In 1920, due to the Russian invasion of Poland, during the Polish–Russian War of 1919‐1921, joined the Polish Army. Till 20.10.1920 served as a court–martial clerk at the 6th Army, which protected the southern wing of the Polish forces and Eastern Lesser Poland — in particular Lviv — and defeated the Russian divisions of the Rus. Первая Конная армия (Eng. 1st Horse Army), under the command of Semyon Budyonny, near Lviv and Komarów.

On 27‐29.08.1939 mobilized in Zhovkva, where was a prefect of the local high school, as chaplain of the 6th Grand Crown Hetman Stanislav Żółkiewski's Mounted Rifle Regiment, i.e. 6psk, of the Borderlands Cavalry Brigade, which was stationed there. The Brigade became part of the „Łódź” Army and was transported west and deployed on the Warta River. After the German attack on Poland on 01.09.1939 and the start of World War II, the Regiment initially on 05.09.1939 took part in the Battle of the Warta River, where it was driven from its positions near the village of Popów near Poddębice. From then on, it retreated in continuous battles towards Warsaw. However, only a part of it reached the capital — its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Mossor, and over 100 soldiers were captured by the Germans on 11.09.1939 near Osuchów — to then take part in battles, i.a. in the vicinity of Łomianki north of Warsaw, and after another defeat — in the defense of the capital.

May not have taken part in these struggles, however, but became chaplain of the newly created — in accordance with the mobilization plan — Reserve Center of the Borderlands Cavalry Brigade, also known as the Reserve Center of the „Zhovkva” Cavalry, whose mobilizing unit was the 6psk. The Center's task was to train reinforcements for the Borderlands Cavalry Brigade. Subunits mobilized and trained at the Center in Zhovkva fought mainly in Ukraine. On 18.09.1939 — the day after the Russian invasion of Poland — the Germans entered Zhovkva, but already on 23‐24.09.1939, in accordance with the genocidal agreement between the two allies, known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23.08.1939, later confirmed by the so‐called „Treaty on Boundaries and Friendship between Germany and Russia” of 28.09.1939, also known as the 2nd Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Germans handed Zhovkva over to the Russians. The Russian occupation began.

If was in Zhovkva during the September Campaign, lost his position as prefect at the Hetman Stanislav Żółkiewski State Lyceum and Gymnasium in Zhovkva — one of the first moves of the Russian occupiers was the Sovietization of the schools. However, remained in Zhovkva and survived the Russian occupation there.

If, on the other hand, left for the front with the 6psk, then although avoided capture by the Germans, may have remained outside his Lviv archdiocese, in the territory of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG. May have though made it to Lviv and survived the Russian occupation there.

To the small village of Maidan, in the Polish Kopychyntsi county, Ternopil Voivodeship, where a curacy of the Chortkiv parish c. 9 km to the south existed, moved prob. in 1941 or 1942 — i.a. at the end of 1942, after the Ukrainians murdered Fr Thaddeus Siatecki, parish priest of the neighboring parish of Bychkovtsi, who as witnesses" recollections indicate had been ministering the Maidan curacy, abandoned by the previous parish priest, as early as 1940. In any case, this happened after the German attack on 22.06.1941 on their erstwhile ally, the Russians, and the beginning of the German occupation.

In 1939, the village of Maidan had an estimated population of c. 900, of whom c. 830 were Roman Catholic Poles. Furthermore, several dozen Greek Catholic Ukrainians and several dozen Jews lived there. During the Russian occupation, the Poles living in Maidan, like the inhabitants of other villages and towns, experienced Russian persecution. The witness described it as follows: „in February 1940, mass arrests of Poles began, [i.e. on c. 10.03.1940, the first large‐scale deportation of Poles into the depths of Russia took place]. The NKVD deported entire families to Siberia, especially those who held important positions”. So he came to a village tainted with dramas and tragedies, the suffering of many families — teachers, officers and military settlers, political activists, estate owners, businessmen, officials and other wealthy people — recognized by Russians as a „hostile and harmful element”.

At that time, Maidan was located in the Germ. Kreishauptmannschaft Czortów (Eng. Chortkiv County), within the Germ. Distrikt Galizien (Eng. District of Galicia), part of the aforementioned GG pseudo‐state. It is not known whether there were still Jews in Maidan when began his ministry there. At the beginning of 1942, the Germans began implementing the genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), i.e. extermination of the Jewish community, in the GG called by the German codename Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt), and throughout 1942, they systematically brought groups of Jews from nearby villages to Kopychyntsi, c/ 7 km away. When they deported the Jews from Maidan is unknown. The number of Jews in the local de facto ghetto — already on 12.07.1941, a few days after the beginning of the German occupation, Jews were forbidden to leave the town — fluctuated as new groups were brought from nearby villages and deported for extermination (c. 2,500 in 1939; 3,123 in 06.1942; 2,915 in 10.1942; 5,000 in 05.1943, after a group of Jews was brought from Buchach). From 11.1941 to 10.1942, c. 500 Jews were deported to slave labor camps, including to the plantations of the Kazakh dandelion (i.e. Taraxacum kok‐saghyz), a plant from Central Asia, cultivated for the rubber contained in the milky sap of its roots, which the German company Continental AG produced for the German war machine. After some time, everyone was murdered there. The first large‐scale deportation, i.e. Germ. Aktion (Eng. Operation), took place on 30.09.1942, when c. 1,000 Jews were transported to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. Extermination Camp) VL Belzec, where they were all murdered. The unfortunates were herded to the railway station in Kopychyntsi — under German supervision — by policemen from the collaborating Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), in some regions also operating as Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Eng. Protection Battalions), i.e. Schuma, and by the Germ. Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst (Eng. Jewish Order Service), operating in the ghetto, killing about 50 Jews in the process. C. 200 Jews died of hunger and disease during the winter of 1942/1943. The second Germ. Aktion took place on 15.04.1943, when the same criminals dragged about 500 Jews from their apartments, drove them to the railway station, forced them to kneel over previously dug holes and killed them all by shots to the back of the head. Many were buried, although they were still alive. The largest Germ. Aktion took place on 03‐11.06.1943, when the Germans and their Ukrainian auxiliaries murdered c. 4,000 people in Kopychyntsi. The remaining 1,000 Jews were transported to neighboring ghettos and labor camps, where almost all of them perished. On 20.07.1943, the Germans could announce that Kopychyntsi was Germ. „Judenrein” (Eng. „free of Jews”).

Providing help was practically impossible. Any kind of help was punishable by death — from 25.10.1941, a decree issued by the Germ. Generalgouverneur (Eng. General Governor) of the GG, Hans Frank, was in force, according to which „Jews who leave their assigned district without authorization are subject to the death penalty. The same punishment applies to persons who knowingly provide such Jews with a hiding place”, and „Instigators and accomplices are subject to the same punishment as the perpetrator; an attempted act will be punished as a completed act. In less serious cases, heavy imprisonment or prison may be imposed”.

And it was then, in 02.1943 — even before the final extermination of the Jews in Ternopil — that 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 to desert and join the UPA ranks. Perhaps as many as 10,000 Ukrainians did so.

Volyn was drenched in Polish blood. Tens of thousands of Poles were murdered by the Ukrainians — with German passivity — in an extremely barbaric manner. Hundreds of villages were burned.

Although Shukhevych's order was not formally addressed to the units of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei in the Germ. Distrikt Galizien — for there, in 1943, the genocidal OUN did not establish an armed wing under the name UPA, but formed armed units under a euphemistic name, to „confuse” the Germans, of Ukr. Українська Народна Самооборона (Eng. Ukrainian National Self–Defense), i.e. UNS — but de facto also there the Ukrainian genociders, „unemployed” after the end of the Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt», deserted and joined the UNS. And in 12.1943 — when it became clear that the Germans were losing the war in the East, i.e. on 24.12.1943, a major Russian offensive called the Dnieper–Carpathian Operation began — the UNS was formally transformed into a genocidal „UPA‐West” OUN/UPA unit. In 01.1944, its commander was another of the Ukrainian „trainees” of the Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall and the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201, the degenerate Vasyl Sydor, nom de guerre „Shelest”, who almost immediately ordered „to strike the Poles continuously until they are exterminated to the last one from these lands”. The «Genocidium Atrox» began in the Germ. Distrikt Galizien.

The UNS/UPA had nothing else to do at the time, because — as even the Ukrainian Wikipedia confirms — „during the last months of 1943, UNS units did not conduct armed operations due to the introduction on 02.10.1943, by the Germans in Galicia of the system [of collective responsibility] of executing 10 hostages for the murder of every German soldier or official”. The Poles did not belong to these „officials”. Moreover, the Germans behaved passively towards the genocidal acts of the UNS/UPA, generally not undertaking major operations against Ukrainians.

In the area of Chortkiv and Kopychyntsi, the orders of the génocidaireSydor were carried out by the commander of the UPA Military District WO‐3 „Lysonya”, Emilian Polowy, nom de guerre „Ostap”, whose „career path” was identical to that of his superiors — i.e. throuh the Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall and the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201, where they gained experience in the extermination of Jews. OUN/UPA attacked Maidan on 12.02.1944. One witness reported: „A group of armed Banderites pacified Polish farms, burning them and murdering Polish inhabitants. Some of them, wearing camouflage clothes (covered with white sheets), surrounded the village and hunted those escaping from the village, often shooting at them with Dum‐Dum bullets (which burst at the exit from the body). The second group marched in a line, catching the inhabitants they encountered and murdering them, the third group robbed property and set fire to selected buildings. The entire action lasted from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.” The investigation, reference number S 26/02/Zi, conducted years later by the Institute of National Remembrance IPN in Wrocław reportedly stated that „on the night of March 12, 1944, masked attackers dressed in white clothes for better identification attacked Maidan from four sides. About 100 Poles were shot or burned alive, their belongings and burning most of the properties being robbed”.

Survived this first Ukrainian attack. The Germans did not react — one witness cited the account of his uncle, who reached „the German Military Command and reported the Bandera attack on the village of Maidan. The translator was a Ukrainian who translated it backwards, saying that Poles had attacked Ukrainians and that there were Russian partisans there. The German looked at my uncle suspiciously and told him to report it to Kopychyntsi. So, any help from them was out of the question”. Ukrainian–German cooperation flourished until the last day of the German occupation.

The situation changed after the Russians entered. The Russians captured Chortkiv and Kopychyntsi on c. 22‐23.03.1944, and the Russian occupation began. The new occupier began actively fighting the UPA, especially since the UPA began — in addition to constant genocidal attacks on Poles — to attack Russians. It came to a point that on 01.09.1944, Vasyl Sydor „Shelest” ordered a halt to actions against Polish civilians, but the order did not include „the Polish element collaborating with the NKVD and the organs of Moscow imperialism”. The OUN/UPA was still to attack „Polish militia 20 strong in any 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”.

And then was murdered by the Ukrainians.

On 26.01.1945, the attack on Maidan was carried out prob. by the sotnias of the kurenny Peter Khamchuk, nom de guerre Ukr. „Бистрий” (Eng. „Smart”) — possibly a Ukr. „Чорноморці” (Eng. „Black See men”) and/or Ukr. „Сірі вовки” (Eng. „Gray Wolves”) sotnias. Perhaps agents of the genocidal Ukr. Служба Безпеки (Eng. Security Service), i.e. SB OUN, whose task was to track down political and ideological opponents of the OUN, carry out their physical liquidation, and also participate in the murders of the Polish population, took part in the attack. 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 eyes 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.

One source states that „the preparations [were to be carried out] by the Ukrainian Doliba family […] Doliba was a deacon in the local [Greek Catholic] church, [i.e. a cantor, leading the chants and knowledgeable about the ritual], and his son was the main ringleader and organizer of the planned attack. This information was passed on to the Soviet authorities, who searched and interrogated both Ukrainians and shot them”.

The attack took place a few days later. A witness reported: „The second attack, much more dangerous in its consequences, took place on the night of 26.01.1945. Many more Banderites took part in it and it was carefully organized. This time the attackers did not miss the church, where many residents had gathered. They massacred several dozen people there.

[…] Father Adalbert Rogowski tried to save the parishioners gathered in the church and rectory, convincing the Banderites that they were preparing to leave for Poland, but to no avail.

[…] Some people were in the attic and the choir. The massive doors were bolted. After breaking them down, the attackers started throwing grenades inside and shooting […] A dozen or so people were hidden in the choir, along with Father Adalbert Rogowski. The Banderites could not get there. So they started shouting for everyone to come down, that they would not harm anyone. They also threatened to set fire to the church. People hesitated at first, but following the priest's example, they jumped from above onto the pillows and duvets. Some lowered themselves on ropes made of sheets. When everyone had left the choir, the Bandera supporters allowed them to go outside. Some let them pass, but others murdered them after a while”.

Another recalled: „On that fateful night, I saw with my own eyes the brutal slaughter of the Banderites against the villagers. People were screaming, cattle were bellowing. The air was filled with the smell of human blood and charred remains. People took refuge in the church, but that didn't stop the bandits. They threw several grenades inside, entered from the altar, dragged people out, and hacked them to death with axes. I saw the bandits throwing living inhabitants into the fire”. „The executioners carved an eagle on Michael Grzelny's chest; he was to die in agony”. „One of the first to die under the axe was Czeslav, 12‐year‐old, the priest's nephew. Seeing her son's death, the mother became hysterical and began calling the Banderites bandits, for which she received an axe blow from a Banderite”.

Was allowed to leave the church. But „a group of residents leaving the church, upon seeing what was happening, began to flee towards the ponds behind the rectory barn. This group included Father A. Rogowski and his other nephew, Stephen, aged 8 […] The group managed to escape behind the barn, but their path was blocked by another Banderite who fired a burst from his machine gun, killing the boy and seriously wounding the woman and the priest”.

„Lived for several more hours, dying from loss of blood”.

The source states: „According to witness accounts, a group of Ukrainian girls and women dressed in men's clothing participated in the murders. Estimates indicate that 118 people were killed in the church and its vicinity, and 58 were murdered inside the village, in burned–out buildings, and shot in the fields while escaping. A total of 178 people were killed”.

On 14.01.1945, 12 days before the Maidan massacre, the génocidaire Emilian Polowy was to receive the Bronze Cross of Military Merit of the UPA. Meanwhile, the génocidaire Roman Shukhevych was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine on 12.10.2007. 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!”