"There are dozens of sites on Polish territory where mass killings of Ukrainians took place": Sviatoslav Sheremeta on recent excavations

In Lasky, more than 40 remains of Ukrainians have already been found, but research is still expected to continue.

Пошукові роботи у Ласкові / фото: Інститут національної пам'яті

02 November, 17:56

There are dozens of sites on Polish territory where mass killings of Ukrainians took place. And they need to be investigated. About this, in an interview "LB.ua" was told by Sviatoslav Sheremeta, deputy of the Lviv Regional Council and director of the memorial search center "Dolia".

"In Pavlokoma, a memorial has already been erected, but no excavations were carried out there. And Laski, Sahryn, Zavadka Morokhivska, Pyskorovychi are symbols of the tragedy of Ukrainians on their ethnic lands (Kholm region, Nadsiannia, Lemkivshchyna). They must be investigated to establish the scale of this tragedy," Sheremeta noted.

Regarding the research in Lasky, where more than 40 Ukrainians killed in 1944 have already been found, he says that the remains must be further exhumed and investigated. It is also necessary to investigate the territory of the entire village.

According to Sviatoslav Sheremeta, the remains may be in hideouts, in yards and in other places around the village.

"As the testimonies of surviving residents of Lasky attest, the bodies of the murdered lay for 10 days and had already begun to decompose, until Ukrainians from the neighboring village of Smolyhiv were brought in, who buried them (later the people of Smolyhiv were also killed and, according to some data, buried near the Smolyhiv forest. — Ed. "LB.ua"). It wasn't really burial — it was more like hastily covering them up," explains Sheremeta.

He also agreed with the claim of Myroslav Ivanek that there are very many places in Lasky where graves can be found. At present they are not built over, and these may simply be fields.

The director of "Dolia" adds that there are significantly fewer houses in present-day Lasky than there were before 1944. Therefore, it is a very promising site for such searches. In contrast, he cites the example of the village of Sahryn, which is more densely populated and more difficult to investigate.

To remind, Sviatoslav Sheremeta headed the expedition to search for murdered Ukrainians in Poland in the village of Lasky. During the search expedition, more than 40 remains of Ukrainians were found there, who had been killed by units of the Home Army and the Peasant Battalions on March 10, 1944.

A few days later, on October 20, the Lviv Regional Council adopted a resolution declaring 2027 the year of the UPA, Roman Shukhevych and Oleh Olzhych. In 2027, 120 years will have passed since the birth of Shukhevych and Olzhych, as well as 85 years since the founding of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Sheremeta was the author of the draft resolution on honoring the UPA. At the demand of Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski, he was included in the register of persons who have been banned from entry and stay in Schengen Zone countries until October 20, 2031.

Recently, in a conversation for the "Club of Experts" "Tvoho Mista" historian Bohdan Hud explained, why disputes between Ukraine and Poland over the Volhynia tragedy remain so acute today, and how historical memory may affect Ukraine's accession to the EU.

We also examined the truth and myths about the Volhynia tragedy, about the 30 thousand Ukrainian victims of that period, 20 thousand of whom are named individually, and why Sahryn should become a new symbol of Ukrainians. Read more here.

Journalist and publicist Vitaliy Portnikov believes that one people cannot choose heroes for another. He also shared this view during a meeting of the Club of Experts "Твого міста". How Ukraine should defend its own heroes read here.