ORAL HISTORICAL ASPECT OF THE STUDY OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE UKRAINIAN-POLISH CONFRONTATION OF 1938–1944 IN THE UKRAINIAN NORTH-WEST REGION: SUMMARY

Abstract

The author summarizes the experience of recording eyewitness accounts of the tragedy of the Ukrainian-Polish military-political confrontation in the Ukrainian North-West region, which he has conducted since 1995.Currently, as a result of a survey of 7,415 residents of all existing 1,082 villages, towns, and cities of Volyn region, 1,027 – Rivne region, 213 – Kremenets region, 7 – transferred to Lviv region, as well as natives of villages of 5 districts of Сhelm region, 7 Ukrainian-speaking districts of Brest region, their inhabitants During World War II, at the age of at least the early 1930s (1439 stories were recorded on a dictaphone, others were recorded in writing) great suffering was confirmed, which, in addition to the troubles of Hitler’s occupation, Volynians of all nationalities had to endure. After the mass extermination of Jews in the region by the Nazis, Ukrainians were in second place (in 1943 they accounted for about 90% of the total population).The collected memories testify to the absurdity of the armed massacre of helpless civilians.At the same time, the unfounded attribution of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army to the fact of killing peaceful Poles testifies to the obvious – to shift responsibility for criminal actions from oneself to others. The Volyn region at that time gave a vivid confirmation of this. The author criticizes the generalized data of Polish authors Wladyslaw and Eva Semaszko on the number of Poles killed in Volyn during World War II.The author recorded the testimony on behalf of the head of the Chairman of the National Committee of Historians of Ukraine and сo-сhairman of the Ukrainian-Polish Historical Commission of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Polish Academy of Sciences, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Yaroslav Isaievych.