In 1936 began his ministry in the parish of Jawornik Ruski, then in the Dobromyl district of the Lviv voivodeship. Until 1934, Jawornik was a large village, inhabited by an estimated 2,500 people, with a mixed population, i.e. c. 47% of Roman Catholic Poles and c. 49% of Greek Catholic Ukrainians. The hamlet of Borownica, where there was a Catholic church around which most of the Polish population of the village gathered, was then separated from it. In 1939, it can be assumed that c. 1,500 people lived in Jawornik Ruski, of whom Roman Catholics constituted c. 15% and Greek Catholics c. 80%. Additionally, c. 70 Jews lived there. In his entire Greek Catholic parish, which also included the village of Żohatyn, in 1939, c. 2,035 believers resided.

The analyzed sources contain basically no information about his attitude towards the problems that his generation had to face. With this reservation, it can be assumed that he was a priest who supported — or at least was neutral towards — the Ukrainization policy of the hierarchy of his Church, 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.

After the German and Russian attack on Poland in September 1939 and the start of World War II, his parish was occupied by the Germans around September 10, 1939, but in accordance with the genocidal agreement between the two allies, known as the Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact of 23.08.1939, 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, they withdrew and handed it over to the Russians on c. 29.09.1939. His parish, on the right bank of the San River, came under Russian occupation. During the Russian occupation, mainly Poles experienced Russian persecution there. 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.

One of the first moves of the Russian occupier was the Sovietization of schools, which meant e.g. the removal of religious education. Immediately afterwards, mass arrests of Poles began. In four large deportations deep into Russia, „to Siberia” — the first of which took place on c. 10.02.1940, in the middle of a particularly frosty winter — the Russians deported between 340,000 and 1,000,000 Polish citizens, entire families, „especially those who held significant functions”, i.e. teachers, officers and military settlers, political activists, estate owners, businessmen, officials and other wealthy individuals, considered by the Russians to be a „hostile and harmful element”. Basically, none of them returned to their homeland. It is not known whether, and how many, people were deported from Jawornik Ruski, but its parishioners also experienced the benefits of the Rus. русского мира (Eng..

Ruski mir/world), because along the San River the Russians created the so‐called „Molotov Line” — a series of defensive forts and trenches, in the vicinity of Przemyśl referred to as the 8th Przemyśl Fortified Area. Part of this „line” was a strip c. 800 m wide, from which the population was to be relocated along its entire length. Elements of fortifications were also supposed to be located in the territory of his parish — one of the defensive nodes was to be located on hills, including on „a hill with a height of 481.0 m, 1 km south of Jawornik Ruski […] The length of the front of the defensive node was 8 km and its depth was 5 km”. They were supposed — because, as it seems, the Russians did not have time to complete them.

On 22.06.1941, Germany attacked its erstwhile ally, the Russians, and the German occupation began. Jawornik Ruski was incorporated into the Germ. Kreishauptmannschaft Przemyśl (Eng. Przemyśl County) in the Germ. Distrikt Krakau (Eng. District of Kraków), as part of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG.

The Germans had been pursuing a clearly pro‐Ukrainian policy in the GG since 1939, aimed i.a. at aimed at weakening the Roman Catholic Church. Ukrainians were guaranteed self‐government, the use of the Ukrainian language in administration. 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, such as the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists OUN, the Ukrainian Central Committee UCC, operated openly. The policy of supporting the Ukrainian element was perhaps most visible in the social policy of the General Government. Germans allowed the activity of social and charitable organizations, but only the UCC was partially financed from the GG budget. Additionally, it could use funds from Ukrainian cooperatives. The Polish Central Welfare Council RGO and the Jewish Social Self–Help JSS had to rely exclusively on voluntary contributions from donors. As a result, Polish and Jewish organizations could only conduct charitable activities: supporting food supplies, refugee assistance, etc. Ukrainians, using the GG funds, built Ukrainian hospitals, orphanages, nurseries, schools. In many places, schools were taken away from Polish hands and handed over to Ukrainians. This led to an intensification of the Polish–Ukrainian conflict. It could not have been otherwise, since on the entrance door of the waiting room of the main railway station in the capital of the GG, Kraków, there was an inscription: Germ. „Nur für Deutsche aus dem Reich, Volksdeutsche und Ukrainer” (Eng. Only for Germans from the Reich, Volksdeutsche and Ukrainians). In 1940, permission was also granted to establish, under the watchful care of the Germans, 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. 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».

In 1941‐1943, the Germans, however, first and foremost began the process of extermination of Jews. E.g. at the beginning of the German occupation, in 06.1941, they transformed the entire village of Bircza — a former town — located c. 14 km east of Jawornik Ruski, into an open ghetto, i.e. not surrounded by a fence, even though Jews constituted c. 54% of its inhabitants. From 25.10.1941, a 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). From 04.1942 to 08.1942 — daily dates are unknown — they murdered Jews in the vicinity of the ghetto, e.g. in 04.1942 c. 50 people; in 05.1942 a dozen or so in the part of the village called Kamienna Górka; in 05‐08.1942 c. 200 at the Jewish cemetery; in 07.1942 or 08.1942 c. 500‐800 on Wierzysko hill near the village of Stara Bircza. Among the murdered were probably Jews from Jawornik Ruski, unless they were deported by the Russians into the depths of Russia during the third large‐scale deportation in 06.1940. The ghetto was liquidated in mid‐08.1942. The Jews „were ordered to report at 4:00 p.m. in the main square. Those dressed in uniforms shot at those who resisted. They were all kept in the square overnight, in the open air, until dawn, and then driven c. 24 km to the ghetto in Przemyśl”. There were c. 1,000 of them, including Jews previously brought from another ghetto, from Pruchnik. One source, i.e. „from the premises of the Jewish Community Board in Przemyśl”, states that „c. 3,000 people were driven to Przemyśl. Already in Bircza, the Gestapo and the Ukrainian police shot all the old people and the disabled, numbering about 500. Anyone who fainted on the way from Bircza to Przemyśl was shot in a roadside ditch”. This recollection is in blatant contradiction with the account of one of the Jewish survivors, given in the Jewish „Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos”, that the Ukrainian collaborators from Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei, „did not kill any inhabitant of the ghetto” in Bircza, although the Jews were supposed to be murdered while trying to escape from the ghetto. From Przemyśl, the Jews were deported to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Belzec, where all were murdered. The Germans finally „liquidated” the ghetto in Przemyśl on 11.09.1943, although the city was announced as Germ. „Judenrein” („free of Jews”) even later, in 02.1944.

Among those saved was a Jewish woman, Eugenie Jare (Gina Diamant), whose fake documents, so‐called „Aryan” documents, e.g. a baptismal certificate, were issued by Fr. Gabriel Marszałek, the then administrator of Borownica, who sheltered her for several months. In 2015, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs" and Heroes" Remembrance Institute in Jerusalem honored him with the title of „Righteous Among the Nations”.

Meanwhile, in 02.1943, c. 200 km to the northeast, 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 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.

Shukhevych's order and the UPA appeal were not formally addressed to the units of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei in the GG — because there in 1943 the genocidal OUN did not establish an armed wing under the name of 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. Other Ukrainian groups were also active, functioning i.a. under the euphemistic name Ukr. Самооборонні кущові відділи (Eng. Self‐Defense Unit), i.e. SKW, de facto collaborating with the OUN, the political arm of the genocidal UPA, and even controlled by the OUN. On Shukhevych's orders, the Ukrainian génocidaires, „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”. One of them was the commander of the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei in Jawornik Ruski, the degenerate Volodymyr Szczygielski,nom de guerre „Burlaka”, a former soldier of the Germ. Bergbauern Hilfe (Eng. Support of Mountain Peasants), i.e. the Germ. Ukrainische Legion (Eng. Ukrainian Legion), trained by the German military intelligence and counterintelligence organ, the Germ. Abwehr (Eng. Defense), who took part in the German attack on Poland in 09.1939, after which — when the unit was disbanded — joined the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and was trained in Zakopane, at the same time as the SB OUN was trained there.

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 genocider 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 GG, including 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, and the Germans behaved passively towards the genocidal acts of the UNS/UPA, generally not undertaking major operations against Ukrainians. 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.

On 12.07.1944, when everyone was awaiting news from the east, where in 04.1944, c. 200 km east of Przemyśl, the Russian offensive had stopped for the spring period, the local Polish parish priest, Fr Joseph Kopeć, was murdered in Borownica by Ukrainians — prob. by the SB OUN.

This happened a day before another Russian offensive, known as the Lviv–Sandomierz Operation, began, and as part of it, in the second half of 07.1944, the Russians captured Przemyśl and the surrounding area, entering e.g. Jawornik Ruski. 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 Jawornik Ruski and its surroundings 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 was such 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 the vicinity of Jawornik Ruski 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 area, 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 it was then, in 02.1944, in Jawornik Ruski, that a series of clashes took place between units of the so‐called Citizens' Militia MO, i.e. the police of the emerging „prl”, and Ukrainians. A leading role in these events was played by the rather enigmatic figure of John Kotwicki, nom de guerre Pl. „Ślepy” (Eng. „Blind”), deputy commander of the MO outpost in Borownica, who was likely a „Volynyak”, i.e. a refugee from the genocidal attacks of the OUN/UPA on Poles, and perhaps also a former member of the Commie‐Nazi People's Army AL, acting on behalf of the Russians during the German occupation. He was supposed to be the organizer of several attacks on Jawornik Ruski, where a very strong unit of the Ukrainian SKW was established — the compact units of the genocidal OUN/UPA were then, as it seems, in the forming stage. And so, on 02‐05.02.1945, an attack by the MO took place (or two attacks): „the militia from Przemyśl, Rzeszów, Borownica and the surrounding posts, numbering c. 80 people, attacked Jawornik Ruski […] At the end of the village, the participants of the training [organized by the OUN] welcomed them with fire. There was confusion among the militiamen, which the arrested wanted to take advantage of, but one militiaman, seeing them escaping, shot them both”. In response on 08.02.1945, „The UPA during the attack at midnight, murdered 7 Poles by throwing them alive into a well: a family of five with 3 children, and a married couple”. On 09.02.1945, according to Ukrainian sources, „25 militiamen attacked the village of Jawornik Ruski. They killed 5 people. They also wounded a woman and gouged out the eyes of two Ukrainians”.

During this last attack, was prob. attacked in the rectory.

Was allegedly beaten and had his ribs broken.

Was transported to the village of Lipa, c. 6 km away, and from there to Przemyśl, where received treatment for a month.

Never returned to Jawornik Ruski. Was transferred to the parish of Łazy, c. 45 km to the north‐east, c. 25 km north of Przemyśl. When arrived there, the village could have had an estimated population of c. 1,400 people (that was the number of inhabitants in 1943), and the Greek Catholics Ukrainians constituted c. 95% of population. His service in Łazy was marked primarily by waves of deportations of Ukrainians beyond the borders of the Commie‐Nazi „prl”. In 1945 and 1946, two subsequent stages of the deportation action, of a forced nature, took place. Various armed formations of the „prl” participated in the action — the Polish Army, the Border Protection Troops WOP, the criminal Public Security Corps KBW, MO, the criminal Office of Public Security, i.e.UB — all controlled by the Russian occupier. According to data, during the so‐called third stage of deportation, 81,806 people (22,854 families) were expelled from the „prl”, and during the fourth stage, 252,422 people (47,192 families).

The genocidal OUN/UPA reacted, i.a. by order of 09.09.1945, of the aforementioned degenerate, génocidaire Miroslav Onyshkevych, nom de guerre „Orest”, commander of the UPA Military District WO‐6 „San”, to „attack resettlement commissions and units [of the army] assisting in the resettlements, and to burn the resettled villages in order to stop Polish settlement”. Railroads, stations, bridges, and viaducts were also attacked. In the area of Łazy and the Sieniawa forests located to the north, sotnias belonging to the OUN/UPA kuren, commanded by Ivan Szpontak, nom de)guerre „Zaliznyak”, a former member of the collaborationist Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei who — of course — deserted to the UPA, responsible i.a. for the genocidal murders in Wiązownica, were on the prowl.

Individual murders of both Poles and Ukrainians also took place in Łazy. Polish sources state that in 1945 „Banderites murdered 8 Poles [there]”.

Ukrainian sources, on the other hand, mention the details of a dozen or so people murdered by unspecified Polish groups during numerous attacks. E.g. they report that on 05.05.1945, on Greek Catholic Holy Saturday, „The total destruction of the church took place on Easter Saturday 1945. In the morning, the parish priest, Ilya Levytsky, and his assistant, Father Ewyn, were holding a service in the church. A large Polish pack broke into the village […] Part of the pack broke into the church and, beating people, began to drive them outside, where they tore off their holiday clothes. The second group went from hut to hut, taking everything of value. In the process, they destroyed equipment, threw pictures of saints from the walls, broke windows, and overturned kneading‐troughs of Easter dough”. Must have witnessed this, although it is not known who the mentioned Father Ewyn was.

Was deported to Russia at the end of the fourth stage of deportation, in 09.1946. Ukrainian sources report that in 1945‐1946 at least 649 people left Łazy for the east, including the aforementioned parish priest of Łazy, Fr Ilya Levytsky.

Left for Russia after the arrest on 11.04.1945, by the Russians of all Greek Catholic bishops residing in the territories of the pre‐war Poland, directly occupied by the Russians; after deportation from the „prl” and the subsequent de facto arrest by the Russians of two bishops of his Przemyśl eparchy, bp Kocyłowski and Bp Łakota. Reached occupied Ukraine — i.e. Eastern Galicia — after the pseudo‐council of Lviv on 08‐10.03.1946, during which the Russians forced the formal „liquidation” of the Greek Catholic Church and its incorporation into the Orthodox Church.

Therefore, when settled in the village of Kokutkivtsi, in the former Polish Ternopil voivodeship, the Greek Catholic Church was already „illegal” there.

Apostatized and converted to Orthodoxy.

In 1939, the village of Kokutkivtsi was inhabited by c. 700 people, of whom Poles constituted c. 90%. In 1943, mainly as a result of Russian repressions in 1939‐1941, only 573 people remained. When arrived there, the Poles were gone. Some were murdered by Ukrainians — at least 24 Poles died at the hands of the genocidal UNS/UPA. Most were deported west, to the Commie‐Nazi „prl” in 1945‐1946. The houses stood empty. The Roman Catholic church built there by Poles was also starting to decay.

Prob. took over the parish of Isypovtsi, with its Greek Catholic church, converted into an Orthodox church, in the village of Isypovtsi, c. 2 km away. In 1939, there were c. 650 people living there, of whom Poles constituted c. 57%. In 1943, only 592 people lived there, and in 1946 there were no Poles there either, murdered by Ukrainians and deported west.

A few years after reaching Kokutkivtsi, perished in unknown circumstances.

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!”