Poryck Massacre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Poryck (now Pavlivka) is a town now located in northwestern Ukraine, in Volyn Oblast, near Volodymyr-Volynskyi, on the Luga river. In the interbellum period (1918-1939) it belonged to Poland, and was a town in Volhynian Voivodeship, inhabited by almost 2000 people, half of whom were Jewish and the remaining part mostly Polish and Ukrainian. The residents had previously lived peacefully together, and no ethnic conflicts had taken place there before.

On July 11, 1943 Ukrainian units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and OUN nationalist groups murdered Polish inhabitants of the town. Most people were killed during a ceremony in a local Roman Catholic church. The Ukrainians entered the church and threw grenades at the faithful, many of whom were women and children. Then they shot at them with machine guns and finally set fire on the church filled with people. Altogether 300 persons were brutally murdered.

On the 60th anniversary of the massacre, Presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland and Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine unveiled a monument commemorating the event. Both presidents called for forgiveness and reconciliation, with Kuchma saying "In this place where Polish victims rest, on behalf of all Ukrainians who want peace and justice, I wish to express my deep sympathy to all the wronged Poles, all those who suffered as a result of this disaster. We issue a strong condemnation of the violence committed against the Polish civilian population."

[edit] Sources

[1]
[2]
[3]
Zygmunt Stanski, Witold Stanski. "PORYCK miasteczko kresowe symbol tragedii Polakow na Wolyniu". Wydawnictwo A. Marszalek 2005. ISBN 978-83-7441-166-0.
Wladyslaw Siemaszko, Ewa Siemaszko. "Ludobojstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistow ukrainskich na ludnosci polskiej Wolynia 1939-1945, Wydane przy pomocy finansowej Kancelarii Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej", Warszawa 2000. ISBN 83-87689-34-3
Grzegorz Motyka. "Ukrainska partyzantka 1942-1960". Rytm Oficyna Wydawnicza. Warszawa. 2006. ISBN 83-7399-163-8.