Volhynia massacre

The Volhynia massacre^[a] refers to the mass murder of Poles in Volhynia^[b] in World War II.^[1][2] The massacre was committed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army^[c] between July and August 1943.^[3] As many as 133,000 Poles died.^[3]

Eastern Galicia had been part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was divided in 1795 between the Kingdom of Prussia, the Austrian Empire, and Russian Empire.^[2] Volhynia came under Russian rule.^[2] When Poland became independent again in 1918, she fought two years of war with the Soviet Union. There was also a parallel conflict with the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic, which lost Eastern Galicia to Poland.^[3]

Prior to World War II, Ukrainian speakers reportedly made up 68% of Volhynia's residents. Around 17% were Polish speakers; 10% spoke Yiddish;^[4] 2% spoke German; 2% spoke Czech; and 1% spoke Russian.^[5]

Some historians said that the Polish government mistreated Eastern Galacia's Ukrainians.^[5] The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists was formed to fight for Ukrainian independence in the 1930s.^[5] They wanted to take back land that included the Soviet-occupied eastern Ukraine, whose residents were suffering from the Holodomor.^[6] This was a man-made famine created by Joseph Stalin^[7] that killed as many as 7,000,000 Ukrainians.^[8][9]

Reportedly, 190 Ukrainian Orthodox churches in Volhynia had been destroyed by 1937, with another 150 converted into Roman Catholic churches.^[10] Polish citizens were also encouraged to move to Volhynia. Soon 17,700 Polish citizens were living in Volhynia in 3,500 new settlements. This influx of immigrants caused racial tension and sectarian violence,^[11] worsened by communist agitation, paving the way for the atrocities later on.^[12]

In September 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Poland was split in two, placing Volhynia under Soviet rule. When the Axis powers invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, around 200,000 Poles had already been deported to Siberia.^[3][12] After Nazi Germany took over Volhynia from the Soviets, the OUN-Banderite faction (OUN-B) launched a series of antisemitic pogroms. The deadliest were the Lviv pogroms, where at least 5,000 Polish Jews were killed.^[13]

Some OUN-B commanders sought to eliminate the local Poles in addition to the Jews.^[3][12] Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that the OUN-B leader Stepan Bandera, who was not released from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp until September 1944, was involved in any of such pogroms.^[14]

The first case of mass murder, known as the Parośla I massacre, was committed on February 9, 1943 by a UPA group disguised as Soviet partisans.^[15] The second mass murder was committed during the 1943 Holy Week, killing 600 Poles.^[15] The mass murder peaked in July–August 1943. As many as 11,000 Poles were killed during UPA's attacks on 520 Polish villages.^[15]

The massacre was made worse by flyers and posters inciting the Ukrainian population to kill Poles and "Judeo-Muscovites" alike,^[16] despite the massacre being backed by merely one faction of the Ukrainian nationalists. Particularly, UPA founder Taras Bulba-Borovets criticized it as soon as it began:^[17]

The axe and the flail have gone into motion. Whole families are butchered and hanged, and Polish settlements are set on fire. The "hatchet men", to their shame, butcher and hang defenceless women and children [...] By such work Ukrainians not only do a favor for the SD [German security service], but also present themselves in the eyes of the world as barbarians. We must take into account that England will surely win this war, and it will treat these "hatchet men" and lynchers and incendiaries as agents in the service of Hitlerite cannibalism, not as honest fighters for their freedom, not as state-builders.

In revenge, the Polish Home Army^[d] reportedly killed 2,000 Ukrainians.^[15] The series of mass murders continued until spring 1944, when Nazi troops withdrew from Ukraine to escape the invading Soviets.^[15] British historian Norman Davies wrote about the massacre:^[18]

[...] Ukrainian peasants carrying knives, pitchforks, scythes and machetes [...] destroy neighbouring Polish villages [. ...] dismembering pregnant women [...] chopping up babies, burning families alive, crucifying priests on church doors.

As many as 133,000 Poles reportedly died when the mass murders happened.^[3] British-American historian Niall Ferguson estimated that 60,000‒80,000 were killed.^[19] German-Polish historian Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe estimated 70,000–100,000.^[20] Swedish-American historian Per Anders Rudling put the toll at 40,000–70,000.^[21] Meanwhile, American historian Timothy Snyder said that the UPA might have killed as many Ukrainians as it killed Poles due to UPA's perception that Ukrainians who did not follow its form of nationalism were traitors.^[22]

In October 1943, the OUN condemned the "mutual mass murders" between Ukrainians and Poles.^[23] Today, the Volhynia massacre is a controversial issue, affecting Poland–Ukraine relations and broader European politics.^[2]

According to prosecutor Piotr Zając, Poland's Institute of National Remembrance^[e] considered three scenarios in its 2003 investigation:^[24]

1. Ukrainian nationalists had planned the massacre, but events got out of hand
2. The decision to wipe out the Poles came directly from the OUN-UPA headquarters
3. The decision to wipe out the Poles can be attributed to some OUN-UPA leaders in an internal dispute

The IPN concluded that the second scenario was the most likely.^[25]

Since the 1950s, it has been debated whether it was a genocide or an ethnic cleansing. The Polish government considers it a genocide,^[26] while the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity considers it a "genocidal ethnic cleansing".^[1] On the other hand, Holocaust historian Jared McBride said in 2016 that most scholars agreed that the Volhynia massacre was an ethnic cleansing rather than a genocide.^[27] Rossoliński-Liebe shared this view.^[27]

• Lviv pogroms
• Katyn massacre
• 7 October 2023 attack on Israel
• Yugoslav massacres of Kosovo Albanians during the Kosovo War