OUN-UPA women

wprawo.pl 18 hours ago

Women in the CNS-UPA were active in planning and conducting cultural cleansing on the Polish population in Volyn and east Galicia.

They were active in the execution of the Polish civilian population, including women and children, as well as in the demolition of property.

They were aware of the objectives and nature of UPA's activities, and their engagement contributed to the scale and cruelty of the crime.

A paper was found confirming the management function of the CNS-Bandera in the planned extermination of Poles. It reads: “Special Regulation. I order you to carry out a cleansing of your area from the Polish component and Ukrainian-bolshevik agents. The cleaning should be carried out in stanices sparsely populated by Poles. To this end, make a militia of our members in the area to destruct the above mentioned. Larger stands will be cleared of this component by military troops even in broad daylight [...] Mobilize all members, as well as YOUTH AND WOMEN. Follow all instructions carefully and immediately. Why do you keep neglecting this? The clearing of the area must be completed even before our Easter, until we celebrate it without Poles. Remember, erstwhile the Bolsheviks find us with the Poles in our territory, they will slaughter us all. Act rapidly and wisely. We have certain powers of lawyer from the Germans in these matters. There is no request to follow the conspiracy [...]’.

Women played various roles in the CNS-UPA, both in armed formations and in civilian structures. They performed medical, courier and besides participated in armed actions. Many women were active in propaganda and organizational activities. any of them, as part of UPA, participated in armed actions, including cultural cleansing on the Polish population in Volyn and in east Galicia.

Women served as nurses and paramedics, taking care of injured and sick UPA members, were utilized as liaisons and couriers, providing information and orders between different branches and structures, engaged in the production and distribution of leaflets, propaganda materials and agitation activities, and were active in organizing and coordinating CNS-UPA activities at different levels, including civilian structures.

What were the bad guys?

A fewer sentences from Leokadia Skowronska’s memories: “It was getting dark erstwhile I ran towards the barn. Shot fired and I felt a terrible pain in my foot. By morning, there were terrible screams of people in our village and the sounds of shooting. After a week on Sunday or Monday, I don't remember exactly, I heard any voices in the village. I recognized Ulana's Ukrainian voice, and I called her a ‘aunt’... I started crawling. I got to the yard where the “aunt” was and started asking for a part of bread. She looked at me and shouted, ‘You Polish face, inactive alive’ and caught the hoe that stood nearby. I felt no pain in my leg out of fear... and I started moving in the other direction. I never left the safe home again. The Ukrainians decided to clean up after the robbery. They went from yard to yard and grain, and erstwhile they found a dead body, they buried him. The Ukrainian Harasym walked free and said to me, “Don’t decision from here, possibly they won’t see you, I will come for you tonight; your brother is with me.” Harasym, as he said he came, put me in a bag, took me on his back and carried me to his house.” The next day, an honest Ukrainian neighbor, arranged it in a container where horses were fed and drove to a infirmary in Kowl. After 2 surgeries, the child, the UPA victim, was a disabled woman.

In the 1970s Leokadia Skowrońska visited the household Alexandrówka. Her cousin, who accompanied her, asked the “aunt Ulana” there, does she admit Ice cream? The amazed Ukrainian answered with a question:- You're the 1 who's alive? And locked the flat door.

Mr.Henry Lech recalled: I remember today, they raided our village of Old Town. – 600 Ukrainians invaded the Polish village with a population of 500 inhabitants. erstwhile they entered the first buildings, they introduced themselves as guerrillas. They were allowed in without resistance. erstwhile it turned out to be killers, we started defending ourselves. We had only 5 rifles, but for a minute we managed to halt the attackers with fire. This allowed any residents to flee towards the tracks and save lives," Lech said. Others died from a bullet or an axe, and Ukrainian women and children instantly set fire to buildings. Henry Lech managed to escape on a horse.

From the evidence of Littlemed and Zylberberg. “...there were respective huts under the forest, a female standing by one. I went to her and asked for a part of bread. She said she wasn't from this home to wait for me in the woods, and in half an hour, it's gonna cost me. After a while, I looked out of the woods. There were 2 men standing by this cabin, 1 holding an axe. He spotted me and whistled at the another one. Understood. We started moving to the grove. The children and I stuck to the ground. It was dark in the woods. The man with the axe came by us respective times due to the fact that he knew that we had to be hidden in this place, but he didn't see us... We started talking quietly, what would happen if the kids woke up and started crying. We all figured we didn't want to die due to the kids... we decided that each of us would strangle his own baby as shortly as he started crying. My small boy started crying. I put a handkerchief in his mouth. I was certain I choked them (I didn't think the baby was breathing his nose...).

Aniel Murash wrote in her memoirs: “Banderers attacked at 6:00 p.m., so erstwhile the guards were only moving to police stations. This was betrayed by a Ukrainian female who was married in Corracit. She besides betrayed the password utilized by the sentinels. The attackers entered the village with sleighs, crying out in Polish that they were guerrillas and that the boys of the village would gather around them. They wanted to execution them as much as possible. After a while, they attacked and the slaughter began. A homestead was murdered in the yard. Everything was connected to the robbery. Most of all, they untied cows and horses and then abducted them. The UKRAINKI fell into their homes and leaped through the corpses and stole what they could from them, even tablecloths, plates and pots. There were empty sleds behind the flagstones, and they were thrown in. Goats and shoes were taken off. Later the fire was set. There were even twelve- and fourteen-year-old boys in this group of arsonists. According to another witnesses' reports, the robbery was directed by Greek Catholic pop Pałabicki along with his daughter....

READED

Dr. Marta Hawryszko points out that women serving in UPA were punished with death, for vulnerability to, for example, syphilis.

The wellness of UPA women has been thoroughly checked. Medical examinations were organized by employees of the Ukrainian Red Cross. They were besides initiated by troop commanders, especially in the face of typhoid epidemics or syphilis. Women with STD were shot. Historian points to 2 reasons for this action – the deficiency of drugs and qualified doctors and the fear that she was a russian agent with orders to infect as many ups as possible, thereby reducing the ability of the militant organization.

As an example, the historian points out a footnote to the minutes of the proceeding of the Ukrainian caregiver of the Red Cross Oksana Poźniak conducted by OUN activists from Lviv on 26 October 1945. It says: The caregiver was eliminated due to immoral behaviour that allowed the illness to spread. The historian noted that death sentences could only be avoided if the infection occurred as a consequence of rape.