Was the long–time parish priest of Rohizno parish. The village of Rohizno, in 1939, was located in the Yavoriv district of the Polish Lviv Voivodeship. It was inhabited by an estimated 2,300 people, of whom Greek Catholic Ukrainians, his parishioners, constituted c. 82%, while Roman Catholic Poles constituted c. 15%.

Pursuant to the genocidal German–Russian agreement of 23.08.1939, known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, confirmed on 28.09.1939 by the so‐called „Treaty on the Borders and Friendship between Germany and Russia”, also known as the Second Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, his parish found itself in the territory granted by the signatories and allies to the Russian invader. But after the German invasion of Poland on 01.09.1939 (the Russians attacked Poland 17 days later) and the start of World War II, the Germans advancing towards Lviv first appeared in the area of Yavoriv, on c. 12‐14.09.1939.

On 15‐16.09.1939, the Battle of Yavoriv took place, in which a group of Polish troops under the command of General Casimir Sosnkowski achieved tactical success, defeating and temporarily holding back the advancing German troops. During the battle, Polish troops, i.a. entered Rohizno. Simultaneously, however, larger German forces bypassed the Yavoriv district and approached Lviv, c. 50 km to the east, commencing an attack on that city from the west. Then General Sosnkowski's group began to withdraw eastward, heading for Lviv, with the intention of getting into the city. Starting on 19.09.1939, Lviv was already besieged — from the west by the Germans, from the east by the Russians, and breaking through to the city proved impossible. On c. 22.09.1939, Sosnkowski's group was defeated and its commander himself began to break through southward, towards the Hungarian border.

Lviv fell on 22.09.1939, and the Russians entered the city, in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The Germans, meanwhile, began withdrawing from the occupied areas west of Lviv, which were to fall to the Russians. On 26.09.1939, after Germans left the region, the Russians entered Rohizno.

And then, according to Ukrainian sources, was allegedly murdered in his rectory by agents of the Russian genocidal NKVD.

Ukrainian sources cite the memoirs of a witness, according to whom the murder was caused by shots fired from a machine gun, placed on the roof of his rectory, at Russian soldiers.

His fate, however, remains one of the most enigmatic, and perhaps most controversial cases that the authors of «Liber Albus» encountered while preparing this lexicon. Namely, the recollection quoted above, justifying the thesis about his death in 09.1939, also contains the explanation that the „gun on the roof of the rectory” was placed and fired by Polish soldiers. However, as stated above, the Polish army in the area was already in disarray, and even more so — General Sosnkowski's group withdrew towards Lviv, where it was defeated. It seems more than certain that on c. 19‐21.09.1939, Rohizno came under the operational control of German troops, not Polish ones.

This undermines the thesis of his death in 09.1939 at the hands of the Russians, as described in Ukrainian sources. And this opinion is not weakened by the existence of his „grave” in the cemetery in Rohizno, which indicates 26.09.1939, as the date of his death.

For the mystery is further deepened by Polish sources, which unequivocally state that was murdered — along with his family — in 1944 by Ukrainian génocidaires from the OUN/UPA, as part of the «Genocidium Atrox» — i.e., the genocide committed by Ukrainians against Poles, known as the „Volyn genocide”. The authors of «Liber Albus» present this version as an alternative, suggesting the it is equally — or perhaps even more — plausible.

If survived in 09.1939, as Polish sources suggest, in 1939‐1941 his parish came under Russian occupation. Arrests began among the intelligentsia, teachers, doctors, landowners, government officials, foresters, policemen, and even the families of Polish servicemen. Many other Poles fell victim to four large waves of deportations „to Siberia”. Accounts 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 with us, because they didn't let us move around the house […] There were heavy snowdrifts and heavy frost”. Surveillance of priests and monks began. High taxes were imposed on the clergy. The fate of the Greek Catholic clergy did not differ from the experiences of the Polish clergy during this period.

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. Kreishauptmannschaft Lemberg (Eng. Lviv county) in 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. Witnesses recalled that „Ukrainian nationalists were the most delighted with the new situation. In marches and demonstrations, manifested the creation of a free Ukraine and proclaimed anti‐Polish and anti‐Jewish slogans”. As Jewish sources describe in Yavoriv, the Germans „were greeted with flowers and great enthusiasm by the Ukrainians”" A few days later, still in 06.1941, Ukrainians carried out a „pogrom against Jews” in Yavoriv, robbing houses and „killing about 12 Jews”, according to the same Jewish source. They were accused — very likely with justification — of collaborating with the Russians.

The Germans quickly dissuaded the Ukrainians from their hopes for a „free Ukraine”. But they exploited the revealed anti‐Polish and anti‐Jewish sentiments. For the years 1941‐1943 were marked, in particular, by the extermination of Jews and the participation of collaborative Ukrainian units in it. The center of Jewish concentration in the area — In 1939, prob. several dozen of them lived in Rohizno — was Yavoriv. There, immediately after the beginning of the German occupation, in the summer of 1941, the Germans established the Germ. Judenrat (Eng. Jewish Council), which was to represent the interests of the Jewish population before the occupation authorities. The Germ. Judenrat was supported by the new Germ. Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst (Eng. Jewish Order Service) subordinated to it, responsible for maintaining order among the Jews. From 25.10.1941, the decree of Hans Frank, the Germ. Generalgouverneur (Eng. General Governor) of the GG, came into effect, 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 the deed accomplished”. Strict observance of the ban was enforced by members of the collaborative Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), in some regions also referred to as the Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Eng. Protection Battalions), i.e. Schuma. From his parish, Jews were deported to Yavoriv in 06.1942.

From the beginning of 1942, the Germans implemented the 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). The first large groups of Jews — c. 1,000 — were sent to forced slave labor camps in Yaktoriv, Vynnykyand Pluhiv, from where — in 1943 — were transported back to Yavoriv. C. 800‐900, deemed „fit for work”, were transported to the Germ. Zwangsarbeitslager für Juden (Eng. Forced labor camp for Jews) in Lviv at Janowska Street, i.e. the so‐called the Janowski ZALfJ Lemberg camp, providing slave labor for the German Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke DAW company, owned by 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 — which supplied the German war machine with uniforms, timber, metals, and repairs to war equipment. Jews were subjected to daily terror, arrests, and beatings by members of the collaborative Ukrainian Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei. Instances of robbery and rape were not uncommon. On 07‐08.11.1942, the Germans, with the help of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and the participation of the Germ. Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst, carried out a Germ. Aktion (Eng. Operation), in which 1,000‐1,800 Jews were deported to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. Extermination camp) VL Belzec, where they were all murdered. C. 200 Jews were murdered during the Germ. Aktion in Yavoriv alone. The next day, i.e. 09.11.1942, the same groups of murderers searched the town for hiding Jews. C. 200 were murdered in the Jewish cemetery. The following day, the Germans established a ghetto in Yavoriv, enclosed by a barbed‐wire fence, where c. 6,000 Jews were soon gathered. In the winter of 1942/1943, over 1,500 people died of hunger and typhus epidemics in the ghetto. On 16‐18.04.1943, the ghetto was liquidated, and 3,500‐4,000 Jews were driven to a forest c. 5 km away, towards the village of Porudno. There, only c. 4 km from his Rohizno, they were all murdered. Several hundred who remained were murdered later or deported to other camps. The Germans were able to declare that Yavoriv and the surrounding area were Germ. „Judenrein” (Eng. „free of Jews”).

Only a few survived. Jewish sources state that „local Poles were more willing to help and hide Jews than Ukrainians”.

Immediately afterwards, 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”.

A month later, 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 and the UPA appeal were 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. De facto however also there the Ukrainian genociders, „unemployed” after the end of the Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt», deserted and joined the UNS, whose main goal, like the OUN/UPA, was the extermination of the Polish population, although the documentation ostentatiously stated „defense against the terror of the German authorities”. When at the turn of 1943/1944 it became clear that the Germans were losing the war in the East — on 24.12.1943, a major Russian offensive began, known as the Dnieper‐Carpathian Operation, which rapidly began to shift the German‐Russian front westward, towards, among others, Lviv — the OUN/UPA decided to extend the «Genocidium Atrox» to the Germ. Distrikt Galizien. I.a. the Ukrainian genocidaires formed 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 genocidal superior, Roman Shukhevych — from the Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall, through the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201, where they gained experience exterminating Jews, to the UNS — who ordered „to strike the Poles continuously until they are exterminated to the last one from these lands”.

At the beginning of 04.1944, the German‐Russian front moved to a distance of c. 80 km east of Lviv. And then the genocidaire Miroslav Onyszkiewicz, nom de guerre „Orest”, chief of staff of the Military District WO‐2 „Bug”, which was part of „UPA‐West”, commanded by Ostap Lynda, nom de guerre „Yarema” — another degenerate with the same career path as his two aforementioned superiors — on 06.04.1944, on the Roman Catholic Holy Thursday, specified the tasks of the UPA units subordinated to him: „I order the immediate purging of my region of the Polish element […] The purging should be carried out in the villages and settlements sparsely populated by Poles. For this purpose, a militia group composed of our members should be established in the region, whose task would be to eliminate the above–mentioned ones. Our larger settlements will be purged of this element by our military units even in broad daylight […] The purging of the area must be completed before our Easter, so that we can celebrate it without Poles […] Carry on a hard, ruthless fight against them. Spare no one, even in the case of mixed marriages. Pull out the Poles from their homes, but do not eliminate the Ukrainians and children in these houses […] Extract weapons. Death to the Poles”.

The Greek Catholic Easter in 1944 fell on 16.04.1944, so there was not much time. And already on 07‐08.04.1944, on the Roman Catholic Good Friday and Holy Saturday, Ukrainian genocidal perpetrators attacked the Polish village of Pyszówka, on the edge of the forest, c. 15 km west of Rohizno, founded in the 18th century for German colonists who had been culturally and religiously Polonized in the 19th century. As reported by the branch of the Polish welfare committee, i.e. PolKO, for the Lviv district, to the delegate of the Central Welfare Council, i.e. RGO, a charity organization for whose activities the aforementioned Hans Frank, Germ. Generalgouverneur of the GG, gave his consent: „The officer of the inspection organization in Sudova Vyshnya [Yavoriv] informed us about the following cases of Ukrainian terror. On April 7, 1944, at about 9 p.m., an armed Ukrainian gang of several thousand people surrounded the Polish community of Pyszówka […] and set it on fire with hand grenades. Those escaping from the burning houses were shot with automatic weapons. Of the total number of 300 people living in Pyszówka, about 100 died”. Other sources state that „f the approximately 300 inhabitants, only about 80 were said to have escaped with their lives”.

And at that time, was said to have publicly condemned this act of genocide.

For this, according to Polish sources, was murdered — along with four of his family members — by the genocidal Ukrainian organization OUN/UPA.

Perhaps the perpetrators were — such suggestion «Liber Albus» puts forward — agents of the Ukr. Служба Безпеки (Eng. Security Service), i.e. SB OUN, whose task was to track down political and ideological opponents of the OUN. The training of SB OUN, founded in the GG in 1940, with German consent, was conducted, among others, in Zakopane, at the „Stamary” hotel. According to the hotel's contemporary website, „the training included the principles of sabotage, Gestapo interrogation methods, and killing methods”. All these undertakings were overseen by the Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. Gestapo, which had its headquarters in the „Palace” villa, where Polish patriots were being murdered.

On 12.10.2007, the genocide perpetrator 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”, genocidal perpetrator 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!”