From 1931 ministered in Karlików, a small village inhabited in 1939 by an estimated 430 people, 95% of them of Rusyn nationality, and a dozen or so Jews. There were practically no Poles in the village. Karlików belonged to Sanok district, where Rusyns/Ukrainians constituted c. 46% of the inhabitants and Poles 44%. The Sanok district was located west of the so‐called Curzon–Namier line, the demarcation line between Poland and the Russian Bolsheviks, proposed to the Russians by the British Empire's Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Curzon, on 11.07.1920, 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 imperial concepts of dividing Central Europe, especially the Russian and German ones. But it also became part of the Ukrainian ideology promoted by the genocidal OUN organization, which laid claim to the part of Polish lands west of the Curzon–Namier Line, referred to as Zakerzonia, and including, on its westernmost tip, also Sanok County. The Rusyns living in Karlików seem to have had pro‐Ukrainian sympathies, although the whole Rusyn community in the county was divided between supporters of Poland, Ukraine, and Russia.

After the German and Russian attack on Poland in 09.1939 and the start of World War II, after the beginning of the German occupation, Karlików found itself in the Germ. Landkreis Sanok (Eng. Sanok County), within the Germ. Distrikt Krakau (Eng. Kraków District), which was part of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG. The Germans favored Ukrainians, entrusting them with local management positions, including police duties, which were carried out by armed posts of the collaborationist Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police) — it was the Poles who posed the greatest threat. They allowed the OUN to operate openly, training, among other things, agents of the Ukr. Служба Безпеки (Eng. Security Service), i.e. SB OUN, in tracking down political and ideological opponents and their physical liquidation. The SB OUN was founded in 1940, under the watchful care of the Germans, and training was conducted, among others, in Zakopane, at the „Stamary” hotel. According to the contemporary website of this hotel, „the training included the principles of sabotage, Gestapo methods of interrogation and methods of killing”. At the same time, i.e. on 20.02.1940, in Zakopane, at the „Pan Tadeusz” (Eng. „Sir Thaddeus”) and „Telimena” villas, the third so‐called „thematic conference” of the Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. Gestapo, and the Russian Rus. Народный Комиссариат Внутренних Дел (Eng. People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs), i.e. NKVD, two genocidal allied organizations, debating cooperation and ways of combating and exterminating Poles in the territories they occupied. In Zakopane, all these undertakings were supervised by the Gestapo, which had its headquarters in the „Palace” villa, where Polish patriots were being murdered.

In 02.1943, several hundred kilometers to the east, 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 collaborative Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei, which co‐participated in the German genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), in GG implemented under the codename Germ. «Aktion Reinhardt» (Eng. Operation Reinhardt), to desert and join the UPA. Perhaps as many as 10,000 Ukrainians did so.

Ukrainian génocidaires murdered tens of thousands of Poles in Volyn as part of the «Genocidium Atrox» in 1943 — while the Germans watched idly, though Volyn was part of the occupying German administrative unit, the Germ. Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Eng. Reich Commissariat of Ukraine) — and burned hundreds of villages.

When at the turn of 1943/1944 it became clear that Germany was losing the war in the East — on 24.12.1943, a major Russian offensive called the Dnieper–Carpathian Operation began — the OUN/UPA decided to extend the genocide «Genocidium Atrox» to the Germ. Distrikt Galizien (Eng. District of Galicia), Germ. Distrikt Lublin (Eng. District of Lublin) and Germ. Distrikt Krakau. Until then, the groups operating there mainly — in order not to „annoy” the Germans — included those operating under the euphemistic Ukrainian name Ukr. Самооборонні кущові відділи (Eng. Self‐Defense Unit), i.e. SKW, and the Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei. The Ukrainian génocidaires then formed, among others, the OUN/UPA operational group „UPA‐West”, under the command of Vasyl Sydor, nom de guerre „Shelest”, who ordered „to strike continuously at Poles until they are completely destroyed from these lands”. The OUN/UPA Military District WO‐6 „San” was responsible for implementing the «Genocidium Atrox» in the Germ. Distrikt Krakau, on the right side of the San River, and from 1945 was commanded by Miroslav Onyshkevych, nom de guerre „Orest”, who had previously gained fame for his order issued on 06.04.1944, specifying the tasks of the UPA units subordinate to him: „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 Polish Clandestine State was also preparing for Germany's defeat and the inevitable another Russian occupation. The commander‐in‐chief of the largest, most advanced and best–organized armed resistance organization in occupied Europe, the Home Army AK, General Thaddeus Komorowski, nom de guerre „Bór” (Eng. „The Forest”), issued in 11.

1943 an order to begin Operation „Burza” (Eng. „Tempest”) — an armed attack on the German occupier and taking control and power in Poland just before the entry of Russian troops. In the Germ. Landkreis Sanok, in the area of operation of the clandestine resistance AK Sanok District within the AK Jasło Inspectorate, which was part of the AK Kraków Region, an AK partisan group was formed, codenamed OP‐South, subordinate to the AK Jasło Inspectorate. OP‐South consisted of the OP‐23 and OP‐11 partisan units. OP‐South attacked the retreating German troops, among them armored vehicles, but also on Ukrainian units, which, fighting alongside the Germans, were hoarding weapons in preparation for the Russian arrival.

On 29.08.1944, the Russians halted another offensive, the so‐called Lviv–Sandomierz Operation, thus concluding a tactical agreement with the Germans, which enabled the latter to genocidally crush the Polish Warsaw Uprising. They stopped on the Sanok‐Krosno line, leaving Karlików, c. 16 km south of Sanok, in German hands. In the vicinity of Karlików, Polish partisans fought then several bloody skirmishes with the Germans, attacking their front lines. However, a month later, on 18.09.1944, as part of the so‐called Dukla–Prešov Operation, the Russians captured Karlików.

At the beginning of the Russian occupation, a conflict broke out within the ranks of the AK in the AK Sanok District. Some of the OP‐South partisan group revealed themselves to the Russians and surrendered their weapons (the group's commander disbanded it on 19.09.1944), and many of its soldiers joined Polish units of the Russian army. Others continued the fight against the new occupier and the Ukrainian génocidaires.

At that time, he was robbed in Karlików by Commie‐Nazi thugs of Polish nationality serving in the Russian army.

When another major Russian offensive, the Vistula–Oder Operation, launched in 01.1945, effectively leading to Germany's defeat, the Russians began massive deportation campaigns, consistent with standard Russian practice of resolving social and national issues. Hundreds of thousands of Poles were deported from the east and resettled westward to territories that had belonged to Germany before World War II. Ukrainians on the other hand were resettled from the newly established Polish Russian republic, known as prl, to territory directly occupied by the Russians. At the same time, genocidal Russian organizations, such as the MVD and the Russian‐controlled Commie‐Nazi UB, pursued Polish clandestine resistance and partisan units.

They also fought the genocidal Ukrainian organization OUN/UPA. The OUN/UPA, implementing the plan to exterminate the Polish population, i.e. «Genocidium Atrox», was deprived of German protective umbrella, and was forced to defend and fight on many fronts: against the occupying Russian troops, Polish units of the Commie‐Nazi prl units, as well as Polish partisan units, faithful to the oath of allegiance to the Republic of Poland, today referred to as „cursed soldiers”, also fighting against the Russian occupier. The OUN/UPA was quickly forced to go on the defensive, at the end of 1945 ‐ when the larg‐scale deportations of Ukrainians to the east were taking place — limiting itself to the activities of gangs such as the „Chrin” sotnya, commanded by Stepan Stebelski, or the „Stiah” sotnya, belonging to the Military District WO‐6 „San” in the „UPA‐West” operational group. The gangs included, i.a. members of the former Germ. Ukrainische Hilfspolizei, as well as the former Germ. 14. Waffen–Grenadier–Division der SS / ukrainische Nr. 1 (Eng. 14th Grenadier Division of the Waffen‐SS / 1st Ukrainian), known as SS‐Galizien.

Particularly intense fighting took place in 01.1946. The OUN/UPA attacked a couple of villages — e.g. Deszno on 06.01.1946, and Cisna on 11.01.1946, both c. 20‐30 km from Karlików. The Polish independence post‐AK partisan group was already significantly weakened. The main role in the fight against the OUN/UPA was taken over by Polish troops of the prl Commie‐Nazi state, under the strategic control of the Russian occupier.

On 24.01.1946, during the day, the Polish 34th Budziszyn Infantry Regiment entered Karlików, with the intention — according to Polish sources — to eliminate the OUN/UPA genocidal unit stationed in the village. The Regiment was taking part in the third deportation of Ukrainians to the east, from the prl to the territories directly occupied by the Russians, euphemistically called „repatriation”, during which c. 81,806 people were resettled. The Regiment — referred to as the Operational Group „Bukowsko” — reported: „in the village of Karlików, sapper material and a uniform magazine were found in the bell tower near the church, 5 Bandera supporters were killed, 1 was wounded, 14 were detained, 1 PPSh [i.e. Russian PPSh‐41 submachine gun] and 1 sawn‐off KB [prob. Polish Model 98a repeating rifle] were captured”. The same report also stated: „two cows were found captured during the Banderites" attack on Nowosielce. On the same day, during the action on Karlików, 30 Banderites were killed and the ammunition and weapons warehouse was burned down”. The actual number of casualties is prob. the sum of those killed in the attack on Karlików and Zawadka Morochowska, c. 6 km away, where the Regiment had to fight a battle with the „Chrin” sotnya.

Died during the attack on Karlików.

Ukrainian sources associated with the genocidal OUN/UPA reported differently: „On January 24, 1946, at 4 a.m., Polish troops from Bukowska attacked the village of Karlików in the Sanok district. There were 50 of them, they started looting everything they saw, murdering two people and quickly leaving.

That same night, the same gang of about 100 people attacked the village. People recognized Polish civilians from Bukowska and the surrounding villages among the military gang.

The robbery and murder began immediately.

They murdered 17 people, including an 80‐year‐old priest with his wife, daughter and 4‐year‐old child.

The murdered had broken arms, legs, ribs, gouged out eyes, cut off noses and ears. Before their deaths, they abused each person and finally shot them. Many people were wounded, cut, with broken arms, legs, ribs, and broken teeth. 30 houses in the village were burned down. They took some people with them and murdered them along the way. One murdered man was found in a forest near Bukowsko”.

According to Polish sources, the commander of the local OUN/UPA gang — the son‐in‐law of the killed priest — managed to escape.

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 in Ukraine, monuments and commemorative plaques have been erected to these Lat. „hostis humani generis”, the schools were named after them.

Lat. „O Tempora! O mores!”