Korosciatyn massacre
The Korosciatyn massacre took place on the night of February 28/29, 1944,
All of the residents of Korosciatyn were ethnic Poles (as was the case also of the village of Debowica). Some 2,000 ethnic Ukrainians lived in the surrounding villages in the area. Soon after
In June 1941, when German units pushed the Red Army out of the area, local Ukrainians of the village of Czechow murdered their Polish neighbors. All victims were buried in a mass grave - 11 Poles (including 6 kids), as well as 6 Ukrainians, who opposed the murders. It was a prelude of later events. On Christmas Eve of 1943, Ukrainian auxiliary police shot one Pole, Marian Hutnik, and on Christmas Day 1943, five additional Poles were killed. The Ukrainians returned on Boxing Day, killing additional four Poles.[6]
The massacre
The Korosciatyn massacre took place on the night of February 28/29, 1944.[7] Ukrainian nationalists of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, supported by local peasants, attacked the village from three sides. Altogether, there were 600 attackers, divided into three groups.[8] The first one took care of the killings, using guns, knives and axes. The second wave stole possessions of the murdered Poles, and the third wave set fire to all the houses. It must be mentioned that on the same day the Ukrainian SS troops murdered around 1,500 Poles during the Huta Pieniacka massacre.
The carnage lasted the whole night. According to Aniela Muraszka, a survivor of the massacre, who later became a nun, the perpetrators used a ruse. As she later recalled, the Ukrainian nationalists attacked at 6 p.m., knowing that the Poles, aware of possible invasion, were changing their guards. The killers knew the watchword, used by the Poles, because they had been informed about it by a Ukrainian woman, married to a Polish man.[9]
The perpetrators, using the watchword, entered the village, shouting in Polish that they were members of the Home Army and calling all Poles to come out to them. Soon afterwards, they attacked the railway station, killing those on duty (including one Ukrainian, who was murdered by mistake[10]), and people waiting for trains. Telegraph wires were then cut and the Ukrainian nationalists began burning houses, killing all Poles they encountered. According to witnesses, among the attackers were teenage boys, some of them aged 12. The nationalists were commanded by the son of a Greek-Catholic priest from nearby Zadarow, who died during the attack.[11]
A Polish defence unit, after the initial shock retaliated, killing one of the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists, who was the son of an
Jan Zaleski, a survivor, recalled:
In the morning, my parents went to the ruins of Korosciatyn. They heard stories which were difficult to believe. The Ukrainians got into the house of the Nowicki family. Mr Nowicki escaped, but the Banderites found his wife and their little daughter Barbara. Both were killed with axes, their skulls were crushed. Nowicki himself became insane and he walked around with his baby, who also survived, talking to everybody about his beloved wife and daughter.[14]
The majority of those murdered were buried in a mass grave on March 2, 1944, in the local cemetery, during a service led by
The area of Korosciatyn was witness to several other massacres. Two weeks after the tragedy, the Ukrainians murdered 39 Poles from the village of Bobulince near
- February 2, 1945. the UPA killed 133 inhabitants of Ujscie Zielone,
- February 4, 126 Poles were murdered in Barycz,
- February 7, 50 Poles were burned alive in Zalesie,
- February 12, 110 Poles were murdered in Puzniki,
- February 25, 39 Poles were killed in Zaleszczyki Male.
Currently, the only sign of the Korosciatyn Massacre is a wooden cross, which bears no inscriptions, placed in the local cemetery. The massacre is also commemorated with a special tablet, in the complex of Brother Albert Foundation in Radwanowice near Kraków.
The massacre continues to strain present relations between Poles and Ukrainians.
See also
- List of massacres in Ukraine
- Massacres of Poles in Volhynia
- Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, Armenian Catholic priest and researcher from Poland
- Szczurowa massacre
- Krupki massacre
References
- ^ “Neither Twenty Million, nor Russians, nor War Dead . . .” by Norman Davies
- ^ "Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, Zaglada Korosciatyna". Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ^ "Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, Zaglada Korosciatyna". Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ^ “Neither Twenty Million, nor Russians, nor War Dead . . .” by Norman Davies
- ^ "Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, Zaglada Korosciatyna". Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ^ "Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, Zaglada Korosciatyna". Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ^ “Neither Twenty Million, nor Russians, nor War Dead . . .” by Norman Davies
- ^ "Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, Zaglada Korosciatyna". Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ^ "Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, Zaglada Korosciatyna". Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ^ Tadeusz Piotrowski, Poland's Holocaust, page 385
- ^ "Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, Zaglada Korosciatyna". Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ^ "Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, Zaglada Korosciatyna". Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ^ "Przeglad Weekly, The statement of Danuta Konieczna". Archived from the original on 2005-10-30. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ^ "Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, Zaglada Korosciatyna". Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
Further reading
- Jan Zaleski, Kronika zycia, Wyd. Radamsa, Kraków 1999, p. 184,
- Ks. Adam Stawarz, Monasterzyska – dzieje i ludzie, Kraków 2000.
- Ks. Bp Wincenty Urban, Droga krzyzowa Archidiecezji Lwowskiej w latach II wojny swiatowej 1939-1945, Wrocław 1983.
- Na Rubiezy, nr 4, Wrocław 1995.