Gurów massacre was a wartime massacre of the Polish population of Gurów, committed on 11 July 1943 by the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are f ...

from Group "Piwnicz" and Ukrainian peasants, during the

Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia The massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia ( pl, rzeź wołyńska, lit=Volhynian slaughter; uk, Волинська трагедія, lit=Volyn tragedy, translit=Volynska trahediia), were carried out in German-occupied Poland by th ...

. The crime scene was the prewar village of Gurów located in

Gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

Grzybowica,

Powiat A ''powiat'' (pronounced ; Polish plural: ''powiaty'') is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture ( LAU-1, formerly NUTS-4) in other countries. The term "''powiat ...

Włodzimierz in the Wołyń Voivodeship of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

(since 1945:

Volodymyr-Volynskyi Raion Volodymyr Raion ( uk, Володимирський район) is a raion in Volyn Oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Volodymyr. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, th ...

in the

Volyn Oblast Volyn Oblast ( uk, Воли́нська о́бласть, translit=Volýnsʹka óblastʹ; also referred to as Volyn or Lodomeria) is an oblast (province) in northwestern Ukraine. Its administrative centre is Lutsk. Kovel is the westernmost town ...

, modern Грибовицька волость, Ukraine). Gurów village no longer exists. According to historian

Władysław Filar Władysław Filar (18 July 1926 – 13 August 2019) was a Polish historian, academic and a soldier of the 27th Home Army Infantry Division. Filar was born in Iwanicze Nowe in Volhynia, Poland (now Ukraine). During the Second World War, he fou ...

, of the 480 Polish inhabitants of Gurów some 70 people managed to escape death by hiding from the assailants. ''Also in:'' Historians Władysław and Ewa Siemaszko were able to confirm by name the 200 Poles and 2 Jews killed in Gurów. The massacres, which began at 3 in the morning at Gurów Wielki and Gurów Mały, spread to nearby Wygranka, Zdżary, Zabłoćce, Sądowa, Nowiny, Zagaje (see:

Zagaje massacre Zagaje massacre was a mass murder of ethnic Poles carried out on 1112 July 1943 by the troops of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army group "Piwnicz", aided by the Ukrainian peasants, during the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Władys� ...

), Poryck (see:

Poryck massacre Pavlivka ( uk, Павлівка, formerly Poryck, pl, Poryck) is a town now located in northwestern Ukraine, in Volodymyr Raion of Volyn Oblast, near Volodymyr, on the Luha river. For centuries, Poryck was property of several noble Polish famili ...

), Oleń, Orzeszyn, Romanówka, Lachów, and Gucin. ''With excerpts, at:''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurów massacre 1943 crimes in Poland July 1943 events Massacres in 1943 Massacres in Poland War crimes committed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Massacres of Poles in Volhynia