From 1925, ministered in the village of Bachów, in Przemyśl County, Lviv Voivodeship, located on the right bank of the San River, which winds generally eastward through the area. The village had an estimated population of c. 2,100, of whom Roman Catholic Poles constituted c. 44%, Greek Catholic Rusyns c. 51%, and Jews c. 90% — a division that generally reflected the ethnic makeup of the county.

After the German and Russian attack on Poland in 09.1939 and the outbreak of World War II, Przemyśl County was occupied by the Germans, but shortly thereafter part of the county on the right bank of the San was handed over to the Russians, 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 „The Treaty on the Borders and Friendship between Germany and Russia” of 28.09.1939, also known as the Second Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

When realized that Bachów would be under Russian occupation, moved to another village of his parish, but on the left bank of the San River, the former town of Babice. Babice was taken over by the Germans.

This may have saved his life, or at least protected him from deportation deep into Russia, „to Siberia”, because along the San River the Russians had established the so‐called Molotov Line — a series of defensive forts and trenches, near Przemyśl referred to as the 8th Przemyśl Fortified Area. Part of this „line” was a strip c. 800 m wide, from which people were relocated along its entire length. Bachów was located in such a strip, was emptied, and part of the population was resettled, while the rest was sent deep „to Siberia”.

Babice had an estimated population of c. 1,400, of whom Roman Catholic Poles constituted c. 72%, Greek Catholic Rusyns c. 25%, and there were about 40 Jews. The village was incorporated into the Germ. Kreishauptmannschaft Przemyśl (Eng. Przemyśl County) in the Germ. Distrikt Krakau (Eng. Kraków District), as part of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG. The village was also the seat of a Roman Catholic parish, which also included Bachów.

Its parish priest was Fr Adalbert Prugar, with whom — as can be inferred from testimony given after the war that „Father Sembratowicz lived well with the Polish population and was impartial to both sides” — had prob. good relations. Another contemporary record, favorable to Ukrainian nationalism, puts it this way: „People there were passive and not very conscious. Much of this is due to the "merit" of Father Sembratowicz, the long‐time parish priest of Bachów, a stubborn Muscovite. He was very loyal to Poles, was friends with Polish priests and people unfavorably disposed towards Ukrainians”. This comment suggests that may have been unfavorably disposed towards the Ukrainization policy of his Church hierarchy, which at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s led to the wave of mass conversions of Lemkos to Orthodoxy — c. 18,000 Lemkos/Rusyns left the Greek Catholic Church. The Church managed to stop further apostasy of the Lemkos, not thanks to the attitude of its eparchy, but thanks to the establishment of a special Apostolic Administration of the Lemko Region. Mykhailo Baczyński, a member of the Seym, i.e. Parliament, of the Republic of Poland, in his parliamentary speech of 21.01.1931, revealed what the Rusyns had to deal with within the Greek Catholic Church, who were not susceptible to the genocidal — as it turned out — ideology of Ukrainian nationalists: „The Greek Catholic Church was transformed after the war [the Polish–Ukrainian war of 1918‐1919] into an agitational Ukrainian political tribune from which words of love for one’s neighbor are sown, but words of hatred”. Many priests of his eparchy, however, still supported Ukrainian nationalists, close to the genocidal OUN/UPA.

And this was significant, because 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.

At the same time, the Germans in GG pursued a clearly pro‐Ukrainian policy. Ukrainians were guaranteed self‐government, the use of the Ukrainian language in administration, and Ukrainian education. The Ukrainian police, Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police), in some regions also referred to as Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Eng. Protection Battalions), i.e. Schuma, began its operations. Ukrainians were also entrusted with prison service, employed in concentration camp crews, and employed in lower administration. Ukrainian political organizations operated openly, such as the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists OUN, the Ukrainian Central Committee UCC, which became the Ukrainian representation towards the German authorities. They were allowed to take over Polish schools, reading rooms, and churches and organize them as Ukrainian. In 1940, the Ukr. Служба Безпеки (Eng. Security Service), i.e. SB OUN, was allowed to be established under the watchful care of the Germans, whose task was to track down political and ideological opponents of the OUN. SB OUN training 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 Gestapo, which had its headquarters in the „Palace” villa, where Polish patriots were being murdered. SB OUN was later to participate in genocidal attacks on the Polish community, i.e. «Genocidium Atrox».

For example, in Pruchnik, c. 11 km away, the Germans — according to Jewish sources — terminated most Poles from positions in the municipal administration and replaced them with Ukrainians, although in the town Ukrainians constituted only 8.5% of the population, Poles c. 40%, and Jews c. 51%. This prob. happened because, in parallel with the repressions against Poles, the Germans systematically separated Jews. And so in Pruchnik in 11.1939 they established an open ghetto — i.e. closed only by selected streets of the town — into which prob. Jews from his Babice parish had already been herded. In 1939, Jews constituted over 50% of the town's inhabitants, in 12.1939 there were c.600 Jews, mostly women, children and the elderly — because younger men had fled to the Russian occupation. Separation, combined with a semblance of self‐government, e.g. the establishment of the Germ. Judenrat (Eng. Jewish Council), responsible for the internal administration of the Jewish ghetto, was initially met with some favor by the Jewish community in many places. Over the next two years, however, the Germans introduced increasingly stricter restrictions, mainly financial ones, and the situation in the ghetto became increasingly difficult. And after the German attack on 22.06.1941 on erstwhile ally, the Russians, the fate of the Jews became tragic. The ghettos became a trap, especially after 25.10.1941, when the decree of the Germ. Generalgouverneur (Eng. General Governor) of the GG, Hans Frank, came into effect in the GG, 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”. Immediately afterwards, at the beginning of 1942, the Germans began to implement the genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), which in GG was known as the Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt). The Germans, with the help of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei, liquidated the ghetto in Pruchnik on 01‐03.08.1942, transporting all Jews to the ghetto in Bircza, from where most were soon transported to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. Extermination Camp) VL Belzec, where they were murdered. In the vicinity of Babice and the Germ. Kreishauptmannschaft Przemyśl, the Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» lasted longer, because the Germans finally „liquidated” the ghetto in Przemyśl only on 11.09.1943, although the city was declared Germ. „Judenrein” (Eng. free from Jews) even later, in 02.1944.

Meanwhile, in 02.1943, c. 200 km to the north‐east, in Volyn, 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), collaborating with Germans, in some regions also referred to as the Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Eng. Protection Battalions), i.e. Schuma, 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 and Germ. Distrikt Krakau — 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 its internal documentation and reports ostentatiously stated „defense against the terror of the German authorities”. And in 12.1943 — when it became clear that the Germans were losing the war in the East, the UNS was formally transformed into a genocidal „UPA‐West” OUN/UPA unit. In 01.1944, its commander became 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”. Another of the main leaders of the „UPA‐West” group, the génocidaire Miroslav Onyshkevych, nom de guerre „Orest”, on 06.04.1944 specified the tasks of the UPA units under his command: „I order the immediate purging of my region of the Polish element […] The purging should be carried out in the sparsely populated areas by Poles. For this purpose, a militia group composed of our members should be established in the area, whose task would be to eliminate the above‐mentioned. Larger areas 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 […] Fight them hard and ruthlessly. Spare no one, even in the case of mixed marriages. Pull the Poles out of their homes, but do not eliminate the Ukrainians and children in these houses […] Take out your weapons. Death to the Poles”.

The «Genocidium Atrox» began in the Germ. Distrikt Galizien and Germ. Distrikt Krakau.

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 participate in the structures of this occupation power. Moreover, the Germans behaved passively towards the genocidal acts of the UNS/UPA, generally not undertaking major operations against Ukrainians.

Even far to the west, in the Germ. Distrikt Krakau, Poles began to realize what «Genocidium Atrox» truly meant. Although the scale of the genocide there was not yet large in 1944, traumatized refugees, witnesses to Ukrainian brutality, began to arrive from the east‐both from Volyn and the Germ. Distrikt Galizien. The Polish Clandestine State and its Polish partisans from the Home Army AK and the Peasant Battalions BCh began to participate in the formation of self‐defense units.

The Russians captured Przemyśl and the surrounding area on 27.07.1944, as part of an offensive known as the Lviv–Sandomierz Operation. The Russian occupation began.

The Russian offensive, however, was halted already in 08.1944 — on the orders of the highest Russian authorities. The cause was the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising on 01.08.1944, i.e. an attempt by the Polish Clandestine State to seize power on Polish territory before the Russians entered. The Russians, de facto in a momentary strategic collusion with the Germans, allowed the Germans to crush the Uprising and murder c. 200,000 Poles. This meant that Przemyśl and the surrounding area became a front‐line area, till 01.1945 a place of quartering for thousands of Russian soldiers. The overwhelming strength of the Russian front troops meant that on 04.09.1944, Vasyl Sydor nom de guerre „Shelest” ordered a halt to the action against the Polish civilian population, but the order did not include the „Polish element collaborating with the NKVD and the organs of Moscow imperialism”. The OUN/UPA was to attack „a Polish militia of 20 people in a given 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”.

On 12.01.1945, the Russians launched a decisive offensive in the east, the so‐called Vistula–Oder Operation. They were secured in the rear, because the Polish Clandestine State and the Home Army AK, due to the Germans" bloody suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, were very weakened, so it was possible to leave the occupied territories under the control of the genocidal NKVD and the Polish traitors collaborating with it, i.e. the so‐called Russian Polish Republic „prl”. At the same time, the Polish government operating in London and the Polish Clandestine State decided to disband the AK. This happened on 19.01.1945.

And then, in the lands abandoned by the Russian frontline troops, the genocidal OUN/UPA began to become active. This particularly concerned the area between the so‐called Curzon–Namier line and the San, i.e. between the Bug and San rivers, referred to by Ukrainians as Zakerzonia, was considered by the OUN/UPA to be the western part of the future Ukrainian state. The Curzon–Namier line was a demarcation line between Poland and the Russian Bolsheviks, proposed to the Russians on 11.07.1920, by the British Foreign Secretary, George Curzon, during the great Russian offensive during the Polish–Russian War of 1919‐1921, suggested by the so‐called expert, Lewis Bernstein Namier, a Jew of Polish origin. Russia — contrary to the plans of the British imperialists — suffered defeat in 1920, but the concept of the Curzon–Namier line, running through the center of Poland, became a cause célèbre for all imperialists for the division of Central Europe, especially the Russian and German ones. It was then, at the beginning of 1945, that the above‐mentioned génocidaire Miroslav Onyshkevych, nom de guerre „Orest”, became the commander of the OUN/UPA Military District WO‐6 „San”, which included Zakerzonia.

The complicated situation in Przemyśl and the surrounding area was compounded by decisions made on 28.11‐01.12.1943, by the main leaders of the anti‐German coalition — the USA, Great Britain, and Russia — at the Tehran Conference. There, it was de facto agreed that pre‐war Poland would be divided, and the areas seized and occupied by Russia in 1939 would become part of Russia. In this way, the coalition partners validated the genocidal Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, in its part concerning Russia. One of the changes decided upon by the Russian leader, the genocidal Stalin, was to leave the areas west of the Bug River, e.g. Zakerzonia, within the borders of the „prl”. However, the Russians did not intend to stop at simply drawing new borders — they also intended to solve national and social problems using the old, tried‐and‐true Russian method. This method involved the deportation of entire nations and societies.

Over a million Poles from the so‐called Pl. Kresy (Eng. Borderlands), i.e. the territories east of the Curzon–Namier line and the Bug River, began to be forced to emigrate westward and northward to the „prl”, to lands that in 1939 were part of Germany. And Ukrainians and Rusyns, mainly from Zakerzonia, began to be forced to emigrate eastward, to areas that were to belong directly to communist Russia. The first phase, lasting till the end of 1944, was „voluntary” and covered the territory north of Przemyśl. About 20,000 people left for Russia. The second phase began on 01.01.1945, and was generally met with resistance. There were few who volunteered.

Thus, at the beginning of 1945, after the Russian front‐line troops had left the Przemyśl region, a clash of three main forces took place. On the one hand, the Ukrainian genocidal OUN/UPA, fighting for Ukrainian Zakerzonia, carried out murders and pacifications of Polish villages, as well as attacks on Russian forces, including the genocidal NKVD, supported by Polish units that had decided to betray the ideals of an independent Poland and began collaborating with the Russians. On the other hand, the heirs of the Polish Clandestine State, who after many years of fighting against the Germans, intending to return to civilian life, were accused by the Russians and their Polish collaborators of … collaboration with the Germans, and in practice forced to renew the resistance and partisan movement. At the same time, they had to defend villages attacked by the genocidal OUN/UPA. Today we refer to them as „cursed soldiers”. The third side were the Russians, and in particular the genocidal NKVD units, supported by the growing in strength — thanks to Russian power — Commie‐Nazi „prl” units. They fought against the OUN/UPA, but especially against Polish patriots, former members of the Polish Clandestine State, seeing them as the greatest threat to Russian rule.

And then was murdered.

The murder was described in a report by a Polish policeman from the so‐called Citizens' Militia MO, established by the Commie‐Nazi prl: „I report that on February 23, 1945, at approximately 10:30 p.m., three armed bandits broke into the unlocked apartment of Greek Catholic priest Anatol Sembratowicz, over 60 years old, of Rusyn nationality, married, residing in Babice, Krzywcza commune, Przemyśl county, and forced the household members to lie on the floor. They then proceeded to loot men's and women's clothing, tableware, and food.

After packing the belongings, one of the perpetrators of the attack, fired three shots from an automatic rifle into the head, killed Father Sembratowicz on the spot.

When the alarm was raised by the residents of the Babice district, they hurriedly left in the direction of Babice Suburb.

During the robbery, the second part of the band surrounded the market square in Babice, terrorized the night guard, and forced them to lie down [on] the ground. At the same time, they fired several bursts from machine gun at the inhabitants rushing to help. Due to the strong alarm, the population of Babice began to gather in various parts of the town. Seeing what the bandits had withdrawn, the third part of the gang manning the trenches behind Babice from the direction of Dubiecko, began to fire at the Babice group with a machine gun, and hand grenades were thrown. After the attack, the gang left in an unknown direction with the looted loot.

I do stress that the perpetrators during the attack on Father Sembratowicz's house spoke Polish, while the gang that occupied the market square spoke Russian and Ukrainian”.

Who carried out the attack — it is unknown.

It seems least likely that it was post‐AK Polish partisans.

Polish partisans didn't have to use Russian or Ukrainian when giving orders and instructions — Babice was part of Poland before 1939, and the official language was Polish, which everyone understood.

The murder could have been committed by a UPA group. According to available information, Father Sembratowicz „got along well with the Polish population”, and the genocidal SB‐OUN, which hunted down all political opponents, was particularly active at the time. Similar attacks took place at the time — for example, on 08.02.1945, in Jawornik Ruski, c. 15 km away, a Polish family was thrown alive into a well. However, the use of Polish language by the attackers of the priest would be puzzling.

The most likely hypothesis seems to be a Russian provocation involving Polish collaborators. Its goal may have been to intimidate the Rusyn population and force them to volunteer for relocation eastward to Russia by casting suspicion on Polish partisans.

The local Ukrainian population supposedly blamed the Poles, which is not surprising. That is prob. why some contemporary Ukrainian nationalist sources place the blame, i.a. on the Polish vicar of the Babice parish, who was reportedly in conflict with the priest of the neighboring Greek Catholic parish in Brzuska.

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!”