Roman Catholic
St Sigismund parish
05-507 Słomczyn
85 Wiślana Str.
Konstancin deanery
Warsaw archdiocese, Poland
full list:
displayClick to display full list
searchClick to search full list by categories
wyświetlKliknij by wyświetlić pełną listę po polsku
szukajKliknij by przeszukać listę wg kategorii po polsku
Martyrology of the clergy — Poland
XX century (1914 – 1989)
personal data
surname
JUCHNOWSKI
forename(s)
James (pl. Jakub)
function
presbiter (i.e. iereus)
creed
Eastern Orthodox Church ORmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]
diocese / province
Volyn‐Podilsky OR eparchy (Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church UAOC)more on
drevo-info.ru
[access: 2023.08.19]
Volyn‐Zhytomyr OR eparchy (Rosyjska Cerkiew Prawosławna Patriarchatu Moskiewskiego)more on
ru.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.07.16]
Volyn‐Lutsk OR eparchy (Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate)more on
ru.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.07.16]
Volyn OR eparchy (Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church PAOC)more on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.19]
date and place
of death
28.04.1943
Molotkivtoday: Lanivtsi urban hrom., Kremenets rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2024.03.15]
alt. dates and places
of death
29.04.1943
details of death
In 1939, was the parish priest of the Orthodox parish in Molotkiv, in the very south of the Polish Volyn Voivodeship. Molotkiv was a border village situated on the Zherd River, a tributary of the Zhyrak River, which flows into the Horyn River. It housed an outpost of the Border Protection Corps KOP‐Molotkiv. It was said to have been inhabited by c. 2,000 people, 70‐80% Poles — the rest Ukrainians. Some of the Poles were military colonists, heroes of the Poland's borders wars of 1918‐1920, who founded a colony there called the Pl. Orle Gniazno (Eng. Eagle's Nest). The Poles — Catholics — belonged to the parish in Bilozirka, c. 8 km away.
After the German and Russian attack on Poland in 09.1939 and the start of World War II, Molotkiv was occupied by the Russians on the first day of the Russian invasion, i.e. 17.09.1939. The authors of «Liber Albus» do not know whether the Poles living there were deported deep into Russia, „to Siberia”, but it is known that at least two of them were prisoners of the Russian POW camp KLW Starobilsk and were murdered by the Russians in NKVD Kharkiv headquarters in Kharkiv in 1940, as part of the «Katyn genocide».
After the German attack on 22.06.1941 on their erstwhile ally, the Russians, the Germans entered Molotkiv on c. 27.06.1941, and the German occupation began. Molotkiv found itself in the Germ. Distrikt Kremenez (Eng. Kremenets District), which was part of the Germ. Generalbezirk Wolhynien–Podolien (Eng. General District Volyn‐Podolia), which was part of the occupational Germ. Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Eng. Reich Commissariat Ukraine).
Was there when, in 02.1943, Roman Shukhevych, nom de guerre „Taras Chuprynka”, the main commander of the Ukrainian genocidal OUN/UPA organisaton, 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 the Germ. Reichskommissariat Ukraine referred to as the Germ. Schutzmannschaft (Eng. Protection Battalions), i.e. Schuma, which co‐participated in the German genocidal plan Germ. «Endlösung der Judenfrage» (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), which in the Germ. Reichskommissariat Ukraine was 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.
And prob. this order and this appeal lie at the heart of the background to the last days of his life. Namely, in c. 04‐06.1943 — according to mostly Polish sources — many members of the 102nd Schuma Battalion, stationed in Kremenets, c. 45 km from Molotkiv, deserted. Earlier they took part, i.a. in the extermination of c. 10,000 Jews in that town, perpetrated prob. on the slopes of a local hill known as Kulichivka. Before desertion, they attacked the Polish village of Molotkiv. The 102nd Schuma Battalion was then commanded prob. by John/Ivan Shuryga, and it is likely that one of its members, „under contract”, at some point — as some Russian sources claim, others dispute it — was the genocidal perpetrator Roman Shukhevych himself.
The choice of the village may not have been accidental. The village was supposedly quite wealthy. Moreover, Russian sources suggest that, as an Orthodox priest, was supposed to oppose the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, supported by the genocidal Ukrainian organization OUN and the emerging UPA. The opposition to autocephaly was, after all, the reason for the murder of Orthodox bishop Alexander Gromadzki and his accompanying archbishop near Krzemieniec, committed by the OUN/UPA only 10 days later, on 08.05.1943.
The attack took place on 28‐29.04.1943. The course of events was prob. the following:
The 102nd Schuma Battalion, c. 150‐200 people, arrived in trucks and surrounded the village — perhaps smaller units of the 103rd Schuma Battalion were also involved, as well as local groups of Ukrainians from neighboring villages. Perhaps they were opposed by a Polish self‐defense unit being formed — after all, it was German occupation, and possession of weapons was prohibited, punishable by immediate death, so creating a self‐defense force was not easy — but to no avail. A massacre began, in which local Ukrainians used — as in many places later — axes, pitchforks, rifles, and grenades.
Some Poles — 100‐200 people, including women and children — took refuge in the Orthodox church, the most solid structure in the village. The Ukrainians doused the building with tar and set it on fire. The fire was supposedly extinguished under mysterious circumstances, but c. 50‐100 people were reportedly killed inside (mainly from smoke, wounds, and the killing).
Was one of the victims.
In total, 353 huts were burned (only five were untouched by the fire, and the partially burned church also survived), and c. 507‐617 people were murdered, including women, the elderly, and 92 children — most of the men were said to have fought and died in combat — of Polish and Ukrainian nationality.
On 12.10.2007, the génocidaire Roman Shukhevych was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. In several locations, monuments and commemorative plaques have been erected to this Lat. „hostis humani generis”, the schools were named after him.
Lat. „O Tempora! O mores!”
alt. details of death
Ukrainian sources attribute the attack and pacification of the village to the Germans. It was supposedly in response to the murder of the family of an office worker in Kremenets, possibly a German or a Pole.
cause of death
mass murder
perpetrators
Germans / Ukrainians
sites and events
«Genocidium Atrox»Click to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description
date and place
of birth
23.10.1890
Lidykhivtoday: Pochaiv urban hrom., Kremenets rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2024.03.15]
presbyter (holy orders)
ordination
15.07.1915
positions held
24.01.1942
protoiereus (Eng. first priest) — Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate — dignity conferment
06.11.1937 – 1943
parish priest — Molotkivtoday: Lanivtsi urban hrom., Kremenets rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2024.03.15] ⋄ St George the Martyr OR parish
from 24.09.1936
parish priest — Lypatoday: Berestechko urban hrom., Lutsk rai., Volyn obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2024.03.15] ⋄ St Demetrius OR parish
from 29.06.1936
parish priest — Ozyutychitoday: Zaturtsi hrom., Volodymyr rai., Volyn obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2024.03.15] ⋄ Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary OR parish
from 09.02.1935
parish priest — Peczirnatoday: Lanivtsi urban hrom., Kremenets rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.07.16] ⋄ St Nicholas OR parish ⋄ Kremenets 5th distr.Orthodox deanery name
today: Kremenets rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.10.18] OR deanery
from 1934
priest — Koretstoday: Korets urban hrom., Rivne rai., Rivne obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.19] ⋄ Holy Trinity OR monastery — acting („ad interim”)
05.02.1924 – 29.02.1928
dean — Kremenets 5th distr.Orthodox deanery name
today: Kremenets rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.10.18] OR deanery
till c. 1934
parish priest — Peczirnatoday: Lanivtsi urban hrom., Kremenets rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
uk.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.07.16] ⋄ St Nicholas OR parish ⋄ Kremenets 5th distr.Orthodox deanery name
today: Kremenets rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.10.18] OR deanery
15.07.1915
presbiter (Eng. priest, i.e. iereus) — Russian Orthodox Church — priesthood cheirotonia, i.e. ordination
student — Zhytomyrtoday: Zhytomyr urban hrom., Zhytomyr rai., Zhytomyr obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.09.17] ⋄ philosophy and theology, Orthodox Theological Seminary
others related
in death
GROMADZKIClick to display biography Alexander (Abp Alex), JURKIEWICZClick to display biography Theodore, KARNKOWSKIClick to display biography Alexander
sites and events
descriptions
«Genocidium Atrox»: In 1939‐1947, especially in 1943‐1944, independent Ukrainian units, mainly belonging to genocidal Ukrainian organizations OUN (political arm) and UPA (military arm), supported by local Ukrainian population, murdered — often in extremely brutal way — in Volyn and surrounding regions of pre‐war Poland, from 130,000 to 180,000 Poles, all civilians: men, women, children, old and young. Polish‐Ukrainian conflict that openly emerged during and after World War I (in particular resulting in Polish‐Ukrainian war of 1918‐1919), that survived and even deepened later when western Ukraine became a part Poland, exploded again after the outbreak of the World War II in 09.1939. During Russian occupation of 1939‐1941, when hundreds of thousands of Poles were deported into central Russia, when tens of thousands were murdered (during so‐called Katyń massacres, among others), this open conflict had a limited character, helped by the fact that at that time Ukrainians, Ukrainian nationalists in particular, were also persecuted by the Russians. The worst came after German‐Russian war started on 22.06.1941 and German occupation resulted. Initially Ukrainians supported Germans (Ukrainian police was initiated, Ukrainians co—participated in extermination of the Jews and were joining army units fighting alongside Germans). Later when German ambivalent position towards Ukraine became apparent Ukrainians started acting independently. And in 1943 one of the units of aforementioned Ukrainian OUN/UPA organization, in Volyn, started and perpetrated a genocide of Polish population of this region. In mere few weeks OUN/UPA murdered, with Germans passively watching on the sidelines, more than 40,000 Poles. This strategy was consequently approved and adopted by all OUN/UPA organisations and similar genocides took place in Eastern Lesser Poland (part of Ukraine) where more than 20,000 Poles were slaughtered, meeting however with growing resistance from Polish population. Further west, in Chełm, Rzeszów, etc. regions this genocide turned into an extremely bloody conflict. In general genocide, perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists, partly collaborating with German occupants, on vulnerable Polish population took part in hundreds of villages and small towns, where virtually all Polish inhabitants were wiped out. More than 200 priests, religious and nuns perished in this holocaust — known as «Genocidium Atrox» (Eng. „savage genocide”) The nature and purpose of genocide is perhaps best reflected in the song sung by the murderers: „We will slaughter the Poles, we will cut down the Jews, we must conquer the great Ukraine” (ukr. „Поляків виріжем, Євреїв видусим, велику Україну здобути мусим”). This holocaust and conflict ended up in total elimination of Polish population and Polish culture from Ukraine, in enforced deportations in 1944‐1945 of remaining Poles from Ukraine and some Ukrainians into Ukraine proper, and finally in deportation of Ukrainians from East‐South to the Western parts of Polish republic prl by Commie‐Nazi Russian controlled Polish security forces („Vistula Action”). (more on: www.swzygmunt.knc.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.06.20])
Ribbentrop‐Molotov: Genocidal Russian‐German alliance pact between Russian leader Joseph Stalin and German leader Adolf Hitler signed on 23.08.1939 in Moscow by respective foreign ministers, Mr. Vyacheslav Molotov for Russia and Joachim von Ribbentrop for Germany. The pact sanctioned and was the direct cause of joint Russian and German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of the World War II in 09.1939. In a political sense, the pact was an attempt to restore the status quo ante before 1914, with one exception, namely the „commercial” exchange of the so‐called „Kingdom of Poland”, which in 1914 was part of the Russian Empire, fore Eastern Galicia (today's western Ukraine), in 1914 belonging to the Austro‐Hungarian Empire. Galicia, including Lviv, was to be taken over by the Russians, the „Kingdom of Poland” — under the name of the General Governorate — Germany. The resultant „war was one of the greatest calamities and dramas of humanity in history, for two atheistic and anti‐Christian ideologies — national and international socialism — rejected God and His fifth Decalogue commandment: Thou shall not kill!” (Abp Stanislav Gądecki, 01.09.2019). The decisions taken — backed up by the betrayal of the formal allies of Poland, France and Germany, which on 12.09.1939, at a joint conference in Abbeville, decided not to provide aid to attacked Poland and not to take military action against Germany (a clear breach of treaty obligations with Poland) — were on 28.09.1939 slightly altered and made more precise when a treaty on „German‐Russian boundaries and friendship” was agreed by the same murderous signatories. One of its findings was establishment of spheres of influence in Central and Eastern Europe and in consequence IV partition of Poland. In one of its secret annexes agreed, that: „the Signatories will not tolerate on its respective territories any Polish propaganda that affects the territory of the other Side. On their respective territories they will suppress all such propaganda and inform each other of the measures taken to accomplish it”. The agreements resulted in a series of meeting between two genocidal organization representing both sides — German Gestapo and Russian NKVD when coordination of efforts to exterminate Polish intelligentsia and Polish leading classes (in Germany called «Intelligenzaktion», in Russia took the form of Katyń massacres) where discussed. Resulted in deaths of hundreds of thousands of Polish intelligentsia, including thousands of priests presented here, and tens of millions of ordinary people,. The results of this Russian‐German pact lasted till 1989 and are still in evidence even today. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30])
sources
personal:
wolynskie.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.03.15], ternopedia.te.uaClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.03.15]
bibliographical:
„Hierachy, clergy and employees of the Orthodox Church in the 19th‐21st centuries within the borders of the Second Polish Republic and post–war Poland”, Fr Gregory Sosna, M. Antonine Troc-Sosna, Warsaw–Bielsk Podlaski 2017
„https://grok.comClick to display source page”, Grok, private discussion, 02.12.2025
„Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933‐1945”, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ed. Martin Dean, volume II: „Ghettos in German–Occupied Eastern Europe”, part B
„Genocidium Atrox”, GTKRK, https://www.swzygmunt.knc.pl/GENOCIDEs/15 GENOCIDUM ATROX/vPOLISH/MAINs/GENATROXsearch01.htm
LETTER to CUSTODIAN/ADMINISTRATOR
If you have an Email client on your communicator/computer — such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Windows Mail or Microsoft Outlook, described at WikipediaPatrz:
en.wikipedia.org, among others — try the link below, please:
LETTER to CUSTODIAN/ADMINISTRATORClick and try to call your own Email client
If however you do not run such a client or the above link is not active please send an email to the Custodian/Administrator using your account — in your customary email/correspondence engine — at the following address:
giving the following as the subject:
MARTYROLOGY: JUCHNOWSKI James
To return to the biography press below:
Click to return to biography