Władysław Siemaszko (born 8 June 1919) is a Polish publicist and lawyer, former member of the Polish resistance

Armia Krajowa The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...

(AK), author of numerous publications focusing on the

massacres of Poles in Volhynia 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 ...

. He is the father of writer

Ewa Siemaszko Ewa Siemaszko is a Polish writer, publicist and lecturer; collector of oral accounts and historical data regarding the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia. An engineer by profession with Master's in technological studies from the Warsaw University of L ...

, co-author of ''Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939–45'' (The Genocide Committed by the Ukrainian Nationalists on Polish Citizens of Volhynia in 1939–45) consisting of two volumes of 1500 pages of research.

Life

Siemaszko was born in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in ...

, Brazil, to a Polish diplomat who was sent there by 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 ...

to a diplomatic post. Władysław moved with his family back to Poland in 1924, and settled in Wołyń Voivodeship. The Siemaszko family had lived in

Volhynia Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. Th ...

since

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

of 1863, after which Wladyslaw's grandfather bought some land from the Ukrainians in the area of

Volodymyr-Volynskyi Volodymyr ( uk, Володи́мир, from 1944 to 2021 Volodymyr-Volynskyi ( uk, Володи́мир-Воли́нський)) is a small city located in Volyn Oblast, in north-western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Volodymyr R ...

. Władysław Siemaszko joined the 27th Volhynian Division of the Home Army (AK) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and remained in Volhynia until 1944. In 1940, the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

authorities captured and sentenced him to death, but reduced the sentence to 10–year imprisonment. Initially Siemaszko was imprisoned by

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

Lutsk Lutsk ( uk, Луцьк, translit=Lutsk}, ; pl, Łuck ; yi, לוצק, Lutzk) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast (province) and the administrative center of the surrounding Luts ...

, until the

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

attack on the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in June 1941. Siemaszko managed to survive the massacres of Polish political prisoners carried out by the retreating Soviet military units and the NKVD. In 1945, Siemaszko was arrested again by the Soviets and transferred over to Polish communist authorities. He was imprisoned for two years in Poland until 1947 and released in 1949. Siemaszko graduated from the Faculty of Law of the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

and became a legal advisor and defence lawyer.

Work

Siemiaszko's first research project based on witness accounts related to the Volhynian massacres of Poles began in mid 80s. It was inspired by the initiatives of the surviving community of combatants of the 27th Volhynian Division of AK, and the apparent lack of historical documentation resulting in numerous misconceptions. Initially, Władysław Siemiaszko was asked to assist military historian

Józef Turowski Józef Turowski (died, Warsaw, 24 July 1989) was a Polish military historian. He authored two books, published in 1990: ''Pożoga: Walki 27 Wołyńskiej Dywizji AK'' (Conflagration: Battles of the Home Army's 27th Wołyń Division); and, with ...

of the

Polish Society of War Veterans Polish Society of War Veterans and Former Political Prisoners ( pl, Związek Kombatantów RP i Byłych Więźniów Politycznych) created in April 1990 (in place of ZBoWiD), is an official and the largest Polish Veterans association. Membership m ...

, gathering materials for a memorial project. Turowski died on July 24, 1989, before their collaborative work, kept unpublished for four years by the authorities, became first available in Poland in 1990 as limited edition print. Władysław Siemaszko with

; ''Zbrodnie nacjonalistów ukraińskich dokonane na ludności polskiej na Wołyniu, 1939–1945''. Warsaw, Wydawnictwo von borowiecky Publishing, 2000. Second edition, foreword by Prof. dr Ryszard Szawłowski. .

/ref>Krzysztof Lada. (2005

in Glaukopis, 2/3 2005, Pages 340–374. Subsequently, Władysław with his daughter

, in their own ten-year-long research project went on to document murders committed on Polish citizens by Ukrainian Insurgents in some 1,865 villages and towns of Volhynia during the Occupation of Poland, Nazi and Soviet occupations. Their books were based on witness accounts, court documents including transcripts from trials of Ukrainian war criminals, as well as the Polish national archives and statistical censuses. Tomasz Potkaj, Jan Strzałka
"Krzyże z Przebraża"

Tygodnik Powszechny ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' (, ''The Common Weekly'') is a Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, published in Kraków, which focuses on social, cultural and political issues. It was established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sap ...

2003. They were published and distributed by a Polish non-governmental organization

KARTA Center The KARTA Center ( pl, Ośrodek KARTA) or The KARTA Center Foundation ( pl, Fundacja Ośrodka KARTA) is a Polish non-governmental public benefit organization, whose aim is documenting and popularizing the recent history of Poland and history of E ...

. The Siemiaszkos' collaborative work continues. In 2010 the

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation ( pl, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state resea ...

(Bulletin No. 7–8, 116–117) published an overview of their joint research with the following up-to-date table of collected data.Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej nr 7-8/2010 (116–117)
, July–August 2010; Komentarze Historyczne: Ewa Siemaszko
"Bilans zbrodni."
(PDF – 1.14 MB).

Discourse

According to the Ukrainian historian,Voladm.gov.ua.

Yaroslav Tsaruk Yaroslav () is a Slavic given name. Its variant spelling is Jaroslav and Iaroslav, and its feminine form is Yaroslava. The surname derived from the name is Yaroslavsky and its variants. All may refer to: Historical figures * Yaroslav I the Wise ( ...

, who studied the materials collected by the Siemaszkos, the number of ethnic Poles given by them, in some of the villages he is familiar with, does not correspond with the Ukrainian statistical data.Google Books preview of Tsaruk publication (front cover).
Царук Ярослав – ''Трагедія Волинських Сіл 1943–1944'' – Національна Академія Нaук України, Інститут Українознавства ім. І. Крип'якевича, Львів, 2003
pp. 20–21 preview in Ukrainian.
/ref> According to Tsaruk, the Siemaszkos included in the number of Polish casualties those who emigrated before the commencement of hostilities, and included population points which were never separate administrative units, thus enlarging the number of Polish inhabitants while minimizing the Ukrainian casualties. Tsaruk claims that in the

Volodymyr Volodymyr ( uk, Володи́мир, Volodýmyr, , orv, Володимѣръ) is a Ukrainian given name of Old East Slavic origin. The related Ancient Slavic, such as Czech, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, etc. form of the name is Володимѣръ ...

region initially there were attacks on Ukrainian villages by Polish-German police which were retaliated in self-defence. He writes that according to the Siemaszkos 1,915 Poles died in the hands of Ukrainian Nationalists in that area, but according to him – only 430. The Siemaszkos replied in their monograph by saying, that this type of criticism is based on statements made by Ukrainian villagers today, decades after the war ended. Therefore, the discrepancies in what has been said by the locals can be "explained by psychological defense mechanisms". Another Ukrainian historian,

Ihor Ilyushin Igor ( be, Ігар, Ihar ; russian: Игорь, Igor' ; sr-Cyrl, Игор ; uk, Ігор, Ihor ; ) is a common East Slavic given name derived from the Norse name Ingvar, that was brought to ancient Rus' by the Norse Varangians, in the form ...

, echoed Tsaruk's observations and questioned whether the Siemaszkos' approach, based on testimony from one side, can be truly objective – wrote Canadian historian David R. Marples (''Heroes and villains''). Marples quoted Ilyushin who said that because Władysław Siemaszko was a participant in the conflict he is not a credible witness. However, Marples also noted, that Ilyushin failed to reach a reasonable conclusion in his article and made no distinction between Ukrainian atrocities committed against officials and innocent civilians.David R. Marples. (2007
''Heroes and villains: creating national history in contemporary Ukraine'', pp. 213–214.
Central European University Press.

Awards

* Władysław and Ewa Siemaszko were the 2002 recipients of the Józef Mackiewicz Award.

References

*
''Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia. Tom 1-2''
Publisher: Borowiecky, Warsaw, * Tomasz Potkaj

with Ewa and Władysław Siemiaszko biographical notes

External links