The IPN investigation into the Vistula action has been canceled!

The Prosecutor of the Branch Commission for the Pursuit of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Rzeszów dismissed the investigation of the resettlement decision in 1947, as part of the action “Wisła”, the inhabitants of south-eastern Poland – informed PAP The Main Commission for the Pursuit of Crimes against the Polish Nation.

Information of the Institute of National Memory – the main committee for the prosecution of crimes against the Polish people, contained in the communication sent on Tuesday PAP, is simply a summary investigation conducted by the Branch Committee on the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Rzeszów by the notification of the crime committed by the president of the Ukrainian Union in Poland, the president of the Bureau of the Unity of Lemkos and 1 of the displaced. As the IPN adds, the decision to discontinue the investigation is not valid.

"In view of the non-identification of the criminal nature of the decision to resettle the territory lawyer of the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Rzeszów, he decided to discontinue the proceedings" - the communication states. In the explanatory memorandum, the investigating officer noted that The “Wisła” action had a “preventive alternatively than repressive character” and was a direct consequence of the “mass killings carried out on the local population by branches of the Organizations of Ukrainian Nationalists (CNS) and the Ukrainian Insurgency Army (UPA)”.

According to the IPN investigators, there is besides no reason to conclude that the displacement of the population as part of the “Wisła” action was a communist crime or a crime against humanity. specified arguments were raised, as noted, among others, by the president of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland, the president of the Bureau of the Lemko Union and 1 of the Ukrainian displaced persons in the reports of the crime which resulted in the proceedings being initiated.

One of the grounds for deciding not to analyse was that The aim of the “Wisła” action was to destruct the CNS-UPA units carrying out crimes on the inhabitants of south-eastern Poland. "It was intended to guarantee the safety of citizens", the Communication stated. According to the Main Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation, to defend civilians from UPA attacks, it was essential to cut off its troops “from the supply and intelligence support of its residents”. In this context, it was recalled that the nationality criterion was not applied to resettlement. "Beyond the Ukrainian population, about 20 percent of the displaced people were Poles, and besides Lemkos," we read.

It was besides recalled that between 1942 and 1947 about 130 1000 Polish residents of Volyn, Lesser Poland East, Podkarpacie and Lublin were murdered as a consequence of the criminal attacks of UPA. The attacks were besides aimed at Polish Army and militia troops and infrastructure facilities.. "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. On the local population, under threat of death, they imposed contributions" – stressed, citing the evidence of Ukrainian witnesses who were terrorized by members of UPA troops. "The witnesses questioned in the investigation admitted that the accompanying resettlement actions were a coercion, but they wanted +removement+ to +start surviving peacefully+. They testified that they preferred to leave their homes alternatively than die, due to the fact that the household land + could not live normally+" – it was written.

The “Wisła” action was besides the consequence of calls for the safety of the population of south-eastern Poland, which was forced to flee their homes. "According to the estimates of historians, over 50,000 Poles, Ukrainians and Lemkos were forced to leave their farms. Some, like the inhabitants of Bircza in Podkarpacie, applied to the authorities for evacuation," the communication stated. Prosecutors of the Main Crime Investigation Commission against the Polish Nation recalled that one of the signatories of the appeals was the bishop of the industry, who wrote in a letter to the Minister of National Defence in 1946 that "the villages have been burning for respective months" and "the poorness of thousands of Poles, who rightly anticipate the safety of life and property in their country".

The prosecutors besides failed to see the signs of crimes in the course of resettlement operations, which was in accordance with the orders and instructions of the State Repatriation Office. The displaced had the right to take most of the moving property and animals. The GKŚZpNP Communication quoted the instructions of the Head of Staff of the “Wisła” Operations Group, which ordered displaced persons to “allow the removal of the maximum amount of individual property, emphasising the essential agricultural equipment, livestock, feed, cropland and food”. citing the evidence of the witnesses interviewed, it was noted that the military followed these orders and followed instructions ordering the displaced population to supply 3 meals a day, animal feed and medical assistance. According to the commander's orders quoted in the communication, they were obliged to inform the prosecutor about cases of behaviour of soldiers "an insult to the honour of the Polish soldier".

It was besides noted that evacuated on alleged recovered lands received German farms with a much higher standard of civilization than their existing homes. A witness confirming the rooting under the fresh conditions is indicated in the Communication's small interest in the anticipation of returning to their home parties in the 1950s erstwhile the PRL authorities agreed to leave the alleged reclaimed lands.

The conclusions of the GSC stated that The “Wisła” action cannot be regarded as a repressive action against the displaced population, with the aim of “not to persecute any national group, and even more so to destruct it”. "The investigation besides showed that erstwhile adopting a resolution on resettlement actions, the rights or responsibilities were exceeded or abused or acted against public or private benefit", the authors of the proposals summarize.

The “Wisła” action was carried out between April and the end of July 1947 by the communist authorities. Its formal intent was to destruct the Ukrainian Insurgency Army and Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The pretext justifying the displacement of Ukrainian residents and the application of collective work to them was the shooting on 28 March 1947 of the Deputy Minister of National Defence General Karol Świerczewski in an ambush, organized by UPA. The operation included about 140 1000 people who were displaced to alleged reclaimed lands.(PAP)

Written by Michał Searched

I'm sorry.

Photo:

(City Bukowsko, burned by UPA in March, April and November 1946, photograph from 1946 See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)