IPN has dropped its investigation into the decision on the Vistula action

The IPN decided to discontinue the investigation into the decision on the “Wisła” action, in which between 1947 and 1950 the Polish People's Poland was deported, mainly to the west, Ukrainians, Bojków, Dolinian and Lemków and mixed Polish-Ukrainian families.

According to the Main Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, the territory lawyer of the Commission for the Pursuit of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Rzeszów has failed to analyse the resettlement decision in 1947, as part of the action "Wisła", the inhabitants of south-eastern Poland. The findings of the investigation show that evacuation of Ukrainian, Lemko and Polish people was preventive and protective alternatively than repressive. It was carried out as a consequence of mass killings carried out on the local population by troops of the Organizations of Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukrainian Insurgency Army. As the IPN points out, no grounds were found in the course of the investigation to conclude that resettlement was a crime against humanity or a communist crime, which was raised by the president of the Ukrainian Union in Poland, the president of the Bureau of the Lemko Unity and 1 of the Ukrainian displaced persons in the reports of the crime which resulted in the proceedings.

The IPN recalls that the decision to take the “Wisła” action afraid carrying out a military operation aimed at combating CNS-UPA units that terrorized and murdered residents of south-eastern Poland. It was intended to guarantee the safety of citizens. In order to defend them, while at the same time cutting the UPA from the supply and intelligence support of its residents, the population was evacuated from areas where military operations were to be carried out. The nationality criterion was not applied to resettlement. Apart from the Ukrainian population, about 20% of displaced people were Poles, and besides Lemków. Evacuation took place in a humanitarian way. The displaced people took with them most of the moving things and animals. The military helped transport. They were provided with meals, medicines and medical assistance. surviving conditions in the fresh settlement were better than the places they left. recently occupied farms and houses were transferred to them for ownership. The evacuated Ukrainian, Polish and mixed population was treated on the same terms. No 1 was discriminated against due to nationality or religion or forced to abandon their own culture, language, and tradition.

According to historical sources, in the years 1942–1947 OUN-UPA units, reinforced by agrarian Ukrainian militants, killed up to 130 1000 mainly Polish residents of Volyn, Lesser Poland Eastern, Podkarpacia and Lublin. They murdered with peculiar cruelty, plucking out the victims' eyes, cutting off their tongues and peeling them off their skin. 1 041 soldiers and 467 militias were killed in attacks against Polish Army and Civic Militia units. Branches of Ukrainian nationalists destroyed railway infrastructure equipment, natural gas and oil mining manufacture and communication facilities. The mark of the attacks was the personnel serving these facilities and devices.

Terror besides touched Ukrainian and Lemko communities. UPA troops were punishable by death for evasion and desertion. They killed a loved 1 who had escaped and burned their homes. The local population, under the threat of death, was redistributed. The residents paid tributes in the form of food, clothing and footwear. They were forced to supply UPA units with meals, transport and wood for the construction of hideouts. utilized to build them, the individual was frequently killed to avoid revealing the location of the troops. This was confirmed by Ukrainian witnesses interviewed in the investigation. According to their testimony, they lived in constant fear that members of the “UPA band” would come to the village.

The IPN points out that, according to the findings of the investigation, it is clear that resettlement was preventive and protective. Their goal was not to persecute any cultural group, much little destruct it. The investigation besides showed that erstwhile adopting a resolution on resettlement actions, rights or abuses of duties were exceeded or that public or private benefit was harmed. Due to the failure to establish the criminal nature of the decision to resettle the territory lawyer of the Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Rzeszów, he decided to discontinue proceedings.

nationalists.net/ipn.gov.pl