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
STROŃSKI
forename(s)
Thaddeus (pl. Tadeusz)
function
diocesan priest
creed
Latin (Roman Catholic) Church RCmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]
diocese / province
Lviv archdiocesemore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]
honorary titles
„Cross of Independence”more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2019.02.02]
(04.11.1933)
Lviv Defense Cross
date and place
of death
12.10.1943
Staryi Skomorokhytoday: Bilshivtsi hrom., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk rai., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.03.02]
alt. dates and places
of death
10.10.1943, 12.11.1943
details of death
Participant in the defense of Lviv against Ukrainian attacks during the Polish‐Ukrainian War of 1918‐1919.
After the German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939 and the start of World War II, the Germans entered Cieszanów, where was a prefect, on c. 12.09.1939, and then continued the offensive towards Lviv. Lviv fell on 22.09.1939, but the city was captured not by the Germans, but by their allies, the Russians — in accordance with the genocidal German–Russian agreement of 23.08.1939, known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Immediately afterwards, the Russians began to occupy the territories captured so far by the Germans, who were retreating from them — in accordance with the same pact. On c. 27.09.1939, they also entered Cieszanów. A few days later, however — as an outcome of the signing on 28.09.1939 of the so‐called „Treaty on the Boundaries and Friendship between Germany and Russia”, also known as the Second Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact — the Russians withdrew from Cieszanów. The new border was to run a few kilometers to the south of this town. The German occupation began in Cieszanów.
Cieszanów found itself in the Germ. Kreishauptmannschaft Zamość (Eng. Zamość County), within the Germ. Distrikt Lublin (Lublin District), which was part of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG. The Germ. SS‐ und Polizeiführer (Eng. SS and Police Commander) in the Germ. Distrikt Lublin, and de facto deputy governor of this district, became one of the greatest criminals in human history, the Austrian, Odilo Lotario Globočnik, whom one historian described as „the most vile individual in the most vile organization that has ever existed”.
In the first years of the war the occupiers subjected Poles to particular repression. The details were specified at four so‐called thematic conferences, when the Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. Gestapo, and the Rus. Народный Комиссариат Внутренних Дел (Eng. People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs), i.e. NKVD, two genocidal allied organizations, debated cooperation and ways of combating and exterminating Poles in the territories they occupied. The first took place on 27.11.1939 in Brest‐on‐the‐Bug; the second immediately afterwards in Przemyśl. The third was held on 20.02.1940 in Zakopane, in the villas „Pan Tadeusz” (Eng. „Sir Thaddeus”) and „Telimena”, the fourth in 03.1940 in Kraków. In the meantime, at the beginning of 02.1940, in Hermann Göring's hunting lodge in Rominty in the Romincka Forest, a meeting of two génocidaires, Heinrich Himmler and Lavrentiy Beria, took place, where the decision to exterminate Polish society and combat the Polish resistance movement was probably finalized. As a consequence, in 04.1940, almost simultaneously, the genocidal murders of Polish prisoners of war began in Russia, which went down in history as the «Katyn genocide», and in the German‐occupied GG, the Germ. Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion (Eng. Extraordinary Pacification Action) began, i.e. «Aktion AB», which was part of the so‐called Germ. «Intelligenzaktion» (Eng. Operation Intelligentsia), aimed at exterminating Polish political and intellectual elites.
On 24.06.1940, his parish priest, Fr Isidor Węgrzyniak, was arrested by the Germans. He had collaborated with the first independence clandestine organization in Lubaczów county, the Consolidation of National Defense Pl. „Klon” (Eng. „Maple”), part of the emerging Polish Clandestine State, founded by Fr Józef Śliwa, who was probably staying in Cieszanów at the time. The arrest took place as a result of a denunciation filed by Ukrainians, members of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), established by the Germans at the end of 1939. At that time, in Cieszanów there were an estimated c. 350 Ukrainians, who in 1939 constituted c. 12% of the town's inhabitants. There were also c. 1,500 Poles, i.e. 48%. Jews, who in 1939 constituted c. 40% of the inhabitants, were gone in 1940 — they all left their homes with together with the Russians withdrawing from Cieszanów at the turn of 09‐10.1939. From then on, ministered as the parish administrator.
A month before the parish priest's arrest, the Germans had cordoned off part of the town around the synagogue — empty, like most of the Jewish homes — and established a Germ. Arbeitslager (Eng. forced labor camp) there for c. 3,800 Jews brought from the Radom area. The camp — formally in existence since 08.1940 — functioned as a subcamp of a similar Germ. Arbeitslager in Bełżec, c. 35 km away to the east. The Jews held there worked as slaves constructing fortifications on the new German–Russian border. Odilo Globočnik closed the camp in Cieszanów in mid‐10.1940, transferring some Jews to other camps and releasing others. Once again, a large part of the town was empty.
Not long, for after the German attack on 22.06.1941 of their erstwhile ally, the Russians, some Jews appeared in Cieszanów, and in 12.1941 a ghetto was established there. The first larger group of Jews known to have been placed there were 700‐817 Jews from Tomaszów Lubelski, brought on 25.02.1942. The next 465‐500 people were brought by the Germans from Mielec. The ghetto was not surrounded by a fence or wall, but from the German „law on residence restrictions” in the GG was in force, signed by the Hans Frank, the Germ. Generalgouverneur (Eng. Governor General) of the GG, came into force, according to which „Jews, who leave their assigned district without authorization are subject to the death penalty. The same punishment shall apply to persons who knowingly provide hiding places for such Jews”, and „Instigators and accomplices are subject to the same punishment as the perpetrator; an attempted act shall be punished as a completed act.
In less serious cases, hard labor or imprisonment may be imposed”. Jews, crowded, i.a. in the houses near the town square — on one of the corners of which there was a parish church and half of the side of which was occupied by German colonists — were guarded by the Ukrainians from the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei, as well as a unit of the Germ. Sonderdienst (Eng. Special Service), called „Hans Frank's private police”, i.e. an auxiliary police force established by Frank and composed of Ukrainians, stationed at the police station, also located near the square.
And it was then, in 03.1942, in Bełżec — on the site of the former Germ. Arbeitslager — that the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Belzec, founded by the genocide killer Globočnik, formally known as SS‐Sonderkommando Belzec (Eng. SS Special Commando Belzec), began to „function”. Its establishment was the result of the implementation of the genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), which in the GG was called German «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt), launched in early 1942. The main „working” roles in VL Belzec were played by the Germ. SS‐Wachmannschaften (Eng. SS guards), consisting of former Russian prisoners of war, who went over to the German side, mostly of Ukrainian nationality. In 05.1942 (or in mid‐06.1942), therefore, the Jews from Cieszanów — prob. together with the Jews from Tomaszów Lubelski, who were deported on 22.05.1942 — were transported to VL Belzec. And all were murdered there.
It is probably no coincidence that it was then, in 05.1942, that was arrested by the Germans.
Jailed in a remand center and at the same time a prison, called as a disguise Germ. „Gefangenen Durchgangslager” (Eng. Prisoner's Transit Camp) DL Zamosc, organized in a former Russian fort called Rotunda in Zamość. Then, after two months, prob. moved to Lublin.
Released, but prob. never returned to Cieszanów.
Again, in 09.1942 prob. arrested by the Germans. Released in the summer of 1943.
He became the administrator of the church in Staryi Skomorokhy. The village of Staryi Skomorokhy, located on the Naraivka River, on the railway line from Rohatyn to Kolomyia, in 1939 — then in the Polish Stanislaviv Voivodeship, right on the border with the Ternopil Voivodeship — was inhabited by an estimated 1,200 people, of whom c. 55% were Roman Catholic Poles (there were c. 890 believers, also from neighboring villages), and c. 43% were Greek Catholic Ukrainians. After the beginning of the German occupation in 1941, it found itself in the Germ. Kreishauptmannschaft Berezhany (Eng. Berezhany County), within the Germ. Distrikt Galizien (Eng. Galicia District). It bordered — through Narajówka — the village of Novyi Skomorokhy, which in 1939 was inhabited by c. 900 people, of whom about 90% were Ukrainians.
Took up his ministry there a few months after 02.1943, when in Volyn, c. 150 km to the north, 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.
The tactics of the genocidal Ukrainians were detailed in an order issued by the UPA commander in Volyn — from 11.1943 commander of the Operational Group „UPA‐North” — Dmytro Klachkivsky, nom de guerre „Klym Savur”, in 06.1943. Anticipating Germany's defeat in the war with Russia, explained and ordered: „We should carry out a major operation to eliminate the Polish element. When the German troops withdraw, we should use this opportune moment to eliminate the entire male population aged 16 to 60 […] We cannot lose this fight, and we must weaken Polish forces at all costs. Forest villages and villages located near forest massifs should disappear from the face of the earth”.
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 and the UPA's appeal were not formally addressed to the units of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei in the Germ. Distrikt Galizien — because there in 1943 the genocidal OUN did not establish an armed wing under the name UPA, but formed armed units under a euphemistic name, so as not to „annoy” the Germans, of the Ukr. Українська Народна Самооборона (Eng. Ukrainian National Self‐Defense), i.e. UNS — but de facto also there the Ukrainian génocidaires, „unemployed” after the end of the German «Aktion Reinhardt», deserted and joined the UNS. The commander of the UNS at that time was a certain Alexander Lutsky, nom de guerre „Andriyenko”, a degenerate with a similar „career path”as the aforementioned genocide killer, Roman Shukhevych — from the Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall, through the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201, where they gained experience in the extermination of Jews, to the UNS. His orders in the Berezhany area were carried out by a certain Hryhoryi Golash, nom de guerre „Bey”, about whom much is known, but almost nothing about the years 1941‐1943, when the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei participated in the implementation of the Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» — perhaps because his brother Stepan, who survived and settled in the United States, was for years a prominent member of the „Litopys UPA” Publishing Company, glorifying the genocidal activities of the OUN/UPA.
And it was then, in c. 06.1943, when arrived in Skomorokhiv Stare, that the UNS — as well as local Ukrainian groups, operating, i.a. under another euphemistic name Ukr. Самооборонні кущові відділи (Eng. Self‐Defense Unit), i.e. the SKW, which had the character of a rural militia, turned its attention to the Poles. The UNS had nothing else to do at the time, because — as even 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 participate in the structures of the occupational government.
The first attacks on Poles in the Berezhany region took place in 10.1943. They began with attacks on Roman Catholic priests.
On 12.10.1943, according to sources, Ukrainians — among them was the son of a Greek Catholic priest, the parish priest of the local parish in Staryi Skomorokhy, Basil (Vasyl) Nymyj, who initiated the murders throughout the area — attacked the village of Biblo, c. 6 km to the east, and murdered the administrator of the local curacy (parish), Fr Anthony Wierzbowski. And prob. that same day, after returning to Skomorokhy, in state of hysteria they attacked his rectory.
Shot multiple times. Tortured.
Finally, killed by a shot to the head.
According to some sources, resisted for a long time, and finally was beaten to death with rifle butts.
The perpetrators were said to have quartered his body — some accounts say was still alive then — and chopped off his head.
One of the murderers was dressed in the cassock of Fr Anthony Wierzbowski.
In the same 10.1943, the Ukrainian perpetrators managed to attack the village of Bilshivtsy, c. 7 km to the south, and murdered 16 Polish families, i.e. c. 70 Poles, using axes and knives.
On 12.10.2007, the génocidaire Roman Shukhevych was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. In 12.2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in a resolution, recognized génocidaire Dmitry Klachkivsky as „the leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in Volyn and a participant in the struggle for Ukraine's independence in the 20th century”. In several locations, monuments and commemorative plaques have been erected to these Lat. „hostis humani generis” — e.g., in Bodnariv, a monument to génocidaire Alexander Lutsky was erected, in Lviv, a commemorative plaque to Hryhoriy Golash was unveiled — the streets and 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, Lublin (Castle)Click to display the description, DL ZamoscClick to display the description, VL BelzecClick to display the description, GeneralgouvernementClick to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description, Polish‐Ukrainian war of 1918‐1919Click to display the description
date and place
of birth
1899
Lvivtoday: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.16]
presbyter (holy orders)
ordination
27.11.1927
Lvivtoday: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.16]
positions held
1943
curatus/rector/expositus — Staryi Skomorokhytoday: Bilshivtsi hrom., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk rai., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.03.02] ⋄ St Michael the Archangel RC church ⋄ Bilshivtsitoday: Bilshivtsi hrom., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk rai., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.12.03], Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary RC parish ⋄ Kukilnykytoday: Bilshivtsi hrom., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk rai., Stanislaviv/Ivano‐Frankivsk obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.09.18] RC deanery
1938 – 1942
prefect — Cieszanówtoday: Cieszanów gm., Lubaczów pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20] ⋄ St Adalbert the Bishop and Martyr RC parish ⋄ Lubaczówtoday: Lubaczów urban gm., Lubaczów pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20] RC deanery ⋄ Lviv AC archdiocese — i.a. in co–educational elementary school; in 1940‐1941 also acting („ad interim”) administrator of the parish (after the arrest on 24.06.1940 of the parish priest, Fr Isidor Węgrzyniak)
c. 1937 – 1938
resident — Lvivtoday: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.16]
1935 – 1936
vicar — Zolochivtoday: Zolochiv urban hrom., Zolochiv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.19] ⋄ Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary RC parish ⋄ Zolochivtoday: Zolochiv urban hrom., Zolochiv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.19] RC deanery
c. 1934 – 1935
vicar — Ternopiltoday: Ternopil urban hrom., Ternopil rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20] ⋄ Our Lady of Perpetual Help RC parish ⋄ Ternopiltoday: Ternopil urban hrom., Ternopil rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20] RC deanery — also: prefect of State Industrial School, among others
1932 – c. 1934
vicar — Stryitoday: Stryi urban hrom., Stryi rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.12.03] ⋄ Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary RC parish ⋄ Stryitoday: Stryi urban hrom., Stryi rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.12.03] RC deanery — also: prefect of Queen Hedwig's School for Girls
1931 – 1932
vicar — Sokaltoday: Sokal urban hrom., Sheptytskyi rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20] ⋄ St Michael the Archangel RC parish ⋄ Belztoday: Belz urban hrom., Sheptytskyi rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.15] RC deanery
c. 1928 – c. 1930
prefect — Vynnykytoday: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.22] ⋄ Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary RC parish ⋄ Lviv extra Urbemdeanery name
today: Lviv obl., Ukraine RC deanery
1927 – c. 1928
vicar — Vynnykytoday: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.22] ⋄ Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary RC parish ⋄ Lviv extra Urbemdeanery name
today: Lviv obl., Ukraine RC deanery
1923 – 1927
student — Lvivtoday: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.16] ⋄ philosophy and theology, Metropolitan Theological Seminary
others related
in death
WIERZBOWSKIClick to display biography Anthony, WĘGRZYNIAKClick to display biography Isidore, CZOSNEKClick to display biography Peter (Fr Bartholomew), SZKLARCZYKClick to display biography Victor
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])
Lublin (Castle): During World War II, the Germ. Gefängnis der Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst Lublin (Eng. Police and Security Service SD Prison), through which c. 40,000‐80,000 Poles passed during the German occupation, mostly members of Polish clandestine independence organizations (part of the Polish Clandestine State), before being sent by the Germans to concentration camps. The inmates were held in inhumane conditions, in overcrowded cells — up to 3,000 were held at one time in the prison designed for 700 people — where they were starved, harassed, and disease was rampant. During interrogations were tortured. Many were murdered — the prison housed the genocidal Germ. Sondergericht (Eng. special court), which issued serial death sentences after a trial lasting several minutes. C. 2,200 perished during the investigation or in the prison; 4,500 were murdered in secret executions in the vicinity of Lublin. When the Russians were fast approached Lublin in 08.1944, c. 1,500 prisoners were sent to the KL Lublin concentration camp, where were murdered, and on 22.07.1944, after a few hours prior to escape, c. 300 remaining were murdered in the prison itself. After the expulsion of the Germans in 1944, the prison was first run by Russians, then UB, the Polish branch of the Russian NKVD, and 32,000‐33,000 soldiers of the Home Army AK, part of the Polish Clandestine State, and the National Armed Forces NSZ, fighting against the Russian occupation, were detained there (in similar conditions to the Germans — in 04.1945 c. 8,000 people were held in the prison) and tortured. C. 515 were sentenced to death and 333 were murdered. The prison began to be liquidated in 02.1954. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30])
DL Zamosc: Germ. „Gefangenen Durchgangslager Sicherheitspol Zamosc” (Eng. „Prisoner of War Transition Camp of the Security Police”) — German transit concentration camp, prison and remand center for the population of the Zamość region (including many children), founded on 19.06.1940 in Rotunda, a former fortifications built by the Russian occupier in the 19th century century, in which 20 cells with an area of 20 m2 each were created around the courtyard. Initially, it held Poles arrested as part of the Germ. „Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion” (Eng. „Extraordinary Pacific Action”), i.e. «AB‐aktion» — part of the wider genocidal extermination of the Polish intelligentsia operation, Germ. «Intelligenzaktion» — carried out in the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate). From there they were transported to KL Sachsenhausen and KL Dachau concentration camps. Later members of the Polish resistance movement (representatives of the Polish Underground State), among others, were held there. Those detained were beaten and tortured. Since 1942, the place of collective executions of many Poles — earlier, individual executions were only carried out. In total, the Germans held approximately 50,000 Poles in DL Zamosc and murdered approximately 6,000‐8,000 of them. In 1943, the Germans began digging up graves and burning the bodies, and their ashes were thrown into the river moat around the Rotunda building. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.10.05], muzeum-zamojskie.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19])
VL Belzec: German Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. Extermination camp) VL — oficially known as SS‐Sonderkommando Belzec — operational from 03.1942 till 06.1943 n. Belzec village, c. 8 km to the south of Tomaszów Lubelski, founded as part of German „Reinhardt” program of extermination of Jewish population. Victims were mainly Polish Jews from ghettos and camps in German‐run General Governorate, mainly from Galicia, Cracow and Lublin districts; but also Austrian, Czech, German, Slovak and Hungarian Jews. The victims were murdered in stationary gas chambers with exhaust fumes. The number of exterminated is estimated to reach c. 450,000. The camp was run by c. 20. German and Austrian SS functionaries at any one time. They were supported by a company of watchmen (Germ. SS‐Wachmannschaften) — mainly former Russian POWs who switched sides, in general of Ukrainian nationality. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2020.02.08])
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])
Polish‐Ukrainian war of 1918‐1919: One of the wars for borders of the newly reborn Poland. At the end of 1918 on the former Austro‐Hungarian empire’s territory, based on the Ukrainian military units of the former Austro‐Hungarian army, Ukrainians waged war against Poland. In particular attempted to create foundation of an independent state and attacked Lviv. Thanks to heroic stance of Lviv inhabitants, in particular young generation of Poles — called since then Lviv eaglets — the city was recaptured by Poles and for a number of months successfully defended against furious Ukrainian attacks. In 1919 Poland — its newly created army — pushed Ukrainian forces far to the east and south, regaining control over its territory. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2017.05.20])
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], cracovia-leopolis.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.06]
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 Universi Saecularis et Regularis Cleri Archi Diaeceseos Metropol. Leopol. Rit. Lat.”, Lviv Metropolitan Curia, from 1860 till 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.nto.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2017.03.11], archiwumcieszanow.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.08.19], wegliniec.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.10.31]
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