Sahryń massacre

In the spring of 1944, Sahryń was one of 150 Ukrainian villages (with its prewar Polish minority already deported),[1] which was burned down by Polish partisans during the conflict of ethnic cleansing with Ukrainian OUN-UPA, along the Curzon Line. The conflict "continued throughout June 1944, resulting in considerable bloodshed and the destruction of dozens of Polish and Ukrainian villages".[2] Sahryń was the site of the initial thrust of the AK counter-offensive against UPA, under the command of Lieutenant Zenon Jachymek,[1] due to Ukrainian self-defence stationing there.[3]

At dawn on 10 March 1944 the AK unit from Division Hrubieszow attacked the fortified village. A heavy fighting broke out.[1] The Ukrainians retreated, but both Catholic and Orthodox churches in Sahryń were burned down.[1] Some 700 villagers were killed by the AK in reprisal, and 260 farmhouses set of fire.[2]

Historian Mariusz Zajączkowski said that the massacre could be described as a war crime or perhaps a crime against humanity. The IPN investigation on this matter was discontinued in 2010, and the IPN denied that any crime had been committed against the Ukrainian civilians in Sahryń. A Ukrainian request to reopen the investigation was refused.[4][5]

The monument in memory of the Ukrainian victims of AK in Sahryń awaits its official unveiling. It was erected in 2009, with the hope that both Ukrainian and Polish presidents would attend the ceremonies, but there were spelling errors discovered in the names. The monument was built by the Ukrainian side, with Polish participation.[6]