For the first time the IPN is making the Volhynia Massacre Victims Database available online. According to the latest research of historians, as a result of the crime around 60,000 Poles died at the hands of Ukrainian nationalists.

A press conference on the Volhynia Massacre Victims Datbase took place on 8 July at 12.00 a.m. at the “History Point” Janusz Kurtyka Educational Centre, 21/25 Marszałkowska Str. in Warsaw. The conference was attended by, among others, the President of the Institute of National Remembrance Jarosław Szarek, Ph.D., Ewa Siemaszko, Leon Popek, Ph.D., and the Director of the IPN Lublin Branch Marcin Krzysztofik.

In connection with the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Genocide perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists on the citizens of the Second Polish Republic, celebrated on Saturday, 11 July, the IPN is making the list of victims available online.

Beginning from 8 July 2020, the zbrodniawolynska.pl website (also available in English and Ukrainian language versions) will include the tab: Baza Ofiar [Victims Database], where one can find information about people murdered by Ukrainian nationalists. An interactive map of the crime, marking the murder sites associated with the victims’ data and other facts described in the database, will be an integral part of the project.

The project is long-term. The work on the database started at the beginning of 2019. First, we are providing information on the Volhynia voivodeship. Based on archival queries, witness accounts and historical publications, we are going to successively supplement the base with information relating to other voivodeships of the Second Polish Republic.

The project is expected to have been completed by July 2023, which will coincide with the 80th anniversary of the genocide. Until then, we want to extract as much information about the fate of murdered Poles as possible, and commemorate those who, in the vast majority, do not even have their graves. Users of the Database will be able to submit additions to the descriptions and add new entries, using a specially designed contact form.

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The Victims Database will be available on the www.zbrodniawolynska.pl website from 8 July 2020.

Source: IPN