Hurby massacre was a mass murder of the Polish population of the Hurby village, perpetrated on June 2, 1943, by a

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

of the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...

(UPA) and so-called brushwood self defence commando ( uk, Самооборонні Кущові Відділи, СКВ) made up of Ukrainian peasants, during the province-wide

Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia The massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia ( pl, rzeź wołyńska, lit=Volhynian slaughter; uk, Волинська трагедія, lit=Volyn tragedy, translit=Volynska trahediia), were carried out in German-occupied Poland by the ...

in World War II. Hurby ( uk, Гурби) belonged to the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

before the war began. It used to be located in the

powiat A ''powiat'' (pronounced ; Polish plural: ''powiaty'') is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture ( LAU-1, formerly NUTS-4) in other countries. The term "''powia ...

Zdobłunowski of the Wołyń Voivodeship. It is now a valley (урочище, or ''uroczysko'') by the same name in

western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...

. About 250 Poles were murdered in the attack, which was confirmed by the UPA commander for Volyn,

Dmytro Klyachkivsky Dmytro Klyachkivsky ( uk, Клячківський Дмитро (Роман), also known by his pseudonym Klim Savur; 4 November 1911 – 12 February 1945), also known by his pseudonyms Klym Savur, Okhrim, and Bilash, was a commander of the Ukrain ...

, who said in his communique of June 1943 that Hurby .

Eyewitness testimony

Below is the eyewitness account of the massacre from the already translated testimony of Irena Gajowczyk, which was published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of online "Witnesses of the massacre speak out" initiative in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurby massacre 1943 crimes in Poland June 1943 events Massacres in Poland Massacres of Poles in Volhynia Massacres in 1943 War crimes committed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Massacres in Ukraine

Eyewitness testimony

See also

References