Roman Catholic
St Sigismund parish
05-507 Słomczyn
85 Wiślana Str.
Konstancin deanery
Warsaw archdiocese, Poland
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Martyrology of the clergy — Poland
XX century (1914 – 1989)
personal data
surname
KOPACZYŃSKA
forename(s)
Josefa (pl. Józefa)
function
nun
creed
Latin (Roman Catholic) Church RCmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]
congregation
Congregation of the Stara Wieś Sisters Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception ABMVmore on
www.sluzebniczkinmp.pl
[access: 2013.01.06]
(i.e. Stara Wieś Sisters Servants)
diocese / province
Lviv archdiocesemore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]
date and place
of death
03.01.1945
Yanivtoday: Dolyna, Terebovlya urban hrom., Ternopil rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.03.02]
alt. dates and places
of death
1944‑1945
n. Yanivtoday: Dolyna, Terebovlya urban hrom., Ternopil rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.03.02]
details of death
After the German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939 and the start of World War II, and prob. during both the Russian invasion of 1939‐1941 and the German invasion of Poland — following the German attack on 22.07.1941 on their erstwhile ally, the Russians — served in the Yaniv parish, c. 10 km from Terebovlya and 40 km south of Ternopil. In 1939, the town of Yaniv had a population of c. 3,000, including c. 60% Roman Catholic Poles, c. 25% Greek Catholic Ukrainians, and 15% Jews.
During the German occupation, the town became part of the Germ. Landkreis Trembowla (Eng. Terebovlya County) in the Germ. Distrikt Galizien (Eng. District Galicia), part of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Government), i.e. GG. And in 1942 the Germans began implementing the genocidal plan of the Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), i.e. the extermination of the Jewish community, in the GG referred to by the codename Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt).
Was prob. there, when in 10.1942‐03.11.1942, the Jews from Yaniv were deported to the ghetto in Terebovlya. c. 4,000 people were gathered there. On 04.11.1942, the Germans, together with the Ukrainian, collaborationist Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), herded 1,091‐1,400 of them onto freight cars — killing 109 others in the process — and transport them to the German extermination camp VL Belzec. The Germans, with the „help” of Ukrainians, liquidated the ghetto in three subsequent stages. The Jews were no longer deported to the distant VL Belzec, but murdered near the village of Plebanivka, c. 2 km south of Terebovlya, on the left bank of the Seret River. And so, on 07.03.1943, the Ukrainian Schuma searched the ghetto area with dogs and pulled out c. 1,100 people from their hiding places, herded them to the execution site, where they were shot. Then, on 02‐03.06.1943, 843 Jews were murdered there, ending the genocide on 05.06.1943, with the murder of another 350 Jews. Terebovlya was declared Germ. „Judenrein” (Eng. free of Jews).
After the extermination of the Jews in 1943, c. 1,850 residents remained in Yaniv.
Was prob. in Yaniv, when in 02.1943, Roman Shukhevych, nom de guerre „Taras Chuprynka”, the chief commander of the Ukrainian, genocidal OUN/UPA organisation, issued an order: „The extermination operation should be carried out according to the following principles: Polish villages are to be burned, and their populations massacred. Attacks on towns will take place in broad daylight, not at night. In mixed villages, the Polish population alone should be liquidated, and farmsteads should be burned only if they are 15 meters away and when there is no risk of the fire spreading to neighboring Ukrainian buildings. The Ukrainian population will receive instructions as to where to gather during the attack […] For every Ukrainian murdered, whether by Poles or Germans, 100 (one hundred) Poles will be executed”.
It was the de facto signal for the commencement of the «Genocidium Atrox» — i.e. the genocide perpetrated by Ukrainians, known as „Volyn genocide”.
Immediately thereafter, in 03.1943, the UPA issued an appeal to members of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei, to desert and join the UPA. Perhaps as many as 10,000 Ukrainians did so.
In the initial period, Ukrainians committed brutal murders mainly in Volyn, then in the Germ. Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Eng. Reichskommissariat Ukraine). The genocidal UPA formally did not even exist in the Germ. Distrikt Galizien, hiding under the euphemistic Ukrainian name of Ukr. Українська Народна Самооборона (Eng. Ukrainian National Self–Defense), i.e. UNS — albeit sporadic, genocidal attacks also took place there in 1943. But at the end of 1943, in the face of Germany's inevitable defeat in the war with Russia, the UPA shed its mask and in 12.1943 renamed the UNS the OUN/UPA „UPA‐West” operational group, whose task was to implement «Genocidium Atrox»in the Germ. Distrikt Galizien. At that time, Vasyl Sydor, nom de guerre „Shelest”, issued an order „to strike continuously at Poles until they are completely destroyed from these lands”.
The Germans remained passive towards the UPA's genocidal acts, essentially not undertaking any major operations against it. The situation changed after the Russians entered. The Russians captured her town on c. 22‐23.03.1944, and the Russian occupation began. The new occupier began to actively fight the UPA, especially since the UPA began — in addition to constant genocidal attacks on Poles — to attack Russians. It came to the point that on 01.09.1944, Vasyl Sydor „Shelest” ordered a halt to the action, but excluded „the Polish element collaborating with the NKVD and the organs of Moscow imperialism”. The OUN/UPA was however still to attack „a Polish militia of 20 people in some locality. One third or half of them should be destroyed, the rest disarmed and warned that if they do not stop collaborating with the Bolsheviks against us, they will also be destroyed next time”.
The pause was short–lived — at the turn of 1944/1945, Ukrainian génocidaires resumed their murders of Polish civilians. And then that she was murdered.
The circumstances of the murder are unclear. Some sources simply state that in Yaniv, „Ukrainians murdered two Polish women, the Kopaczyński sisters”. Others state that „the nun Josepha Kopaczyńska and her sister [were] murdered in their own apartment”.
It is also unclear where the murder took place. Some sources indicate Yaniv. Others suggest it was near Yaniv.
The Terebovlya region was covered by the operations of the UPA Military District WO‐3 „Lysonya”, whose commander at the time was a certain Ivan Shanayda, nom de guerre „Stepanovich”, but the crime could also have been committed by agents of the genocidal Ukr. Служба безпеки ОУН (Eng. Security Service OUN), a unit of a clandestine political police, responsible for „cleansing” operations — i.e. secret murders — in the areas under their control, of Poles and people considered enemies, whose commander was the genocidal perpetrator Mykola Arsenych, nom de guerre „Mykhailo”.
We may never know the details of the murder. We do know, however, that on 12.10.2007, the génocidaire Roman Shukhevych was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. On 10.12.2017, on behalf of the „Coordination Council for the Commemoration of Decorated Knights of the OUN and UPA”, génocidaire Vasyl Sydor was posthumously awarded in Lviv the Silver Cross of Military Merit of the UPA, 1st Class (No. 009). In several locations, monuments and commemorative plaques have been erected to these Lat. „hostis humani generis”, the schools were named after them.
Lat. „O Tempora! O mores!”
cause of death
murder
perpetrators
Ukrainians
sites and events
«Genocidium Atrox»Click to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description
positions held
till 1944
nun — Yanivtoday: Dolyna, Terebovlya urban hrom., Ternopil rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.03.02] ⋄ Congregation's house, Sisters Servants of Stara Wieś sł. NMPNP ⋄ Holy Trinity RC parish ⋄ Terebovlyatoday: Terebovlya urban hrom., Ternopil rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20] RC deanery — ministry in the parish
others related
in death
BRONIKOWSKAClick to display biography Henrietta, DZIAMARSKIClick to display biography Marian, JURASZClick to display biography Stephen, KASPERSKIClick to display biography Theodore, LINOWSKAClick to display biography Claire, ROGOWSKIClick to display biography Adalbert, RUPNICKIClick to display biography Joseph, WALNICZEKClick to display biography John, WIERNIKClick to display biography John
sites and events
descriptions
«Genocidium Atrox»: In 1939‐1947, especially in 1943‐1944, independent Ukrainian units, mainly belonging to genocidal Ukrainian organizations OUN (political arm) and UPA (military arm), supported by local Ukrainian population, murdered — often in extremely brutal way — in Volyn and surrounding regions of pre‐war Poland, from 130,000 to 180,000 Poles, all civilians: men, women, children, old and young. Polish‐Ukrainian conflict that openly emerged during and after World War I (in particular resulting in Polish‐Ukrainian war of 1918‐1919), that survived and even deepened later when western Ukraine became a part Poland, exploded again after the outbreak of the World War II in 09.1939. During Russian occupation of 1939‐1941, when hundreds of thousands of Poles were deported into central Russia, when tens of thousands were murdered (during so‐called Katyń massacres, among others), this open conflict had a limited character, helped by the fact that at that time Ukrainians, Ukrainian nationalists in particular, were also persecuted by the Russians. The worst came after German‐Russian war started on 22.06.1941 and German occupation resulted. Initially Ukrainians supported Germans (Ukrainian police was initiated, Ukrainians co—participated in extermination of the Jews and were joining army units fighting alongside Germans). Later when German ambivalent position towards Ukraine became apparent Ukrainians started acting independently. And in 1943 one of the units of aforementioned Ukrainian OUN/UPA organization, in Volyn, started and perpetrated a genocide of Polish population of this region. In mere few weeks OUN/UPA murdered, with Germans passively watching on the sidelines, more than 40,000 Poles. This strategy was consequently approved and adopted by all OUN/UPA organisations and similar genocides took place in Eastern Lesser Poland (part of Ukraine) where more than 20,000 Poles were slaughtered, meeting however with growing resistance from Polish population. Further west, in Chełm, Rzeszów, etc. regions this genocide turned into an extremely bloody conflict. In general genocide, perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists, partly collaborating with German occupants, on vulnerable Polish population took part in hundreds of villages and small towns, where virtually all Polish inhabitants were wiped out. More than 200 priests, religious and nuns perished in this holocaust — known as «Genocidium Atrox» (Eng. „savage genocide”) The nature and purpose of genocide is perhaps best reflected in the song sung by the murderers: „We will slaughter the Poles, we will cut down the Jews, we must conquer the great Ukraine” (ukr. „Поляків виріжем, Євреїв видусим, велику Україну здобути мусим”). This holocaust and conflict ended up in total elimination of Polish population and Polish culture from Ukraine, in enforced deportations in 1944‐1945 of remaining Poles from Ukraine and some Ukrainians into Ukraine proper, and finally in deportation of Ukrainians from East‐South to the Western parts of Polish republic prl by Commie‐Nazi Russian controlled Polish security forces („Vistula Action”). (more on: www.swzygmunt.knc.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.06.20])
Ribbentrop‐Molotov: Genocidal Russian‐German alliance pact between Russian leader Joseph Stalin and German leader Adolf Hitler signed on 23.08.1939 in Moscow by respective foreign ministers, Mr. Vyacheslav Molotov for Russia and Joachim von Ribbentrop for Germany. The pact sanctioned and was the direct cause of joint Russian and German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of the World War II in 09.1939. In a political sense, the pact was an attempt to restore the status quo ante before 1914, with one exception, namely the „commercial” exchange of the so‐called „Kingdom of Poland”, which in 1914 was part of the Russian Empire, fore Eastern Galicia (today's western Ukraine), in 1914 belonging to the Austro‐Hungarian Empire. Galicia, including Lviv, was to be taken over by the Russians, the „Kingdom of Poland” — under the name of the General Governorate — Germany. The resultant „war was one of the greatest calamities and dramas of humanity in history, for two atheistic and anti‐Christian ideologies — national and international socialism — rejected God and His fifth Decalogue commandment: Thou shall not kill!” (Abp Stanislav Gądecki, 01.09.2019). The decisions taken — backed up by the betrayal of the formal allies of Poland, France and Germany, which on 12.09.1939, at a joint conference in Abbeville, decided not to provide aid to attacked Poland and not to take military action against Germany (a clear breach of treaty obligations with Poland) — were on 28.09.1939 slightly altered and made more precise when a treaty on „German‐Russian boundaries and friendship” was agreed by the same murderous signatories. One of its findings was establishment of spheres of influence in Central and Eastern Europe and in consequence IV partition of Poland. In one of its secret annexes agreed, that: „the Signatories will not tolerate on its respective territories any Polish propaganda that affects the territory of the other Side. On their respective territories they will suppress all such propaganda and inform each other of the measures taken to accomplish it”. The agreements resulted in a series of meeting between two genocidal organization representing both sides — German Gestapo and Russian NKVD when coordination of efforts to exterminate Polish intelligentsia and Polish leading classes (in Germany called «Intelligenzaktion», in Russia took the form of Katyń massacres) where discussed. Resulted in deaths of hundreds of thousands of Polish intelligentsia, including thousands of priests presented here, and tens of millions of ordinary people,. The results of this Russian‐German pact lasted till 1989 and are still in evidence even today. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30])
Pius XI's encyclicals: Facing the creation of two totalitarian systems in Europe, which seemed to compete with each other, though there were more similarities than contradictions between them, Pope Pius XI issued in 03.1937 (within 5 days) two encyclicals. In the „Mit brennender Sorge” (Eng. „With Burning Concern”) published on 14.03.1938, condemned the national socialism prevailing in Germany. The Pope wrote: „Whoever, following the old Germanic‐pre‐Christian beliefs, puts various impersonal fate in the place of a personal God, denies the wisdom of God and Providence […], whoever exalts earthly values: race or nation, or state, or state system, representatives of state power or other fundamental values of human society, […] and makes them the highest standard of all values, including religious ones, and idolizes them, this one […] is far from true faith in God and from a worldview corresponding to such faith”. On 19.03.1937, published „Divini Redemptoris” (Eng. „Divine Redeemer”), in which criticized Russian communism, dialectical materialism and the class struggle theory. The Pope wrote: „Communism deprives man of freedom, and therefore the spiritual basis of all life norms. It deprives the human person of all his dignity and any moral support with which he could resist the onslaught of blind passions […] This is the new gospel that Bolshevik and godless communism preaches as a message of salvation and redemption of humanity”… Pius XI demanded that the established human law be subjected to the natural law of God , recommended the implementation of the ideal of a Christian state and society, and called on Catholics to resist. Two years later, National Socialist Germany and Communist Russia came together and started World War II. (more on: www.vatican.vaClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.05.28], www.vatican.vaClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.05.28])
sources
personal:
www.kresykedzierzynkozle.home.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.13], www.wbc.poznan.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19], www.swzygmunt.knc.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2026.07.13]
bibliographical:
„Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933‐1945”, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ed. Martin Dean, volume II: „Ghettos in German–Occupied Eastern Europe”, part A
„Genocidium Atrox”, GTKRK, https://www.swzygmunt.knc.pl/GENOCIDEs/15 GENOCIDUM ATROX/vPOLISH/MAINs/GENATROXsearch01.htm
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