en

Janowa Dolina massacre

Add an event picture!
Date:
23.04.1943

The Janowa Dolina massacre took place in April of 1943 in the village of Janowa Dolina, (now Bazaltove). Janowa Dolina was a model settlement for workers of the Polish State Basalt Quarry, located in the Volhynian Voivodeship, in the Kostopol County of the Second Polish Republic. The name comes from Polish king Jan Kazimierz Waza, who reportedly hunted in the Volhynian forests, and after hunting — rested on the shore of the Horyn river. The village was destroyed during World War II by Ukrainian nationalists, and its Polish population was brutally murdered.

First years

The settlement was built in the late 1920s and early 1930s, during a period of Polish colonization of lands within the borders of Poland but having a Ukrainian majority population. It was built close to the newly created basalt quarry. Production of basalt in the quarry started in 1929, when the 18km rail connection between Janowa Dolina and Kostopol was completed (Kostopol is located on the main rail route Wilno–Luniniec–Lwow). As the quarry employed in late 1930s some 3,000 workers (97% of them were Polish), lodgings were built for them and their families.

Thus, a town built from scratch was constructed, smack in the forests of central Volynia, by the Horyn River. The quarry and the town were brainchild of engineer Leonard Szutkowski (who kept his post until 1940) and his deputies, engineer J. Niwinski and engineer Urbanowicz. Most workers lived in the freshly built houses; some commuted from nearby villages.

The settlement

Janowa Dolina was a very modern settlement: all houses had access to electricity and plumbing and its layout was based on a specially designed grid plan. Houses were placed in the beautiful pine forest. Streets bore no names; they were marked by letters — A, B, C, D… G (Glowna — main), until the last one, Z, placed closest to the Horyn River. Along them there were houses, each designed for 4 families. As inhabitants of Janowa Dolina later remembered, the settlement was full of flowers, plants and trees and neighbors competed with each other, trying to have the most beautiful flower garden. The settlement was separated from the nearby quarry by a strip of dense forest.

In the central part of the settlement there was a huge, U-shaped building, called BLOK. Inside there were several institutions — a movie theater, hotel, cafeteria, stores. Next to the building there was a sports field, with a soccer stadium. The quarry sponsored its own sports club — Strzelec Janowa Dolina, which had several departments — soccer, boxing, wrestling, swimming. A Roman Catholic church was planned, but it had never been built. Instead, the faithful used a large barn. Also, in Janowa Dolina there was a Polish police station, school, kindergarten and a health center.

As both the quarry and the settlement belonged to the Polish State, private businesses were not allowed. In Janowa Dolina all trade was controlled by the national “Społem” company, inhabitants were able to purchase all desired products but alcohol, which was not sold in the settlement.

World War II

In September 1939, Soviet troops, following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, attacked the eastern part of Poland, which was not guarded by the Polish Army, as at the same time the Poles were fighting the Germans in the West. Eastern Poland (Kresy) was quickly occupied, together with Janowa Dolina, which, like the entire Volhynian Voivodeship, became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Together with Soviet rule came mass deportations to Siberia and other areas of the empire; between September 1939 and June 1941 Janowa Dolina lost hundreds of inhabitants.

Destruction of the settlement

In June 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. Janowa Dolina was added to the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. As Volhynia was the area of activity for various Ukrainian nationalist groups whose aim was to cleanse the land of Poles and Jews, the settlement’s fate was inevitable. On the night of April 22–23 (Good Friday), 1943, the Ukrainians from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, together with local peasants, attacked Janowa Dolina. Some 600 people, including children and the elderly, were brutally murdered (see: Massacres of Poles in Volhynia). Most houses were burned to the ground and the settlement was left deserted.

The perpetrators, commanded by Ivan Lytwynchuk (aka Dubowy) exercised unequaled cruelty. Polish inhabitants, unprepared and caught by surprise, were hacked to death with axes, burned alive, and impaled (including children). The murderers did not spare anyone, regardless of age and sex. German garrison, numbering around 100 soldiers, did not act and remained in its barracks. After first wave of murders, the Ukrainian nationalists started searching the hospital. They spared its Ukrainian patients, while Polish patients were burned alive. Doctor Aleksander Bakinowski, together with his assistant Jan Borysowicz, were hacked to death on the square in front of the hospital. In several cases, also Ukrainians were murdered, those who hid their Polish neighbors.

Petro Mirchuk, Ukrainian historian, counted several hundred massacred Poles, with only eight UPA members killed. This shocking disparity clearly shows that the victims were mostly unarmed.

Currently

Present-day name of the settlement is Bazaltowe. In the place where buildings once stood, there is a monument, founded by Polish survivors. Its opening (April 18, 1998) was marred by a demonstration of Ukrainian nationalists, and afterwards, the original inscription was changed. The date "April 23, 1943" was removed and now the inscription says only "In memory of Poles from Janowa Dolina", without giving further information of their fate.

Nowadays in the village monument in memory of infamous action of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) is situated. The inscription in Ukrainian says that on 21-22 of April 1943 "the base of Polish-German occupiers of Volhyn" was liquidated here.

 

Related events

NameDateLanguages
1Heavy fighting being reported in Svitlodarsk, Ukraine.  5 confirmed killed, 32 wounded in same areaHeavy fighting being reported in Svitlodarsk, Ukraine. 5 confirmed killed, 32 wounded in same area18.12.2016en, lv
2The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances 05.12.1994de, en, lv, pl, ru
3PSRS Augstākās tiesas militārā kolēģija nolasa spriedumu studentu un skolnieku organizācijas "Savienība par Revolūcijas lietu" biedriemPSRS Augstākās tiesas militārā kolēģija nolasa spriedumu studentu un skolnieku organizācijas "Savienība par Revolūcijas lietu" biedriem13.02.1952lv, ru
4
Trzeci atak UPA na Birczę07.01.1946pl
5
Stacjonująca we wsi Lachawa (powiat sanocki) sotnia UPA została zaatakowana przez 300-osobowy oddział LWP, jednak wyrwała się z okrążenia tracąc 7 ludzi. W odwecie za pomoc udzielaną banderowcom żołnierze rozstrzelali 9 Ukraińców i spalili wieś01.01.1946pl
6
II atak UPA na Birczę29.11.1945pl
7
Zbrodnia w Uhryńkowcach (powiat zaleszczycki) dokonana w nocy z 31 grudnia na 1 stycznia przez oddziały UPA i SKW na ok. 150 Polakach31.12.1944pl
8
89 Polaków zostało zamordowanych przez UPA w Ihrowicy na Podolu24.12.1944pl
9
Ukrainas UPA partizāni nogalina 82 poļus Volīnijā22.12.1944lv, pl
10
Oddział UPA zamordował w lesie pod Baligrodem 11 mieszkańców Średniej Wsi30.08.1944pl
11W Lesie Grabińskim koło Iwonicza-Zdroju Ukraińcy z batalionu SS Galizien rozstrzelali 72 PolakówW Lesie Grabińskim koło Iwonicza-Zdroju Ukraińcy z batalionu SS Galizien rozstrzelali 72 Polaków24.07.1944pl
12
Napad UPA na pociąg osobowy na trasie Bełżec-Rawa Ruska16.06.1944pl
13
We wsi Poturzyn koło Tomaszowa Lubelskiego żołnierze z 14. Dywizji Grenadierów SS wraz z pododdziałem UPA dokonali mordu na 162 Polakach01.04.1944pl
14
Odział UPA zamordował 76 polskich mieszkańców w miejscowości Ostrów, położonej w powiecie sokalskim województwa lwowskiego31.03.1944pl
15Pidkamin massacrePidkamin massacre12.03.1944en, pl, ru
16Soviet genocides. Balkar operation.  37,713 persons deportedSoviet genocides. Balkar operation. 37,713 persons deported08.03.1944en, lv, ru
17Huta Pieniacka massacreHuta Pieniacka massacre28.02.1944en, pl, ru
18
Oddział UPA dokonał zbrodni na ok. 60 polskich mieszkańcach wsi Podkamień położonej w powiecie rohatyńskim województwa stanisławowskiego19.02.1944pl
19
Zbrodnia UPA w Łanowcach13.02.1944pl
20
Ponad 40 Polaków zostało zamordowanych przez oddział UPA w Janówce25.12.1943pl

Map

Sources: wikipedia.org

    Persons

    Name Born / Since / At Died Languages
    1Iwan ŁytwyńczukIwan Łytwyńczuk00.00.191700.00.1952pl, ru
    Tags