Ioannes Oculus

What were the Volhynian Massacres? The Volhynian massacres were anti-Polish genocidal ethnic cleansings conducted by Ukrainian nationalists. The massacres took place within Poland’s borders as of the outbreak of WW2, and not only in Volhynia, but also in other areas with a mixed Polish-Ukrainian population, especially the Lwów, Tarnopol, and Stanisławów voivodeships (that is, in Eastern Galicia), as well as in some voivodeships bordering on Volhynia (the western part of the Lublin Voivodeship and the northern part of the Polesie Voivodeship). The time frame of these massacres was 1943−1945. The perpetrators were the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists−Bandera faction (OUN-B) and its military wing, called the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Their documents show that the planned extermination of the Polish population was called an “anti-Polish operation.” 🔎🔗Discover more facts about the genocide in Volhynia. Visit our website: volhyniamassacre.eu/

🎗️🗓11 July 1943: Bloody Sunday - the deadliest day of the Volhynian Massacres On the National Day of Remembrance for Poles - Victims of Genocide Committed by the OUN and UPA in the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Polish Republic, we honor the memory of tens of thousands of innocent civilians murdered during the Volhynian Massacres. The date was chosen to commemorate 11 July 1943 - Bloody Sunday, the most tragic day of the anti-Polish campaign carried out in occupied Volhynia. At dawn on Sunday, 11 July 1943, while Polish families gathered for morning Mass, units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), acting on the orders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists - Bandera faction (OUN-B) and often supported by local collaborators, launched a coordinated assault on 99 Polish towns and villages across the counties of Kowel, Włodzimierz Wołyński, Horochów, and part of Łuck. The attacks were carefully synchronized to maximize the number of victims by striking communities assembled in churches and at home on a Sunday morning. The massacres unfolded with exceptional brutality. Entire villages were surrounded, homes were set on fire, and those attempting to flee were hunted down. Researchers estimate that around 8,000 Polish civilians were murdered on that single day - mostly women, children, and the elderly. Victims were killed with firearms as well as axes, pitchforks, knives, clubs, and other implements. Their property was looted and villages were burned to the ground. Churches, where people had gathered for Sunday worship, became sites of mass murder. In Poryck, approximately 200 parishioners were killed. In Chrynów, around 150 worshippers, together with Fr. Jan Kotwicki, lost their lives. Massacres also took place in Kisielin, Krymno, and Zabłoćce, where clergy and parishioners were murdered during or immediately after religious services. Bloody Sunday was not an isolated atrocity but the culmination of an escalating campaign of violence that had begun months earlier. The first major massacre took place in Parośla on 9 February 1943. During the spring, attacks intensified after thousands of members of the Ukrainian auxiliary police deserted German service, taking their weapons with them and joining the UPA. By the summer of 1943, the anti-Polish operation had spread across Volhynia, reaching its deadliest point on 11 July. The massacres of 1943–1945 constituted a planned anti-Polish operation conducted by the OUN-B and UPA. Polish researchers estimate that the campaign claimed approximately 100,000 Polish victims across Volhynia, Eastern Galicia, and neighboring regions, while forcing hundreds of thousands more to flee their homes. 🎗️🕯Today, we remember the victims whose lives were taken, the survivors who carried the trauma for decades, and the Ukrainians who, often at the risk of their own lives, chose to rescue their Polish neighbours. Their memory obliges us to preserve historical truth and ensure that the victims are never forgotten.