After the German and Russian invasion of the Poland in 09.1939 and the beginning of World War II, after the German attack on 22.06.1944 on the erstwhile ally, the Russians, and start of the German occupation, left the monastic house in Albertin in Belarus in 1942 — the local so‐called Eastern Mission of the Jesuits SI, propagating and spreading the Catholic Eastern Rite, commonly called Byzantine‐Slavic or Neo‐Uniate, in which services were celebrated in Old Church Slavonic, was closed by the Germans in 08.1942 on the order of Wilhelm Kube, Germ. Generalkommissar (Eng. Commissioner General) of the occupational Germ. Generalbezirk Weißruthenien (Eng. General District of Belarus), which was part of the Germ. Reichskommissariat Ostland (Eng. Reich Commissariat East), and the exarch, i.e. the governor of the Greek Catholic Metropolitan of Lviv, Abp Andrew Szeptycki, was arrested and murdered — returned to his home village.

In 1939, before the outbreak of the war, Piskorowice had an estimated population of c. 2,700 people, including c. 450 Poles, i.e. c. 17%, c. 80% Ukrainians (Lemkos), and several dozen Jews. When returned, the village was administratively located in the Germ. Landkreis (Eng. Biłgoraj County) within the Germ. Distrikt Lublin (Eng. Lublin District), belonging to the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG, and had a population of c. 2,300 (data from 1943). The Jews were prob. already dead — as part of the genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), which was implemented in the GG under the German codename Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt), were prob. murdered in Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Belzec.

He was there in 02.1943, when Roman Szuchewycz, nom de guerre „Taras Chuprynka”, the main commander of the UPA, 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 (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. «Aktion Reinhardt», to desert and join the UPA. Perhaps as many as 10,000 Ukrainians did so.

«Genocidium Atrox» began in Volyn. 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 in Volyn and burned hundreds of villages as part of the «Genocidium Atrox» in 1943.

When at the turn of 1943/1944 it became clear that Germany was losing the war in the East — on 24.12.1943, a huge Russian offensive called the Dnieper–Carpathian Operation began, which in 04.1944 reached a line c. 80 km east of Lviv — the OUN/UPA decided to extend the «Genocidium Atrox» to the Germ. Distrikt Galizien (Eng. Galicia District) and Germ. Distrikt Lublin. Until then, the groups operating there — in order not to „annoy” the Germans — were mainly hiding under the euphemistic Ukrainian name Ukr. Українська Народна Самооборона (Eng. Ukrainian National Self–Defense), i.e. UNS, and later as ukr. Самооборонні кущові відділи (Eng. Self‐defense unit), i.e. SKW, reinforced by members of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schuma, experienced in genocide of Jews. Genocidal Ukrainians formed then i.a. 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 OUN/UPA Military District WO‐6 „San”, commanded from 1945 prob. by Miroslav Onyshkevych, nom de guerre „Orest”, was responsible for implementing the «Genocidium Atrox» in the Piskorowice and Wiązownica region, on the right side of the San River.

The genocidal OUN/UPA began to penetrate the Germ. Lublin District at the beginning of 1944. The murders of the Polish population began, following the Volyn pattern. And so the genocidal „Orest” became famous for his order issued on 06.04.1944, in which specified the tasks of the UPA units under his command: „I order the immediate purging of my region of the Polish element […] The purging should be carried out in the sparsely populated towns. For this purpose, a militia group composed of our members should be established in the region, whose task would be to eliminate the above‐mentioned. Our larger towns will be purged of this element by our military units even in broad daylight […] The purging of the area must be completed before our Easter, so that we can celebrate it without Poles […] Fight them hard and ruthlessly. Spare no one, even in the case of mixed marriages. Extract the Poles from their homes, but do not liquidate the Ukrainians and children in these houses […] Take out the weapons. Death to the Poles”.

However, it turned out that, despite the fact that, due to the situation on the German–Russian front, the Germans in many places in the Germ. District Lublin left internal control over the occupied territories almost exclusively to collaborationist formations — such as the Germ. Gendarmerie, Schuma, the Germ. Galizisches SS Freiwilligen Regiment 5 – Polizei (Eng. 5th Galician Volunteer Regiment of SS – police), i.e. SS‐GFR5P, units of the Germ. Die Schutzstaffel der NSDAP (Eng. NSDAP Protection Unit), i.e. «SS», a paramilitary formation subordinate to the ruling National Socialist German Workers' Party NSDAP in Germany, consisting largely of Ukrainians — retaining only general supervisory functions, the OUN/UPA, together with the UNS units, which were de facto branches of the OUN/UPA, met with resistance from Polish partisan units of the Home Army AK and the Peasant Battalions BCh (parts of the Polish Clandestine State), as well as partisans of the National Armed Forces NSZ.

A guerrilla war began, in which the Ukrainian génocidaires initially enjoyed at least tactical support from the German occupiers. In some cases, Polish partisans‐many of whom were traumatized refugees from Volyn, where they had lost entire families murdered by the OUN/UPA‐responded with attacks on Ukrainian villages, particularly those favorable to the OUN/UPA.

The situation changed with the German defeat and the beginning of the Russian occupation in 07.1944, as a result of the so‐called Lviv–Sandomierz Operation. The OUN/UPA, of course, did not change its plans to exterminate the Polish population, but it no longer had German support. On the contrary, the Russians began to combat the OUN/UPA. Simultaneously, the Russians fought against Polish units of the Polish Clandestine State, the National Military Union NZW and National Military Organization NOW.

And it was then, in 04.

1945, when received a letter from his monastic superiors to go to Piotrków.

Began to prepare for the departure. Meanwhile, in the early morning of 17.04.1945, the OUN/UPA kuren (squad), commanded by Ivan Shpontak, nom de guerre „Zalinyak” — a former member of the German collaborationist Germ. Ukrainian Hilfspolizei who had deserted to the UPA — was subordinate to the génocidaire Myroslav Onyshkevich „Orest”, attacked the village of Wiązownica, c. 23 km from Piskorowice. The Ukrainian génocidaires burned down 170 Polish farms, murdering, according to various estimates, 100‐140 Poles. One historian noted: „The causes of death were gunshots and/or fire and smoke, i.e. burning and suffocation […] We record several cases when a shot victim was deliberately set on fire (with straw) or thrown into a raging fire”.

Another witness recalled: „I remember from stories how the UPA tied a resident of Wiązownica, named Kasia, to a horse by the neck, and the horse tore his head off while running”. Among the attackers were local Ukrainians.

Already on the night of 17‐18.04.1945, in response to the murder in Wiązowna, a Polish partisan unit of the NOW, under the command of Joseph Zadzierski nom de guerre „Volyniak” (Eng. „Volyn man”), attacked Piskorowice. The unit surrounded the village and then attacked the school where Ukrainians were gathering to await deportation to the east — ordered by the Russians, in accordance with the age‐old Russian tradition of resolving social and national conflicts. The „resettlement” commission itself was supposed to be released, but most of those gathered — including women and children — were shot. According to research by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance IPN, „a characteristic feature of this crime is the kinship of most of the victims with members of the Germ. 14. Waffen–Grenadier–Division der SS – ukrainische Nr. 1 (Eng. 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS – 1st Ukrainian), i.e. «SS‐Galizien», SKW, UPA, OUN‐SB and Ukrainian militias”, i.e., genocidal Ukrainian organizations. This prob. means that the „Volyniak” unit carried out executions according to „previously prepared proscription lists”, applying collective responsibility to the victims. The crime, according to the same research, „was not an ethnic cleansing, but a revenge”. The „Volyniak” group murdered c. 120 people (including 100 on the school grounds).

Among the victims reported by a Polish researcher of Ukrainian nationality was a certain „Nicholas Kucło”, resident of the Chałupki hamlet. It is unknown whether this refers to the Jesuit SI friar being described.

According to monastic sources, perished 11 days later, day before planned departure for Piotrków.

Murdered by unknown perpetrators.

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!”