Pawłokoma massacre: Difference between revisions

Pawłokoma massacre
Pawłokoma massacre
Part of Polish-Ukrainian ethnic conflict
	Monument in memory of Ukrainians murdered in Pawłokoma on March 3, 1945
Location	Pawłokoma, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland
Date	March 3, 1945
Target	Ukrainian civilians
Attack type	Massacre
Deaths	150–500
Perpetrators	Home Army under the command of Józef Biss
Motive	Revenge for kidnappings carried out by NKVD, accidentally taken as Ukrainian Insurgent Army

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49°48′55″N 22°17′18″E / 49.815196°N 22.288239°E / 49.815196; 22.288239

The Pawłokoma massacre was a massacre on 3 March 1945 of Ukrainians by Polish forces in the village of Pawłokoma 40 km (25 mi) west of Przemyśl. 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.^[1] Between 150^[2] and 500 people were executed.^[3]

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. 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.^[2]

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.^[1] According to Polish historian Zdzisław Konieczny, the unit killed 150 men.^[2] Other estimates of those killed range from 366 to 500.^[3]

Aftermath

In 1947, the Soviet-installed Polish communist government launched Operation Vistula that deported Ukrainian residents of the area en masse. Propaganda in schools depicted Ukrainians as traitors, fascists, and "natural enemies" of Poles.^[2]^[3]

Commemoration

During Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko's visit to Poland in May 2006, a monument in memory for 366 victims was dedicated in the village.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b Rapawy, Stephen (3 May 2016). The Culmination of Conflict: The Ukrainian-Polish Civil War and the Expulsion of Ukrainians After the Second World War. Columbia University Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-3-8382-6855-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Dembinska, Magdalena (2010). "Building Trust: Managing Common Past and Symbolic Public Spaces in Divided Societies". Ethnopolitics. 9 (3–4): 311–332. doi:10.1080/17449050903564845. S2CID 143581472.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lytvyn, Mykola; Khakhula, Liubomyr (2019). "The Ukrainian Memory Community in Poland (The second half of the XX – beginning of the XXI centuries)". Східноєвропейський Історичний Вісник (12): 178–191. doi:10.24919/2519-058x.12.177553.
^ Szeptycki, Andrzej (2007). "Relations between Poland and Ukraine". Yearbook of Polish Foreign Policy (01): 160–173.

External links

Jan Maksymiuk: Ukraine, Poland Seek Reconciliation Over Grisly History in Radio Free Europe NEWS article, 12 May 2006

[Rapawy-1] Rapawy, Stephen (3 May 2016). The Culmination of Conflict: The Ukrainian-Polish Civil War and the Expulsion of Ukrainians After the Second World War. Columbia University Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-3-8382-6855-2.

[Dembinska-2] Dembinska, Magdalena (2010). "Building Trust: Managing Common Past and Symbolic Public Spaces in Divided Societies". Ethnopolitics. 9 (3–4): 311–332. doi:10.1080/17449050903564845. S2CID 143581472.

[Lytvyn-3] Lytvyn, Mykola; Khakhula, Liubomyr (2019). "The Ukrainian Memory Community in Poland (The second half of the XX – beginning of the XXI centuries)". Східноєвропейський Історичний Вісник (12): 178–191. doi:10.24919/2519-058x.12.177553.

[4] Szeptycki, Andrzej (2007). "Relations between Poland and Ukraine". Yearbook of Polish Foreign Policy (01): 160–173.

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+{{Short description|1945 WWII massacre of Ukrainians by Polish forces}}
-[['.:Pomnik ofiar zbrodni 3 marca 1945 w Pawłokomie.jpg|thumb|Monument commemorating Ukrainians killed .on 3 March 1945 in Pawłokoma by local Polish self-defence units]]
+{{Expand Ukrainian|topic=hist|date=March 2020}}
+{{Infobox civilian attack
+| title = Pawłokoma massacre
+| partof = [[Polish-Ukrainian ethnic conflict]]
+| image = Pomnik ofiar zbrodni 3 marca 1945 w Pawłokomie.jpg
+| image_size = 300px
+| alt =
+| caption = Monument in memory of Ukrainians murdered in Pawłokoma on March 3, 1945
+| location = [[Pawłokoma]], [[Subcarpathian Voivodeship]], [[Poland]]
+| target = [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] civilians
+| date = March 3, 1945
+| time =
+| timezone =
+| type = [[Massacre]]
+| fatalities = 150–500
+| injuries =
+| victim =
+| perps =
+| perp =
+| perpetrators = [[Home Army]] under the command of [[Józef Biss]]
+| perpetrator =
+| susperps =
+| susperp =
+| weapons =
+| numparts =
+| numpart =
+| dfens =
+| dfen =
+| motive = Revenge for kidnappings carried out by [[NKVD]], accidentally taken as [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]]
+}}
+{{Campaignbox Polish-Ukrainian ethnic conflict}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
+{{Coord|49.815196|22.288239|format=dms|display=title|type:landmark}}
+[[File:Józef Biss.jpg|thumb|upright|Lt. [[Józef Biss]], commander of Polish troops who perpetrated the massacre]]
+The '''Pawłokoma massacre''' was a massacre on 3 March 1945 of [[Ukraine|Ukrainians]] by [[Polish people|Polish]] forces in the village of [[Pawłokoma]] {{convert|40|km|abbr=on}} west of [[Przemyśl]]. The Polish post Home Army ([[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]].<ref name="Rapawy">{{Cite book |last=Rapawy |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=utd1CwAAQBAJ&dq=Paw%25C5%2582okoma%2520Biss&pg=PA220 |title=The Culmination of Conflict: The Ukrainian-Polish Civil War and the Expulsion of Ukrainians After the Second World War |date=3 May 2016 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-3-8382-6855-2 |pages=220 |language=en}}</ref> Between 150<ref name="Dembinska">{{Cite journal |last=Dembinska |first=Magdalena |year=2010 |title=Building Trust: Managing Common Past and Symbolic Public Spaces in Divided Societies |journal=Ethnopolitics |volume=9 |issue=3–4 |pages=311–332 |doi=10.1080/17449050903564845|s2cid=143581472 }}</ref> and 500 people were executed.<ref name="Lytvyn">{{cite journal |url=http://eehb.dspu.edu.ua/article/viewFile/177553/179391 |doi=10.24919/2519-058x.12.177553 |title=The Ukrainian Memory Community in Poland (The second half of the XX – beginning of the XXI centuries) |year=2019 |last1=Lytvyn |first1=Mykola |last2=Khakhula |first2=Liubomyr |journal=Східноєвропейський Історичний Вісник |issue=12 |pages=178–191|doi-access=free}}</ref>
-The '''Pawłokoma massacre''' was the 3 March 1945 murder of [[Ukraine|Ukrainians]] by [[Poles]] in [[Pawłokoma]], {{convert|40|km|abbr=on}} west of [[Przemyśl]] in [[Poland]]. Before World War II, the community . had 1,370 residents, including 1,190 Ukrainians, 170 Poles, and 10 Jews.<ref>http://tyzhden.ua/History/43977 Тепер тут буде Польща!</ref>{{better source|date=September 2017}}
-[[File:Pawłokoma 3.jpg|thumb|Pawłokoma monument commemorating Poles murdered by Ukrainian nationalists in 1939-45]]
-==Prelude==
-After the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] in accordance with the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|Nazi–Soviet Pact]], Pawłokoma was annexed by the Soviet Union to the Ukrainian SSR along with the entire south-eastern [[Kresy]] region of Poland, and placed in the [[Drohobych]] oblast, until 1941. According to Ukrainian-Canadian historian Petro Potichny,<ref name="Rudl">{{cite journal |journal=The Carl Beck Papers in Russian & East European Studies |volume=Number 2107 |author-link=Per Anders Rudling |first=Per A. |last=Rudling |title=The OUN, the UPA and the Holocaust: A Study in the Manufacturing of Historical Myths |publisher=Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh |ISSN=0889-275X |date=November 2011 |page=59 |url=https://carlbeckpapers.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/cbp/article/download/164/160 |id=Note 222}} John Pancake (January 6, 2010), [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/05/AR2010010503610.html "In Ukraine, a movement to honor members of the WWII underground sets off debate."] The Washington Post. "One of the key figures involved in the research is Peter J. Potichnyj. Born in a Ukrainian family in a village in what was then eastern Poland, Potichnyj experienced the horrors of the war firsthand. Soviet Secret Police executed his father. Poles [[massacre]]d most of the people in his village. In 1945, at the age of 14, he joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UIA, and fought against the Soviets until 1947. He eventually became a historian at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and helped edit 77 volumes about the Ukrainian underground."</ref> during the Soviet occupation sixteen villagers were arrested by the NKVD and disappeared. During the subsequent German occupation, nine Ukrainians were arrested and 193 were deported as [[Ostarbeiter]] to Germany.{{fact|date=September 2017}} However, Ukrainians were favored by the German Nazi administration and 10 even joined SS "Galizien".<ref name="auto">Z. Konieczny, Był taki czas. U źródeł akcji odwetowej w Pawłokomie Przemyśl 2005, {{ISBN|83-88172-26-3}}, p. 34-35.</ref> Ukrainian denunciations caused 3 Poles and one pro-Polish Ukrainian woman to be sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were also responsible for the death of a local AK member, Józef Michalik.
-Among those killed by the Polish underground in 1943 was the active community leader, teacher and [[bandurist]] [[Mykola Levytsky]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gazeta.lviv.ua/articles/2005/06/16/6201/|title=16 квітня мешканці Львівщини вийдуть на толоку|date=30 March 2016|publisher=}}</ref> Levytsky, alongside Ivan Karp, Eugenia Trojan and Ivan Szpak were all members of Ukrainian nationalist movement that advocated cleansing area off ethnic Poles. The move caused local Ukrainian chauvinists to stop their agitations for a time being.<ref>Z. Konieczny, Był taki czas. U źródeł akcji odwetowej w Pawłokomie Przemyśl 2005, {{ISBN|83-88172-26-3}}, p. 36-37.</ref> The situation was worsened when the [[Ukrainian Auxiliary Police]] arrested local AK members. Poles attempted to free them from a prison in [[Jawornik Ruski]], but discovered that they weren't there anymore.<ref name="auto"/> As a retaliation, Germans together with the [[Ukrainian Auxiliary Police]] pacified Polish village [[Dylągowa]].<ref>Z. Konieczny, Był taki czas. U źródeł akcji odwetowej w Pawłokomie Przemyśl 2005, {{ISBN|83-88172-26-3}}, p. 41.</ref>
-On January 21, 1945 a unit of the [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]] appeared in the village and kidnapped seven Poles and one pro-Polish Ukrainian woman, including the commune leader of Pawłokoma — Kacper Radoń. They never returned to the village, and were assumed to have been killed. The Polish community tried to discover their place of burial from the Ukrainians. However there was no response. Poles from nearby Dynow and from Pawłokoma appealed to the mayor of [[Powiat]] to send troops to extract information about the missing people. These meetings turned into anti-Ukrainian demonstrations. Retaliation occurred.<ref>Zdzisław Konieczny, Był taki czas. U źródeł akcji odwetowej w Pawłokomie, Przemyśl 2005, {{ISBN|83-88172-26-3}}</ref>
-According to another story reported by a historian Eugeniusz Misiło, the Poles who were kidnapped and murdered in Pawłokoma and in neighboring villages by UIA, were actually kidnapped by the Soviet [[NKVD]] in an attempt to start a series of retaliations.<ref>(Misiło, Pawłokoma ..., p. 20)</ref>
-==Massacre==
-On 2–3 March 1945, 365<ref>{{cite book|last1=Zhurzhenko|first1=Tatiana|editor1-last=Mink|editor1-first=Georges|editor2-last=Neumayer|editor2-first=Laure|title=History, Memory and Politics in Central and Eastern Europe: Memory Games|date=2013|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|chapter=Memory wars and reconciliation in the Ukrainian-Polish borderlands: geopolitics of memory from a local perspective|page=186}}</ref> (or 150 according to [[Zdzislaw Konieczny]]) Ukrainian and a few Polish{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}} inhabitants of Pawłokoma were killed, by a former<ref>AK was disbanded 19 January 1945</ref> [[Armia Krajowa]] unit,<ref name=Maksymiuk>[http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/5/4c935b0f-8009-48dc-93d8-95344832adc7.html Jan Maksymiuk: Ukraine, Poland Seek Reconciliation Over Grisly History] in Radio Free Europe NEWS article, May 12, 2006</ref> commanded by [[Józef Biss]] "Wacław" aided by Polish self-defense groups from nearby villages. The victims were held in a local church, interrogated and then taken to a local cemetery where they were executed.<ref name=Maksymiuk/> Women with small children (below 10 years old) were spared.<ref name="Misiło_13">Misiło, ''Pawłokoma ...'', p. 13</ref> According to historian [[Zdzisław Konieczny]], the AK group killed some 150 Ukrainian men in Pawlokoma, while women and children were spared and ordered to march to Ukraine.<ref>
- Zdzisław Konieczny, Był taki czas. U źródeł akcji odwetowej w Pawłokomie, Przemyśl 2005, {{ISBN|83-88172-26-3}}</ref><ref>Jews, Poles, and Slovaks: A Story of Encounters, 1944--1948, Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, ProQuest LLC. </ref>
-An inscription on the Ukrainian memorial in Pawłokoma places the number of victims of the 1945 massacre at 365.
+== 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]]. 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.<ref name="Dembinska" />
+== 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.<ref name="Rapawy" /> According to Polish historian [[Zdzisław Konieczny]], the unit killed 150 men.<ref name="Dembinska" /> Other estimates of those killed range from 366 to 500.<ref name="Lytvyn" />
 ==Aftermath==
+In 1947, the Soviet-installed Polish communist government launched [[Operation Vistula]] that deported Ukrainian residents of the area en masse. Propaganda in schools depicted Ukrainians as traitors, fascists, and "natural enemies" of Poles.<ref name="Dembinska" /><ref name="Lytvyn" />
-On September 4, 1945 after interrogation by the Soviet government, Józef Biss was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for involvement in anti-Communist activities and evasion of a military service.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rodaknet.com/rp_wycislak_3.htm|title=Józef Biss - historia jednego z wrześniowych żołnierzy - Jan Lucjan Wyciślak|website=www.rodaknet.com}}</ref>
+== Commemoration ==
-On the night of October 4, 1945 UIA attacked the village killing up to 20 Polish civilians who settled there, as well as in February 1946, UIA carried another attack killing further civilians.<ref>Z. Konieczny, Był taki czas, s.68</ref>
+During Ukrainian Prime Minister [[Viktor Yushchenko]]'s visit to Poland in May 2006, a monument in memory for 366 victims was dedicated in the village.<ref>{{Cite journal | url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=58483 |title = Relations between Poland and Ukraine|journal = Yearbook of Polish Foreign Policy|issue = 01|pages = 160–173|year = 2007|last1 = Szeptycki|first1 = Andrzej}}</ref>
-The Ukrainian church in which the Ukrainian villagers were murdered was destroyed by the Roman Catholic parishioners of the village in 1965. Part of the bell tower remains.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gazeta.lviv.ua/articles/2005/06/16/6201/|title=16 квітня мешканці Львівщини вийдуть на толоку|date=30 March 2016|publisher=}}</ref> The Ukrainian cemetery was transformed into a dump yard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umoloda.kiev.ua/number/672/158/24426/|title=Павлокома. Пробачити, але не забути|website=Club-tourist}}</ref>
-Several bodies of the victims were exhumed in 1952. The Polish [[Institute of National Remembrance]] (IPN) has been conducting an investigation of the crime since 20 September 2001. The ongoing investigation is (as of May 2006) still inconclusive.
-On May 13, 2006 [[Poland|Polish]] [[President of the Republic of Poland|president]] [[Lech Kaczyński]] and Ukrainian [[President of Ukraine|president]] [[Viktor Yushchenko]] attended a ceremony at the site to pay tribute to the victims, and to encourage historical [[wiktionary:reconciliation|reconciliation]] between Poland and [[Ukraine]]. After celebrating a [[Memorial service (Orthodox)|panychydy]], the presidents also paid tribute to all Polish victims who died in Pawłokoma.
-==Controversy==
-While sources differ on specific issues like the number of the victims or details of the massacre, all agree that the Ukrainian villagers were murdered by Poles and that a former Armia Krajowa unit{{dubious|date=September 2017}} (AK was disbandend in January 1945) either participated directly or assisted in the killings. The Pawłokoma Memorial places the number of victims at 365, the figure supported by IPN{{cn|date=March 2019}} and a number of Polish historians<ref>Sowa, ''Stosunki ...'', p. 286</ref> It is, however, questioned by a Polish historian Zdzisław Konieczny, author of a book on the Pawłokoma massacre,<ref>Konieczny, ''Był taki czas ...''</ref> claiming that some 150 Ukrainian members of UIA had been killed, while women and children were ordered to leave in the direction of [[Bircza]] and [[Sanok]].<ref>Maksymiuk, ''Ukraine...''</ref>. Poles who participated in the event, claim that at most 120-150 Ukrainian men were killed, and there's no way that the graves they dug could fit 300 people.<ref>Z. Konieczny, Był taki czas, s.60-61</ref>
 ==See also==
+*[[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia]]
-* [[Huta Pieniacka]]
+*[[Sahryń massacre]]
-* [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia]]
-* [[List of massacres in Poland]]
-==Notes==
+==References==
-{{reflist}}
+{{Reflist}}
-==References==
+==External links==
-* [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/5/4c935b0f-8009-48dc-93d8-95344832adc7.html Jan Maksymiuk: Ukraine, Poland Seek Reconciliation Over Grisly History] in Radio Free Europe NEWS article, May 12, 2006
+* [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/5/4c935b0f-8009-48dc-93d8-95344832adc7.html Jan Maksymiuk: Ukraine, Poland Seek Reconciliation Over Grisly History] in Radio Free Europe NEWS article, 12 May 2006
-* {{pl icon}} [[Lucyna Kulińska]]: "Pawłokoma" in ''Dziennik Polski'' nr 103, Kraków 2006
-* {{cite book | first = Eugeniusz | last = Misiło | title = Pawłokoma 3 III 1945 r. | language = Polish | location = Warszawa | year = 2006 | publisher = Ukar | isbn = 83-60309-02-7 }}
-* {{cite book | first = Andrzej L. | last = Sowa| title=Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie 1939-1947 | location= Kraków| year= 1998 |oclc=48053561 |language=pl}}
-* {{cite book | last = Konieczny | first = Zdzisław | title=Był taki czas. U źródeł akcji odwetowej w Pawłokomie | location = Przemyśl | year= 2000 |language=pl}}
-* {{en icon}} [http://www.rferl.org/a/1068362.html Poland, Belarus & Ukraine Report: May 12, 2006] in Radio Free Europe.
+{{Massacres of Ukrainians}}
-{{coord|49.815196|22.288239|format=dms|display=title|type:landmark}}
+{{Authority control}}
+[[Category:Polish massacres of Ukrainians in World War II]]
-{{DEFAULTSORT:Pawlokoma Massacre}}
-[[Category:World War II crimes in Poland]]
+[[Category:1945 murders in Poland]]
-[[Category:Poland–Ukraine relations]]
-[[Category:Mass murder in 1945]]
 [[Category:1945 in Ukraine]]
-[[Category:Massacres of Ukrainians during World War II]]
+[[Category:March 1945 events in Europe]]
-[[Category:1945 in Poland]]
+[[Category:Massacres in 1945]]
-[[Category:March 1945 events]]
+[[Category:Military operations involving the Home Army]]
-[[Category:Polish war crimes]]
+[[Category:Rzeszów County]]
+[[Category:History of Subcarpathian Voivodeship]]
+[[Category:Church massacres in Europe]]
+[[Category:Attacks on churches in Poland]]
+[[Category:Attacks on religious buildings and structures during World War II]]
+[[Category:1945 mass shootings in Europe]]
+[[Category:Mass shootings in Poland]]
+[[Category:1945 in Christianity]]
+[[Category:Church shootings]]

v t e Massacres of Ukrainians by Polish paramilitaries in World War II
Volhynia	Honchyi Brid [uk]
Galicia	Bakhiv [uk] Berezka [uk] Ruda Różaniecka Sivchyn [uk]
Chełm Land	Mitke Sahryń Wereszyn Prehoryłe Stary and Nowy Lubliniec Pavlokoma Piskorowice Łasków and Szychowice Turkovychi Wierzchowiny
Responsible parties	Home Army National Armed Forces Peasant Battalions
Related articles	Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia

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