On January 15, 1943, the German occupier began the implementation of the „Ukraineaktion” plan, consisting in the displacement of the Polish population from the Biłgoraj and Hrubieszów countys and the resettlement of their homes with the Ukrainian population. The Ukrainian police played the main role in the deportation.

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

On January 16, 1943, the Soviet government informed the Polish Embassy in Moscow that it re–recognizes all „citizens living in the Western Districts of the” Ukrainian and Belarusian SSR as Soviet citizens. This was tantamount to a statement that the Soviet government recognized these lands as belonging to the USSR. It was surprisingly synchronized with the anti–Polish activities of the OUN–UPA.

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

On January 26, the Polish government, in a note to the Soviet government, asked to re–examine the issue of citizenship, and Ambassador Romer met in Moscow with Molotov, who said that „legislative acts of the” Soviet states, i.e. the declarations of October 27 and 28, 1939, still apply in this matter. on joining „of Western Ukraine” and „of Western Belarus” to the USSR.

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

On February 26, 1943, during a conversation with Stalin, Ambassador Romer heard that the Soviet government would not renounce „Western Ukraine” and „Western Belarus”.

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

The Germans, with the participation of the Ukrainian police, displaced the last two Polish villages from the districts of Biłgoraj and Hrubieszów, as part of the „Ukraineraktion” plan implemented from January 15, 1943. A total of 117 Polish villages were displaced and settled by Ukrainians.

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

Ukrainian police pacified over a dozen Polish villages, killing about 3,000 Poles, and in the following days of March and April several more villages. After these pacifications, Ukrainian police units, fully armed, went to the forest, continuing their criminal path.
For example, on March 3, in the district of Borszczówka, Equal Germans and Ukrainian policemen murdered 160 Poles, and 104 Poles in the village of Lidawka.
Soviet partisans, such as in the case of Borszczówka and Lidawka, played an unexplained role in provoking these pacifications. Already in January 1943, a large group of Soviet partisans stopped in these villages, terrorizing the inhabitants. They did not respond to the Poles' requests to lodge in Ukrainian villages, rightly afraid of being denounced by the Ukrainians. On February 1, the Soviets left without giving any reason, in the morning of February 2, the Polish population left for the village of Hłuboczek, and soon a German punitive expedition arrived in the village. Found no one in the colony, she left. After the Poles returned to the colony, the Soviet partisans also returned in the evening. They left the village again on March 1, also without giving any reason, and on March 3, the Germans and Ukrainian policemen pacified these villages on charges of cooperation with the Soviet partisans.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „75th anniversary of the genocide – March 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. 679—684

source: Zalewska Zofia; in: „A call from Volhynia”, in: Lodz 1996, p. 23

In Volhynia, about 5,000 Ukrainian policemen, on the orders of the OUN leadership, left their posts and went to the forests with arms, forming UPA units or joining them.

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

The so–called „Katyn case”.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „75th anniversary of the genocide – April 1943”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: btx.home.pl [accessible: 2021.02.04]

The commander of the Volhynia Home Army AK District, Colonel Kazimierz Bąbiński „Luboń”, issued an order addressed to the Polish self–defense that was being formed: „For several weeks, the Polish population in Volhynia has been facing barbaric murders of entire families by Ukrainian resuns (Eng. butchers). I am familiar with the hand that pushes the Ukrainian people to a suicidal fight with their fellow citizens of Polish nationality in the common land of Volhynia  […] I forbid the use of methods used by Ukrainian rezuna. We will not retaliate with burning Ukrainian farms or killing Ukrainian women and children. Self–Defense is to defend itself against attackers or attack attackers, leaving the population and their belongings alone”.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „75th anniversary of the genocide – April 1943”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: btx.home.pl [accessible: 2021.02.04]

Molotov presented the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Moscow, Romer, with a note about the USSR breaking off diplomatic relations with Poland.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „75th anniversary of the genocide – April 1943”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: btx.home.pl [accessible: 2021.02.04]

The Ukrainians had a specific practice of accepting recruits. Each newly admitted to the gang had to undergo „baptism”, consisting in the murder of a Pole, Jew or Gypsy, or a Soviet prisoner of war. As there was not always an opportunity for this, the degenerates, to secure a permanent „supply of” victims, left many Polish families seemingly alone, until a larger number of recruits were accepted, who until now „had not marked” like „special”. They were handed weapons. It was different – sometimes they were axes, sometimes boards with a sharpened knife on both sides. The required number of victims was then pulled from the homes and given to „to” recruits. This weapon was previously sacrificed in the church, asking God for „good harvest”.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „75th anniversary of the genocide – April 1943”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: btx.home.pl [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: Oliwa Apolinary, „When the knives were blessed – The Tragedy of Volhynia. No longer censored – post-war memories”, in: Opole, Nowik Publishing House, 2013, p. 83

The Soviets agreed to form the 1st Division Tadeusz Kościuszko. At the beginning, it had 6,000 people, and at the end of July 1943, 16,000 people.

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

On the night of June 23–24, 1943 in the Zamość region, Germany, with the participation of the Ukrainian police, Ukrainian SS men from the school in Trawniki and other Ukrainian formations, launched the „Wehrwolf” action consisting in the displacement of Poles and the resettlement of Germans and The Ukrainians in their place; this action affected 99 Polish villages in the district of Biłgoraj, 44 villages in the district Tomaszów Lubelski, 30 villages in the district Zamość, 8 villages in the district Hrubieszów (other villages in this county were displaced during the „Ukrainerakction”) and it covered about 60,000 Poles.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – year 1943 June and the first half of the year”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

Commander of the 1st Military District „Turiw” – Yuriy Stelmashchuk alias „Rudyj” to „Rubana”: „  […] Druze Ruban, I would like to inform you that in June, a representative of the OUN Central Leader, UPA commander – «Piwnicz» Kymi Sawur gave me a secret directive on the total physical liquidation of the Polish population. For the implementation of this directive, please prepare diligently for these actions against the Poles, and I appoint those responsible: in the Bug River regions – curinary «Łysoho»; for the Turzyski, Owadnowski and Oździutycki regions – «Sosenka»; for the Kovel region – «Hołobenka». Fame of Ukraine. June 24, 1943 Commander of the UPA group «Turiw» – «Rudyj»”.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – year 1943 June and the first half of the year”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

source: Archives of SBU of Volhynia Oblast, in: fond. Nr 11315. p.2. case H, vol. 1, p. 28

On July 4, 1943 in Przemyśl, the Greek Catholic bishop Jozafat Kocyłowski accompanied by Fr Vasyl Hrynyk took part in a service for volunteers to the Ukrainian SS Galizien division, which took place at the city sports stadium in today's Sanocka Street.

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

On July 4, 1943 at On 23, 07 in Gibraltar, the Commander–in–Chief and Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish Government in London, died. This news spread around the world and undoubtedly accelerated and intensified the activities of the OUN–UPA aimed at the complete liquidation of the Polish population in Volhynia and Eastern Lesser Poland.

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

On July 19, 1943, the District Commander issued an order to subordinate the State Security Corps, which was subordinate to the district government delegate, to the military command. In this way, the leadership of the Volhynia District of the Home Army, together with the District Government Delegation, took radical measures to defend the Polish population at risk. This meant the centralization of military and civil defense in the hands of the District Commander. The next day, on July 20, 1943, a decision was made to create partisan units.

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

source: prof. dr hab. Filar Władysław, „Volhynia in 1939-1944”; in: Wolak Tadeusz (ed.), „Before the Operation Vistula, there was Wołyń”, World Association of Home Army AK Soldiers, in: Warsaw, 1997

The order of the commandant of the Home Army District was delayed by at least four months. From many Polish villages in Volhynia, only the ashes and the often unburied bodies of the victims remain.

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

On September 15, 1943, 3 platoons from Stanisław Basaj „Rysia” battalion attacked the Ukrainian police station in Sahryń, but without success; it is one of the few lost fights of this unit of Peasant Battalions.

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

On October 12, 1943, the Battle of Lenino took place.

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

In a letter of November 15, 1943, the Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrzej Szeptycki wrote to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lviv, Bolesław Twardowski, in response to his earlier request to appeal to his faithful to stop the murders of the Polish population that they were being carried out by Soviet partisans and Jewish gangs.

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

Even the Germans were surprised by the scale of the crimes committed by the UPA against Poles. Professor Grzegorz Motyka published  […] a report by an SS officer („Secret, matter of state importance”), in which we read, among others:
„In accordance with the agreement, on April 7, 1944, in the apartment of the district elder Nehring in Kamionka Strumiłowa, a meeting was held between the commander of the UPA «Eagle» gang and the undersigned. I presented «Eagle» with the demand, as in other conversations with the nationalist side, emphasizing the current war situation  […] I presented «Eagle» with demands which must not be diverted from even one step:
1. Full loyalty to German interests.
2. Cessation of terrorist activities against the Polish population.
3. Resignation from any pressure on the Ukrainian police^{The UPA appealed to the Ukrainian policemen to join its units with their weapons. Only in March and April 1943, about 5,000 policemen deserted who then joined the armed UPA formations. ad. — Waldemar Michalski}.
4. Resignation from exerting influence on the Galician SS^{This division, composed of Ukrainians, the division «fraternally» supported the murders carried out by the UPA, ad. — Waldemar Michalski}.
I also stressed that it was forbidden to «Eagle» and his UPA unit to fight the Polish gang^{i.e. Home Army AK, ad. — Waldemar Michalski} in the forests on their own initiative. This struggle, however, cannot spread to Polish settlements and villages, or to those Polish men, women and children who do not belong to the bands  […]
«Eagle» without any introduction and explanation declared that he was ready to accept these four demands, with the exception of the condition contained in the second point, which deprived the executive power over the suspected or guilty local Poles and Polish women and their estates. On this, he wants to obtain the approval of his superiors first and discuss it again at the next meeting  […]
When saying goodbye, «Eagle» invited me and Streicher to the Ukrainian Passover, proposing that we spend it with his unit  […]
Obersturmführer SS and Criminal Commissioner (–), Lviv, April 8, 1944 signed.”

source: Grzegorz Motyka, „Germans and UPA”; in: „Karta”, in: No. 23, 1997

source: Zińczuk Aleksandra (idea, selection, edit), „Reconciliation through difficult memory. Volhynia 1943”, „Panorama of Cultures” Association, in: Lublin 2012, p. 44

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]

Ukrainians murdered 2 Poles.

source: Żurek Stanisław, „Calendar of the genocide – December 1946 and in 1946”; in: portal: Volhynia — web page: wolyn.org [accessible: 2022.02.28]

The military operation 'Vistula' ended, during which the UPA troops were defeated and resettled to the so‑called Recovered Territories [contemporary western Poland — GTKRK] about 140,000 Ukrainian, Lemko, mixed–family and Polish people, with the Ukrainian population accounting for about half of the displaced.

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

„I'm on the 'Genocide of the Polish People in the Borderlands' website, I would like to describe the story of the murder of my grandparents, my mother's parents Michalina Kaczmarek (nee Łoś), Telesfor and Zofia Łoś née Farynowska, I don't know who I can turn to. I was looking for information about this family, but I did not find anything, this family is not included in any list, and was brutally murdered by the Ukrainians. Please contact me on the above e–mail. krycha5353@wp.pl”.

source: portal: stankiewicze.com — web page: www.stankiewicze.com [accessible: 2010.01.01]

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