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
KUCAB
forename(s)
Michael (pl. Michał)
religious forename(s)
Adalbert (pl. Wojciech)
function
diocesan priest
creed
Latin (Roman Catholic) Church RCmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]
congregation
Order of Friars Minor OFMmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]
(i.e. Franciscans, Minorites)
diocese / province
Lviv archdiocesemore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]
Angelic Blessed Mary province OFMmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.08.18]
RC Military Ordinariate of Polandmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.12.20]
date and place
of death
09.02.1944
Bodnarivtoday: Bodnariv hrom., Kalush rai., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.03.02]
alt. dates and places
of death
08.02.1944
details of death
In 1927 and 1929 appointed reserve chaplain of the Polish Army (from 25.11.1926 each time for a statutory 2‐year period).
After German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939 and start of the World War II, after the German attack on 22.06.1941 of their erstwhile ally, the Russians, and the start of the German occupation, appointed in 1942 expositor–administrator of the curacy in Bodnariv, c. 17 km west of Stanislaviv and c. 12 km east of Kalush, on the Lukva River, near the single–track Kalush–Stanislaviv railway line. In 1939, the village was inhabited by prob. c. 2,000‐3,000 people, including c. 200‐300 Poles, c. 90% Ukrainians and several dozen Jews. When began ministry in the curacy — then located in the Germ. Landkreis Stanislau (Eng. Stanislaviv County) within the Germ. Distrikt Galizien (Eng. Galicia District), belonging to the quasi‐state occupied and administered by the Germans, called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG — there were prob. no Jews in the village anymore. They were prob. all taken to the ghetto in Kalush, from where were next transported — prob. through Stanislaviv — to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Belzec, where as part of the German genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), which in the GG was implemented under the German codename Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt), they were murdered. German sources state that in 1943 1,716 people lived in the village.
Became a victim of the «Genocidium Atrox» — i.e. the genocide committed by Ukrainians against Poles, known also as the „Volyn” genocide.
The «Genocidium Atrox» began in Volyn. 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”.
Immediately thereafter, in 03.1943, the UPA issued an appeal to members of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), collaborating with Germans, in some regions also referred to as the Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Eng. Protection Battalions), i.e. Schuma, which co‐participated in the German genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), in the Germ. Reichskommissariat Ukraine implemented under the codename Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt), to desert and join the UPA. Perhaps as many as 10,000 Ukrainians did so.
This was the de facto signal for the commencement of «Genocidium Atrox».
In 1943, Volyn was not in the GG, but belonged to the Germ. Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Eng. Reich Commissariat Ukraine), an occupational body established by the Germans after the German attack on 22.06.1941 on the Russians. The choice of Volyn for the beginning of the «Genocidium Atrox» and the genocide of Poles by the OUN/UPA was not accidental. Firstly, Volyn in pre‐war Poland had prob. the smallest percentage of Polish population in the entire country. Secondly, it was probably the least economically developed voivodeship of Poland, which was caused by the deliberate policy of the Russians in the 19th century, ruling then in part of partitioned Poland — the direct route to the heart of Russia, to Moscow, runs through Volyn, so no roads were laid there, no bridges built, no marshy areas around the Pripyat drained, no industry located, and no schools established. Thirdly, and finally, it was Volyn (and the Chełm region) that was to be incorporated into the borders of the short‐lived Ukrainian state, to be established on the basis of the Treaty of Brest‐Litovsk of 09.02.1918 during World War I, agreed by the Central Powers (German Empire, Austro–Hungarian Monarchy) — in 1943 the Germans simply fulfilled the obligations undertaken at that time.
Ukrainian génocidaires murdered tens of thousands of Poles and burned hundreds of villages in Volyn in 1943 as part of the «Genocidium Atrox» program.
When it became clear at the turn of 1943/1944 that Germany was losing the war in the East — on 24.12.1943, a major Russian offensive known as the Dnieper–Carpathian Operation began, which by 04.1944 reached a line c. 80 km east from Lviv — the OUN/UPA decided to extend the «Genocidium Atrox» extermination plan to the Germ. Distrikt Galizien. Until then, the groups operating there were mainly — so as not to „annoy” the Germans — units operating under the euphemistic Ukrainian name Ukr. Українська Народна Самооборона (Eng. Ukrainian National Self‐Defense), i.e. UNS, reinforced by deserters from the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schuma, seasoned in the genocide of Jews. The Ukrainian génocidaires, among others, formed the OUN/UPA operational group „UPA‐West”, under the command of Vasyl Sydor, nom de guerre „Shelest”, who ordered „to constantly attack Poles until they are completely exterminated from these lands”.
The Military District WO‐2 „Buh”, commanded by Mykola Tverdokhlib, nom de guerre „Hrin” (Eng. „Thunder”), who in 1941 was a platoon commander in the Ukrainian Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall (Eng. Special Group Nightingale) — a unit of the Germ. Wehrmacht (Eng. Armed Forces) taking part in the German attack on the Russians in 1941, accused of participating in the pogrom of Jews in Lviv in 1941 — was responsible for the implementation of «Genocidium Atrox» in the vicinity of Stanislaviv, including Bodnariv. His path to the OUN/UPA was therefore the same as that of its main commander, the aforementioned Roman Shukhevych.
And it was then when was murdered.
Treacherously lured out of the rectory by the Ukrainians of the genocidal OUN/UPA.
Driven across a bridge to the other bank of the Lukva River — to the so—called „Zaryechy”.
Executed — shot.
Sources indicate that on that day, Ukrainians kidnapped and murdered four Poles in Bodnariv. Another account states that „on February 4, 1944, Fr Michael Kucaba, 44, was murdered in Bodnariv [Stanislaviv] and his cousin Eva Dellman was wounded”.
The Polish Institute of National Remembrance IPN states that „the priest's killer was Mechislav Zhurakovskyi”.
The IPN also provides other information, namely: „From other sources, during the attack, a priest was killed and crucified on the church walls. A pregnant woman was crucified with him”. However, it attributes this to an attack on the village that took place a month later, on 07‐08.03.1944. It is unknown whether this refers to the same priest, although in Bodnariv there was a Catholic church only — the Greek Catholic church was located in the neighboring village of Bryn.
On 07‐08.03.1944, a genocidal attack on Poles living in Bodnariv took place. The attackers were, according to sources, „local Banderites”, i.e. neighbors — after all, Bodnariv was inhabited mostly by Ukrainians. Polish houses were looted and burned. The parish church and rectory were also burned. Victims were murdered „regardless of gender and age”. The only known testimony includes the entry: „Grandpa returned home in 1945. Found only burned‐out buildings there. He learned from neighbors that his siblings and parents were murdered on March 7, 1943, at about 10 p.m. My great–grandfather, Theodor Bahrynowski, was hacked to death with a saw”. Between 187 and 250 Poles were murdered, that is, all Poles living in Bodnariv or taking refuge there. Bryn was also attacked on the same day, where c. 17 Poles were murdered.
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). On 05.12.2017, on behalf of the aforemention „Coordination Council”, genocidal perpetrator Mykola Tverdokhlib was posthumously awarded in in Ivano–Frankivsk (i.e. Stanislaviv) the Bronze Cross of Military Merit of the UPA (No. 042).
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
mass murder
perpetrators
Ukrainians
sites and events
«Genocidium Atrox»Click to display the description, GeneralgouvernementClick to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description
date and place
of birth
09.09.1899Birth certification on:
photos.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl
[access: 2025.04.13]
Cieszacin Wielkitoday: Pawłosiów gm., Jarosław pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]
parents
KUCAB John
🞲 ?, ? — 🕆 ?, ?
BLOK Marianne
🞲 ?, ? — 🕆 ?, ?
baptism
10.09.1899Birth certification on:
photos.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl
[access: 2025.04.13]
Zarzeczetoday: Zarzecze gm., Przeworsk pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.11.09]
St Michael the Archangel RC church
presbyter (holy orders)
ordination
05.07.1925
Krakówtoday: Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07]
positions held
1942 – 1944
curatus/rector/expositus — Bodnarivtoday: Bodnariv hrom., Kalush rai., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.03.02] ⋄ Sacred Heart of Jesus RC church ⋄ Kalushtoday: Kalush urban hrom., Kalush rai., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20], St Valentine Priest and Martyr RC parish ⋄ Dolynatoday: Dolyna urban hrom., Kalush rai., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20] RC deanery
1939 – 1942
vicar — Tlumachtoday: Tlumach urban hrom., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk rai., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.12.03] ⋄ St Anne RC parish ⋄ Stanislavivtoday: Ivano‐Frankivsk, Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk rai., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20] RC deanery
1939
secularization
1939
leaving — Franciscans OFM
1938 – 1939
guardian — Kętytoday: Kęty gm., Oświęcim pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18] ⋄ Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary monastery, Franciscans OFM
1930 – 1938
friar — LvivKlepariv district
today: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18] ⋄ Holy Family monastery, Franciscans OFM ⋄ Our Lady of the Rosary RC church ⋄ St Anne RC parish ⋄ Lviv intra Urbemdeanery name
today: Lviv obl., Ukraine RC deanery — also: church administrator and full‐time prefect of primary schools
c. 1929
friar — Kazimierz nad Wisłąalso: Kazimierz Dolny
today: Kazimierz nad Wisłą gm., Puławy pov., Lublin voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.09.29] ⋄ Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary monastery, Franciscans OFM — also: catechist
c. 1928
friar — Jarosławtoday: Jarosław gm., Jarosław pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.04.01] ⋄ Holy Trinity monastery, Franciscans OFM — also: catechist
c. 1926 – c. 1927
friar — Biecztoday: Biecz gm., Gorlice pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.04.01] ⋄ St Anne monastery, Franciscans OFM — also: vicar of monastery's church
till 1926
student — Krakówtoday: Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07] ⋄ St Bonaventure Theological Study, St Casimir the Prince and Confessor monastery, Franciscans OFM
c. 1917 – c. 1918
novitiate — Wieliczkatoday: Wieliczka gm., Wieliczka pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07] ⋄ St Francis' Stigmas monastery, Franciscans OFM
1917
accession — Franciscans OFM
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])
Generalgouvernement: After the Polish defeat in the 09.1939 campaign, which was the result of the Ribbentrop‐Molotov Pact and constituted the first stage of World War II, and the beginning of German occupation in part of Poland (in the other, eastern part of Poland, the Russian occupation began), the Germans divided the occupied Polish territory into five main regions. In two of them new German provinces were created, two other were incorporated into other provinces. However, the fifth part was treated separately, and in a political sense it was supposed to recreate the German idea from 1915 (during World War I, after the defeat of the Russians in the Battle of Gorlice in 05.1915) of creating a Polish enclave within Germany. Illegal in the sense of international law, i.e. Hague Convention, and public law, managed by the Germans according to separate laws — especially established for the Polish Germ. Untermenschen (Eng. subhumans) — till the Russian offensive in 1945 it constituted part of the Germ. Großdeutschland (Eng. Greater Germany). Till 31.07.1940 formally called Germ. Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete (Eng. General Government for the occupied Polish lands) — later simply Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), as in the years 1915‐1918. From 07.1941, i.e. after the German attack on 22.06.1941 against the erstwhile ally, the Russians, it also included the Galicia district, i.e. the Polish pre‐war south‐eastern voivodeships. A special criminal law was enacted and applied to Poles and Jews, allowing for the arbitrary administration of the death penalty regardless of the age of the „perpetrator”, and sanctioning the use of collective responsibility. After the end of the military conflict of the World War UU, the government of the Germ. Generalgouvernement was recognized as a criminal organization, and its leader, governor Hans Frank, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and executed. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.12.13])
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.stankiewicze.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23], nawolyniu.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.06], ordynariat.wp.mil.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30], photos.szukajwarchiwach.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2025.04.13], cracovia-leopolis.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.06], parafiacieszacin.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.12.13]
bibliographical:
„Register of Latin rite Lviv metropolis clergy’s losses in 1939‐45”, Józef Krętosz, Maria Pawłowiczowa, editors, Opole, 2005
„Schematismus Universi Saecularis et Regularis Cleri Archi Diaeceseos Metropol. Leopol. Rit. Lat.”, Lviv Metropolitan Curia, from 1860 till 1938
„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
original images:
wegliniec.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.10.31]
LETTER to CUSTODIAN/ADMINISTRATOR
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MARTYROLOGY: KUCAB Michael
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