1943–45

The Volhynia Massacres

Ukrainian nationalist forces kill tens of thousands of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, and Polish reprisals follow.

Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2013)
The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)
The 78th anniversary of the Volhynia Massacre — Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Institute of National Remembrance (Poland) (2021)

Debated by historians wartraumaidentity

Volhynia, in today’s north-western Ukraine, belonged to Poland between the wars. Its population was mostly Ukrainian, with a substantial Polish minority. Interwar Polish rule and Ukrainian nationalist violence had already poisoned relations. Then came Soviet occupation, Nazi occupation and the Holocaust, in which many of the men who later formed the UPA had served as German auxiliary police.

The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)
Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2013)
Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Holocaust (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)

In 1943 units of the Bandera wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B) and its Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) began killing Polish villagers across Volhynia. The killing then spread to Eastern Galicia until 1945. The aim was to remove Poles from lands the nationalists claimed for a future Ukrainian state.

Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2013)
The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)

The bloodiest day was 11 July 1943, when UPA units attacked about a hundred Polish villages (99, according to Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance) in a coordinated wave.

Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2013)
The 78th anniversary of the Volhynia Massacre — Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Institute of National Remembrance (Poland) (2021)
Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)

The numbers are disputed. Polish historians and the Polish state put the number of Polish civilians killed in Volhynia, Eastern Galicia and neighbouring areas at about 100,000; the historian Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe gives 70,000–100,000. For Volhynia alone, estimates run from about 35,000 to 60,000, and some scholars, such as Ivan Katchanovski, consider the lower end more reliable. Polish reprisals killed Ukrainians too: Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance puts the toll at about 10,000, and Rossoliński-Liebe at 10,000–20,000, fighters and civilians.

The 78th anniversary of the Volhynia Massacre — Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Institute of National Remembrance (Poland) (2021)
Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2013)
The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)

The conflict ended with population exchanges and, in 1947, Poland’s “Operation Vistula”, which forcibly scattered the remaining Ukrainians of south-eastern Poland across the country’s west and north.

Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)
The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)

Two memories

In Poland, Volhynia is remembered as genocide. In 2016 the Sejm (parliament) formally declared it so and made 11 July a national day of remembrance. Polish historians broadly agree that it was a planned campaign with features of genocide.

The 78th anniversary of the Volhynia Massacre — Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Institute of National Remembrance (Poland) (2021)
Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2013)
Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)

In Ukraine the picture is blurrier. The Ukrainian parliament called the Polish resolution an inaccurate political and legal assessment and said that all victims in both countries should be commemorated equally. Surveys suggest many Ukrainians know the massacres only vaguely and have no clear view of the UPA’s responsibility. A 2015 Ukrainian law honouring the UPA among fighters for independence deepened Polish anger.

Parliament's Statement on Resolutions on Volyn Tragedy approved by Polish Senate and Sejm on July 7 and 22, 2016 — Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2016)
Ukrainians on History, Culture and Polish–Ukrainian Relations (summary) — Tomasz Stryjek, Joanna Konieczna-Sałamatin, Kamila Zacharuk, National Centre for Culture (Poland) / Rating Group (2017)
Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s — Georgiy Kasianov, Central European University Press (2022)

Presidents and churches of both countries have issued statements of reconciliation, but the issue keeps resurfacing.

Parliament's Statement on Resolutions on Volyn Tragedy approved by Polish Senate and Sejm on July 7 and 22, 2016 — Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2016)
Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s — Georgiy Kasianov, Central European University Press (2022)

How it's seen

The Polish view

A planned extermination of Polish civilians by the OUN-B and UPA, with features of genocide. Poland's parliament declared it a genocide in 2016 and made 11 July a national day of remembrance.

The 78th anniversary of the Volhynia Massacre — Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Institute of National Remembrance (Poland) (2021)
Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2013)
Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)

The Ukrainian official and popular view

A tragic chapter of a Polish–Ukrainian conflict with victims on both sides. Ukraine's parliament rejected Poland's genocide resolution as an inaccurate assessment and said all victims in both countries should be commemorated equally; many Ukrainians have no clear view of the UPA's responsibility.

Parliament's Statement on Resolutions on Volyn Tragedy approved by Polish Senate and Sejm on July 7 and 22, 2016 — Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2016)
Ukrainians on History, Culture and Polish–Ukrainian Relations (summary) — Tomasz Stryjek, Joanna Konieczna-Sałamatin, Kamila Zacharuk, National Centre for Culture (Poland) / Rating Group (2017)
Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s — Georgiy Kasianov, Central European University Press (2022)

Why it matters today

Ukraine

Volhynia is the most painful issue between Ukrainians and Poles, close allies today. In Poland it is a national day of remembrance. Many Ukrainians know it only vaguely, and official Ukraine has framed it as a tragedy with victims on both sides. It still flares up in politics between the two countries.