Customer Reviews

Genocide and Rescue in Wolyn: Recollections of the Ukrainian Nationalist Ethnic Cleansing Campaign Against the Poles During World War II

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This book tells us about a well hidden secret that Ukrainian historians tried to suppress for a long time. And they had plenty of allies in doing this. Today, there are no Polish village communities in Wolyn and East Galicia (Ukraine), in opposition to numerous Polish communities in Belarus and Lithuania which exist. Piotrowski explains why this is so. All because of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, organisations that orchestrated a genocidal campaign to wipe out the Poles of Wolyn and East Galicia. Interestingly enough, it was not even Stalin that destroyed completely the Poles of Wolyn. Despite expulsions from Belarus, Poles survived there. In Ukraine, specifically in Wolyn and East Galicia, the Poles were largely murdered in their homes and later the Soviet expulsion was accompanied by the OUN-UPA terror in the form of collective murders in order to force the remnants of the Polish community from the territory.

I could not put this book down. It is a very moving, emotionally taxing collection of testimonies by the Polish survivors of the Volhynian genocide. The titular Rescue refers to the help provided by the brave and noble Ukrainians to their Polish neighbors at the risk of their own lives. In fact, every survivor's story could be told because a Ukrainian helped them hide, provided food, clothing or transportation to get them out of danger, or just simply did not denounce them to their nationalistic compatriots. This is a beautiful tribute honoring those Ukrainian righteous among the nations. Thousands of Ukrainians in Volhynia perished at the hands of their own fascist-chauvinist countrymen, many tortured with the same medieval barbarity as were the Poles. This was an eye opener for me, as I had not been aware of the scale of Ukrainian on Ukrainian atrocities.
To the Ukrainian reviewers of this book I would have this question: are the Ukrainians who helped their Polish neighbors heroes, worthy of honor and remembrance, or are they traitors of the Ukrainian national cause? We know how the UPA perpetrators would answer this question at the time described in this book. What is your answer? To Piotrowski and the quoted survivors they are the angels of mercy, the best the humanity has to offer.
Read this book. You'll never be the same.

Piotrowski tells us of the unspeakably brutal murder of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists. The barbarity is difficult to fathom, and is rivalled only by the mendacity of Ukrainian reviewers who try to divert the blame to Polish victims. It is obvious that, to some Ukrainians even today, the disemboweling of a Polish child, or the putting out of the eyes of a Polish woman, by the cowardly UPA cutthroats (REZUNY),was a great patriotic act. Let us keep past wrongs in perspective: The past injustices which Ukrainians underwent at the hands of Poles are NOT REMOTELY equivalent to the systematic murder of 100,000 Polish men, women, and children. The past wrongs of Poles against Ukrainians were mostly economic, and very rarely culminated in serious mistreatment or murder. Despite mutual nationalistic tensions, the Ukrainians in prewar Poland enjoyed a considerable degree of cultural autonomy, and even had representatives in the Polish parliament. The so-called pacification of 1932, in reprisal for earlier Ukrainian acts of sabotage, murder, and arson, involved the deaths of only some 32 Ukrainians. During this same time, Stalin was starving some 7 million Ukrainians, yet the OUN was not planning genocide against Russians because of this at all. Later, rhe number of Ukrainian civilians killed by Poles as a result of reprisals during the war, as well as in the "Operation Vistula" after the war, also were drops in the bucket compared with the over-100,000 Poles sadistically murdered by Ukrainian chauvinists during the German occupation. Without doubt, both the Germans and Russians committed far, far graver wrongs against the Ukrainian people, by ANY standard, than did the Poles, yet the Ukrainian nationalists did not lash out with open genocide against either Germans or Russians. I suppose that this is because they knew that Poles were too ethically-minded to retaliate with a counter-genocide, whereas both the Russians and Germans would see to it that Ukrainians were hanging from every tree no sooner than the cowardly UPA bandits attempted genocide on them.

The story of Polish civilians of Wolyn massacred by UPA-OUN Nazis finally see the light... In contrary to what's been said here by UPA-OUN apologists the book by Piotrowski is not one-sided. I don't know, but Ukrainians probably expected reaching out to the times of by Polish nobility like Jarema Wisniowiecki in 17th century to show Poles were guilty of bad deeds too, but hey - folks this book is placed in WW2 times, and it's not about history of Ukraine.

I am very glad that massive amount of historical material and proves that 'glorious' UPA-OUN commited crimes on women and children that would put Hitler's SS to shame (a hedgehog into pregnant woman's womb, cutting a man in half, hanging children by barbed wire around their necks etc). Arguments that these massacres of Polish peasants (about 60.000 people - mostly woman and children) were provoked by Polish attacks doesn't hold the water for anybody who know a little bit of history and demographics of that region. Polish elites had been already deported to Siberia by Stalin's order and Poles (mostly peasants) constituted only 16% of ethnic mosaics there. Additionally they were under oppressive Nazi rule. How these people could attack anybody? Only UPA-OUN whitewashers would know.
Although most of UPA 'heroes' fans would deny that (natural psychological reaction of perpetror) the REAL Ukrainian heroes were those who hid their Polish neighboours from UPA child murderes. As far as I know there were a couple of hundreds of them SHOT by UPA for helping Poles. To this very day some of these people who survived are afraid to reveal their names fearing UPA cheerleaders' revenge.

Only in truth there can be reconciliation and only in truth both of our nations can move along - whitewashing UPA's genocide against Polish civilians from 1943 will not help that. All in all, recommended reading for anybody interested in mechanism of ethnic cleansing.

P.S.

Apart from this book I strongly recommend book 'Genocide' by Siemaszko's.

Piotrowski's work remains the best-known English language work on this sordid crime. In view of the fact that the UPA butchers are currently being glorified in the Ukraine, and émigré Ukrainians continue to blame the victims (see just the negative reviews of this work), this topic remains as timely as ever.

I am updating my previous anonymous review with some new information:

There is another detailed English-language book that discusses these crimes, as well as Polish defensive actions, often against impossible odds. Click on:

Wolyn Aflame

There is also an English-language Jewish study of the OUN-UPA genocidal crimes against both Jews and Poles. Click on:

The Holocaust of Volhynian Jews

By far the most comprehensive work on the OUN-UPA's genocide of Poles, unfortunately not presently carried by Amazon, is: Siemaszko, W., and E. Siemaszko. 2000. Ludobojstwo Dokonane Przez Nacjonalistow Ukrainskich na Ludnosci Polskiej Wolynia, 1939-1945. [The Genocide Conducted by Ukrainian Nationalists on the Polish population of Volhynia, 1939-1945], 2 Volumes, von Borowiecky, Warsaw. (ISBN: 8387689343). It catalogues over 1,600 known locations where the murders took place. It also contains numerous documents, photographs, etc., and has an extensive English-language summary. This work also examines and soundly debunks Ukrainian attempts to minimize this crime, blame it on the Poles, or create a false symmetry with a few Polish retaliatory actions to make out of it a mythical "Polish-Ukrainian war."

Tadeusz Piotrowski is a Polish-American professor based in New Hampshire. His book "Genocide and Rescue in Wolyn" deals with a little known campaign of ruthless ethnic cleansing during World War II in Volhynia, an area in the western part of the Ukraine.

During the interwar years, Volhynia had been controlled by Poland. During the war, control over the area shifted several times between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was active in Volhynia. The UPA was the armed wing of the OUN-B, a fascist and terrorist organization led by the notorious Stepan Bandera. The OUN-B had a record of collaboration with Nazi Germany, but also had several fall outs with the Germans. Nominally, the UPA was an independent force, fighting both the Nazis and the Soviets. In reality, they concentrated their attacks on the Communists, while attempting to win Nazi support.

Professor Piotrowski documents that the UPA had other interests as well. They waged a ruthless war of extermination against Polish villages in Volhynia. By killing men, women and children of Polish nationality and burning down their settlements, the UPA hoped to create an ethnically pure Ukrainian region. Unsurprisingly, they also attacked Jews. Interestingly, the UPA systematically terrorized the Ukrainian population as well, more or less forcing the local peasants to enlist in the UPA on pain of death. Naturally, they also killed Ukrainians who were brave enough to aid the Poles, not to mention Ukrainians suspected of Communist sympathies. Finally, UPA also forced two competing nationalist groups, OUN-M and another "UPA", to join their forces. The leader of the other "UPA", Taras Bulba, complained that the UPA spend more time attacking Polish civilians than waging a war against Communists and Nazis!

"Genocide and rescue in Wolyn" contains both eye witness accounts of the massacres, county by county, a general historical overview of the OUN-B and the UPA, and excerpts from various contemporary documents. In some documents, the UPA blames the Poles for collaboration with the Nazis. Piotrowski admits that thousands of Poles in Volhynia did join the Nazi-controlled local police forces, but only after the *Ukrainian* collaborators had quit and joined the UPA! Besides, it was the OUN-B and the UPA which were guilty of most of the Nazi collaboration. Also, the ethnic cleansing campaign against the Poles of Volhynia started long before the Nazi decision to recruit Poles, and had always been a stated aim of the OUN, a predecessor to the OUN-B.

I admit that this book might strike the general reader as very obscure, and will perhaps mostly interest advanced students of Polish or Ukrainian history. (The anti-Jewish activities of the UPA are mentioned mostly in passing.) My interest in this subject is due to the fact that the UPA attempted to pass themselves off as "democratic socialists" (!). Some left-wing groups were fooled by these pretences after the war, including the Fourth International and the supporters of Max Schachtman in the United States. The primary conduit seems to have been one Ivan Majstrenko, a refugee from the Soviet Union who formed a small left-wing group on arrival in the United States. I believe it was called the UPRP. Still during the 1990's, some left-wing magazines published glowing accounts of the "democratic socialist" UPA which fought both Hitler and Stalin. This is quite absurd, indeed, even perverse. Piotrowski's book isn't the first scholarly exposure of the UPA. Unfortunately, many left-wingers don't want to be weaned from their little myths.

Perhaps "Genocide and rescue in Wolyn", written by a survivor of the terrible carnage in Western Ukraine, can open the eyes of some people.

Piotrowski tells the story of Ukrainian Nationalist's campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Polish minority in Volhynia. He provides both personal testimonies and hard sources as evidence. Still, a lot has to be written to explain the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) quest for racial purity and Ukraine without "the Moscovite, the Pole, and the Jew". Let this book be a warning for those who attempt to falsify the history of Ukraine by glorifying "ethnic cleansers" and make national heroes out of them.

This book provides a county-by-county accounting of the OUN-UPA's genocide directed against the Poles in German-occupied Volhynia. But, far from being chauvinistic, this book is scrupulous in avoiding placing the blame on all Ukrainians. To the contrary: much attention is paid to Ukrainians who were murdered for assisting the Poles or merely for advocating good Polish-Ukrainian relations. Furthermore, this book also acknowledges past Polish wrongs against Ukrainians, such as the prewar interference with the Ukrainian Church, although these wrongs have no parallel with the Ukrainian nationalists' genocide directed against innocent Polish civilians. Warning: The abject cruelty and savagery of the Ukrainian nationalists is very graphically described, and reading this book is definitely not for the fainthearted.

The former Polish province of Wolyn, which is the scene of the Ukrainian Nationalist campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Poles documented by the author, was an area that was populated by 350 thousand Poles before 1939 that made up barely 17% of the population. This percentage was highly reduced by the Soviet deportations during 1940-1941. In 1943 the Poles of Wolyn were subjected to the genocide committed by the Ukrainian Nationalists. This genocide took the form of attacking defensless villages at the most unexpected moment. People were slain at night, at the break of dawn or during prayer at the local church on Sunday. These attacks were as a rule accompanied by tortures of the utmost barbarity: hacking people with axes, eye gauging, pulling out of tongues and throwing people into wells were a common occurrence.The excellent book by T. Piotrowski consists of two parts. In the first one the children rescued from this genocide tell the story of the extended helpful hand that came from ordinary Ukrainians. As the author writes: Every act of kindness came at great personal risk- yet the rescues continued. In the second part of the book one can find documentation from different archives that proves beyond any doubt that the act of genocide was prepared and conducted by the OUN, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist. The planned character of the crimes is definitively confirmed by the sources provided. I congratulate the author on his work!

This book is accurate testimony of what happened in SE Poland during the war. It describes the perdition of the Ukranians and their acts of inhumanity. That the Ukranians became pro-Nazi is understandable, as for them the Russians were the real enemy. However, that does not mean it was the right decision for these unfortunate people. It certainly does not mean their behaviour is condonable. The Ukranians failed in socio-political decision-making at the end of the First World War, when Russia was out to stomp both Ukranian and Polish liberty. Unfortunately, the Ukranians could not come to agreement with any of the three Polish factions in the conflict and were left in isolation. They did not learn from history - in the 1400s, Poland and Lithuania put aside their considerable differences to defeat the God-approved genocide machine that was the Teutonic Knights. Five hundred years on and Poland defeated the Russians - the last people do so - while Ukranian liberty was crushed. The only positive thing to come from Ukranian pro-Nazism was a deep pool of bribable camp guards: the only perk for the doomed inmates.