The Batoh (Batih) massacre (Polish: ''Rzeź polskich jeńców pod Batohem'') was a

mass execution Mass killing is a concept which has been proposed by genocide scholars who wish to define incidents of non-combat killing which are perpetrated by a government or a state. A mass killing is commonly defined as the killing of group members witho ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

captives after the

Battle of Batih The Battle of Batih ( Ukrainian: ''Битва під Батогом,'' Polish: ''Bitwa pod Batohem;'' 1–2 June 1652) was fought between the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a part of the ...

on near Ladyzhyn (now in Ukraine). It was carried out by

Ukrainian Cossacks The Zaporozhian Cossacks (in Latin ''Cossacorum Zaporoviensis''), also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. Along with Registered Cossa ...

under the command of Hetman

Bohdan Khmelnytsky Zynoviy Bohdan Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky of the Abdank coat of arms (Ruthenian language, Ruthenian: Ѕѣнові Богданъ Хмелнiцкiи; modern , Polish language, Polish: ; 15956 August 1657) was a Ruthenian nobility, Ruthenian noble ...

. Initially the captured Polish soldiers belonged to the Cossacks' allies, the

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

. After the battle, the Cossacks paid the Tatars for possession of the prisoners, and promptly slaughtered the Polish captives to avenge Khmelnystsky's defeat at Berestechko in June 1651. According to Jasienica, it was the Cossack colonels Ivan Zolotaryenko and Ivan Vysochin who bought them from the Tatars. According to Widacka, Cossack's commander Khmelnystsky himself contributed 50,000

thaler A thaler or taler ( ; , previously spelled ) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter o ...

s for that purpose. According to

Hrushevsky Mykhailo Serhiiovych Hrushevsky (; – 24 November 1934) was a Ukrainian academician, politician, historian and statesman who was one of the most important figures of the Ukrainian national revival of the early 20th century. Hrushevsky is ...

and Pasicznyk, Duda, and Sikora, the decision to execute the prisoners was made by Khmelnytsky himself. Afterward, between 3,000 and 5,000 Polish soldiers were tied up and massacred in two days of methodical beheadings and disembowelments. Zolotaryenko supervised the executions yelling "Revenge for Berestechko!", a reference to an earlier Cossack defeat at the hands of the Poles in the

Battle of Berestechko The Battle of Berestechko (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Битва під Берестечком, Polish language, Polish: ''Bitwa pod Beresteczkiem''; 28 June – 10 July 1651) was fought between the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate ag ...

. The methodical executions were so barbaric that even the Crimean leaders were horrified, not to mention international observers such as German historian

Hiob Ludolf Hiob or Job Ludolf ( or '; 15 June 1624– 8 April 1704), also known as Job Leutholf, was a German orientalist, born at Erfurt. Edward Ullendorff rates Ludolf as having "the most illustrious name in Ethiopic scholarship". Life After studyin ...

(president of the Collegium Imperiale Historicum), who illustrated the murder in his nominal ''Allgemeine Schau-Bühne der Welt'' published in 1713 in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. Only a few Poles survived, hidden by Tatar supporters, including Krzysztof Grodzicki and probably

Stefan Czarniecki Stefan Czarniecki (Polish: of the Łodzia coat of arms, 1599 – 16 February 1665) was a Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Polish szlachta, nobleman, general and military commander. In his career, he rose from a petty nobleman to a magnate hol ...

(whether Czarniecki was one of the captured is unclear). The crime committed against so many disarmed prisoners had severe and long-lasting consequences for the history of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

and for

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. In the short term, it led the Polish-Lithuanian

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

of 1652 to approve taxes for the purposes of raising new armies.

References

Bibliography

* Wojciech Jacek Długołęcki: ''Batoh 1652. Warszawa'': Bellona, 2008, seria: HB. . * Tomasz Ciesielski: ''Od Batohu do Żwańca. Wojna na Ukrainie i w księstwach naddunajskich 1652-1653''. Warszawa: „Inforteditions”, 2008. . {{coord missing, Ukraine Khmelnytsky Uprising Anti-Polish sentiment in Europe 1650s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Poland–Ukraine military relations Massacres in Ukraine 17th-century prisoner of war massacres 1652 in Europe 1652 murders Massacres in the 1650s Massacres of Poles