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Hurby massacre

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Hurby massacre
DateJune 2, 1943
LocationHurby village, German-occupied Poland, present-day location in Ukraine
TypeCivilian massacre
MotiveAnti-Catholicism, Anti-Polish sentiment, Greater Ukraine, Ukrainisation
ParticipantsUkrainian Insurgent Army, CKB
Deathsc. 250

Hurby massacre was a mass murder of the Polish population of the Hurby village, perpetrated on June 2, 1943, by a death squad of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and so-called brushwood self defence commando (Ukrainian: Самооборонні Кущові Відділи, СКВ) made up of Ukrainian peasants, during the province-wide Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia in World War II. Hurby (Ukrainian: Гурби) belonged to the Second Polish Republic before the war began. It used to be located in the powiat Zdobłunowski of the Wołyń Voivodeship.[1] It is now a valley (урочище, or uroczysko) by the same name in western Ukraine. About 250 Poles were murdered in the attack, which was confirmed by the UPA commander for Volyn, Dmytro Klyachkivsky, who said in his communique of June 1943 that Hurby "went up in smoke"[clarification needed].[2]

Eyewitness testimony

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Commemorative stone featuring Hurby, part of Warsaw monument with locations of OUN-UPA murders

An eyewitness account of the massacre from the already translated testimony of Irena Gajowczyk was published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of online "Witnesses of the massacre speak out" initiative in 2016.[3][unreliable source?]

Location of eradicated village in present-day west Ukraine.

See also

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Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia

References

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  1. ^ Strony o Wołyniu (April 2006). "Wieś i majątek HURBY oraz folwark BEDNARKA, gromada Hurby, gmina Buderaż, powiat Zdołbunów, woj. wołyńskie". Wolyn.ovh.org. Including location map and village plan with streets and 120 homes, as well as names of prominent individuals as of 1939. Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
  2. ^ Grzegorz Motyka (2006). Ukraińska partyzantka 1942–1960. Warszawa: Wyd. Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN, Oficyna Wydawnicza "Rytm". ISBN 83-88490-58-3. (ISP PAN,) (Rytm).
  3. ^ "Poles who survived genocide in Volhynia recount some of the most horrifying stories of the century". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland. 2016. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016.