Gurów massacre

Gurów massacre
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Location of the Massacre (map of the Second Polish Republic from before the German-Soviet invasion of 1939)
LocationGurów, Volhynian Voivodeship, occupied Poland
Coordinates50°41′18″N 24°14′56″E / 50.68833°N 24.24889°E / 50.68833; 24.24889
Date11 July 1943
TargetPoles
Attack type
Shooting and stabbing
WeaponsRifles, bayonets, axes, bludgeons and pitchforks
Deaths410 [1] with 202 victims confirmed by name [2]
PerpetratorsUkrainian Insurgent Army
MotiveAnti-Catholicism, Anti-Polish sentiment, Greater Ukraine, Ukrainisation

Gurów massacre was a wartime massacre of the Polish population of Gurów, committed on 11 July 1943 by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army death squad from Group "Piwnicz" and Ukrainian peasants, during the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. The crime scene was the prewar village of Gurów located in Gmina Grzybowica, Powiat Włodzimierz in the Wołyń Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic (since 1945: Volodymyr-Volynskyi Raion in the Volyn Oblast, modern Грибовицька волость, Ukraine). Gurów village no longer exists.[3]

According to historian Władysław Filar, of the 480 Polish inhabitants of Gurów some 70 people managed to escape death by hiding from the assailants.[4] Historians Władysław and Ewa Siemaszko were able to confirm by name the 200 Poles and 2 Jews killed in Gurów.[2] The massacres, which began at 3 in the morning at Gurów Wielki and Gurów Mały, spread to nearby Wygranka, Zdżary, Zabłoćce, Sądowa, Nowiny, Zagaje (see: Zagaje massacre), Poryck (see: Poryck massacre), Oleń, Orzeszyn, Romanówka, Lachów, and Gucin.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Władysław Filar (2009). Wydarzenia wołyńskie 1939-1944. Oficyna Wydawnicza RYTM. ISBN 978-83-7399-376-1. With excerpts, at: Aleksander Kwaśniewski (11 July 2003). "Antypolskie akcje nacjonalistów ukraińskich". Poryck: Mój Lwów - wspomnienia i aktualności ze Lwowa.
  2. ^ a b Władysław Siemaszko; Ewa Siemaszko (2000). Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939-1945. Warsaw. p. 873.
  3. ^ Strony o Wołyniu (November 2007). "Kolonia i gromada Gurów, gmina Grzybowica, powiat Włodzimierz, woj. wołyńskie". Wolyn.ovh.org. Including location map and names of prominent individuals. Archived from the original on 2017-01-01. Retrieved 2016-12-31.
  4. ^ Stanisław Żurek (6 July 2016). "11 lipca 1941 roku: Krwawa Niedziela (prawosławne święto Piotra i Pawła)". Kalendarz Pamięci Ludobójstwa na Kresach. Wołyń naszych przodków. Also in: Michał Siemiński (15 July 2010). "Review: Wł. Filar, Wołyń 1939-1944". II wojna światowa. Historia.org, Recenzje.