Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia — massacre of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II
UPA-led massacres killed up to 100,000 Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, constituting one of the largest ethnic cleansing operations in wartime Europe.
Key Facts
- Polish deaths (total estimate)
- Up to 100,000
- Polish deaths in Volhynia
- 50,000–60,000
- Polish deaths in Eastern Galicia
- 20,000–25,000
- Peak of massacres
- July–August 1943
- Ukrainian retaliatory deaths
- 2,000–5,000
- Poland genocide recognition
- Sejm resolution, 22 July 2016
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The OUN-B (Banderite faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) sought to prevent a postwar Polish state from reasserting control over Ukrainian-majority territories. At an autumn 1942 meeting of military referents, the decision was made to forcibly remove and liquidate the Polish population in areas the OUN-B considered Ukrainian, targeting community leaders and those who resisted.
From 1943 to 1945, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), with support from parts of the local Ukrainian population, carried out systematic massacres of the Polish minority across Volhynia, Eastern Galicia, Polesia, and the Lublin region. The peak occurred in July–August 1943, when UPA commander Dmytro Klyachkivsky ordered the 'general physical liquidation of the entire Polish population.' Victims, predominantly women and children, numbered up to 100,000.
Polish retaliatory actions killed an estimated 2,000–5,000 Ukrainians, and the Polish underground organized self-defense units including the 27th AK Infantry Division. Poland's Sejm in 2016 designated 11 July as a National Day of Remembrance and classified the killings as genocide, a characterization disputed by Ukraine and some historians who term them ethnic cleansing, leaving the events a source of ongoing Polish-Ukrainian historical tension.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Dmytro Klyachkivsky ('Klym Savur'), Roman Shukhevych, Vasyl Sydor ('Shelest').
Side B
1 belligerent