Volhynian Bloody Sunday Explained

On Sunday, 11 July 1943, OUN-UPA death squads, aided by local Ukrainian peasants, simultaneously attacked at least 99 Polish settlements within Wołyń Province of the German-occupied prewar Second Polish Republic.[1] It was a well-orchestrated attack on people gathered at Catholic churches for Sunday mass. The towns affected included Kisielin (the Kisielin massacre), Poryck (the Poryck Massacre), Chrynów (the Chrynów massacre), Zabłoćce, and Krymn, while dozens of other towns were attacked on other dates; tens of churches and chapels were burned to the ground.

The Volhynian massacres spread over four prewar provinces, including Wołyń with 40,000–60,000 victims, as well as Lwów, Stanisławów and Tarnopol provinces in Lesser Poland with 30,000-40,000 Poles murdered, for a total of 100,000 Polish victims of the UPA terror.[2]

Selected locations of the Volhynian Bloody Sunday massacres

Below is the list of selected locations of the OUN-UPA mass killing raids targeting Polish Catholics, with the confirmed number of victims from July 11, 1943 exceeding one dozen men, women and children, according to compendium of Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia compiled by Władysław Siemaszko and Ewa Siemaszko. Existing settlements which have been attacked, but whose number of Polish victims remained undetermined at the time when the information was collected, are not listed here.[3]

Powiat
(county)
Gmina
(commune)
Name of
settlement
Number of
dead victims
Notes
horochowskiChorów (pl)Bakonówkamore than 21Polish farmhouses burned down
Janin estatearound 50From Janin, departure for a raid on Zamlicz
Zachorów Nowy30Perpetrated by SB-OUN led by Wasyl Melnyk
Zamlicze village and estate118Separate article (pl)
Kisielin (pl)Kisielin90Kisielin massacre[4]
Podberezie (pl)Koziatyn (pl) (uk)2116 killed on site & 5 attempting to flee
Zagaje village 260–350 Zagaje massacre, July 11 or 12 [5]
Skobełka (pl)Musin (Marianówka) allEradicated village
Świniuchy (pl)70
Sienkiewicze allEradicated village, July 11 or 12
kowelski (pl)Krymno (pl)Krymno40Massacre at a church
włodzimierski14
Nowojanka [6] at least 12 Polish farmhouses burned down, July 11 or 12
Suchodoły estate [7] 80
Suchodoły village (uk)all Poles
Grzybowica (pl)150Chrynów massacre
Franopol [8] 9
Grzybowica more than 34
Gucin 147Separate article (pl)
Gurów202Gurów massacre
more than 20
Nowiny ~ 80
Sądowa 160Separate article (pl)
Sądowa area13
Stasin 105Separate article (pl)
Wygranka 150Separate article (pl)
76Massacre at a church
Żdżary Duże colony51
Korytnica (pl)Strzelecka colony60Attacked on July 11 or 12
49
Wydranka several dozen
Mikulicze (pl)Biskupicze Górne estate70
at least 20
44Attacked on July 11 or 12
24
Orlęta ~ 50
Zygmuntówka several dozen
Poryck (pl)Iwanicze Stare & Nowe village & colony more than 9
Jerzyn 51Attacked by the same death squad as in Poryck
15
at least 21
Orzeszyn 306Separate article (pl)
Pawłówka 10
Poryck200Separate article (pl) Poryck 1943 massacre of Poles
more than 15
Topieliszcze (pl)more than 14Attacked on July 11 or in the following days
Wolica 14
Werba (pl)Dominopol at least 220Dominopol massacre
Piński Most 29
Wołczak9

Notes and References

  1. Nabi Abdullaev, Foreign Policy Association: Central and Eastern Europe. Fpa.org. Retrieved on July 11, 2011.
  2. News: The Effects of the Volhynian Massacres. Massacre. Volhynia. Volhynia Massacre. 2018-07-13. en.
  3. [Władysław Siemaszko]
  4. Book: Terles, Mikolaj . Ethnic cleansing of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, 1942-1946 . 1993 . . 0-9698020-0-5 . 39 .
  5. [Władysław Filar]
  6. Strony o Wołyniu, Nowojanka. Wolyn.ovh.org
  7. Strony o Wołyniu, Suchodoły. Wolyn.ovh.org
  8. Strony o Wołyniu, Franopol. Wolyn.ovh.org