An expedition was organized for the survivors of the village of Huciska who were hiding in the forest after the slaughter on April 12. Several German soldiers were asked to accompany this expedition. On the way back, they were nevertheless attacked by the UPA. Two carts were lost, Piotr Czerkawski from Siemianówka was killed, and another was injured.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – April 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

Myrosław Onyszkewycz „Orest Karat” gave the order: „I order you to purge your area immediately from the Polish element and Ukrainian–Bolshevik agents. The purge should be carried out in riverside hostels sparsely populated by Poles. To this end, create a militia near the area, composed of our members, whose task would be to eliminate the above–mentioned. Our larger hostels will be cleared of this element by our military units even in broad daylight  […] The clearing of the area must be completed before our Easter so that we can celebrate it without Poles. Remember that when the Bolsheviks find us with Poles in our territory, they will slaughter us all  […] Make a hard, ruthless fight with them. Not to spare anyone, even in mixed marriages. To take Lachs out of their houses, but The Ukrainians and children in these houses should not be liquidated  […] Get the gun. Death to the Poles. Stop, April 6, 1944. Glory to the heroes! Orest, Karat” This order is in the files of the investigation against Myroslav Onyshhevych.

source: Miszko Przemysław, Matkowski Krzysztof, „Crimes of genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists in Eastern Lesser Poland in 1939—1945 against persons of Polish nationality - in the light of investigations by OKŚZPNP in Wrocław”; in: „Crimes of the past, studies and materials of IPN prosecutors”, in: Warszawa 2008, vol. 2 — web page: ipn.gov.pl [accessible: 2021.02.04]

The Ukrainians murdered 2 Poles during haymaking.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – June 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

Around July / August 1944, Stanisław Humenecki, sent with a letter to a Greek Catholic priest, was murdered.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – August 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: prof. dr hab. Jankiewicz Leszek S., „Supplement to the list of losses of the Polish population provided by Stanisław Jastrzębski for the Lubelskie Voivodeship (2004)”; in: Listowski Witold (ed.), „OUN-UPA genocide in the South-Eastern Borderlands”, in: Kędzierzyn-Koźle 2016, vol. 8

Ukrainian SS men from the „Galizien–Hałyczyna” burned Polish farms and murdered 29 Poles, including 15 Poles in a public execution; while 4 Poles died in the fight against the UPA militia; ie 33 Poles died in total. „It is believed that they were (one or two) companies of the SS Galizien, who survived the crushing on the German–Soviet front near Brody. The Ukrainians from neighboring villages (Ostrów, Piaski, Łany) took part in the operation together with the SS soldiers, using the names of Poles they knew. In his book about the Home Army in Lviv, Jerzy Węgierski notes the events in Siemianówka in the following way: «Those residents who did not manage to hide were spent as hostages in the yard of the former inn. among them were two priests adam Hrabat and Wojciech Ślęzak. Fr Ślęzak, retired military chaplain, he behaved very dignified and soldierly. at the begging of the frightened women to ask the Ukrainian SS men for mercy, he was to say loudly, with an emphatic voice: People, soldiers did not give us life and therefore we will not ask them for mercy, but only almighty God». After these words, he began to recite the words of the General Confession that were repeated by others. In closing, he gave general absolution”. The fullest description of the SS Galizien action was given by Maria Witwicka – Dereń, who lived it directly from the beginning to the end. She was an eyewitness to the robbery, herding into an „inn ”, mistreatment and murder. She was also captured and escorted to a gathering place. Her father, Stanisław Dereń, was shot while trying to escape. I am quoting extensive excerpts from her memoirs written in 1994, on the 50th anniversary of the events: „I came on Sunday, 23–July 1944 from Szczerec – the station (to Siemianówka), where I worked for several months in a railway office, on a road section. I remember on July 22, on Saturday, the tracks at the station were bombed and all trains from Lviv reached the Szczerzec station only. Then, in the afternoon, two soldiers in SS uniforms got off one train, one with the rank of lieutenant, the other sergeant. They both came to the office, where the manager was no longer present. just me and my mom (because she came to call me for dinner). The visitors asked for drinking water and lighter gas. I fulfilled their wishes. They spoke German, but my knowledge of the language was not sufficient, so the lieutenant, smiling, asked in beautiful Polish, «Why did you hide in the ditch a moment ago when the bombers arrived? Please remember that you cannot escape or hide from fate». In four days, as it turned out, one of the three leaders of the SS unit was him. (July 26). It was a beautiful sunny, even hot morning. I was standing in the garden among dahlias blooming with different colors. I was enjoying everything that surrounded me, I was only twenty years old. almost at that moment I heard shots, screams, crying of women and children. I ran out onto the road, saw soldiers in German uniforms with tapes of bullets, with machine guns, leading people towards the church. Then I quickly ran home to tell Dad to get rid of his weapons and mine immediately. Dad immediately threw two grenades and two pistols into the peas growing by the house. When he came back, the soldiers were already following him, asking «a de ta mołoda?» [«where is this young one?»] There was no possibility of escaping. Before we realized what was going on, a few Ukrainian thugs were already standing in the room, robbing and taking out what was possible. When we were led out of the house under the pretext of checking the documents, we were not allowed to take anything else. They even ripped off a gold chain from my neck with the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa, which I got from my dad for good grades in science. Dad took one, and the other soldier led me under the barrel of a rifle. at home, I tried to control myself and not show how much I was afraid, but on the road, when I saw desperate people in such a situation as me, I cried out loud. I didn't want to die yet and I wanted to live. Through the tears that flooded my eyes, I could not see anything, but I heard a voice: – «you are crying, not crying, the lieutenant eats fine dust in your water, you have nothing to do with». It was the same sergeant who came along with the lieutenant on Saturday to the office where I worked. When I was brought to my destination, I dared to ask for a conversation with the lieutenant, who, together with the captain and another military man, was sitting on the ditch opposite the house, the former «tavern», where the villagers were brought, among whom was also my father and two priests: Wojciech Szlęzak and adam Habrat. The lieutenant met me and after checking the documents he asked in Polish: «what are you doing here, since you work in Szczerzec and are registered in Lviv?» I replied, «I have a lot in common with Siemianówka, I grew up here, I live here and my father comes from here. I love my father very much and please return him to me». Then the lieutenant said that he would release my father and priest (Habrat) on condition that I told him what the organization is, what weapons they have and who belongs to it. I answered shortly «I won't say because I don't know, and if I did, I value honor more than life». He agreed that I was right, but he did not return Dad to me. as I still didn't know what would happen to us, I asked if I could go home to get things, because Dad left without a jacket and I was in a thin blouse. The lieutenant allowed me to return home assisted by one soldier who had been ordered to bring me back. The house I wanted so badly was not the one I left an hour ago. My suitcases with the things I brought and haven't unpacked yet are gone. Everything in the apartment was scattered, the wardrobe was empty in the middle of the room, only Dad's coat and a railway jacket hung. So I took what was left, some food in the basket. Many memories went through my thoughts, which were interrupted by another visit of the robbers. a soldier from my security, he was sitting quietly just watching me, he told them «you can't rob here, lieutenant Baranowski forbade». They saluted and left. I was coming back to the place of execution, and most of all closer to my Dad. The soldiers fired at everything. The balls were whistling around me and I, reconciled with my fate, walked the road and listened to my guardian who said that what is happening now is for Miłoszowice. allegedly, Poles were tearing up Ukrainian children on fences, which I still find hard to believe. because none of the Ukrainians I know has mentioned such barbaric practices. This is how I got back to the ditch in front of the inn, gave Dad everything I had brought, sat down on the ditch and the ordeal began. Two soldiers brought one of the Kubajewski brothers, hands tied behind his back. One soldier was holding a bucket of bullets and the other was holding a large gun that they supposedly found with him. Lieutenant Baranowski took this pistol and hit him in the face with it, and the boy, though all bloodied, stood erect, despite the fact that he was suffering so much. Unable to look at it, I shouted «what are you still waiting for». Then he turned and ran down the highway where the machine gun bullets hit him. I noticed that the lieutenant was not thrilled that I dared interrupt his torture. But he mastered himself and told «I would be glad if you had gone from here». But I didn't listen, hoping that he would give me back my Dad. While sitting in the ditch, I saw how in a wagon scales cavity they hacked live people thrown there, how they hit and shot. Their screams and groans tore my heart, and after a while I couldn't hear or see anything. When, after the shock, I woke up in the mill, I saw an elderly gentleman who was caring for me, who was also released by the SS Galizien command and who had brought me there. I do not remember the surname of this gentleman, but I know that he and his wife, with whom he got lost in this turmoil, had shelter in the presbytery and that he came from Krakow. He made an oral will before me, stating that he was going to allot the property outside Krakow and the tenement house in Krakow for his wife. I go back to the moment when I regained my presence of mind and heard a terrible roar from cannons or mortars. When I went up the stairs, through the window I saw huge pillars of burning houses. after a while, two soldiers came to the mill and they wanted to take me with them. Then I took a risk, referring to Lieutenant Baranowski and said that he had made me wait for himself at the mill. and thus I survived again. Then the horns started to sound, someone called someone, you could hear cars driving away, and there was silence. at dusk a boy came to the mill, announcing that my father was shot and I had nowhere to go back, because our little white house is no more. I spent the night with a few other people. In the morning I had to find out about the credibility of the boy's words, who brought me this sad and terrible news about my Dad and our house. But no one dared to come with me to this part of the village, which, with a few exceptions, ceased to exist, and only the descents remained from which rose a choking smell of burning. So I walked alone through the battlefield between the murdered and the shot, whose hot July sun burned pained, dead faces, some of them still very young. I covered my face with a handkerchief over my father, who was lying next to one of the Kubajewski brothers, and that was all I could do for him at that moment. So I went to where our house stood yesterday, and now there is some debris and a sheet of metal on the roof that covered everything. In the middle of it sat a small kitten, Dad's favorite. although I took him from there several times, he kept coming back there. I, also not consoled, returned to the mill. It was only in the evening that the families of the murdered and shot took their relatives to bury them. My dad was buried even without a coffin because it was impossible to wait any longer. I owe the excavation of the grave to my cousin Gienia Wieczyła née Dereń and to two military Germans who were withdrawing. they rested by the road between the cemeteries. The cross, which I tried to obtain in a few days, was consecrated and buried by priest adam Habrat, and on its board I wrote the words: _x000D_
«Quiet God's tears of memory_x000D_
Take the pain of my soul_x000D_
Saints, let your will be done_x000D_
Let the humility of heaven move»”_x000D_
The balance sheet of Ukrainian essay experts turned out to be tragic for Siemianówka. Residential houses and farm buildings with some exceptions (depending on the direction of the wind and the density of buildings) burned down, including everything that was there for over a kilometer, about a hundred buildings in total. Thirty people were killed, five of whom were executed in front of the „tavern” people, before massacring and torturing them. They were Stanisław Dereń (father of Maria Dereń–Witwicka, the author of the memoirs quoted in this study), Władysław Mazur, a teacher from Szczerek (quartermaster of the aK Siemianówka district, pseudonym „Alexander”), brothers Jan and Bronisław Kubajewski from Łanów, where weapons were found, and Stefan Bilski (Bielski) a carter in the presbytery, killed at the last minute, for serving a Polish priest. Franciszek Dereń and Józef Merski (on their farms), Jan Dukiewicz (on the cemetery), Maria Tułowa née Lisik (near her own house), Wiktoria Lisik, Władysław Szachnowski, Michał Wojciechowski and agnieszka were shot in random places. unknown name. They died, suffocated as a result of a fire in the buildings in which they were looking for shelter: Szczepan Dżugaj (Dżez), Stanisław Dżugaj, Joanna Pfeifer née Dżugaj with three young children (in the basement under a burned barn), andrzej and Józef Horak, Zbigniew Horak from Łanów, Kazimierz Zychowicz, Józef Miga (strangled in the basement of Jan Kosmaty's buildings. anna Mendychowska, aniela Dziedzic, Maria Fedyniak) strangled in the basement of Michał Fedyniak. They are all buried in the Siemianów cemetery. at one point, a German officer on a motorcycle approached the SS commander Galizien with an order to end the operation. The gathered hostages were released and the Ukrainian unit loaded onto the cars and left. It is somewhat surprising that the resignation from murdering the gathered hostages in the so–called „Inn”. at that time, SS Galizien was still strictly subordinated to Germany. Perhaps the „grace” was due to the fact that the Germans did not want to complicate their retreat by anticipating the reaction of despairing and ready for anything people._x000D_
PS after writing this study, I received a letter from the author of the memoirs, Mrs. Maria Witwicka née Dereń, in which she gave additional information about the SS officer Baranowski: „I remembered the name of Lieutenant Baranowski, because his subordinate had mentioned it, who, on the instructions of Lieutenant Baranowski, made me he looked after when I came home to get the things I wrote about in my memoirs. Once, while visiting my friends from Buczacz, who now live in Wrocław, I came across a book, quite large in a red cover, called «BUCZaCZYNa», written in Ukrainian and published in 1972 in New York. Once it was brought by their friend with whom they no longer maintain contact. There are biographies of various personalities of Ukrainian settlers in america in this book. among others, ROMaNa BaRaNOWSKI born in 1905 in Buczacz, son of a Greek Catholic priest. He attended gymnasium in Buczacz and in 1931 he graduated from veterinary medicine in Lviv. Then there was a gap in the curriculum vitae. With time, he moves to Munich and after Germany's surrender, he works as a teacher in a gymnasium. at the same time, he is defending his doctorate on equine tuberculosis. In 1949 he emigrated to the USa and until 1960 undertook various jobs in the United States of america. In 1963 he takes a permanent job in the food and medical administration and belongs to the Order of Malta. He is the minister of foreign affairs of The Ukrainians living in exile. But I am not sure that it is the same Lieutenant Baranowski who took part in the SS Galizien operation in Siemianówka, because this photo in the book was taken twenty years later. If that were true, he'd managed to keep his inglorious past very well. Now while he's still alive he would be 96, so let him live and wait for God's judgment. Because after so many years, there is no longer any sense in looking for justice, the more that our religion requires forgiveness”..

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – July 1944”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: Zawada Edward (ed.), „Operation of SS Galizien in Siemianówka on July 26, 1944” — web page: pl.sci.historia.narkive.com [accessible: 2022.04.06]