page_title: Pavlivka, Volyn Oblast
section_title: Poryck 1943 massacre of Poles
hierarchical_section_title: Pavlivka, Volyn Oblast / Poryck 1943 massacre of Poles
caption_attribution_description: English: Derivative work of File:Rzeczpospolita 1939.svg: names deleted, rivers deleted by user W. B. Wilson for use as location map
context_page_description: Pavlivka is a town now located in northwestern Ukraine, in Volyn Oblast, near Volodymyr-Volynskyi, on the Luga river. For centuries, Poryck was property of several noble Polish families. The town is the birthplace of a Polish statesman Tadeusz Czacki. On 11 July 1943, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, supported by local nationalists murdered here more than 300 Polish civilians, who had gathered in a local Roman Catholic church for a Sunday ceremony.
context_section_description: In the interbellum period (1918–39) Poryck belonged to Poland. It was a town in the Wołyń Voivodeship inhabited by almost 2000 people, half of whom were Jewish and the remaining part mostly Polish and Ukrainian. The residents had lived peacefully together for the most part.
  On 11 July 1943, units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and OUN nationalists murdered Polish inhabitants of the town. Most people were killed during a ceremony in a local Roman Catholic church. The Ukrainian sotnia of 20 men surrounded and entered the church filled with people. They threw grenades at the faithful most of whom were women and children. Then they shot at them with machine guns and finally set fire to the church with survivors in hiding. Altogether 300 persons were murdered. Later on, Ukrainian nationalists burned what remained of the Czacki palace. The town was captured by the Red Army on 18 July 1944.
  On the 60th anniversary of the massacre, Presidents Aleksander Kwaśniewski of Poland and Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine unveiled a monument commemorating the event. Both presidents called for forgiveness and reconciliation, with Kuchma saying "In this place where Polish victims rest, on behalf of all Ukrainians who want peace and justice, I wish to express my deep sympathy to all the wronged Poles, all those who suffered as a result of this disaster. We issue a strong condemnation of the violence committed against the Polish civilian population." — Pavlivka
caption: Location of the Poryck massacre
  (map of Poland before the 1939 invasion)
exif: {}