do not know their surnames because it was impossible to find out because the bulwarks started shooting. Beating and screaming, they made us take a quick pace. I was the witness of a terrible scene. The old organist Radoń was walking one step away from us, holding his wife by the arm. Suddenly, they stepped out of the column and said that they would not go any further, because they would kill us anyway, so he prefered to die in the cemetery. They only managed to enter the gate when shots were fired. They both fell. I saw their bodies twitch convulsively. Looking at it all, the women and children began to cry loudly and scream in terror. Behind the cemetery, we turned into the bushes towards the Kokorawiec forest, located north–east of our village. People moved slowly, despite their constant urging to walk faster. They hoped to be redeemed by the Germans. However, they were in no hurry. As it turned out later, they were actually Germans. They rode to the rescue of the inhabitants of the villages of Ostrówka, Wola Ostrowiecka and Jankowce, who were threatened by the bulrushes (Kąty had already been murdered). Instead of going directly from Lubomlo to Ostrówek, they followed a roundabout road through Jagodzin, Wilczy Przewóz, Równo and Borowa. When they saw from a distance that there were still the Taras Bulba men in the village, they started shooting at the terror. I looked back a couple of times. The Ukrainians from the bodyguards, who were lying with machine guns, began to withdraw behind us. Rushing, we walked slowly forward, because everyone already knew what they would do with us. Older women and children shed their warmer clothes. They knew they wouldn't need it anymore. Behind the walking column of people, densely circled by bulrushes, there was a wide road of crumpled lupine, potatoes and grasses, on which lay abandoned clothes. We went cross–country, we went out into the fields from the bushes and vice versa. The sight was terrifying. When we found ourselves halfway between the cemetery and the place of execution, a stop was made. We were spent in one group. Elders and mothers with children in their arms immediately had them on the ground to rest a bit. The Bulba men were standing around us. There were a lot of them, they looked at us like vultures at their prey. Their weapons were ready to fire. Some Ukrainians were recognized. They came from Huszcza and Przekurka. Older people knew them and their parents. So they started asking what they would do with us, where they were chasing us and what they wanted to murder us for. They looked at us like wolves and walked aside. One of the bulwarks was standing in front of us. My uncle's mother, Łukasz Praduna, met him. According to her, he came from Przekurka. She asked him by his name and surname: «What are you going to kill us for? I know your parents well, we lived in harmony». He looked at her, looked around a little and replied: «a was byty ne budu» [I will not kill you]. The old woman said: «but the others will do so», and he replied: «I know you well, but I need to be with them too, and follow the order» and he left. The stop was short, maybe 5 minutes. We were ordered to get up screaming. They started to rush us further towards Sokol, closer to the Kokorawiec forest. We walked in a field sown with lupins. He was quite tall. Suddenly we noticed that next to us was lying in the lupine of a young boy – Edward Soroka. The elders knew him, and so did I. He came from Wola Ostrowiecka. He escaped from the village in front of Bulba men and hid here. The hiding place was good, but our random direction did not pass it by. Lying on his back in the lupine, he put a finger to his lips and, looking at us, he showed us not to look back and not to look at him. Bulldogs from the bodyguards walked next to the goose. People who saw him quietly told others not to look back, that maybe God willing, they would not notice the boy and he would survive. We passed and he stayed. It later turned out that he had survived unnoticed. We left this place maybe a kilometer and reached a small clearing near the forest, surrounded on three sides by alder trees. Only to the east there was a small field with lupine growing. They stopped us in this clearing again, and there was a revival among the bulb trees. There were a few better dressed Ukrainians standing on the sidelines. They had a short gun with them. It had to be the elders. They advised for a short while. After the conference, they decided not to rush us, but to murder us here. So it happened. There were a lot of us, because all the women from Ostrówek, children under 15, a few grandparents and some women from Wola Ostrowiecka. We were heavily guarded by bulrushes. There was no question of escaping. People were standing, some were sitting with children in their arms because it was difficult for them to hold them. They prayed because it was already known that a tragedy would take place in this clearing. After a short while, the command was given for people to throw off their thicker clothes. The Ukrainians shouted for 10 people to come out into the middle of the clearing. At first, nobody wanted to go to death voluntarily. There was crying, lamentation and pleading that they let us go, because we had done no harm to anyone. but they didn't listen, just got more and more furious. They threw themselves at us like heavily starved animals and started to pull us out of the crowd standing from the shore. The captured were led to the middle of the clearing, where they were ordered to lie down in a circle, face down. Then they started shooting the victims in the back of the head, and we had to watch the tragedy. After a while, all the bulwarks pounced on us. It was evidently urgent for them, because everyone was tearing off a few people from the group and shooting them in the middle of the clearing. People were saying goodbye to each other as they lamented. Mothers took their children and laid them next to each other, embracing them with their arms. This is how they left this world. Me, mom, aunt and my friends were in a group together, still procrastinating to part with this world. We wanted to live even a little longer. I've seen horrible scenes. The people shot in a hurry were often hit off target. The wounded jumped convulsively and fell to the ground again. They were killed, but most often they died in torment. From one group rushed to the place of execution, after a series of shots, a little girl, maybe six years old, jumped up and started screaming hard: «Mother, mother», but the mother was already dead. Seeing this, the Ukrainian picked up the rifle and shot her. The girl fell, but immediately jumped up and, screaming, began to walk over the corpses, fell and stood up. The Bulba man fired again. This time three times. The girl was still getting up and screaming. A nervous Ukrainian ran up to her and finished her off with a rifle butt. People turned and crying when they saw it. And so, group by group, they dragged out and killed. A large circle was formed because they ordered to lie next to each other in the legs of the murdered. You could see the rush, because, shouting loudly, they were pulling people faster and faster to the battlefield, without regretting the strikes. My mother, me, aunt Trusiukova, my grandmother Maria and aunt Wikta were together with a small child. Mom told us to go alone, because why should they tear us and death will not pass us by anyway. Watch this crime longer It was not possible. We got up, said goodbye to ourselves and to our loved ones. With crying and with terrible regret that we had to leave this world, we turned ourselves over to the torturers. We were driven to the place of execution. The Bulba men shouted: «Lachajte Lachy chutko» – lie down quickly, Poles. My mom pressed me against her again. She cried and said as if to herself: «They will kill the children, what are they to blame?» I couldn't cry, my larynx tightened, and I felt completely uncomfortable, indifferent from fear. As we lay down next to each other, we prayed in an undertone. My mother hugged my neck tightly, and I covered my face with my hands and, with terrible fear, finally said: «Praised be Jesus Christ». Shots were fired from left and right. I was lying almost in the middle. The arrows began to approach me. I felt very sorry. Thought I was only 13 years old, and here I am about to die. A shot was fired, and I felt a blast of air. It must have been aunt because I heard heavy snoring. I was having a terrible time in my last moments. It seemed to me that everything in me ceased. The next shot was at mom. The ground splashed across my head. I felt something warm slide down my neck and towards my left cheek. I heard snoring and felt a sudden body contraction. Mom's hand pressed me tighter against her, but only for a moment. It was my turn. I expected with suspense, almost dead with terror. I heard a shot next to me, a buzzing in my ears, and again sand was falling down my head and hands. A short snoring, but on the right this time. I waited for the next shot to break my heart, this time at me, but the shots began to move away. After a while, there was silence and I heard that the Ukrainians were placing more victims in our legs. When the shots came from the rear, it gave me back a little. I started to pray and pray the Lord God for surviving this monstrous genocide. It all lasted for a short time, because the Ukrainians were shooting them with double speed. They were in a very hurry. I lay alive among the corpses and heard pleas, lamentations, screeching children. I thought that I could not stand it and start to run, but after a while the thought came that if I did, they would kill me on the spot. During the battlefield, no one chose their place. Everyone went where they fell. As I lay among the dead bodies, I suddenly felt that a crumpled stump was pressed in at the height of my stomach. The worst part was that there were red ants in it. The trunk was pressing so painfully that I started to run out of air, and the ants spread across my face. I squeezed my eyes shut and closed my mouth, but after a while had to open it to get some air. I couldn't breathe deeply because that would give me away. I thought I couldn't take it – no normal breathing, ants and a terrible fear of death. Gehenna. My instinct was to suffer so that even the slightest movement would not reveal that I was alive. I lay there, suffered and listened to what was happening around me. It took about an hour. Suddenly the screams stopped, the crying stopped, and only from time to time a shot was fired. The Ukrainians were talking loudly among themselves: «O divysia, tsmtoj szcze żywe, dobej» [Oh look, this one is still alive, kill him off] I was lying in this mess and I asked God not to be found. At a moment there was complete silence, only a bulwark shouted: «No cłopcy, idemo. Ot dywyte, tut morda polska leżyt» [Well boys, let's go. Oh look there lies Polish muzzle]. There has been a revival between them. They started walking into the bushes towards the Falcon. I heard fading noises on the other side. I lay there for a long time. There was a deathly silence, because even the birds, frightened by the arrows, gave no voice. I wanted to get up and run away, but I was afraid that the Ukrainians were hiding to see if someone would survive. So I lay on, and the ants gnawed at me all over my body. About half an hour elapsed. There was still undisturbed silence. I made my decision. I decided to carefully lift my head and look ahead to see what was happening in the crime scene. In added I noticed that a woman was escaping into the nearby bushes. I lowered my head back and listened to if they would shoot at her, but there was still silence. I lay there for a while longer and decided to get up and run away. For the second time, I raised my head, looked at the corpses, and saw a woman standing up with two children. She grabbed the little girl and the boy by the hands and ran into the bushes. I listened for no one to shoot. There was silence. For the third time, I looked up at my mother and aunt. They were lying dead. Mom had a piece of her skull torn off. It was her brain that poured down my neck and face. God blinded the eyes of the Ukrainians, because when they saw me covered in blood and brains, they thought that I was killed. I got up and said in an undertone: «Whoever lives, let him flee». I ran about 50 meters from the battlefield and hid in the lupine. I lay down from the shore, but so as not to be visible, and began to look around the clearing and the corpses. I saw someone stand up and start running towards me. It was my cousin, Paweł Jesionczak. I got up a bit and started waving my hand. He ran up and lay down next to me. After a while, we saw a woman with a child running towards the bushes. We began to crawl cautiously towards the bushes. When we were a few steps away from them, we quickly jumped into them. In the bushes we met a woman who had previously come with two children. We joined her. She cried and said she did not know how to handle little children. The boy was a bit older than the girl. We found out that we had to get to Jagodzin. Janina Kuwałek (Martosińska's husband), who was wounded in the head, also survived the battlefield. She later said that Aunt Wikta was badly injured and asked her for help, but she, weakened, could not even lift her off the ground. Left without help, she soon died. We took the kids on our backs and started walking slowly and carefully. We got to Ostrówek. We sat down in the bushes and looked around. In front of us was a sandy strip called Mud, which was sparsely covered with juniper. I saw a man walking quickly between the junipers from the village side, carrying something on his back. He was heading towards the Falcon. It had to be a Ukrainian who came for the loot. We backed deeper into the bushes and looked for more. We waited a while and began walking carefully, bush to bush, over the open area. On the edge of the bushes, in the so–called Borek, we stopped. We saw Ostrówki from there. The village was on fire. There were no people in sight, only cows and horses were walking. Dogs howled from afar. We asked the woman to wait here, and we would go closer to the village and see what the situation was (we were about 500 meters from her, towards Lubomlo). We agreed that when everything is fine, we will come back and go on together. In case of danger, she was to hide with the children in the bushes. We made our way carefully to the edge of the brush. I said to Paul: «We are going, but not together. I will go first and watch carefully around me. Whistle briefly if you see anything. If someone runs towards me, shout and run. When there is peace and quiet, I will run 100 meters and lie down. I will watch and you will stealthily reach me. And so for a change». We shook hands, we looked into the eyes and I came out of hiding. I looked around and started running to the village. After about 200 meters, I fell to the ground. Lying down, I watched the surroundings. It was quiet, only some of the buildings were on fire and the dogs howled. After a while, Paweł came to me. We rested for a while and sneakily ran towards the buildings. With my heart beating like a hammer, I listened. Nothing, deathly silence. Just the crackle of fire and tanned balls falling down. I got up, leaned my back against the barn wall and waved my hand towards Paweł. He jumped up and came running to me. We decided to enter the village and look around. We walked past the walls and fences, listening intently and looking around. We happily reached the ditch. We squatted in it and watched along the village and outside the buildings to see if anyone was hanging around there. There was no one in sight, only some buildings were burnt down, a few dead bodies lay on the road and the dogs howled pathetically. We decided to go back to the woman, take the children and run away to Jagodzin together. We quickly jumped out of the ditch and ran, leaning fast, near the buildings in the direction of Borek. The woman hid so we had to call her silently. After searching, we went towards Jagodzin. When we passed the village and approached the meadow called Brzezina, we saw a man walking towards us. He was still far away. We stopped dead and thought it might be a bulwark. We were about to run away when he started giving us signs with his hand and called not to be afraid of him. We moved slowly towards him. As we approached each other, I recognized that it was Józef Muzyka, my neighbor. He inquired about his wife and children, whom he hid in a potato dungeon and masked them, and by crawling to his colony near Strycharz, he miraculously survived. I said that there is no point in going because they were killed by the Ukrainians. I saw them in the school square, in the church and in the clearing near Sokol. His wife was with her daughter Grażyna and a little son. When he heard all this, he took his face in his hands and began to cry loudly, and we along with him. After a short while he calmed down, looked at me and said: «Oles, your father is alive and uncle Łukasz with his wife and children: Felek, Antek and Janek. Half an hour ago I spoke to them. They went to Jagodzin». Suddenly, we saw that several carts were driving from the side of the Konczewski manor house, and many men were walking by them. We were about to run away when Muzyka said that the Poles from Jagodzin were going to Ostrówek. We looked at them for a while and went together to Jagodzin, where I met my relatives. In the evening, people from self–defense (from Jagodzin and Rymacz) came from Ostrówek and they brought Kalita's wife and Paweł's mother from Sokół. Both were hit in the neck. The bullets came out through the mouth. When they were taken from the clearing, they were still alive, but died on the way. They also brought the boy they pulled out of the ditch. He was hit with an ax”..

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: Pradun Aleksander, „Volhynia Testament”; in: Society of Friends of Krzemieniec and the Volhynia-Podolia Region, Lublin, 1997

source: „In the Outlands”, in: No. 3/1993

Witness Tomasz Trusiuk: „On the night of August 29–30, 1943. from the side of Ostrówek, a glow of fire shot up into the sky for a long time. We guessed that there were buildings on fire somewhere behind Zapol. There were no shots or other sounds of fighting. We were used to the night fires that broke out here and there from March 1943. No wonder that late after midnight, all those brought from the fence and nearby guard colonies went to sleep. We were awakened from sleep by volleys of shots from the side of the bushes and nearby forests: Kokorawiec, Byrek, Brzezina, Obelnik. The morning glow, a series of shots, missiles intersecting in the air, and the awareness of neglecting one's own safety paralyzed the movements. Everyone ran out of the flats trying to find shelter. Ideas swirled in my mind, and my heart seemed to cry out: «The hills cover us with». The encirclement ring of hundreds of The Ukrainians tightened more and more tightly. Nobody was able to get outside their own fence, let alone escape from the village. The invaders went on foot, rode horses and herded everyone to the meeting at school. The family of Stefan Jurczak, the owner of another brickyard, was brought from Brzeziny (more than a kilometer away from Ostrówek). a Ukrainian, riding a horse, led ten people to Ostrówek, including eight small children. It was similar in Wola Ostrowiecka. In Ostrówki, all men were taken to school, and women and children to church. among them were women and children from Wola Ostrowiecka, who spent the night of August 29–30, 1943 with their families in Ostrówki for safety reasons. I was then 14 with my mother and my father was herded to school in Ostrówki. Small school rooms could not accommodate several hundred people, so the Ukrainians ordered us to lie down on the school playground, the area of which was closed in a rectangle with sides 30 x 40 meters. after a short while the order was changed and it was ordered that women and children go to church and men go to school. after this order was issued, a large UPA unit entered the village from the direction of Lubomlo. When he got near the school, an officer met him. The Ukrainian was short, stocky, dressed in a blue uniform, with a round cap trimmed with a silver cord, with a pistol at his side and with leather gloves. It was Maśluk, a former policeman in the German service, coming from Połapy or Wilczy Przewóz. Beside him, several other The Ukrainians dressed similarly were walking towards the column. after a while, the order was given: «Pulemetki, state bombeteers!» The military obeyed. Then an order was given to take up positions around the school and church. When they did so, the oldest Ukrainian officer approached the entrance to the school square. He stood in front of the school porch and started calling Poles with his full name. When they left he demanded: «Lachy, widdajte gold!» In response he heard: «we are poor inhabitants of the countryside and we do not have gold». The next request was made: «Widdajte zroje, yak majete in your huts and sarajas!». The answer was similar. The nervous Ukrainian shouted: «Widdajte wse i hodynnyki, and that's all selectively!». after these words, from the throats of about one hundred and fifty people gathered at the school came a cry and a song: «Who will take care of His Lord». The perpetrators ordered the shutters to be closed, and then armed The Ukrainians entered and began to take a few people out (four to eight in a group). They led the men taken from the school in front of them, beating them, when there were only a few left in the school, the torturers went inside and shot them in their direction. among them were: Stefan Trusiuk, Wacław Gryc (14) and Ulewicz. One of the missiles was hit by Wacek. Stefan, crying in his voice, called to Ulewicz: «Let's give him some water!» He heard a Ukrainian standing nearby who shouted «Ne treba, bude pyty his cow!» They then dragged these three outside and killed Wack on the doorstep of the school, and the rest were rushed towards the Ilkos' mass grave. They also killed them there. When the last group of Ostrówek residents left the school, other torturers ran inside and began to plunder the rooms occupied by the headmaster, Maria Blat and her family. another Ukrainian climbed the ladder standing by the corridor wall, which I used to enter the attic, where I hid and called in a loud voice: «Eat there, go out, and this is the school's sleeping». The Ukrainians would have implemented their intention, but the Germans, who were traveling in a column from Huszcza to Ostrówek, prevented them. Seeing them, the bandits ordered a retreat. The escape was sped up by German shelling. The Ukrainians did not manage to murder the women and children gathered in the church. They led the gathered people out and rushed outside the parish cemetery towards the Ukrainian village of Sokół, where they murdered them. after the Ukrainians escaped from Ostrówek, I left the hiding place outside the school. It turned out that apart from me, in the building there were hidden: aleksander Trusiuk, aleksander Kuwałek, Czesław Suszko and Bolesław Wasiuk, who hid in the school's basement. Then I went to Jagodzin, and from there to Lubomel, where I was caught by the Germans and taken to the camp at Krochmalna Street in Lublin”.

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: Trusiuk Tomasz, „I was a witness”, comp. Henryk Komański; in: „In the Outlands”, in: No. 44/2000

Witness Zofia Direct: „Zofia Direct is now 85 years old. For fourteen years of her long life she lived in Volhynia. Looking from our western side, we would say right across the Bug. She says it was close to the river, about eight kilometers. Before World War II and during the war, until 1943, she and her family lived in Ostrówki in the Lubomelski county. It is the westernmost part of the former Volhynia voivodeship. She lived there with her mother Marianna Suszko and her siblings. Father Wincenty Suszko died early, in 1931. She had three brothers and a sister Karolina, who was the eldest, born in 1920, brother Józef in 1924, Czesław in 1927, and she with her brother antoni (they were twins) was born in 1929. The village of Wola Ostrowiecka was adjacent to Ostrówki. During the war, Zofia's eldest sister lived there with her family. These two places are mentioned today in one breath next to each other, when historians refer to them as places of the tragedy of the Polish population during the Volhynia massacre. Zofia Kieruj also told us about these events  […] What happened before August 30 of that year fades away a bit, mixes up a bit, but from that day on, the teenage Zofia begins to see such terrible things that are so imprinted in her memory that today she talks about them in detail. anyway, very shocking. It was the last Sunday in August. – The priest said in the pulpit that last Sunday The Ukrainians attacked during the mass near Hołowna, near Kaunas, closed the church and set it on fire. They poured gasoline and burned it, because these were wooden churches. They burned everyone who was there together. Father Stanisław Dobrzański told us that we should not be afraid and that he would not leave us. In case they attack us, we were supposed to defend ourselves. The faithful went home. Mrs. Zofia too. as soon as she entered the house, she reported what she heard at the mass to her mother. On the same day, she went to a neighboring village, to Wola Ostrowiecka, where her sister lived with her husband and two sons. at that time, one of the boys was in the hospital. The mother was supposed to take her son from the hospital on Monday, but on Saturday she took him home to Wola Ostrowiecka. – My mother says: «Go Zosia and see what's up with». And I flew to this sister. When I got there, my friends came to my brother–in–law. There were no televisions then, so people visited each other and spent their free time together. They played cards. Then the sisters mother–in–law from the village came. and he says: «You guys play cards, and do you know what's going to happen?». And even though I'm here, I have this scene in front of my eyes and I can see them holding the cards and looking at her what she says. and she said that a Ukrainian came and warned that we had to be on guard, because the Ukrainians were to come at night and murder us. The mother–in–law ordered the daughter–in–law with her sons and her sister to go to Ostrówek, and from there they were to go to Jagodzin, the village where the Germans were stationed. Zofia's sister said that she did not intend to wander, and besides, what the Ukrainians would murder for. already in March this year, Ukrainians, who were partisans in the forest, came to Poles and asked for food or a lift to the forest. So it was thought that the Ukrainian troops again wanted something to eat and would ask for transport. after returning home, Zofia gave an account of what she heard from her sister. She was even blasted by her mother for repeating the nonsense she heard. Her mother told her to eat something and go to sleep. – and I went. We have to listen. I lay down but I was scared. The men were already on guard. after two. My brother also went on guard. and I have fear and I am awake. Soon brother Józek came in and said that something was going to be happening, because women with children were in our field. Mother took us and my brother by the hand and we went to the field together. We talk, and flies and mosquitoes bite. It was quiet. The husband of one of the women came several times and asked if anything was happening. The third time the rising sun could already be seen, he came and said we were to get up. Because if they did not come at night, they will not come during the day. The women got up and the children went – says Zofia Kieruj. Marianna Suszko with the children passed her house in the orchard and went to the village together with other inhabitants. Mrs. Zofia and her friend, her namesake, agreed on the way that when it was safe, they would go to pray to the church. On the way, they met men on three carts, Poles, residents of Wola Ostrowiecka, who were to defend the village. Mother with children decided to come back. as they walked about two hundred meters, they heard shots. The Ukrainians approached Ostrówek quietly, because they hoped that the villagers were still asleep and would surprise them in their sleep. Mrs. Zofia says that there were thousands of them. The shot was fired towards the previously encountered carts. Zofia's mother took her and her brother's hands and they started to run away. They ran across the field to a neighboring village. They ran about a kilometer. People started shouting that they were over, because the Ukrainians were riding after them. I turned around and they are already ahead of us. One on a black horse, the other on a gray horse. They left like Lucypra with the machine guns that these wheels have. I can still see this scene today. They started screaming: «Stop Polish murder. Today we will build Poland for you. Today, Sikorski has visited» – reports the inhabitant of Królików. Horse riders surrounded running mothers with children and just like cowboys herd cattle, they began to push people towards the village of Ostrówki. There were also many The Ukrainians there. They started shooting at them. People fell on their faces. They fell down three times and got up three times. The women went singing To Your Defense and Cordial Mother. The invaders led them towards the church. It was about three hundred people. The priest had three orchards separated from the road by a fence made of two transverse piles (like on a ranch), so you could walk under it. The more so because the Ukrainians stayed behind on the narrow road. Zofia Kier, with her mother and siblings, found themselves at the height of the orchard. – I started to cry and shouted: «Mom, let's go», and mom: «and where are we going to go when there are so many of them». and the second time I cry: «Mom let's leave». and mum says: «Then get close». We bent under those poles and fly fast towards the house. When the women passed, the Ukrainians saw us running. Meanwhile, mom says: «Where are our boys?». and I look at them, I see them running and I say to my mother: «Oh there». They ran a kilometer just like us, and then fell into millet and lay there like us – says Mrs. Zofia. The Ukrainians, seeing the three escapees, started shooting. a series of rifles flew overhead. They have fallen and are lying. antoni on the right side of my mother, and Zosia on the left. The attackers thought they were dead, so they stopped shooting. The mother told the children to lie quietly in the hope that only the Mother of God could save her and her children from death. My teeth started to tremble out of fear. I was shaking. Then the heart and body became so petrified with fear that if someone had beaten you, you would not have moved. I pressed myself to this earth so that I was as little visible as possible. ants started entering my nose, but nothing disturbed me. Nothing, we just lie down – reports Ms Zofia. The Ukrainians rushed the women to the church. They called them. Crying was heard. Some were digging pits, others were plundering the property of the villagers. Later, Zofia, her brother and mother saw that two The Ukrainians were walking towards them, because the pig they had taken from the parish priest had escaped them. However, they were so preoccupied with the animal, that they did not pay attention to the lying. another two invaders began to approach the mother with the children. The recliners thought it was over. – Those Bandera followers had black uniforms with deadly patches. and he says to us: «The old bitch has spread and is lying». We think they will kill us. I scowled at them. It was a miracle of God, because he only said that and they went to our house – says Zofia Kier. The attackers smashed windows with rifles because the house was locked. Then they entered the barn. The cows were led out, the horse was harnessed to the cart, the cows were tied up and away. around ten o'clock in the morning a hollow sound reached the ears of those lying: bang, bang. at this time, the neighbor's barn began to burn. Two of Zofia's brothers, who were lying in the piglet all the time unnoticed, noticed the fire. Elder Joseph wanted to get up to save his belongings, so that the fire does not spread to their barn. The younger Czesław wanted to lie down, but he succumbed to his brother's suggestions. They both got up and immediately fell into the hands of their attackers. Zofia's brothers were the last men to be taken to the local school. Women were locked in the church and men in school on the pretext of a meeting. The men were called outside. The first mayor and a group of others, including Ms Zofia's brothers. Józef left and Czesław was pushed back because he was the eleventh man in the group. He was separated from his brother. Those who stayed saw the bottom through the window. Those who were led out were placed in front of the pit and their skulls chopped. They did not shoot, but smashed with blunt tools (axes, hammers, handles), hence the ears of fourteen–year–old Zosia reached these strange sounds: bang, bang. She wanted to get up, but her mother told her to lie still. The Ukrainians rushed women from the church to the cemetery. Those lying heard the drone of cars. The Germans came by trucks. They stopped in front of the house of Mrs. Zofia's family. They took the geese and drove off towards Jagodzin. – When the Germans left, we sat down, and there is such a smell all over Ostrówki. Only dogs howl, cats meow, cattle roar. Mom asked where we were going now, and then she wondered if it might be better to go with the women. We sat down for ten minutes and went home – reports the inhabitant of Królików. the cattle roars. Mom asked where we were going now, and then she wondered if it might be better to go with the women. We sat down for ten minutes and went home – reports the inhabitant of Królików. the cattle roars. Mom asked where we were going now, and then she wondered if it might be better to go with the women. We sat down for ten minutes and went home – reports the inhabitant of Królików._x000D_
Fourteen–year–old Zosia saw that everything at home was upset. She went out to her mother and asked for something to eat. She came home. She opened the drawer and pulled out the butter and cheese. She saw her friend's things on the floor and then she saw a mountain of earth behind the house. Someone was groaning there. She called her mother and brother. They approached, and there were freshly chopped men down there, men they had been chasing around the village. One fourteen–year–old boy, Zofia and antoni's peer, was crushed with other bodies. He tried to get out. The older man had his feet chopped off. – I took his hand and pulled him to the shore, and this boy – Bolek was his name – I ran to the well for water, home first for a saucepan, I had to step on the back of the man to give this water – he says with great emotion Mrs. Zofia. It was one pit. another one was situated on the other side of the school. The Suszko family left the ground and headed towards the gathered group of people. There they found out that they were surviving women. They were led from the church to the vicinity of the forest. There, the Ukrainian commander read them the indictment, in which the main accusation was that Poles had lived in Ukrainian territory for four hundred years and for that they were punishable by death. Zofia Kieruj explained that Ostrówki was a typically Polish village, founded in the 16th century. Its inhabitants were people from Masovia, commonly known as Masuria. They were the only ones in the area who used the Polish language all the time. Even Poles from other places did not use Polish, those in Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka did. after hearing the sentence, the women began to beg for their lives. They did not beg the torturers. – and every mother had to take her children, and they went and chopped around. Our neighbor with two children, a boy of five, and a girl of three, took them under her. When they were chopping, she was all splattered with that blood, one hit her with a rifle, but she was so still they thought she was dead. But she survived. Later I was with her near Wrocław. after 49 years. Those who could get up and run. Some people miraculously survived. One eight–year–old lost his entire family, and he survived the slaughter alive. Ms Zofia's mother, with her two youngest children, went to Jagodzin with others. all the time she thought that both of her older sons had died at the school. In Jagodzin, they spent the night at the railway station. The next day they went to Luboml. There they found out that their son Czesław was alive. It turned out that several people at school hid under the floor. When the Ukrainians called everyone out, they put the benches on the lid so that those who were hidden they couldn't go out. But the Germans entered the school, and the Poles, hearing the German language, started knocking, and the Germans let them out. They ordered the survivors to go to Jagodzin. Zofia's brother Czesław went there to see his aunt. The family was found two weeks after the pogrom. all four met in Okopy near Dorohusk. – When we got there, we kissed and cried. Not everyone could meet. apart from the killed brother Józef, death reached the eldest sister who lived in Wola Ostrowiecka. On the night of August 30, the Ukrainian troops entered the village of Kąty first, then in the morning to Ostrówek and Wola Ostrowiecka. Zofia's aunt and grandmother lived in Kąty. They threw my pregnant aunt into a well. In Wola Ostrowiecka, a sister with two children and a brother–in–law were burned alive at school. – Like everyone else, they carried straw and threw grenades. My sister's husband, when it started to burn, ran away and they shot him. The local residents accepted for the night those people who were left without homes as a result of the pogroms. People who were left homeless overnight did not even have what to wear. Mrs. Zofia says that apart from the dress, she had nothing to wear. She was barefoot. It was not until the fall of 1943 that they received wooden stocks and clothes. Then they got a job in an estate in Srebrzyszczach near Chełm. There they were given a flat in the basement of the prisoners. There were wooden bunks. When they went to sleep, bedbugs started walking on them. The Suszek family found out that they were to send them to Germany to work. They fled under cover of night to Okopy. For the winter of 1943/1944 they returned to Jagodzin, on the other side of the Bug. They waited there until 1945. after the front moved again and the Red army entered these lands, the resettlement of the population began  […] In 1992, they learned from television that there would be exhumations in Ostrówki. Zofia returned to her native village after 49 years. Three coaches left Chełm. – as we were driving, Ukrainian women and men came out and stared. I was so afraid, my heart began to knock like a hammer. I thought they were going to beat us. But we were escorted by soldiers and I calmed down. When we got there, I saw that the pavement in Ostrówki was the Ukrainians, such old–timers that they took the pavement out and put it on for themselves. Only the cross that the Polish partisans found in the bushes remained in Ostrówki. a statue of the Virgin Mary with her head cut off was left. There are no more buildings. a monument and a mass grave were erected on the site of the execution. Every year, Zofia travels to her native village on the anniversary of these tragic events. The person who studies the history of these events and is also the organizer of the trips is Leon Popek. These are the pilgrimages of the survivors and their families to the places of execution”..

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: Konieczka Remigiusz, „Volhynia - wound not healed”, Zofia Kieruj's recollections; in: „Pałuki”, in: No. 24/2014, June 26, 2014 — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.03.30]

Witness Czesław Wasiuk: „There were already a lot of people in the square in front of the school, and the Ukrainians were lying with machine guns ready to fire. We were separated here. The men were locked up in school, and the women with children in the church. The women prayed silently, cried loudly, and others prayed lying on the cross in front of the altar. around noon they opened the church and ordered them to leave. They led them towards the cemetery, buildings were burning on the left, 150 m away. at the cemetery, some women did not want to go any further. Here they were killed. Mother would not let him see it. She covered herself and said go faster. The Ukrainians fired a dozen or so shots towards the village, and they chased us away. after the cemetery, we turned right, then left through arable fields, 2–3 km. They stopped on a lane in front of an alder bush and there was stubble to the left. Everyone was ordered to sit on the ground. after a while an older one came on a white horse and would make a brief consultation. Later, one Ukrainian took ten people from the forehead, led them further to the stubble, told him to lie down and killed them with a bayonet on a rifle. He did the same with the next ten. He took the third ten and killed five or six people and said: I do not stand alone and went aside. Then another one came out of the group, took the next ten, started to hit, the second came and the two of them broke the ten. they continued to beat standing up, shooting from the back, three, four and alternately. I was with my mother in the last ten. There were three people in front of me, and I followed them, but my mother called out: «Czesiek come to me», I went to my mother, she kissed my forehead, I turned and went to the kill, about four meters to the edge of the stubble. I saw the first person fall, the second one was shot by another, and the one who killed the first was going to kill the third, I was the fourth. I had an idea to pretend to be dead. I covered my face and eyes with my hands so as not to stab my face against the stubble, I fell as the dead fell. Without moving, I began to breathe slowly, when there was no air, I started breathing faster and slowly again. I was afraid that my back would move and kill me as others were killing me by showing him he was moving and I passed out. In a dream, I heard a woman say: «let's run». The Ukrainians are gone. I got up on my hands and saw three women running into the bushes. I wanted to run after them, but the last one backed away from the bushes and shook her hand at me. I looked at my mother, she had no left arm. The brother was lying on the other side of the mother, and the sister was lying across with his eyes open. I kicked my body off my feet and lay down as before and lost consciousness. after waking up, I got up, the sun was already over sunset”.

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: „Testimony of the witness Czesław Wasiuk”; in: „In the Outlands”, in: No. 3/1993

Witness Władysław Tołysz: „Mr. Władysław remembers everything down to the smallest detail and it is not surprising. The constant threat of death made the events there imprinted on him. He especially remembered the monstrous murder committed a week after his mother's visit to the forester's lodge on the outskirts of the Polish community by Ukrainian gangs in Ostrówki, Wola Ostrowiecka and Kąty. – These villages were located near the forest and were the easiest prey for criminals – assesses Władysław Tołysz – It was the most handy for them. as soon as the news came that the Ukrainians had started to kill Poles in our commune, an alarm was immediately issued in the platoon to which I belonged. Everyone grabbed a gun and we set off on wagons to the murdered Ostrówek. When we found ourselves out in the open, we suddenly found ourselves under fire from the Germans, driving to Lubomlo. We immediately rushed to the potato field, looking for shelter in the radlins. Were it not for them, the Germans would have beaten us up. after a short fire, the Germans decided that we were a small group and drove on. Only in the evening we managed to get to Ostrówek. We managed to find a few more wounded who were witnesses of the murder. The Ukrainians covered the still alive with earth, believing that in this way they would erase their tracks. We recovered from the grave a few more mothers with children who were still alive. The Ukrainians rushed to the cemetery in Ostrówki and murdered them there. I experienced it very much, because many of my friends and acquaintances from the school in Rymacze were among the murdered. Students and teachers. The future second lieutenant «Shadow», who buried himself in some pit, pretended to be dead, was saved. Director Jeż also survived and was transferred from Rymacz to Ostrówki. He dived into the channel culvert under the road. But it got so stuck in it that it was impossible to pull it out later. He is completely stuck in it. Somehow, we managed to get him out. While watching the crime scene, I immediately noticed that it was not only the proximity of the forest that made the Ukrainians attack Ostrówek and other towns. The villages were street houses. It was very easy, as the Russians say, to close them in short abutments, preventing everyone from escaping. For example, Nowy Jagodzin was a settlement spread over a distance of four kilometers and if they wanted to destroy it, they would have to use enormous forces. That's why they hit the streets. In Ostrówek and Wola Ostrowiecka, bandits managed to brutally murder over a thousand people. a significant proportion of them were women and children. The images that I saw there are still in my dreams at night. The demeanor of the Ukrainians reached its fullness there. The children were loaded on rails. Some degenerates also threw directly into the well, finding an outlet for their sadism. I have in my collection an account of one of the inhabitants of Ostrówek, who, when brought to the dug hole in the barn, into which the Ukrainians were throwing their victims, saw his neighbors killed with an ax, a stake or a hammer to gauge trees, but jumped the pit and managed to escape into the forest. He was fit and ran forward. He got five bullets but survived. He got five bullets but survived. He ran to the Bug river and fell only there. The local inhabitants took him to the other side and brought him to Chełm to the hospital. He died about eight years ago. Before that, he had always testified to the truth as a victim that stood over his own grave and managed to escape the torturers”. .

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: Tołysz Władysław, „The easiest loot for criminals”; in: Koprowski Marek A, „Volhynia. The epic of Polish fate 1939-2913”, in: Act II, Warsaw 2013, p. 223—225

On September 2, 2012, a Ukrainian, Olena Pilipiwna from the village of Ostrówki near Lubomel, said:
„The inhabitants of the village, Poles, Ukrainians, always hosted each other. And later during the war something like this happened, I don't know how to say it myself, such hatred — they started murdering, murdering children. It was terrible, they killed little children, drowned them in wells, drove them to a barn, and smoked them  […] . One Polish woman was hiding in our barn. There was a pile of straw, she hid in that straw and waited  […] I hope that nothing like this will happen again, that we will always be just friends — Ukrainians and Poles. Because Poles are a nation like us, they are not guilty of and owe nothing, to no one, just like the Ukrainians. And why it happened — I do not know”.

source: Waldemar Michalski, „Volhynia – two faces of the same crime”; in: portal: Akcent, in: 4 (134) 2013 — web page: akcentpismo.pl [accessible: 2021.05.22]

source: Zińczuk Aleksandra (idea, selection, edit), „Reconciliation through difficult memory. Volhynia 1943”, „Panorama of Cultures” Association, in: Lublin 2012, p. 95

Spis alfabetyczny zamordowanych dn. 30 sierpnia 1943 r. w parafii Ostrówki, dekanatu lubomelskiego na Wołyniu — wieś Ostrówki, wieś Piotrówka, dwór and kolonia Obelnik
Brol Andrzej
Bernard Edward
Bernard Wojciech
Blatowa Stanisława née Drzymała, b. 1903, d/o Piotr and Helena (left husband Michał)
Blat Cezary, b. 1935, s/o Michał and Stanisława née Drzymała
Bałanda Edward
Bałanda Katarzyna
Bałanda Jadwiga
Bałanda Jan
Czabanowa Maria Zofia née Adamowicz, b. 17 IV 1907 (left husband Antoni and daughter Danuta)
Fr Dobrzański Stanisław, parish priest and canon
Dzwoniarz Anastazja
Dzwoniarz Józef
Dzwoniarz Elżbieta
Dzwoniarz Łucja
Dzwoniarz Aleksander
Dzwoniarz Feliks
Dzwoniarz Leokadia
Dąbrowa Aleksander, age 50
Dąbrowa Ewa née Pradun, w/o Aleksander, age 50
Dąbrowa Wiktoria, age 27, d/o Aleksander and Ew
Dąbrowa Jan, age 18, s/o Aleksander and Ewa
Dąbrowa Karolina née Łysiak, age 35, d/o Kajetan and Franciszka
Dąbrowa Emilia, age 7, d/o Karolina
Dąbrowa Henryk, age 4, s/o Karolina
Giec Paweł, age 33, s/o Mikołaj and Marcelina née Rabusiuk?
Giec Jan, age 21, s/o Mikołaj and Marcelina née Rabusiuk
Giec Bronisław, age 16, s/o Mikołaj and Marcelina née Rabusiuk
Giec Anna, age 2½, d/o Mikołaj and Marcelina née Kloc
Giec Marianna, age 5, d/o Paweł and Karolina née Morciś
Giec Kazimierz, age 10, s/o Paweł and Karolina née Morciś
Giec Zofia, age 13, d/o Paweł and Agnieszka née Kudan
Giec Mikołaj, age 56, s/o Wojciech and Katarzyna
Giec Marianna née Kloc, age 43, d/o Paweł and Rozalia
Giec Jan
Giec Bronisław
Giec Feliks, age 10, s/o Mikołaj and Marianna née Kloc
Giec Stanisław, age 13, s/o Juliana and Marcelina née Fronczak
Giec Jan, age 9, s/o Juliana and Marcelina née Fronczak
Gracz Agnieszka née Giec, age 28, d/o Mikołaj and Marcelina née Rabusiuk
Gracz Aleksander, age 40, s/o Andrzej and Karolina (left wife Zofię and daughter Leokadia ???)
Gracz Julian, age 50, s/o Andrzej and Karolina (left wife Agnieszka née Muzyk and son Jan)
Gracz Jan, widower, age 48
Gracz Stanisław, age 19, s/o Jan
Gracz Longina née Palec, age 18, d/o Stanisław and Katarzyna
Gracz Łukasz
Gracz Agnieszka
Gracz Anna, age 10, d/o Julian and Agnieszka née Giec
Gracz Marianna, age 10, d/o Julian and Agnieszka née Giec
Gracz Kazimiera, age 8, d/o Julian and Agnieszka née Giec
Gracz Czesława, age 6, d/o Julian and Agnieszka née Giec
Gracz Jadwiga, age 3½, d/o Julian and Agnieszka née Giec
Gracz Marianna née Ulewicz, age 53, d/o Łukasz and Katarzyna (left husband Jan)
Gracz Stanisław, age 32, s/o Jan and Marianna née Ulewicz (left wife Agnieszka)
Gracz Antoni, age 20, s/o Jan and Marianna née Ulewicz
Hormata Elżbieta
Hormata Józef
Hajdamaczuk Stanisław
Fotek Henryk, b. 1885 (left wife Maria, daughters Eugenia and Janina and son Tadeusz)
Fotek Romuald, b. 1923
Fotek Czesław, b. 1932
Fronczak Stefan
Fronczak Andrzej
Fronczak Karolina
Fronczak Łucja
Fronczak Feliks
Fronczak Józef
Fronczak Stanisław
Fronczak Katarzyna
Jesionczak Józef
Jesionczak Marianna née Trusiuk, age 42, d/o Mikołaj and Rozalia (left son Feliks)
Jesionczak Antoni, b. 1927, s/o Łukasz and Marianna née Trusiuk
Jesionczak Anna, age 13, d/o Łukasz and Marianna née Trusiuk
Jesionczak Stanisław, age 8, s/o Łukasz and Marianna née Trusiuk
Jesionczak Helena
Jesionczak Jan
Jesionczak Maria
Jesionczak Andrzej
Jesionczak Maria
Jesionczak Stanisław
Jesionczak Bolesław
Jesionczak Jan
Jesionczak Wacław
Jurczyk Jan
Jurczyk Maria
Jurczyk Sabina
Jurczyk Jan
Jurczyk Edward
Jurczyk Wanda
Jurczyk […?]
Jurczyk […?]
Jurkowicz Maciej, b. 1885, s/o Tomasz and Franciszka
Jurkowiczowa Waleria née Bielecki, b. 1893, d/o Julian and Franciszka née Walaski?, w/o Tomasz (left daughters: Zofia and Janina and son Faustyn)
Kudan Franciszka
Kudan Zofia
Kudan Marianna
Kudan Janina
Kudan Krystyna
Kudan Julian
Kudan Karolina
Kudan Stanisław
Kudan Janina
Kudan Anastazja
Kudan Jan
Kudan Ludwika
Kudan Helena
Kudan Stanisława
Kudan […?] (child)
Kudan Józef
Kudan Feliks
Kruk Michał
Kruk Karolina
Kruk Edward
Kruk Zofia
Kruk Antoni
Kruk Tadeusz
Kruk Kazimierz
Kruk Marcelina
Kruk Edward
Kruk Eugenia
Kruk Stanisław
Kruk Wiktoria
Kruk Stanisław
Kupracz Marcin
Kupracz Anna
Kupracz Rafał, age c. 28–30, s/o Jan and Marianna née Kostecki?, from Kolonia Piotrówki
Kalita Stefania née Lipniak, b. 11 January 1911, d/o Jan and Katarzyna née Popków (left husband Wincenty)
Kalita Regina, b. 1 August 1933, d/o Wincenty and Stefania née Lipniak
Kalita Leokadia, b. 1941, d/o Wincenty and Stefania née Lipniak
Kloc Apolonia née Trusiuk, b. 1906, d/o Wojciech and Scholastyka née Trusiuk (left husband Łukasz and sons: Stanisław, Jan, Czesław)
Kloc Stanisław, age 11
Kloc Jan, age 6
Kloc Czesław?, age 3
Kloc Mikołaj, b. 1902, s/o Paweł and Apolonia née Ulewicz
Kloc Franciszka née Łysiak, b. 1898, d/o Michał and Karolina née Kuwałek (left husband Karol and son Wacława)
Kloc Zofia, age 16, d/o Karol and Franciszka née Łysiak
Kloc Katarzyna, age 8, d/o Karol and Franciszka née Łysiak
Kloc Tomasz, age 48, s/o Kajetan and Magdalena née Pradun
Kloc Marianna née Łysiak, b. 1902, d/o Adam, w/o Tomasz
Kloc Jadwiga, age 20, d/o Tomasz and Marianna née Łysiak
Kloc Wiktoria, age 17, d/o Tomasz and Marianna née Łysiak
Kloc Aleksander, age 18, s/o Tomasz and Marianna née Łysiak
Kloc Petronela née Ulewicz
Kloc Jan, b. 1914, s/o Józefa and Petronela née Ulewicz
Kloc Łukasz, age 46, s/o Tomasz
Kloc Karolina née Jesionczak, age 42, w/o Łukasz
Kloc Agnieszka, age 22, d/o Łukasz and Karolina née Jesionczak
Kloc Zofia, age 19, d/o Łukasz and Karolina née Jesionczak
Kloc Leon?, s/o Łukasz and Karolina née Jesionczak
Kloc Helena, d/o Łukasz and Karolina née Jesionczak
Kuwałek Karolina née Pradun, age 64, d/o Józef and Marianna (left husband Karol)
Kuwałek Kazimierz, b. 1904, s/o Karol and Karolina née Pradun (left wife Rozalia and son Wacław)
Kuwałek Agnieszka
Kuwałek Kazimiera
Kuwałek Jan
Kuwałek Józef
Kuwałek Władysław, b. 1910, s/o Karol and Karolina née Pradun (left wife Katarzyna)
Kuwałek Ewa
Kuwałek Henryk
Kuwałek Marianna
Kuwałek Stanisław
Kuwałek Karolina
Kuwałek Józef
Kuwałek Maria
Kuwałek Edward
Kuwałek Władysław
Kuzikowski Stanisław
Kuzikowska Wiktoria
Kuzikowski Jan
Kuzikowski Jan
Kuzikowska Aniela
Kuzikowski Stefan
Kuzikowska Anastazja
Kuzikowski Antoni
Kuzikowski Józef
Kuzikowska Anna
Kuzikowska Stanisława
Kuzikowska Maria
Łysiak Adam
Łysiak Konstanty
Łysiak Karolina
Łysiak Jan
Łysiak Agnieszka
Łysiak Maria
Łysiak Zofia
Łysiak […?]
Łysiak Paweł
Łysiak Antoni
Łysiak Rozalia
Łysiak […?] (child)
Łysiak Michał, age 60, s/o Grzegorz and Anna
Łysiak Karolina
Łysiak Karolina née Kuwałek, b. 1919, d/o Michał and Karolina
Łysiak Jan
Łysiak Paulina
Łysiak Stanisław
Łysiak Franciszek
Łysiak Aleksander
Łysiak Rozalia
Łysiak Jan
Łysiak Anastazja
Łysiak Stanisław
Łysiak Jan
Łysiak […?]
Łysiak Jan
Łysiak Maria
Łuszyńska Janina
Muzyka Mikołaj
Muzyka Magdalena
Muzyka Bronisław
Muzyka Jan
Muzyka Anastazja
Muzyka Rozalia
Muzyka Michał
Muzyka Ignacy
Muzyka Mikołaj
Muzyka Jadwiga
Muzyka Jan
Muzyka Karolina
Muzyka Edward
Muzyka Józef
Muzyka Kazimierz
Muzyka Anastazja
Muzyka Wiktoria
Muzyka Leokadia
Muzyka Katarzyna
Muzyka Jan
Muzyka Antonina
Muzyka Feliks
Muzyka Stanisław
Muzyka Helena
Muzyka Maria
Muzyka Jadwiga
Muzyka Leokadia
Muzyka Bonifacy
Muzyka Stanisław
Muzyka Marianna
Muzyka Anastazja
Muzyka Agnieszka
Muzyka Regina
Muzyka Zofia
Muzyka Jan
Muzyka Julia
Muzyka Jan
Muzyka Julian
Muzyka Józefa
Muzyka Tadeusz
Muzyka Aleksander
Muzyka Marian
Muzyka Helena née Łysiak, age 36, d/o Adam and Agnieszka
Muzyka Anastazja, age 19, maid
Muzyka Zofia née Kudan, age 21, d/o Jan and Aniela, Helen's daughter–in–law
Muzyka Stanisław, 8 months
Muzyka Maciej, age 87, widower
Muzyka Marianna née Szwed, age 55, widow, Maciej's daughter–in–law
Niziuk Lucjan
Niziuk Lucyna
Niziuk Anna
Niziuk Tadeusz
Niziuk […?]
Palec Paweł
Palec Franciszka
Palec Julian
Palec Marianna
Palec Jan
Pieńkowski Aleksander
Pieńkowska Marianna
Pieńkowski Jan
Pieńkowska Zofia
Pieńkowski Henryk
Pieńkowski Antoni
Pieńkowski Wiesław
Stefanowska  […]
Pradun Antoni
Pradun Anastazja
Pradun Marianna
Pradun Stanisław
Pradun Wiktoria
Pradun Paweł
Pradun Wiktoria
Pradun Maria
Pradun Stanisław
Pradun Łukasz, age 64, s/o Józef
Pradun Anastazja née Łysiak, age 56, w/o Łukasz
Pradun Zofia, age 24, maid, d/o Łukasz and Anastazja née Łysiak
Pradun Aniela née Muzyk, age 30, d/o Mikołaj and Marianna
Pradun Jan, age 4
Radoń Jan, organist, b. 1903, s/o Władysław and Apolonia
Radoń Karolina née Fryszkiewicz, b. 1903, d/o Józef and Zofia née Woch (left son Edward)
Rybaczyński Bronisław
Rybaczyńska Wincentyna
Ryszkiewicz Stanisław
Ryszkiewicz Katarzyna
Ryszkiewicz Jan
Ryszkiewicz Zofia
Ryszkiewicz Wacław
Ryszkiewicz Andrzej
Suszko Józef, age 18
Szwed Franciszek
Szwed Antoni
Szwed Łucja
Szwed Wacław
Szwed Łukasz, age 64, s/o Franciszek
Szwed Aniela, age 46, d/o Łukasz
Szwed Bronisław, b. 1923, s/o Jan and Ewa née Kloc
Szwed Agnieszka, b. 1926, d/o Jan and Ewa née Kloc
Szwed Marianna, b. 1930, d/o Jan and Ewa née Kloc
Szwed Anna, d/o Jan and Ewa née Kloc
Szwed Antoni
Szwed Feliks
Skibiński Franciszek
Skibińska Helena
Skibiński Edward
Trusiuk Mikołaj
Trusiuk Anastazja
Trusiuk Helena
Trusiuk Zofia
Trusiuk Jan
Trusiuk Łukasz
Trusiuk Apolonia
Trusiuk Marian
Trusiuk Aleksander
Trusiuk Agnieszka
Trusiuk Karolina
Trusiuk Marianna
Trusiuk Katarzyna
Trusiuk Józefa
Trusiuk Mikołaj
Trusiuk Helena
Trusiuk Stanisława
Trusiuk Marcelina née Kloc, widow, age 42, d/o Wojciech and Anastazja
Trusiuk Urszula, age 23, d/o Bronisław and Marcelina
Trusiuk Edward, s/o Urszula
Trusiuk Łukasz
Trusiuk Marianna
Trusiuk Stefan
Trusiuk Józefa
Trusiuk Zofia
Trusiuk Aleksander
Trusiuk Marcelina
Trusiuk Marcelina
Trusiuk Stanisław
Trusiuk Katarzyna (Marianna) (left husband Stefan)
Trusiuk Bronisław
Trusiuk Piotr
Trusiuk Marianna
Trusiuk Helena
Trusiuk Łucja née Kloc, age 24, d/o Wojciech and Scholastyka née Trusiuk
Trusiuk Piotr
Trusiuk Marianna
Trusiuk Antoni
Trusiuk Łukasz
Trusiuk Zofia
Uszyńska Janina née Ambroziewicz, age 52, d/o Franciszek and Franciszka (left daughter Emilia)
Ulewicz Wiktoria
Ulewicz Bronisław
Ulewicz Katarzyna, w/o Józef
Ulewicz Rozalia
Ulewicz Eugeniusz
Ulewicz Aleksandra
Ulewicz Stanisława
Ulewicz Stanisław
Ulewicz Aleksandra
Ulewicz Katarzyna
Ulewicz Bronisław
Ulewicz Jan
Ulewicz Andrzej
Ulewicz Katarzyna née Lubczyński, age 74
Ulewicz Jan, b. 1904, s/o Wacław and Katarzyna née Lubczyński (left wife Zofia and son Wacława)
Ulewicz Grzegorz, b. 1903, s/o Łukasz and Katarzyna née Łysiak (left wife Agnieszka née Kloc, son Jan and daughter Anna)
Ulewicz Maria
Ulewicz Stanisław
Ulewicz Jan
Uszaruk Michał
Uszaruk Zofia
Uszaruk Danuta
Uszaruk Jan
Uszaruk Marcelina
Uszaruk Agnieszka
Uszaruk Wiktoria
Walczak Jan
Walczak Aniela
Walczak Franciszka
Walczak Wincentyna
Wasiuk Emilia née Trusiuk, age 60, d/o Mikołaj and Rozalia (left son Piotr and daughter Agnieszka)
Wasiuk Aleksander, b. 1906, s/o Józefa and Emilia née Trusiuk
Wasiuk Stefan
Wasiuk Jadwiga
Wasiuk Feliks
Wasiuk Helena
Wasiuk Marianna
Wasiuk Stanisław
Wasiuk Helena
Wasiuk Józef
Wasiuk […?]
Wereszko Józefa née Szpotan, age 46, d/o Jan and Józefa (left husband Jan, sons: Jan and Zygmunt)
Wereszko Franciszek, b. 1924, s/o Jan and Józefa née Szpotan
Wereszko Jadwiga, b. 1931, d/o Jan and Józefa née Szpotan
Wereszko Leon, b. 1933, s/o Jan and Józefa née Szpotan
Wereszko Genowefa (Eugenia), b. 1939, d/o Jan and Józefa née Szpotan
Ulewicz Józef, age 63, s/o Antoni and Agnieszka
Ulewicz Józef, b. 1863, s/o Tomasz and Marianna (left son Antoniego)
Ulewicz Agnieszka née Łysiak, age 74 (left son Antoniego)
Ulewicz Łukasz, b. 1905, s/o Józef and Agnieszka née Łysiak
Ulewicz Rozalia née Sorok, b. 1915, d/o Zygmunt and Agnieszka née Lewczuk (left husband Antoni)
Ulewicz Eugeniusz, b. 1938, s/o Antoniego and Rozalii née Soroków
Walecek Marianna née Giec, age 30, d/o Mikołaj and Marcelina née Rabusiuk
Walecek Andrzej, age 32, s/o Paweł
Walecek Jan, age 17, s/o Andrzej and Marianna née Giec
Walecek Edward, age 13, s/o Andrzej and Marianna née Giec

source: Żurek Waldemar W., „Murdered on August 30, 1943 in the parish of Ostrówka in Volhynia”; in: „Yearbook of the Lublin Genealogical Society”, in: No. 3/2011, p. 138—150 — web page: bazhum.muzhp.pl [accessible: 2021.09.12]

On the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Ukrainians from the village of Równo burnt the wooden church of st. Andrzej the Apostle from 1838 with all the interior fittings and Polish farms and murdered Marcin Kurpacz.

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