On c. 14.09.1914, at the beginning of World War I, after the capture of Lviv by the troops of the Russian Empire on 03.09.1944, and then after the defeat of the troops of the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy in the Battle of Rava‐Ruska on 03‐11.09.1939 and their decision to withdraw behind the line of the San River, the Russians entered his parish and the village of Husakiv, c. 80 km west of Lviv and c. 17 km southeast of Przemyśl. Two days later, on 16.09.1914, the siege of Przemyśl began and lasted until 22.03.1915. Years later he wrote: „Please place in the "Messenger of the Heart of Jesus" my great gratitude to the Heart of Jesus for the extraordinary graces with which it surrounded me during the siege of Przemyśl in 1914‐1915, so that I could without any difficulty from the Muscovites rush to the people with spiritual help, near the forts of Przemyśl”. A month later, on 02.05.1915, one of the most important battles of the war began, the Battle of Gorlice, during which the combined forces of the Central Powers (the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy and the German Empire) broke through the front and began pushing the Russian troops eastward. On 15.05.1915, the attack on Przemyśl began. Recalled later: „and in May 1915, for three weeks during the crazy battles in Husakiv itself, when it seemed to be the end of the world, when everything was dying from bullets and fire, when the church and the rectory were burning, people and animals were dying […] "Heart of Jesus, save us" — endlessly called for help on those terrible days, which I recall with fear — gave me extraordinary strength, contempt for life, that I had saved the church and people. For all this, thanks be to the Lord Jesus”. On 03.06.1915, the Austrians returned to Przemyśl and Husakiv.

When the defeat of the Central Powers became obvious, on 16.10.1918, Emperor Charles I of Austria issued Germ. Völkermanifest — „To My Faithful Austrian Peoples” manifesto — announcing the transformation of Austria–Hungary into a federal state. Not only did this not prevent the disintegration of the Empire, but it actually accelerated it. The question of the fate — after the end of World War I — of the Germ. Königreich Galizien und Lodomerien (Eng. Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria), a province and crown land of the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy, became urgent. There, an open Polish–Ukrainian conflict broke out. The first to attack were the Ukrainians — slightly outnumbering the Polish nationals, especially in the countryside, while in the cities the Poles significantly outnumbered them — who had already announced 01.11.1918, i.e. 10 days before the end of the war, creation of the West Ukrainian People's Republic ZUNR and simultaneously attacked the capital of Eastern Galicia, Lviv. The Polish–Ukrainian War of 1918‐1919 began. The Ukrainians did not capture Lviv — and were driven out of Przemyśl in 1918 — but began a siege of city. The army of the newly reborn Poland, however, retained control of the strategic railway line from Przemyśl to Lviv. The strip around this main line, however, did not include his Husakiv — c. 10 km to the south — and the Ukrainian occupation began. During this occupation, arrested by the Ukrainians and transported to the prison in Sambir. There beaten and abused.

On 07.03.1919, the Ukrainians took control of the Przemyśl–Lviv main road in several places, but on 19.03.1915, they were repelled and the corridor to Lviv was once again in Polish hands. On 14.05.1919, the Polish offensive began under the command of General Joseph Haller. On 15‐16.05.1919, the Poles entered Sambir. By 16.07.1919, the Ukrainians were forced to withdraw beyond the Zbruch River. Was then able to return, sick and with impaired health, to his parish.

In 1939, in Husakiv, then a small village in the Mostyska county of the Polish Lviv Voivodeship, could have been inhabited by c. 1,100 people, of whom Roman Catholic Poles constituted an estimated 24%, Greek Catholic Ukrainians c. 53%. In addition, there could have been an c. 250 Jews. In the Roman Catholic parish, whose center was the St Stanislav the Bishop and Martyr church in Husakiv, encompassing c. 10 villages — and 10 schools where he taught religion — c. 1,699 faithful lived in 1938. The Greek Catholic parish, also based in Husakiv, numbered c. 6,400 faithful. The population structure of the entire Mostyska district was similar — c. 60% majority were followers of the Greek Catholic Church, i.e. Ukrainians.

On 01.09.1939, in accordance with the genocidal German–Russian agreement of 23.08.1939, known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which sparked World War II, Germany attacked Poland. Around his parish village, the Germans, advancing towards Lviv, appeared on c 12‐14.09.1939. On 15‐16.09.1939, the Battle of Javoriv 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. This group included i.a. the 24th Infantry Division, which successfully stopped the attack of the Germ. 2. Gebirgs‐Division (Eng. 2nd Mountain Division) near Husakiv. Sosnkowski's group however was forced to withdraw to the east, towards Lviv, and on c. 15.09.1939 the Germans entered Husakiv. Soon the Germans reached Lviv and began attacking the city. Fierce fighting for the city was still ongoing when on 17.09.1939, fulfilling the obligations of the rogue Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was attacked by the Russians. The Russians reached Lviv on 19.09.1939, and the siege of the city began. However, already on 20.09.1939, the Germans received orders to withdraw. The city was to fall to the Russians. On 22.09.1939, Lviv surrendered. After a few days, the Russians began to advance westward, taking over the areas vacated by the retreating German troops. On c. 27.09.1939 they reached Husakiv. A day later, on 28.09.1939, the Germans and Russians signed the so‐called „Treaty on the Borders and Friendship of Germany‐Russia”, also known as the 2nd Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The Russian occupation began in Husakiv.

The Russians subjected Poles in particular to repression, arresting Polish intelligentsia, teachers, doctors, landowners, government officials, foresters, policemen, and families of Polish military personnel. Many other Poles became victims of 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, because they did not allow us to move around the house […] There were large snowdrifts and heavy frost”. In addition, 150,000–200,000 men were conscripted into the Russian army, and c. 100,000 were forced to work for Russian industry, mainly in the mines of the Donets Basin, in heavy industry plants in the Urals and in Siberia. Then the surveillance of priests and monks began. High taxes were imposed on the clergy, and religious education was removed from schools. 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 its erstwhile ally, the Russians, the German occupation began on 23.06.1941. His parish became part of the Germ. Kreishauptmannschaft Lemberg (Eng. Lviv county) — until 1942 part of the Germ. Kreishauptmannschaft Sądowa Wisznia (Eng. Sądowa Wisznia county) — within the Germ. Distrikt Galizien (Eng. district of Galicia), becoming part of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG. The period 1941‐1943 was marked in particular by the extermination of Jews. 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). A significant part was played by units of the Ukrainian, collaborationist Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), also operating as the Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Security Battalions), i.e. Schuma. Already in 1941 — in the „first year of the war”, as one source puts it — in his Husakiv parish, „the Ukrainian police murdered a young Jewish woman near the synagogue on Saturday”. From 25.10.1941, Jews were bound by the decree of the Germ. Generalgouverneur (Eng. General Governor) of the GG, Hans Frank, 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, heavy imprisonment or prison may be imposed”. After the beginning of the Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt», the local center for the implementation of the genocidal program was Mostyska, c. 15 km to the northeast. In 1939 c. 2,500 Jews lived in Mostyska, i.e. c. 43% of the town's population — in addition, c. 2,700 Poles lived there, i.e. c. 48%, and c. 500 Ukrainians. In 06.1941, when the German occupation began, c. 3,500 Jews were resident there, a significant part of whom were refugees and resettled persons from central Poland in 1939. Already in 07.1941, the Germans ordered the establishment of the Germ. Judenrat (Eng. Jewish Council), charging it with responsibility for all affairs of the Jewish community. The Germ. Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst (Eng. Jewish Order Service) was to assist in achieving these goals. In 05.1942, several hundred Jews were deported to slave labor camps, i.a. to the Germ. Zwangsarbeitslager für Juden (Eng. Forced labor camp for Jews) in Lviv on Yanovska Street, i.e. the so‐called Yanovski ZALfJ Lemberg camp, providing slave labor for the Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke DAW company, belonging to 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 supplies of uniforms, wood, metals, and repairs to war equipment. At the beginning of the summer of 1942, Jews from the surrounding towns, including his parish, were herded to Mostyska and the Germ. Judenviertel (Eng. Jewish quarter) was established, i.e. an open ghetto. On 12‐13.10.1942, the Germ. Aktion (Eng. operation) took place — the Germans and members of the Germ. Ukrainian Hilfspolizei herded c. 2,000 Jews to the railway station and then deported them to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Belzec, where they were murdered. The Germ. Ukrainian Hilfspolizei organized hunts for those trying to hide, during which c. 500 Jews were murdered at the Jewish cemetery in Mostyska. The ghetto existed for another 5 weeks, during which the Germ. Ukrainian Hilfspolizei did not allow any food to be delivered to the remaining c. 1,000 Jews. Many died of hunger and diseases, especially the typhus epidemic. In 10.1942, all the remaining Jews were deported to the ghetto in Javoriv, where they were extermination in 04.1943. The heroic Germans could report that Mostyska was Germ. „Judenrein” (Eng. „free of Jews”).

At about the same time, in 02.1943, in Volyn, c. 200 km to the northeast, Roman Shukhevych, nom de guerre „Taras Chuprynka”, the chief commander of the Ukrainian, genocidal OUN/UPA organisation, who in 1941 was a member of the Ukrainian Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall (Eng. Special Group Nightingale) — a unit of the Germ. Wehrmacht (Eng. Armed Forces) that took part in the German attack on Russians in 1941, accused of participating in the Jewish pogrom in Lviv in 1941 — and later a member of the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201 (Eng. 201st Protection team Battalion) — responsible for the murder of Jews and civilians in the territory of Belarus — issued an order: „The extermination operation should be carried out according to the following principles: Polish villages are to be burned, and their populations massacred. Attacks on towns will take place in broad daylight, not at night. In mixed villages, the Polish population alone should be liquidated, and farmsteads should be burned only if they are 15 meters away and when there is no risk of the fire spreading to neighboring Ukrainian buildings. The Ukrainian population will receive instructions as to where to gather during the attack […] For every Ukrainian murdered, whether by Poles or Germans, 100 (one hundred) Poles will be executed”.

It was the de facto signal for the commencement of the «Genocidium Atrox» — i.e. the genocide perpetrated by Ukrainians, known as „Volyn genocide”.

Immediately thereafter, in 03.1943, the UPA issued an appeal to members of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), who had participated in the Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt», 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.

When at the turn of 1943/1944 it became clear that Germany was losing the war in the East — on 24.12.1943, a large Russian offensive called the Dnieper–Carpathian Operation began, which in 04.1944 reached a line c. 80 km east of Lviv, stopping there for the spring period — the OUN/UPA decided to extend the «Genocidium Atrox» to the Germ. Distrikt Galizien. Until then, the groups there — so as not to „annoy” the Germans — were mainly operating under the euphemistic name Ukr. Українська Народна Самооборона (Eng. Ukrainian National Self‐Defense), i.e. UNS, reinforced by deserters from the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schuma, seasoned in the genocide of Jews. The Ukrainian génocidaires formed then i.a. the OUN/UPA operational group „UPA‐West”, under the command of Vasyl Sydor, nom de guerre „Shelest”, who ordered „to constantly strike at Poles until they are exterminated to the last one from these lands”. The UPA Military District WO‐2 „Bug”, commanded by another degenerate, Ostap Lynda, nom de guerre „Yarema”, was responsible for implementing the «Genocidium Atrox» in the vicinity of Lviv — also in the vicinity of Mostyska — who in 1941 was a platoon commander in the Ukrainian Germ. Sondergruppe Nachtigall, and later a member of the Germ. Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201, just like his genocidal superiors, the aforementioned Vasyl Sydor and Roman Shukhevych.

The targeted murders of Poles also began in his parish. They took place in Novosilky and Boratychi, where „during the day, several armed (disguised) Banderites came to his house and asked him to give them wood. At first, no one suspected anything wrong, until the forester tried to put on his jacket. At this, the disguised Banderites demanded that he leave the jacket with his wife. After these words, his wife and children became furious and began to cry and beg for mercy. Unfortunately, the Banderites were unflinching. They took him with them (leaving his wife and children alive) and went with him to the forest. His wife only heard a shot after a moment. An hour later, a search for his body began, but it was not found”. In Khidnovychi, „local Ukrainians murdered a Polish family of five with three children, named Banaś, while they slept”. In Horyslavychi, „Ukrainians murdered 5 Poles: a 20‐year‐old girl and four 19‐year‐old boys; they tortured the victims, cutting off their arms and legs”. In Zolotkovychi, „they robbed Polish farms and murdered 3 Poles”.

On the night of 13‐14.07.1944 — exactly on the days when the Russians resumed their offensive in the east, launching the Lviv–Sandomierz Operation — was kidnapped.

All sources attribute the kidnapping to the genocidal OUN/UPA. Some, however, add that the perpetrators were „Ukrainian nationalists from Boyevychi”, i.e, a neighboring village c. 1.5 km from Husakiv.

Most sources point to the rectory in Husakiv as the site of the kidnapping, adding that „the building was plundered”. One, however, states that was taken from Boyevychi, where „lived after the [earlier] burning down of the rectory”.

„According to eyewitness accounts, they threw the tied priest, dressed only in a nightshirt, onto a horse‐drawn wagon containing the property stolen from the rectory, and drove away” from Husakiv.

Transported to Mizhenets, c. 7 km away, on the other side of the forest complex south of Husakiv. „He rode the entire way to the village of Mizhenets on a cart, serving as a seat for the Bandera supporters”. On 01.03.1943, Mizhenets had a population of 1,181 — according to German sources — of whom Poles constituted an estimated 67% and Ukrainians 30%.

In 1944, there was a Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei station in Mizhenets — in accordance with the general practice of the German government in the Germ. Distrikt Krakau of forming police units based on Ukrainian collaborators, and Mizhenets had been in that district since 1941 — and there was held for the next several days. According to other sources, he was imprisoned „in one of the houses occupied by Ukrainian nationalists”.

Accused of „conducting espionage and transporting ammunition for Polish partisans”.

Tortured.

„Was forced to issue and sign Roman Catholic certificates for UPA members”, which likely means that the Ukrainian génocidaires were thus preparing for evacuation and escape with the Germans to the west, attempting to create new identities for themselves. The source adds that „after preparing several copies, he refused to cooperate further”.

„The priest refused to be broken”.

On 19.07.1944, was murdered. „The murder was committed by a Ukrainian police commander named Rab”.

The body was „found in Mizhenets, buried in manure”, but the burial site is unknown.

A week later, on c. 24‐28.07.1944, the Russians entered Husakiv and Mizhenets, and the Russian occupation began.

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!”