The last two years of the German occupation in Wołyń and Eastern Galicia was tragic for the populations that had been living there for hundreds of years, especially for the Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish populations. The bloody events from before nearly sixty years ago still evoke violent emotions. In the period of the existence of the Polish People’s Republic this topic was a taboo. Now many institutions dealing with the recent history started to uncover those events, including the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation.
A publication Anti-Polish Action of the OUN-UPA 1943-1944. Facts and Interpretation or an exhibition Poles-Ukrainians 1939-1947 organised by the Institute’s Public Education Office can be mentioned as examples of such an activity. Office for Preservation and Dissemination of Archival Records has also conducted a research in its archival resources concerning a publication Wołyń - Eastern Galicia 1943-1944. Guide through Polish and Ukrainian Archival Sources which has been prepared by the State Archives in co-operation with the Ukrainian Committee for Archives under the supervision of professor Hennadij Borijak.
The archival research enveloped the archival resources of the Institute of National Remembrance. Its results are presented as a description of archival materials that have been accepted, after consultations with the Ukrainian side, for the whole of the publication.
A majority of the archival documents are documents of the state security organs. There are first of all operational acts produced by the State Security Office and Security Service. They concern activities that were initiated with regard to people who were suspected of co-operation with the OUN-UPA or with the German occupant in Wołyń and Eastern Galicia in the time of the war who then, after 1944, lived in the Polish territory. Acts of the former Chief and Branch Offices of the Commission for the Investigation of Hitler’s Crimes in Poland which include criminal cases against the war criminals who among others took an active part in murdering Polish and Jewish people living in that area. The results of the bloody acts can be followed in the records of the courts concerning cases confirming deaths or alleged deaths.
There are 16 selected documents that are presented here and have been found in the archival resources of Office for Preservation and Dissemination of Archival Records:
Citizens’ report and protocols from the witnesses’ interrogations concerning the Polish-Ukrainian conflict in the area of Brody in the Tarnopol vioivodship (IPN 0192/336 v. 25, Operational Acts of Dmytro Miziuk, 1948, k. 99, 107, 112).
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The protocol of receiving an oral report concerning a crime, protocols from the witnesses’ interrogations, report of major Wróblewski to the Head of Unit III of the State Security Ministry in Warsaw, a letter of the Department III’s director to the Head of Unit III of the Voivodhsip Office of State Security in Katowice concerning the consent to arrest Józef Humeniuk vel Humiński – chief of the Ukrainian band active in the territory of Buczacz in the Tarnopol voivodship (0192/336 v. 29, Operational Acts concerning Józef Humeniuk, 1949, k. 9, 12, 25, 26, 31-34.
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The Ordinance of the Polish Government Delegate to the Wołyń Region of June 5th, 1943 concerning the co-ordination of activities of the Polish society vis-a-vis the enlarging Polish-Ukrainian conflict in Wołyń (392, 1943, photocopy, k. 1-3).
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Reports concerning crimes committed by the UPA bands against the Polish population in Wołyń (27th Wołyń Division of the Home Amry, Nabytki 638, 1985, k. nlb.)
Sentence of the Appelate Court in Szczecin of November 9th, 1950 in the criminal case against Jan Bogulak accused of torturing Polish citizens (Appelate Court in Szczecin, SASz, 1945-1965, k. 94-95.)
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Sentence of the Regional Court in Rzeszów of December 19th, 1947, the sentence of the Highest Court at the session in Kraków of March 17th, 1948 in the criminal case against Michał Iszczuk (Jastrzębski) accused of participation in murders of civilians, sentenced to death (Regional Court in Rzeszów, SOR63, 1948-1949, k. 211-213, 220-222.
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Sentence of the Regional Court in Zamość of October 27th, 1947 in the criminal case against Ryszard Alejew accused of murdering and pillaging the Polish citizens in the territory of Wołyń voivodship in the period 1942-1944, sentenced to death (Regional Court in Zamość, SOZ 26, 1947, k. 90).
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Sentence of the Special Criminal Court in Lublin of April 28th, 1946 in the criminal case against Aleksander Orechwicki vel Orzechowski, the former chief of the Ukrainian police in Włodzimierz Wołyński, accused of participating in murders, tortures and arrests of Polish and Jewish citizens, sentenced to death (Special Criminal Court in Lublin, SSKL 148, 1946, k. 168-171).
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Chapter entitled “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow of the Ukranian Case in Polandω” coming from an elaboration of an unknown author, lack of the title and the year of publication (V/175, 1944 (ω), k. 101-102.
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Memo of the Ukrainian National Self-Defence of August 1943 to the Ukrainian population informing on the formulation of the national self-defence (X/57, 1943, k. nlb.)
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Information on the German action in the territory of Rawa Ruska (IX/111, 1944, k. nlb.)
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Leaflets printed by the UPA (X/82, 1944, k. nlb.)
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“To the Polish Army” – Memo of the Ukrainian fighters recommending a common fight against the “Moscow-Bolshevik tyranny” and the “Hitler-German imperialists” (X/82, bd, k. nlb.)
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Memo to the Ukrainian population of the Command Group of the UPA – West (IX/141, 1944, k. nlb.)
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Protocol concerning the German-Polish terror, reports of acts of persecution of the Ukrainian citizens (X/82, 1944, photocopy, k. nlb.)
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