On August 30, the remains of 55 Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy, found during this yearʼs exhumations, were reburied in Volyn.
This was reported by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance.
The ceremony took place at the cemetery of the former village of Ostrivky on the anniversary of the attack on Ostrivky and Wola Ostrowiecska. According to Polish historians, most of the inhabitants of these villages were killed and the settlements were burned.
Among the reburied were 26 children. 48 victims were found in a mass grave on the territory of a former farm in Wola Ostrowiecska, another six near a former school in Ostrivky, and the remains of one woman in a separate grave in the forest.
The dead were buried next to the graves of victims whose remains were found during previous exhumations in 1992, 2011, and 2015. Polish historians believe that the remains of 300 people may still remain in Ostrivky and Wola Ostrowiecska.
Exhumations on the territory of two former villages were conducted this year in April, and later from July 13 to August 7. During the search, human remains and burial sites were discovered.
Volyn tragedy
In 1943-1944, mass murders of Poles took place in Volyn. The Polish Institute of National Remembrance cites official data of 120 000 Poles killed in Volyn and the southeastern provinces of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and also mentions 5 000 Ukrainians killed.
Ukrainian historians cite other figures: up to 20 000 Ukrainians killed and 35-40 000 Poles killed.
Discussions are also ongoing regarding the perpetrators and organizers of the crime. In Poland, the Volyn tragedy is called a "massacre", officially recognized as genocide, and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army is blamed, but this interpretation is not accepted in Ukraine.
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