Revocation of the Vistula Action investigation

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", of the people 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 on the local population by troops of Organizations of Ukrainian Nationalists (CNS) and Ukrainian Insurgency Army (UPA).

In the course of the investigation, no grounds were found for stating that the resettlement was a crime against humanity or a communist crime, as raised by the president of the Ukrainian Union in Poland, the president of the Bureau of the Lemko Reunification and 1 of the Ukrainian displaced persons in the reports of the crime which resulted in the investigation.

Key findings

The decision on the “Wisła” action afraid carrying out a military operation to combat the 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 percent of the 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.

Generation of Vistula shares

According to historical sources in 1942–1947, the OUN-UPA units, reinforced with agrarian Ukrainian militants, killed as many as 130 1000 mainly Polish inhabitants 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.

Appels for Help

The UPA threat led to a mass escape of residents and seeking refuge in the towns where the military was stationed. According to 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.

Local authorities, social organisations, trade unions, political parties and representatives of the Church besides called for security. In 1946, a bishop of the manufacture wrote to the Minister of National Defence that "the villages have been burning for respective months" and "the poorness of thousands of Poles, who rightly anticipate safety of life and property in their country".

Under these circumstances, the «Wisła" decision aimed at ensuring the safety of the local population. The witnesses interviewed in the investigation admitted that although accompanying resettlement actions were a coercion, they wanted to “remove” themselves to “start surviving peacefully”. They testified that they preferred to leave their homes alternatively than die, for on their home land they "could not live normally."

Escape course

From the papers collected in the investigation – orders, guidelines and instructions for soldiers and employees of the State Repatriation Office – it is clear that it is of peculiar importance that displaced as citizens of the Polish State be treated humanitarianly, regardless of their nationality.

The instructions of the Head of Staff of the Operations Group “Wisła” ordered that displaced persons “be able to take distant the maximum amount of individual property, emphasising the essential agricultural equipment, livestock, feed, grain and food”. According to the witnesses, the military helped those evacuated in the transport of the property, and to the sick, aged or families without men – besides in packing it.

According to the instructions on the journey to the fresh settlement, the evacuated were to receive 3 meals a day, while the animals were provided with feed. Medications and dressings from military supplies were provided for the displaced people. Severely sick and giving birth to women were transported to hospitals.

The commanders of units of the Polish Army besides received an order to immediately inform the prosecutor of cases of theft of property of the evacuated population or another abuses, which offend the honour of the Polish soldier".

Settlement conditions

Evacuated people were settled on alleged Recovered Earths. The rule was adopted that farms with the same area are entitled to leave buildings and land to displaced persons. They were initially transferred to them in use, and in 1949–1958, acts were issued to confer them on their property.

The displaced from wooden, most frequently covered houses received brick houses, partially equipped with waterworks and electricity. They were either pointed out to them or chose them themselves, besides switching them later for the better. Resettlementers were entitled to aid with the development, part of the renovation work was carried out.

According to the Greek Catholic bishop in Poland, Teodor Majkowicz for displaced people, fresh surviving conditions were a civilization leap. This was confirmed by any witnesses, testifying that they had experienced “change for the better”. The vast majority stressed that they could yet live safely and peacefully, without fear that “someone would come at night.”

In the 1950s, erstwhile approval to return displaced people to their hometowns was granted, only a part of the families benefited.

Conclusions of the investigation

It is clear from the findings of the investigation that resettlement was of a preventive and protective nature. Their goal was not to persecute any cultural group, much little destruct it.

Nor has the investigation shown that erstwhile adopting a resolution on resettlement actions, rights or abuses of duties or public or private benefit are exceeded.

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.

Main Crime Investigation Commission against the Polish Nation

28.11.2023

behind: roszow.ipn.gov