15 May / 2024
Photo from ua.krymr.com
Poles and Ukrainians commemorated victims of a tragedy that took place 75 years ago in the village of Sahryn, Poland.
At the time, Polish nationalists carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against ethnically Ukrainian villages.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Andrii Deshchytsia read an address on behalf of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
“Exactly 75 years ago, Ukrainians who lived in Sahryn and the surrounding villages suffered a terrible tragedy. As a result of planned elimination campaign, units of the Polish underground resistance organizations of Armia Krajowa and the Bataliony Chłopskie eliminated several hundred innocent people, including defenseless women and children, turning this picturesque village into ashes. I am convinced that we will jointly continue the tradition of unification and reconciliation, commemorating the victims of the Ukrainian-Polish hostilities of the past.”
In the address, Poroshenko said that Ukraine and Poland still feel the Kremlin’s attempts to destabilize friendship and partnership between Ukraine and Poland.
According to the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, 800-1000 people were killed in Sahryn. Many of the names of the dead are still unknown. On March 11 and 12, 1944, the Polish underground resistance organizations attacked 14 settlements. The villages of Hrubieszów County – Sahryn, Szychowice, Łasków – suffered the most.
