Poland grants Ukraine permission for search and exhumation work for first time in a while

After several months of waiting, Ukraine has received permission from the Polish side to conduct search operations for the remains of Ukrainians killed in 1944 in the village of Łasków by the Armia Krajowa (Home Army) and Bataliony Chłopskie (Peasant Battalions).

Source: Ivan Verbytskyi, Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine, on social media, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The work will be carried out in Łasków in the Chełm region at the site of the probable burial of Ukrainian civilians killed by the Peasant Battalions in March 1944 during World War II.

According to Verbytskyi, the permit has been obtained by the Dolia Memorial Search Centre. The work will be carried out on behalf of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.

The granting of the permission is the result of agreements reached by the Ukrainian-Polish working group on dignified burials, which operates on the initiative of the culture ministries of both countries, the official added.

For reference: Armia Krajowa was the largest underground resistance force in Europe during the Second World War, while Bataliony Chłopskie was a major Polish peasant-based resistance and guerrilla organisation. Both fought against Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland. However, units of Bataliony Chłopskie, alongside Armia Krajowa, also took part in retaliatory and pacification raids against ethnic Ukrainian villages and auxiliary police in south-eastern Poland, causing significant civilian casualties.

Background:

• In August, Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine's Ambassador to Poland, reported that he had been unsuccessfully seeking at least one permit for Ukrainian search operations on Polish territory for several months.
• In July, Bodnar said he hoped that searches for the remains of Ukrainians killed in 1944 in Łasków by the Home Army and Peasant Battalions could begin in August.
• Last year, similar operations were conducted by the Ukrainian side in Jureczkowa in the Subcarpathian region. The aim was to establish the location of a probable grave believed to contain fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army who were killed on 4 March 1947 in a battle with units of the Polish People's Army and the Internal Security Corps.
• As a result of the operations, the grave being sought was not found, nor were any anthropogenic elements indicating the presence of burials.

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