After the German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939 and the start of World War II — pursuant to the genocidal German–Russian agreement of 23.08.1939, known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, confirmed on 28.09.28, 1939 by the so‐called „Treaty on the Borders and Friendship between Germany and Russia”, also known as the Second Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact — Przemyśl, where was completing his preparations for the priesthood at the Greek Catholic seminary, became a border town between the territories granted to each other by both occupiers. The part on the left bank of the San River was occupied by the Germans, while the part on the right bank — where the seminary was located — fell to the Russians. The Russians closed the seminary almost immediately, and the clerics studying there, who in 08.1939 were on vacation, prob. in 09‐10.1939 did not to Przemyśl.

At that time, was prob. visiting his family home in the village of Ranevychi, c. 4 km from the county town of Drohobych in the Polish Lviv Voivodeship. In 1939, an estimated 1,100 people lived in Ranevychi, 90% of whom were Greek Catholic Ukrainians and c. 8% Roman Catholic Poles. In addition, there were prob. a dozen or so Jews. The Russians particularly repressed Poles, arresting Polish intelligentsia, teachers, doctors, landowners, government officials, foresters, policemen, and the families of Polish servicemen. Many other Poles became victims of four large waves of deportations „to Siberia”. Accounts — especially about the first, largest deportation in 02.1940 — often mention that „they came at night, without warning, and took away entire families, from infants to the elderly”. „When we went out into the yard, they allowed my mother to look into the chest — unfortunately, it was empty, because our neighbors had already emptied it. We took practically nothing, because they didn't let us move around the house […] There were heavy snowdrifts and a heavy frost”.

Two months after the first deportation, on 05.04.1940, the Russian génocidaire, Lavrentiy Beria, head of the Rus. Народный комиссариат внутренних дел (Eng. People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs), i.e. NKVD, in letter No. 1180/B22 sent for approval to the Russian top authorities — the Rus. Рада Народных Комиссаров (Eng. Council of People's Commissars), i.e. CPC — two projects: „Resolution of the CPC of the USSR on the displacement from the western regions of the UkrSSR and BSSR of the families of persons staying in prisoner‐of‐war camps and prisons and refugees from central Poland not accepted by the German authorities” and „Order of displacement of persons included in the resolution of the CPC of the USSR of March 2, 1940, No. 285127”. On 10.04.1940, by resolution No. 497‐177ss, the CPC approved the „Order of displacement”, and another No.

497‐178ss, setting the start date for the morning of April 13, 1940. As one source states, „the families of persons staying in prisoner‐of‐war camps and prisons, as well as the families of former officers of the Polish army, policemen, prison workers, gendarmes, scouts, former landowners, factory owners, and employees of the state apparatus, participants of counter‐revolutionary” insurgent organizations, were qualified for deportation. As a result, 60,667‐61,092 people were deported to Kazakhstan, of whom c. 68% were Poles, c. 13% Belarusians, c. 12% Ukrainians and c. 4% Jews.

And then, in this genocidal deportation, in accordance with standard Russian methods of resolving social and political conflicts, his „parents and family” were deported to Kazakhstan — the NKVD, anticipating the adoption of the aforementioned resolutions of the Russian CPC, carried it out on 04.04.1940. Therefore, they actually met‐as Ukrainians‐the eligibility criteria for deportees. His father returned from exile in 1946; his mother did not.

Avoided deportation, in unknown circumstances. Perhaps, as an educated cleric — and this was at a time when the surveillance of priests and monks was beginning, high taxes were imposed on the clergy, and religious education was removed from schools — proved useful to the occupying Russian authorities, as it is known that at that time took up a job in a bank in Drohobych. Drohobych was a relatively wealthy town in 1939 due to the extraction of oil resources in the area. It had an estimated population of c. 37,000 people, of whom c. 34% were Poles, c. 25% Ukrainians, and c. 38% Jews. Poles recall that in Drohobych „Jews, Ukrainians, and red Poles” welcomed the Russian troops entering in 1939 „with enthusiasm”. „The triumphal gates, the red flags and portraits of communist rulers became the decoration of cities, and arrogant Jewish and Ukrainian groups emphasized at every step that in "Zapadnoj Ukraine" (Eng. western Ukraine) the Polish occupation had ended and the rule of Ukr. "рабочих і крестян" (Eng. workers and peasants) had begun”. Jewish sources state that „senior positions were taken by representatives of the Ukrainian minority, while Jews were left with the middle level of administration, intended for professionals”. Despite this, perhaps as a result of his experiences, began to cooperate with the underground Ukrainian nationalist movement, symbolized by the genocidal organization OUN. Ukrainian sources state also that „carried out clandestine pastoral ministry and patriotic work”, although it is not known what this could have meant.

After the German attack on 22.06.1941, on their erstwhile ally, the Russians, the aforementioned Russian génocidaire, Lavrentiy Beria, issued on 24.06.1941 an order to execute all political prisoners held in the „western districts of the USSR”, i.e. in Russian‐occupied Polish territories, „whose evacuation into the interior of the country was impossible”. In Drohobych, NKVD officers, as if anticipating this order, began murdering prisoners as early as 22.06.1941. The Polish District Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against the Polish Nation, i.e. OKBZpNP, in Łódź, estimated the number of victims at 200‐600, although some estimates put the number as high as 1,200 murdered.

The Germans entered Drohobych on 30.06.1941. Immediately afterwards, on 01‐02.07.1941, a pogrom took place, with the Germans inactive, against Jews who were accused by the population, mainly Ukrainian, of collaboration with the Russians and participation in the prison massacre — not without some justification — known by the Ukrainian name Ukr. Погулянка (Eng. binge). Within c. 24 hours, c. 47 people were killed, mainly members of the intelligentsia — teachers, doctors, lawyers and engineers. A few days later, the Germans shot another 43 Jews in the forests near the city.

The German occupation was beginning. At the same time, in Lviv, c. 75 km away, the OUN attempted to establish a Ukrainian state. On 30.06.1941, the Ukr. Акт відновлення Української Держави (Eng. Act of Renewal of the Ukrainian State) was announced, with the approval of the Greek Catholic Ordinary of the Lviv Archeparchy, Abp Andrei Sheptytskyi. The act ended with the words „Glory to the heroic German Army and its Führer Adolf Hitler!” The Ukr. Українська народна міліція (Eng. Ukrainian People's Militia), i.e. UPM, was immediately established, which i.a. took part in the Jewish pogroms in Lviv. After 12 days, the Germans crushed the Ukrainians" dreams of an independent state and arrested the entire composition of the „Ukrainian government”. Therefore, instead of part of the „Ukrainian state”, Drohobych became the seat of the Germ. Kreishauptmannschaft Drohobycz (Eng. Drohobych County), within the Germ. Distrikt Galizien (Eng. District of Galicia), part of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG.

Did not return to the seminary in Przemyśl, which resumed operations in the summer of 1941. Did not receive priestly ordination. Remained in Drohobych and continued to work in a bank.

There, as throughout the GG, at the turn of 1941/1942, the Germans began implementing the genocidal plan known as the Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), i.e. extermination of the Jewish community, in the GG called by the codename Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt). Even earlier, on 25.10.1941, a decree issued by the Germ. Generalgouverneur (Eng. General Governor) of the GG, Hans Frank, came into force, according to which „Jews who leave their designated 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 helpers are subject to the same punishment as the perpetrator; an attempted act will be punished as a completed act. In less serious cases, severe imprisonment or prison may be imposed”. From that time on, the Jews were de facto confined in Drohobych, although the ghetto was formally established later, on 01.10.1942. Within a year and a half, the Germans — with the help of an Austrian unit Germ. Schutzpolizei–Dienstabteilung (Eng. protective police unit), which was part of the Germ. Ordnungspolizei (Eng. Order Police), i.e. OrPo, the collaborative Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), depending on the actual subordination to the German authorities also referred to as the Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Eng. Protection Battalions), i.e. Schuma, established by the Germans in place of the disbanded UPM, and the Germ. Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst (Eng. Jewish Order Service), which was under the supervision of the Germ. Judenrat (Eng. Jewish Council), made responsible for the implementation of German orders by the Jewish society — murdered all the Jews in Drohobych, c. 40% of the city's inhabitants. c. 4,700‐8,200 Jews, selected on the basis of lists prepared by the Germ. Judenrat, in three so‐called Germ. Aktion (Eng. operation), were deported to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Belzec, where they were all murdered. c. 4,700‐5,500 were murdered in a series of mass executions, including at least 1,500‐1,700 in the Bronytsya forests, c. 8 km north of Drohobych, and the rest probably in Drohobych itself, including c. 2,000 in the largest execution, when c. 2,000 Jews were murdered. E.g. on 19.11.1942, on the day that became known as „Black Thursday”, the Germans, without warning, began shooting at Jewish passersby, „running after those fleeing into the gates of houses, killing those hiding in stairwells and apartments”. The pretext was supposed to be a brawl from the previous day, in which a Jewish pharmacist wounded a finger of a member of the genocidal Germ. Die Schutzstaffel der NSDAP (Eng. NSDAP Protection Squad), i.e. «SS», a paramilitary formation subordinate to the ruling National Socialist German Workers' Party NSDAP in Germany. One of the 100‐300 victims that day was the famous writer Bruno Schulz. c. 1,200 Jews were also deported to German slave labor camps, where they were all murdered. The Germans used some of the Jews for slave labor in the German company Karpathen–Öl AG, which was engaged in oil extraction. Finally, on 20.07.1943, the Germans were able to announce that Drohobych was Germ. „Judenrein” (Eng. „free of Jews”), although the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei pursued those in hiding for many more weeks.

A few months before the final liquidation of the Drohobych ghetto, in 02.1943, in Volyn, c. 200 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.

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.

In the Germ. Distrikt Galizien, the UPA — so as not to „annoy” the Germans — did not operate. Instead, groups emerged operating under a euphemistic name of Ukr. Українська Народна Самооборона (Eng. Ukrainian National Self–Defense), i.e. UNS, and later also of the Ukr. Самооборонні кущові відділи (Eng. Self–defense unit), i.e. SKW, reinforced with those experienced in the genocide of Jews, „unemployed” after the end of the Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt», deserters from the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schuma.

At the same time, the Germans decided to create a battlefront Ukrainian division. From 28.04.1943, the formation of the Germ. 14. Waffen‐Grenadier‐Division der SS – ukrainische Nr. 1 (Eng. 14th Grenadier Division of the Waffen‐SS – 1st Ukrainian), i.e. «SS‐Galizien», began within the «SS». Its creation was de facto supported by Abp Sheptytsky, who allowed a solemn Mass to be celebrated in the cathedral in Lviv on the occasion of its creation and delegated chaplains to provide spiritual care for the soldiers. And in 06.1943, before the gathered volunteers, the Germ. Generalgouverneur of the GG himself, Hans Frank, appeared in Drohobych.

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, which rapidly began to shift the German–Russian battlefront, e.g. towards Lviv — the OUN/UPA decided to extend the «Genocidium Atrox» to the Germ. Distrikt Galizien. The Ukrainian génocidaires then formed, among others, the OUN/UPA operational group „UPA‐West”, under the command of Vasyl Sydor, nom de guerre „Shelest” — a degenerate with a similar career path as his superior, the aforementioned génocidairer, Roman Shukhevych, i.e. from the Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall, through the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201, where they gained experience exterminating Jews — who ordered „to strike the Poles continuously until they are exterminated to the last one from these lands”. The UPA Military District WO‐5 „Makivka” was responsible for implementing «Genocidium Atrox» in the Drohobych area.

His stance on these events is unknown, although Ukrainian sources note that „openly supported the national movement and was a member of the OUN”.

On 06.08.1944, the Russians entered Drohobych, during another major offensive, known as the Lviv–Sandomierz Operation. The Russian occupation began.

And then, prob. came under the radar of the Russian genocidal organization NKVD, though the details are unknown — the scope of his activities in 1944‐1945 is unknown, not even his conspiratorial nom de guerre, if he had one.

Threatened, prob. in 1945/1946, was supposed to „go underground”. The direct cause was prob. the so‐called Rus. „большая блокада” (Eng. great blockade), i.e. NKVD „clearing the rear” operation, formally launched on 10.01.1946. As part of it, the NKVD de facto took total control and blockaded settlements and villages in Galicia, weaving a network of informants into them, penetrating basically all Ukrainian social strata. c. 585,000 NKVD soldiers were transferred to the operation area — on 15.03.1946 NKVD was renamed Rus. Министерство государственной безопасности (Eng. Russian Ministry of State Security), i.e. MGB — in almost every village a post of c. 25‐100 soldiers was established, i.e. 2,000‐5,000 per district. Planned for many years, however, it brought results very quickly, and the UPA was de facto paralyzed and „ceased to exist as a coherent armed force”. In total, from 01.10.1945 to 10.02.1946, the NKVD carried out c. 15,562 actions against the OUN/UPA, „eliminating 4,200 rebels” and arresting 9,400. 130 armed units of the genocidal OUN/UPA were supposed to be liquidated.

In the area of Drohobych in 01‐04.1946, the NKVD/MGB was to kill 1,489 people.

In order to liquidate thousands of hiding places, known as bunker, the NKVD/MGB was to create special engineering and search groups to comb the villages. His hideout, near his family home in Ranevychi, was discovered by the MGB on 27.09.1946.

Stabbed with bayonets, but prob. before being pulled from the bunker, shot himself in the mouth.

Taken to a hospital in Drohobych.

Under constant MGB supervision, underwent surgery, but perished three days later.

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!”