„Volyn” — Boj Wojtowicz, Andrew (b. 1959, Głubczyce),
2017, middle part of a tryptich,
canvas, 200×420 cm, own technique with ash and soil;
source: www.weduta.com

Genocidium Atrox selected by the authors of this study for its title is a Latin term literally meaning „cruel genocide”. It's likely that in relation to the described events it was first used in „Genocidum Atrox” page on the Salon 24 portal, [access: 2012.07.11] by Prof. Richard Szawłowski (1929, Vilnius – 2020, Warsaw), and since then has been adopted by Mrs. Ewa Siemaszko (1947, Bielsko–Biała), among others^{„Genocidium atrox”, in „Do Rzeczy — Historia”, No 5/2013; on: Volyn of our ancestors portal; [access: 2021.04.23]}.

• According to the authors of this study, the fact that genocide took place is not subject to discussion and results directly from the definition of the term, available on Wikipedia^{[access: 2021.04.23]}. It states:
• The term genocide was included as a legal term „by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1948 and came into effect on 12 January 1951 (Resolution 260 (III)). It contains an internationally recognized definition of genocide which has been incorporated into the national criminal legislation of many countries and was also adopted by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC). Article II of the Convention defines genocide as:
• «[…] any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
  1. Killing members of the group.
  2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.
  3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
  4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
  5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group»”.
• Following the Polish version of Wikipedii^{[access: 2021.04.23]}, let us also use the following clarification made by the French political scientist, historian of sociology and philosophy, Alain Besançon (b. 1932, Paris): „genocide in the proper sense, unlike ordinary slaughter, requires meeting the criterion: it is intentional slaughter being integral part of an ideology that aims to annihilate a part of humanity in order to introduce its own concept of good. The plan of destruction is to cover the whole of a specific group, even if it is not brought to an end as a result of material impossibility or a political change”.
• Therefore whether or not this or that body, being public or private, authoritarian or democratic, recognizes or not, in a vote or declaration, in one way or another, does not change the fact that the events described in Genocidium Atrox meet all the conditions, sufficient and necessary, to recognize these events as genocide.
• It was genocide. QED.
• The terms „perpetrators” and „victims” — conferred by the authors of this study — are indicative, not definitive. Therefore, the statement that the perpetrators of a given murder or sequence of murders were „Ukrainians” does not mean that „all Ukrainians” or even „most of Ukrainians” are blamed / referred to, but specific groups, units, gangs, individuals — even if unknown nowadays. It means, however, that the perpetrators were acting in the name of the genocidal ideology of the superiority of the group referred to as „Ukrainians” or „Ukrainian people”, demanding extermination of people who did not meet the criteria for belonging to this group. Similarly, if the victims are defined as „Poles” it does not mean that the victims were solely Poles (Ukrainians, Jews, Czech settlers, Russians might suffered as well), but means that the purpose of the murder(s) was to exterminate Poles.
• The survivors used different terms to describe the perpetrators of the murders. Among them were: „Ukrainians”, „UPA”, „UPAmen”, „Banderites”, „Bulbovtsy”, „Ukrainian policemen”, „Germans and Ukrainians”, „SS‑Galizien”. Each of these terms ought to be precisely defined — for each murder site, for each murder incident separately. At present this is however not possible due to the lack of access to crime scenes.
• Nonetheless it is obvious that the main responsibility lies with the organization calling itself the „Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists” (Ukr. Організація Українських Націоналістів), OUN for short, and its armed band „Ukrainian Insurgent Army” (Ukr. Українська повстанська армія), known as UPA. And these organizations — let historians argue about the responsibility of their various factions — should be clearly defined as genocidal. This means that all their leaders, regardless of their fate, were — in legal sense —perpetrators of genocide. All members, regardless of their role in the described cases, were members of genocidal organizations. In many cases — accomplices in the acts of genocide.
• The first leader of the OUN, Stepan Bandera (1909, Uhrynów Stary – 1959, Munich) should also be considered as genocide perpetrator, despite the fact that during the peak of Genocidium Atrox he was held by the Germans in the German concentration camp KL Sachsenhausen, and despite his post–war fate. However, his name for tens of thousands of Poles meant one thing — imminent death, as evidenced by the personal recollections and reminiscences contained in this study.
• The degree of responsibility of other Ukrainian organizations — in the areas covered by Genocidium Atrox — that acted chiefly during the German occupation of 1941‑4/5, such as:
  • 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (Germ. 14. Waffen–Grenadier–Division der SS), a unit consisting of Ukrainian volunteers, headed by a Military Board consisting of 2 Germans and 12 Ukrainians, led by German commanders (except the last one — a Ukrainian), part of the German Schutzstaffel SS genocidal organization, commonly known as SS‑Galizien.
  • Ukrainian Auxiliary Police (Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei), an organization appointed, formed, uniformed and trained by the Germans, consisting of Ukrainians, jointly responsible, among others for the earlier holocaust of the Jews living in the areas covered by Genocidium Atrox.
  • Sich Poleska (Ukr. Поліська Січ), a Ukrainian organization, initially a quasi‑police formation, tolerated by the Germans, but since xi.1941 in the underground, operating mainly in Polesye; in 1943, mostly taken over by the OUN and the UPA, called by the Poles „Bulbovtsy” from the nom de guerre of its leader.
• and others; let the professional historians argue about, discern and ascertain.
• The Genocidium Atrox study is based mainly on the work of Mr. Stanislaus Żurek, the author of „Ukrainian nationalist genocide committed against Poles in south–eastern Poland in 1939‑1948”^{ed. Nortom, 2013}, among others; the poet who systematically presents the calendar of events related to Genocidium Atrox on the „Wołyń” website. This study owes most of the quotations, sources and, of course, the calendar to the work of Mr. Żurek.
• In its present form, the development of Genocidium Atrox covers mainly the years 1943‑5. According to many studies, the genocide atrocities had started earlier, as early as 1939 (as discussed in the introduction ⇒ HERE) and continued for several years after the end of military hostilities of World War II. As information becomes available, the Genocidium Atrox portal will also attempt to include events of those years.
• Victim estimates — the methodology is described ⇒ HERE — may be based on recollections repeated over and therefore be overestimated. We count on our readers' support in pointing out these inaccuracies.
• This does not mean that the total number of victims is overestimated. It should be born in mind that in many case the victims count is simply unknown.
• The Genocidium Atrox portal has made an attempt to determine the precise location of every incident and crime. Most of the pages dedicated to specific sites (not all) have a button redirecting to the Google Maps page, showing the presumed place corresponding to a given incident. It lack usually applies to a non–existent place.
• The Genocidium Atrox website contains the names of localities valid and used in 1939, the last year of independence of the Second Polish Republic, and their relevant equivalents (if applicable) in 2020. The same applies to the administrative affiliation of a site — the administrative affiliation is provided both for 1939 and 2020. We draw your attention to the fact that in 2020 an administrative reform was introduced in Ukraine, changing the structure of the country's regions. Genocidium Atrox does not take it into account as yet.
• In addition, it was decided that the contemporary English names of localities, at present on the territory of Ukraine — as well as in Poland — should be consistent with the names adopted in the English version of Wikipedia (with few exceptions).
• The original dates of events described are often imprecise. The recollections contain phrases such as „winter”, „March”, „harvest”, „year”, etc. As Genocidium Atrox intends to be based as much as possible on precise day dates — in the context of the calendar of events and, in the future, analytical studies — these dates had to find a precise calendar equivalent. Therefore, when describing specific incident, posted on pages devoted to specific site, both the phrases used in the reports and their equivalent adopted by the Genocidium Atrox portal are provided.
• The quotes used are often taken from online sources. Attempts have been made to provide the dates of access to these pages, which may mean that at the time of reading they will no longer be available.
• The quotes in the English version of the Genocidium Atrox portal have initially been translated from Polish (all recollections and reports were originally written in Polish) by one of translators using the Google engine. Subsequently it was found out that the resulting text was in many cases of poor quality, especially bearing in mind colloquial Polish language used in the original text. An effort has been made to make the translation as eligible as possible though the Genocidium Atrox realize that still much needs to be done. We ask everybody for forgiveness if some English text seems nonsensical and illogical — we will strive to correct it as soon as possible.
• The Genocidium Atrox portal may be expanded in the future, e.g. with the arrival of new information, memories or photos. It depends mainly on the its readers — web users and explorers. We encourage everybody to help us to do so.