“There are crimes that cannot be forgiven. And I do not forgive," said editor Paweł Zarzeżny many years ago. These words reminded me erstwhile I read the book “The People of Genocide. Memories of Poles from Volyn" ... As a Catholic, I cannot agree with the words of the Presumptionary. Unfortunately, in addition to being Catholic, I am besides “just a man”...
Little, very fewer books I haven't been able to read to the end... 1 of them was “The Slaughter of Wola. Crime unaccounted for" by Piotr Gursztyn, whom I approached many times, but each time the effect was the same – I reached a passage in which the author actually started the description of German crimes in Poles (example, which I will not forget: Germans placed Polish children in a row 1 by 1 and then shot at the first or last to see how many bodies he could pierce through a German rifle), and put the book on a shelf. I just couldn't keep reading.
Another “unfinished” book by me is “The demolition of Poles in the russian Union. From the Bolshevik coup to the Polish operation” by Anna Zechenter. erstwhile I reached the fragment describing what was done with the bodies of murdered Poles (throwed into the pits and poured manure) I “died” for the first time. And erstwhile I read that the innocent blood that was shed at the time was so much that all the buckets of perfume were poured out on the Russian murderers, which inactive did not give anything, due to the fact that after a while it was human blood that was felt again, then I "died" for the second time and never returned to reading again.
In fresh days, the situation has been repeated, all due to the book “The Savers of Genocide. Memoirs of Poles from Volyn”, which was published by IPN publishing house.
I reached for this publication in the belief that in spite of everything, I would read it from board to cover not to be excited – as any people did – by the Ukrainian savagery which took place during the genocide in Volyn and east Małopolska, only more to know the names of the murdered Poles; the names of their torturers; the names of the "last righteous" who, at the hazard of their own lives, managed to hide Poles from their government blood. And finally: I did it with the thought that the war in Ukraine would end 1 day, and then I will go there to light a torch and pray in Polish cemeteries and Polish graves, whose approximate locations are indicated in the IPN publication. If the Polish state is incapable to do so, then we, the grey citizens, must do so, due to the fact that we, as it turns out, care much more about remembering the victims of Ukrainian genocide than the Polish state.
Dr. Leon Popek spoke on PCh24.pl about how serious the problem is. – I take part in the cleaning of Polish cemeteries in Ukraine. Many times, erstwhile we first went to a cemetery, we saw cattle grazing on it. erstwhile we paid attention to the owners of these animals, they were amazed and asked, “But what are you talking about?” We explain that this is simply a cemetery, that our countrymen and ancestors are here, and they are surprised. He was reporting. – On 1 occasion, we met young Ukrainians playing ball at the cemetery in Wiśniowec Nowy. We told them, “Come, we will play ball in your cemetery.” They resent that? “There are ours” – he added.
Dr. Popek in this full communicative is simply a key figure. I talked to him about genocide in Volyn and east Małopolska, about Ukrainian degeneration and (talking most delicately) the inability and indolence of the Polish state in the subject of exhumation and commemoration of the victims inactive on the pages of the Invalid PL Radio, with which I worked for respective years. To be honest, I was hoping that the talks with him and the shocking stories he spoke about (as the above with cows in the Polish cemetery) someway made me immune.
In 1 interview, I asked him: “Did Poles surviving in the areas of Lviv, Stanislaw and Tarnopolskie Voivodeship know that they would be destroyed? Was there any rescue for them from death at the hands of the flagmen?’
The biggest tragedy of that time was that the same thing happened as in Volyn – Poles surviving in the Lviv, Stanislaw and Tarnopolski Voivodeship were left to themselves. The brutal, frequently inhuman activity of the Soviets and Germans took distant their ability to carry out any conspiracy activity. Even if it did, it was very limited and insufficient. The government in London and the Polish Underground State in Warsaw only debated how to aid Poles in these areas. They were reasoning of dropping weapons, they were planning to send troops from Zamosc lands that could aid them defend themselves against Ukrainian nationalists, but they never did. The aid was ineffective and besides small. After in a short time – within a fewer months – Wołyń was burned out the same thing happened in the areas of Lwów, Stanisławów and Tarnopolskie Voivodeship. “Dr. Leon Popek replied.
With all this in mind, I began to read and... I “died” faster than in the case of “Rzezi Wola” or “The Holocaust of Poles”.
"The survivors of genocide" is simply a book which on the 1 hand should be on the shelf of all home in Poland, but at the same time I don't think anyone in their right head will be able to read it from the beginning to the end. I just don't think it can be done. My editorial colleague, Marcin Austyn, erstwhile he took and did not read so much as the prince took a very brief look at the black and white photographs in the book, said that the title should not be called "The Survivors of Genocide", but "The evidence of Ukrainian possession besides of savagery".
In my opinion, Martin put the substance perfectly. The book IPN is just a evidence of the devil's possession, due to the fact that what is to be called, what happened in Volyn and east Małopolska, where Ukrainians murdered Poles and Ukrainians themselves – due to the fact that there were any – who tried to help, hide, save or inform Poles, who were waiting for banderists with forks, axes, rats, which were stitched up in Poles' stomachs etc. No 1 was spared, which you will shortly see from the Polish accounts quoted by me miraculously saved from Ukrainian genocide.
I picked 3 relationships. I do not hide that the dimension of these relationships was decisive. erstwhile I was mapping the book, I tried to choose as short as possible to compose them down as shortly as possible and to put this evidence of Ukrainian madness and insanity on the shelf as shortly as possible. It so happens that the accounts I prepared for you describe Ukrainian crimes that occurred before the “blood Sunday” on 11 July 1943, erstwhile the culmination of Ukrainian genocide took place in Volyn. possibly that's a good thing. I don't know if I'd be able to get a evidence of July 11 alone...
Here for now I place a comma and I inform you – you read the accounts below on your own responsibility...
***
The study of p. Karolina Emilia Rutkowska on Polish-Ukrainian relations in Sarny territory and the crimes committed in January, February and August 1943 in the villages of Siedlyszcze Małe and Kamienna, a town of Kles, most likely composed in 1986.
[...]
Siedliszcze Małe, a village located in Sarny, the parish of Kles (20 km from Klesów), mostly inhabited by Ukrainians, only the families of Łysakowski and Mioduszewski came from Warsaw (owners of tiny estates and quarry), and 3 Poles who had married Ukrainians. In addition, the Bagin household of local origin, admitting to Poles, lived here. The others are Ukrainians.
Polish-Ukrainian relations were affirmative until the UPA bands began to roam. We had many friends and friendly people among the Ukrainians, [but] erstwhile the nationalists began their activities, relations deteriorated, [and] sometimes they became hatred. As early as December 1942, Poles died alone, who dared to go to Ukrainian villages in order to get food through exchange trade. Thus a friend, Stanisław Adamski (about 30 years old) died in the village of Lipniki, and an old woman who was stabbed with a stake down his throat.
On 15 and 1943, a immense number of uplifters armed “to the teeth” passed through Siedlyszcz Małe. They came to us (I lived with the Łysakovsky household since 1939) and we were completely robbed, everything was taken, even our shoes were taken off our feet, but everyone was left alive. Only on 31st and 1943, at 22.00 p.m., the uptors made a brutal killing on the families of Łysakowski and Mioduszewski. They were chopped up with our ax, leaving her covered in blood on dead bodies. I think it was the first group murder. At first, we did not know who the perpetrator was, but after a fewer days there was no doubt.
Murder victims were killed:
1. Lysakowska Maria – 45, owner of the estate;
2. Lysakovsky Wiesław – [years] 25, son;
3. Żalińska Irena – [years] 19, Wiesław's fiancée;
4. Mioduszewski Antoni – [years] 74, brother of Łysakowska;
5. Mioduszewska Jadwiga – [years] 32, daughter of Antoni;
6. Moravian Stefania – [year] 78, sister-in-law;
7. Heart Bolesław – 11 years old, half-orphan, father killed [mu] Germany; it was accepted by Łysakowska in order to relieve the burden of a parent raising six children.
Wiesław Łysakowski worked with the russian guerrillas, with the division of Captain Wiktor Wasyl[i]ewicz Kochetkov, subject to Colonel Medwie[d]ev. After the end of the war, I met Kochetkow in Plains and he reported to me this tragic evening that he was with the Lysakovskys from 21-22. After the russian guerrillas left, the uppers entered through the roof into the home and committed a terrible execution throughout the family. I survived due to the fact that I was not home – I came home from my friends this morning and found a home full of horror. Mioduszewski and Lysakovsky lived, but were unconscious from the flow of blood. We managed to get them to the infirmary in Klesów. Mioduszewski died on his way to the hospital, Łysakowska died in infirmary without regaining consciousness. The ceremony was held on 3nd of 1943 in the afternoon. They were buried in a common grave.
Furthermore, I am aware that this night, i.e. 3 II 1943, a Polish household of teachers died from the neighbouring village of Kamienna – young parents and 2 children, several-year-old boys. Only a fewer months old girl survived, undetected in bed by bandits. The kid was to be adopted by a Ukrainian family, but after many difficulties they were given to their aunt, the sister of the parent – a nun from Zdołbunów. Unfortunately, I don't remember the family's name.
In August 1943, Bolesław Bagiński's household besides died in those Siedliszczie. He was shot at by friends, and a pregnant wife with 4 children was taken to a place dedicated to the Polish cemetery and they were stabbed there. The bodies of the murdered were left to prey on dogs and birds of prey, as burial of the victims threatened to die, no substance who it was.
Of the household B[oleslaw] Baginski was rescued by twelve- or thirteen-year-old Stefania, she was not present at home during the robbery. With the aid of good people, Ukrainian railwaymen “smuggling” it to Poland.
Other families, specified as Michał Duda, Kazimierz Seńka and Władysław Supiński, survived due to the fact that after the death of Łysakovsky, the fathers of these families immediately left Siedlische Małe, moving to Poland.
***
Eugeniusz Pinegle's account of the crimes committed in April 1943 in the Antonówka Colony, Antonówka Municipality, filed in 1985 in Lublin.
On the panic of Ukrainian nationalists in Volyn from 1941 to 1944
In 1943, in April, about 10 days before Easter, my mother's brother, Uncle Joseph Ejsmont, was murdered in the Antonówka area, close Sarn, Volyn. And here's the communicative according to eyewitness accounts.
My mother's brother, Joseph Ejsmont, lived in the village of Stepanów, close Antonówka, from 1932 [...]. Many Polish and Ukrainian families lived in this village. Until the 1939 war, relations between residents were good. Since 1943 [from the Ukrainian side] Poles have been threatened to execution them respective times; they have been admitted [it] with disbelief. From my aunt's stories and her children's (aunt sisters and brothers) I know that they haven't slept at home since early spring. respective families were gathered erstwhile in 1 Polish family, another in another house; men were on guard.
Easter was coming, flour was missing. Then my uncle, Joseph Ejsmont, decided to gather grain from respective neighbors and go to Antonówka and grind the grain in the mill. The mill was owned by a Ukrainian national. erstwhile his uncle came to the mill with a horse car, the mill owner came to him and told him, “Joseph, run away, for there is simply a strong band in Antonówka; they were in the mill, they took the flour and they were hanging around.” My uncle would say, “Everyone knows me here, and why should they harm me?” The young man asked my uncle, “Run quickly, for if the flags come, they will burn the mill and kill you—because now are the times.” Then [uncle] listened to the miller’s arguments and drove off the mill. On his way back, he was caught by the banders and a tragedy. They tied him to a pole and poked out his eyes, cut his tongue, cut him alive with a saw, beat him, bullied him. Neighbors notified the family, aunt and 4 children fled, hiding in the woods, [on] swamps. After the execution of his uncle, the band arrived at [his] farm, but there were no further household members; possessions were robbed, buildings were burned.
Many families escaped; [those] who failed to escape were murdered. After a fewer days of wandering, an aunt with children and with the aid of honest Ukrainians reached Rafałówka. The Germans gathered many exile families in the camp and then drove them to Germany for robots.
[...]
The reliability of the facts is stated by my own signature.
***
Peter the Mossian's account of the crimes committed in May 1943 in the Colony of Ugły, gm. Stepan, filed in 1985 in Prabutach.
In consequence to your appeal about the panic of the UPA band in Volyn, I want to inform you that I am born in the village of Ugły, the municipality of Stepanów, Kostopol district. In 1939, I served in the military – the Central School of Petty Officers of the COP in Osowc close Grajewa. There was a war.
[...]
After returning home during the German occupation, robberies on Polish villages and settlements began, we organized self-defense. In September 1942, a unit of russian guerrillas under the command of Captain Ivan Mikhailovich arrived; they occupied a grove distant from the village of Ugły [about] 3.5 km, Grafski Kuren. There they had an information point, we started working with them, it lasted until May 1943. [Then] the guerrillas changed their place of stop, moved west, then on 12 May 1943 at 4 a.m. UPA bands attacked Polish villages: Ugły, Uberez, Osty, Folwark, Płoskie.
The Polish village of Ugły had 320 inhabitants, inhabited [in it]: Poles, Germans [who] went to Germany after the USSR came to [these] lands, and 5 families of Belarusians. The village was surrounded from 3 sides, from the meadows and forests remained open fields, there stood device guns. After a very tiny defense, the gangs stormed into the village, where they started smoking and robbing. 72 people were murdered; even full families died, I was badly wounded, I lay in the woods 24 hours, then [I was] taken to the infirmary in Sarnach [...]. After a fewer days, my father Alexander and Paul Kucner and Vincent Grabka buried them and burned them in the Gables; they were buried in a common grave, where the chapel stood.
[...]
Running distant from the band [in the time of the robbery on the Ugły], Orzechowska and his son, together with their year and a half, protected themselves in the basement of Belarusian Szczećka; there was his household and Jan Różewicz. The Banderers told everyone to go outside, Szczećko pointed out to Orzechowska and Różewicz that they were Poles; 1 bander snatched a kid from his mother's hands, Orzechowska threw herself into the rescue of the child, the another bander planted his leg and pushed her; as she fell, he pinned her with forks to the ground, and the kid took her feet to smash his head against the stump, then they finished off with her mother's forks. Różewicz looked at this, fearing death, he stated that he knew where the rifles were. The banderer took him by the hand; he brought [him to the place] where his uncle Constanta died, murdered and burned; he had a burnt firearm flask. The banderer took the rifle, then Różewicz snatched his hand, ran between the cartmen who stood for robberies, and the robbed property, ran into the woods and ran away. Jan Różewicz, Sergeant LWP, lost his leg, is decorated with the conflict Cross [...].
Then the burnt-out Kucners saw her niece, wounded in her hand, bloody, dressed dead, saw her niece, Kazimiera, 4 years old, 2 bander took hands and legs [and] threw into a burning house; so they did with her thirteen-year-old brother Peter, wounded in the leg.
The wounded in the Ugłas were: Piotr Mosiejczyk, Kucner Leokadia, Kucner Czesław, Rottynger Jan, s were injured who could escape; the wounded who were caught by the bander were killed. Six families of colonists who bought land close the Ukrainian village of Zulnia took refuge in Ugłach. They all escaped, their flats burned down; this was the second time they ran into banders. The Link household lived here.
[...]
***
Finally, let me return to the words red. Paul the Preposterous, from whom I started this text: “There are crimes that cannot be forgiven. And I do not forgive.” In 2023 – on the 80th anniversary of bloody Sunday – I interviewed Fr. Prof. Józef Marecki, who has been fighting for the fact about Volyn as long as I can remember and commemorating victims of Ukrainian genocide.
I asked him: “How will a Pole - Catholic look at all this? Can a Catholic always forgive a crime like a massacre in Volyn? How can I be forgiven if not 1 condition of good confession has been fulfilled on the Ukrainian side?’
Fr Marecki answered:
“The Catholic always forgives! In actual Catholicism is the love of God and neighbour and the resulting forgiveness. There is no Catholicism without forgiveness.
We – Catholics of the Latin rite – forgive. We have many saints who, dying under punches, under knives, have forgiven their oppressors under ax. The last large forgiveness that should give us thought is John Paul II and Ali Agca.
Forgiveness is simply a Catholic attitude. Forgiveness is an attitude that must always be on our Catholic side.
I know it's hard to read to children or grandchildren of Ukrainian nationalists. I know how hard it is to tell them these things. I besides know that in their hearts they forgave, due to the fact that otherwise they could not participate in the Sacraments, they could not be Catholics.
Forgiveness is not like regret. What do Poles resent the Ukrainians for? We regret and complain that our people have not been found, buried and commemorated. That's what we have regret, pain and tears.
Many times I met people who are descendants of Ukrainian genocide victims who said: It's good for you, for you know where to burn the dust; You know which grave your mom and dad are in; You know which cemetery to go to, and we don't.. I realize them! I realize their righteous regret, but we must aid them in this regret to soothe him and to correct the evil that different politicians have done for them over the years, whether Ukrainian or Polish, due to the fact that they did not want to exhume and worthy Christian commemoration of the victims.
This is 1 side of the medal – the Polish side. But there is another side, or Ukrainian side. I cannot enter the Ukrainian soul. The Ukrainian nation must face it itself, he himself must fall to his knees, hit his chest and say My fault, my fault, my very large fault. We can't force them to do that, we can't beat them, we can't box them to get them down on their knees and apologize. As Christians, we must forgive them. Their grief must be honest and true, not forced. We must pray that the Ukrainians receive forgiveness. possibly the Ukrainians are not yet ready for this; possibly the Ukrainians do not realize that they live in sin as a nation. I do not know what I said – I cannot enter the Ukrainian soul. However, I repeat: they must make their own penance, they must fall to their knees and, on their own initiative, hit their chest sincerely."
Did the Ukrainians hit their chest? No, and you can even get the impression that all day they are more and more arrogant and mean erstwhile it comes to the approach to genocide in Volyn and east Małopolska. An example of this is all the shameful words that came after 14 July, erstwhile a monument to the victims of the Volyn massacre was unveiled in Domostawa, Podkarpacie. On the 1 hand, thousands of Poles participated in this event, who wanted to pay tribute to Poles murdered during Ukrainian genocide in 1943. On the another hand, we could hear from the president of the Ukrainian Union in Poland Mirosław Skórka these words: “It is not a monument to the victims, it is simply a monument to hatred. And so it is interpreted by many as something to sustain, to fuel hatred, not to pay due honor, due respect to the victims of what happened in 1943."
Another example is the halting by the Ukrainian side of the exhumation of victims of the Volyn massacre, which took place in 2017 – 5 years before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine! I spoke about this scandalous situation 7 years ago – on July 13, 2017 with Mr Anna Sheląg, then Deputy manager of the Office of Search and recognition of IPN.
– Under Ukrainian law, search works in the territory of Ukraine can only be conducted by Ukrainian archaeologists. IPN archaeologists were to supervise and participate as experts. I will emphasise again to be well understood: at this phase we were planning to carry out search work. Searchers, not exhumers. I am talking about this due to the fact that Ukrainian government says that at the time of carrying out archaeological works, if human remains are found, the work is held back. Exhumation may only be carried out after the Ukrainian side has obtained the appropriate authorisation. On the day our squad was leaving for Ukraine, events related to the demolition of the monument in Hruszowice occurred. A message was then published by Mr Volodymyr Vjatrovycz that Ukraine is holding all work due to the fact that it is illegal Sheląg.
– How was this position justified? – I asked him, after which I heard: “During a telephone conversation between Mr. Światosław Szerete and Dr. Leon Popk – the head of the border department at the Office of Search and recognition of IPN, a Ukrainian organization typical said that the Ukrainian side was incapable to supply the Polish safety squad in Ukraine.”
To the next question, ‘How to justice these translations?’, mec. Anna Sheląg replied: “I do not want to talk about them. Let me just say that, after Mr Sheremeta presented the Ukrainian position, we could not hazard and exposure our people to something that could possibly have happened and that is why we have cancelled the full action.
But that is not all. Suddenly, it turned out that the Ukrainian archaeological company with which we were to sign the contract had to get further approval to work in historical positions. That's the kind of information Mr. Sheremet gave us in his telephone call. Given that the company had previously done akin work on the basis of a simple permit, 1 way can be explained: the Ukrainian side interprets its own rules freely depending on the situation. What was lawful yesterday is now a violation of that law."
It's been 7 years and what? And Polish politicians are the only ones who can talk about exhumations. They can't (don't want to?) force even half a circumstantial decision in Ukraine...
And the 3rd example is the message by a man called Dmytra Kułeba on the spending of people feeling excited erstwhile they hear the slogan “*** ***”. erstwhile Minister of abroad Affairs of Ukraine in a panel discussion with Trzaskowski and Radosław Sikorski.
Kułeba tried to equal the slaughter of 150 1000 Poles (to this day we do not know how many truly died) by Ukrainians in the 1939 genocide in Volyn and east Małopolska with the alleged "Wisła" action, and even to throw work for the Volyn massacre on the Poles themselves, who – as could be read between the poems – were themselves guilty.
– If we started digging through past today, the quality of the conversation would be completely different and we could go deep into past and forget the bad things Poles did to Ukrainians and Ukrainians. said Kuleba, wanting to bring the discussion about Volyn to absurdity.
Examples can be multiplied and multiplied.
And here we return to the words of the Zarez and the question: Can we so forgive the Ukrainians? I don't think anyone can do that. But remember what Fr Józef Marecki said: “The Catholic always forgives! In actual Catholicism is the love of God and neighbour and the resulting forgiveness. There is no Catholicism without forgiveness.”
Forgive me, but don't forget. Let's forgive and remember. Let us forgive and do everything in our power to commemorate the victims, fight for the truth, make amends to the families of victims of Ukrainian genocide who for over 80 years have been treated worse than the families of communist criminals, and above all do not let the propaganda of Kiev to prevail and poison the hearts, minds and souls of modern Ukrainians, as Dr. Leon Popek, whose words I will quote as a summary of the foregoing considerations:
“For respective years I have observed that occasionally, but yet in Ukraine there is simply a clearing of Polish cemeteries by Ukrainians. In at least 10 places – at least that much I know – Ukrainians associated with various associations organize our cemeteries. I know that their occupation is to reap grass, win garbage, burn leaves or break branches. But that's something.
There is no better testimony. If local Ukrainians see that these are crucial places for us, they prevent and care for destruction. Local authorities frequently help, for example, to plant any garbage disposal equipment. In specified cleaning, he participates in respective dozen. These are any swallows that may not announce the coming of spring, but something to begin with.
We gotta act, too. If we can, we must drive and organize Polish cemeteries. besides bad there's inactive quite a few places we can't get to. It takes many, many years of work to change that."
Tomasz D. Kolanek
