Country Poland Gmina Siennica Różana Voivodeship Lublin Voivodeship | County Krasnystaw Local time Sunday 10:21 PM | |
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Weather 14°C, Wind SW at 11 km/h, 57% Humidity | ||
Wierzchowiny [vjɛʂxɔˈvinɨ] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Siennica Różana, within Krasnystaw County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland.
Contents
Map of Wierzchowiny, Poland
World War II
Wierzchowiny was the location of a pacification action carried out on 6 June 1945 in which approximately 50–196 inhabitants of the village (mostly Ukrainian, but also Polish) were massacred in an aura of considerable controversy. Incriminating documents, including signature of the NSZ officer accused of being responsible for the murder, Mieczysław Pazderski nom-de-guerre "Szary" (1908–1945), were produced by the MBP secret service actively engaged in anti-partisan raids and extrajudicial killings. Pazderski was an avid anticommunist who commanded a partisan unit which used to liquidate Soviet agents (including Poles) in the region between October 1944 and May 1945. His unit of PAS NSZ was involved in the fight with the Ukrainian OUN-UPA during the massacres of Poles in Volhynia. The action in Wierzchowiny resulted from a death sentence issued by NSZ against 17 Ukrainian and 2 Polish men suspected of retaliatory murders. Mieczysław Pazderski stationed in Wierzchowiny with the retreating Polish Army in September 1939 and witnessed the killing of several Polish soldiers ambushed by the local Ukrainian men.
The report
Pazderski's report about the pacification of the village was prepared by the communist secret police in Lublin, led by the Red Army Poruchik Wincenty Wojciusz. The report was never confirmed nor disproved as falsification (fałszywka) in the course of postcommunist investigations by the IPN. The partisans fought the communist reinforcements on the road from Chełm. On the night following the massacre the Soviet 98 Regiment of the 64 Division of NKVD secret service commanded by Captain Bielik came into the village. The photographs were taken. The corpses were left unburied until the Ukrainians emerged from the forest, burned down the Polish school, and forced the Polish families to dig graves for the victims. At night, all local Poles escaped to neighbouring villages. On 15 June the communists brought in an investigative unit and spoke with the Ukrainians who presented their own version of events although many were away in hiding, some of them, like Mrs. Oleszczuk and others, rescued by their Polish neighbours.