The Pawłokoma massacre was a massacre on 3 March 1945 of

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

forces in the village of Pawłokoma west of

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

. The Polish post Home Army ( AK) unit was commanded by Lt. Józef Biss and aided by Polish men from surrounding villages; the atrocities committed were an act of reprisal to similar, though en masse, attacks carried out on Polish villagers by the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...

. Between 150 and 500 people were executed.

Background

The background to the event was a four-way struggle between Ukrainian, Polish, German, and Soviet forces in the then predominantly Ukrainian region of

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

. Mass executions and violence led to the death of 30,000 Ukrainians and between 70,000 and 100,000 Poles between February 1943 and July 1944.

Massacre

The Polish troops commanded by Lt. Józef Biss herded the Ukrainian villagers to the local church where they were shot. Following the mass shooting, the Poles dumped the bodies in pits at the village cemetery. According to Polish historian Zdzisław Konieczny, the unit killed 150 men. Other estimates of those killed range from 366 to 500.

Aftermath

In 1947, the Soviet-installed Polish communist government launched

Operation Vistula Operation Vistula (; ) was the codename for the 1947 forced resettlement of close to 150,000 Ukrainians in Poland, Ukrainians (including Rusyns, Boykos, and Lemkos) from the southeastern provinces of People's Republic of Poland, postwar Poland to ...

that deported Ukrainian residents of the area en masse. Propaganda in schools depicted Ukrainians as traitors, fascists, and "natural enemies" of Poles.

Commemoration

During Ukrainian Prime Minister

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriiovych Yushchenko (, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards Western world, the West, European Union, and N ...

's visit to Poland in May 2006, a monument in memory for 366 victims was dedicated in the village.

References

External links