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
MAZUR
surname
versions/aliases
MAZURSKI
forename(s)
John (pl. Jan)
function
diocesan priest
creed
Latin (Roman Catholic) Church RCmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]
diocese / province
Przemyśl diocesemore on
www.przemyska.pl
[access: 2013.02.15]
date and place
of death
12.07.1944
Tarnawkatoday: Dubiecko gm., Przemyśl pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.10.09]
alt. dates and places
of death
01.07.1944, 11.07.1944, 21.07.1944
Dylągowatoday: Dynów gm., Rzeszów pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]
details of death
In 1939, became administrator of the Tarnawka parish, then in the Dobromil district of the Polish Lviv voivodeship. The village of Tarnawka itself was inhabited by an estimated 600 people, mostly — apart from a few Jews and a few people of Ruthenian or Ukrainian nationality — by Poles. However, the religious — and therefore national — structure of Dobromil district was more complex: c. 41% were Roman Catholics, c. 56% Greek Catholics (one‐third Ukrainians, two‐thirds Ruthenians), and c. 2% Jews. His parish village, situated in a valley above the Jawornik stream, which flows into the San River, was surrounded on two sides by large Lemko villages, i.e. Ruthenian, belonging to the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Przemyśl, with Ukrainization tendencies — Piątkowa and Iskań. The Ruthenians, who constituted the majority among Greek Catholics in the district, were divided — some belonged to the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Przemyśl, but a significant role was played by clergy belonging to the Greek Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Lemkowszczyzna, i.e. AEL. AEL was established after the so‐called Tylawa schism, i.e. a wave of mass conversions of Lemkos to Orthodoxy at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s — as a result of which c. 18,000 Lemkos left the Greek Catholic Church — in protest against the Ukrainization policy of the hierarchy of that Church. The AEL stopped Ukrainization efforts in parishes under its control, which prevented further apostasy of the Lemkos. Many priests in the AEL, however, continued to support radical Ukrainian national ideology. One of them was — according to Ukrainian sources — the then vicar of the Greek Catholic parish of Hłudno, c. 16 km east of Tarnawka, Fr Michael Hajduk, which was to have a decisive influence on his future fate.
After the German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939 and the start of World War II, as a result of the German–Russian Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the Fourth Partition of Poland, his parish — located c. 25 km west of Przemyśl, in the corner of the San River, on its right bank, where the river, flowing generally from south to north, turns 90° east — came under Russian occupation. His diocese, like its capital, Przemyśl, was divided by the San River — the part on its right bank found itself under Russian occupation. Poles in Tarnawka, as in the entire territory of Poland occupied by the Russians, were subjected to repression — communist indoctrination, predatory tax policy, deportations deep into Russia, i.e. „to Siberia”, arrests, and murders — especially of the leadership classes.
After the German attack on 22.06.1941, on their erstwhile ally, the Russians, and the beginning of the German occupation, his parish found itself in the Germ. Landkreis Przemyśl (Eng. Przemyśl County) in the Germ. Distrikt Krakau (Eng. Kraków District), part of German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG.
Was to minister there during a tragic period in the history of the region. In 1942, the Germans — as part of the German genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), which in the GG was codenamed Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt) — d deported Jews from his parish to the ghetto in Bircza. Some of the Jews gathered there — c. 700‐1,000 — were murdered in the Jewish cemetery and on Wierzysko Hill near Stara Bircza; c. 1,000 others were sent to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. Extermination camp) VL Belzec. And in 02.1943, Roman Shukhevych, nom de guerre „Taras Chuprynka”, the chief commander of the Ukrainian, genocidal OUN/UPA organisation, who in 1941 was a member of the Ukrainian Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall (Eng. Special Group Nightingale) — a unit of the Germ. Wehrmacht (Eng. Armed Forces) that took part in the German attack on Russians in 1941, accused of participating in the Jewish pogrom in Lviv in 1941 — and later a member of the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201 (Eng. 201st Protection team Battalion) — responsible for the murder of Jews and civilians in the territory of Belarus — 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. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» — although in Bircza, it seems, this police did not take an active part in the murder of Jews — to desert and join the UPA. Perhaps as many as 10,000 Ukrainians did so.
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 and Germ. Distrikt Krakau. 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”.
In the vicinity of his parish, the plan was carried out by the units of the 26th Tactical UPA Section „Lemko” under the command of Vasyl Mizerny, nom de guerre „Ren”, belonging to the UPA military district OW‐6 „Sian”, under the command of Jakiw Czornij, nom de guerre „Udarnyk”, in turn part of the „UPA‐West” operational group.
Survived then several attacks by the Ukrainian genocidal organization OUN/UPA on his village, inhabited at that time, in 1943, by c. 494 people, and on the parish. The Polish, independence–oriented, underground Home Army AK (part of the Polish Clandestine State) did not prob. have a post in Tarnawka, although some residents did belong to it — the area was under the Przemyśl Inspectorate, within the Przemyśl AK district. More organized structures, due to the intensification of the OUN/UPA's genocidal activities, were formed only after the beginning of the Russian occupation and took on the form of self‐defense.
Before this happened, however, in early 07.1944, when everyone was awaiting news from the east, where in 04.
1944, c. 200 km east of Przemyśl, the Russian offensive had halted for the spring period, the AK executed the Polish Clandestine State's death sentence on Fr Michael Hajduk in Hłudna, for collaborating with the German occupiers and inciting the Ruthenian population to murder Poles.
A few days later, Ukrainians attacked his rectory again.
Two Ukrainian bandits, wearing the uniforms of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei, entered the house and murdered him.
Both of the murderers were prob. the agents of the Ukr. Служба Безпеки (Eng. Security Service), i.e. SB OUN, tasked with the tracking down political and ideological opponents of the OUN, physically liquidating them, and also participating in the murders of the Polish population. Sources indicate that „SB OUN could only issue death sentences to "enemies of the Ukrainian nation" […] For minor offenses, the so‐called buki were used, i.e. beatings with beech sticks from 10 to 50 strokes. Major offenses were punished by death. The sentence was carried out by shooting or hanging […] some group commanders "chopped off the heads of their victims"”. The SB OUN was founded in 1940, under the watchful care of the Germans, and training was conducted, among others, in Zakopane, at the „Stamary” hotel. According to the contemporary website of this hotel, „the training included the principles of sabotage, Gestapo methods of interrogation and methods of killing”. At the same time, i.e. on 20.02.1940, in Zakopane, at the „Pan Tadeusz” (Eng. „Sir Thaddeus”) and „Telimena” villas, the third so‐called „thematic conference” of the Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. Gestapo, and the Russian Rus. Народный Комиссариат Внутренних Дел (Eng. People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs), i.e. NKVD, two genocidal allied organizations, debating cooperation and ways of combating and exterminating Poles in the territories they occupied. In Zakopane, all these undertakings were supervised by the Gestapo, which had its headquarters in the „Palace” villa, where Polish patriots were being murdered.
On the same day, in the village of Borownica, c. 11 km away, the SB OUN murdered another Polish Roman Catholic priest, Fr Joseph Kopeć. An attempt was also made to murder the parish priest of the nearby parish of Dylągowa, c. 8 km east of Tarnawka, but, warned by a resident of the Lemko village of Piątkowa, he managed to escape.
The day after the massacre, on 13.07.1944, another Russian offensive, known as the Lviv–Sandomierz Operation, began in the east. Around 03‐10.08.1944, the Russians entered his parish village. The Russian occupation began.
The murdered priest has no monument. For this, on October 12, 2007, the génocidaire Roman Shukhevych was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. On 12.10.2007 however, 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 24.08.2018, on behalf of the same Council, the génocidaire Vasyl Mizerny was posthumously awarded the Bronze Cross of Military Merit of the UPA (No. 071). 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, GeneralgouvernementClick to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description
date and place
of birth
22.06.1908
Ridkovichitoday: part of Mostyska, Mostyska urban hrom., Yavoriv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.07.31]
presbyter (holy orders)
ordination
23.06.1935
Przemyśltoday: Przemyśl city pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.04.01]
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John the Baptist RC cathedral churchmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2025.03.14]
positions held
1939 – 1944
administrator — Tarnawkatoday: Dubiecko gm., Przemyśl pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.10.09] ⋄ St John Cantius the Confessor RC parish ⋄ Przemyśl suburbsdeanery name
today: Przemyśl city pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland RC deanery
1938 – 1939
vicar — Ujkowicetoday: Przemyśl gm., Przemyśl pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.19] ⋄ St Michael the Archangel RC parish ⋄ Przemyśl suburbsdeanery name
today: Przemyśl city pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland RC deanery
1936 – 1938
vicar — Chmielniktoday: Chmielnik gm., Rzeszów pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.10.09] ⋄ St Bartholomew the Apostle RC parish ⋄ Tyczyntoday: Tyczyn gm., Rzeszów pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.05.06] RC deanery
1935 – 1936
vicar — Szebnietoday: Jasło gm., Jasło pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.10.09] ⋄ St Martin the Bishop and Confessor RC parish
1930 – 1935
student — Przemyśltoday: Przemyśl city pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.04.01] ⋄ philosophy and theology, Theological Seminary
others related
in death
KOPEĆClick to display biography Joseph, HAJDUKClick to display biography Michael
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], www.kchodorowski.republika.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.26]
bibliographical:
„Register of Latin rite Lviv metropolis clergy’s losses in 1939‐45”, Józef Krętosz, Maria Pawłowiczowa, editors, Opole, 2005
„Biographical lexicon of Lviv Roman Catholic Metropoly clergy victims of the II World War 1939‐1945”, Mary Pawłowiczowa (ed.), Fr Joseph Krętosz (ed.), Holy Cross Publishing, Opole, 2007
„Schematismus Venerabilis Cleri Dioecesis PremisliensisClick to display source page”, Przemyśl diocesa Curia, from 1866 to 1938
„Mysterium iniquitatis. Clergy and religious of the Latin rite murdered by Ukrainian nationalists in 1939‐1945”, Fr Józef Marecki, Institute of National Remembrance IPN, Kraków 2020
„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:
www.kchodorowski.republika.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.26], www.stowarzyszenieuozun.wroclaw.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04], www.miejscapamiecinarodowej.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.08.14], wegliniec.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.10.31]
LETTER to CUSTODIAN/ADMINISTRATOR
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