Commemorative celebrations dedicated to the anniversary of the crime against the Polish population took place on 23 February in Huta Pieniacka, Ukraine. 76 years ago, on 28 February 1944, Ukrainian nationalists murdered several hundred local residents.

The witnesses of those events, the families of the murdered, members of the Huta Pieniacka Association, as well as representatives of the Polish authorities and the Institute of National Remembrance gathered by the monument to pay homage to the victims and take part in an ecumenical prayer.

The Institute of National Remembrance was represented by: Prof. Krzysztof Szwagrzyk (Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance and the Director of the IPN’s Office of Search and Identification), Dr Leon Popek (Deputy Director of the IPN’s Office for Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom), Marcin Krzysztofik (Director of the Institute of National Remembrance Branch in Lublin) and Karol Lisiecki (IPN Archive in Gdańsk).

 

The crime in the village of Huta Pieniacka, inhabited by the Polish population, took place on 28 February 1944. On that day, Ukrainian soldiers of the 4th SS Police Regiment (consisting of volunteers to the SS Division "Galizien"), commanded by a German commander and supported by the troops of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and members of a paramilitary detachment of Ukrainian nationalists murdered Polish men, women and children.

According to estimates of the investigation carried out by the Institute of National Remembrance in Krakow, about 850 people were killed. Professor Grzegorz Motyka estimates that between 600 and 800 victims were murdered. The inscription on the monument in Huta Pieniacka informs about 1,000 killed Poles.