Hurby massacre
|
Monument in memory of the Polish victims of Volhynian massacre including Hurby, Warsaw | |
| Date | 2 June 1943 |
|---|---|
| Location | Hurby, German-occupied Poland, present-day Ukraine |
| Type | genocide |
| Participants | Ukrainian Insurgent Army, SKW |
| Deaths | c. 250 |
Hurby massacre - massacre committed on June 2, 1943 on the Polish population of village Hurby (Гурби) by the troops of UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) and SKW (Samoobronni Kuszczowi Widdiły), during the Volhynian massacre.The village Hurby is located in the district Zdobłunowski of Volyn province (Острозький повіт). As a result of the attack were killed about 250 Poles. The event was confirmed in an appeal commander of the UPA in Volyn Dmytro Klyachkivsky of June 1943. In which he admitted that the UPA "go up in smoke," this village.[1]
Eyewitness relations
"A few Banderites [Called after their leader Stefan Bandera of the Ukrainian Insurrectionary Army (UPA)], caught up with my mother and one of them hit her on the head with an axe. My mother fell to the ground and let go of my brother Tadzio, while I was crying with horror. My mother began to crawl holding on to Tadzio who was crying awash with blood, and tried to breastfeed him. After a while, the Banderites again ran up to her and cut her throat. She was still alive when they stripped her naked and cut off her breasts. Mom and Tadzio were in excruciating pain. She was in such pain that she began to pull her long hair out, her expression completely changed, and I started to be afraid of her.I ran up to my father and saw how hard they were beating him. I saw them chopping off our neighbor Wasylkowska’s head on a stump. My cries were so terrifying that one of the Banderites ran up to me and forcefully stabbed me with a knife a little below my throat, but I didn’t stop crying and was paralyzed with fear. The Banderites yelled out to my father calling him by his name and my father pleading with Ivan, also calling him by his name, because he used to constantly come to our house to see my father as a friend.When they saw me the second time, they decided to do me in, stabbing through my right hand with a knife and stabbing me twice in my left arm below the elbow. One of the banderovtsy grabbed me by the skin on my back like one grabs a cat and cut off that part of the skin which he scooped up in his hand. Then he stabbed me again twice in my shoulder blades and threw me into a huge ant nest. I probably fainted and when I came around I was in great pain, and the ants stung me so hard that my body swelled up. The neighbor’s head, chopped off and lying next to me, was all covered with ants."
See also
Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia
References
- ↑ Grzegorz Motyka, Ukraińska partyzantka 1942-1960, Warszawa 2006 Wyd. Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN, Oficyna Wydawnicza "Rytm", ISBN 83-88490-58-3 (ISP PAN,) ISBN 83-7399-163-8 (Rytm), ISBN 978-83-88490-58-3;
Coordinates: 50°15′29″N 26°05′43″E / 50.2581°N 26.0953°E