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Participants of Bicycle Expedition Bring Attention to Massive Destruction of Orthodox Churches of Ukrainians in the Second Polish Republic

04.08.2010, 15:16
Participants of Bicycle Expedition Bring Attention to Massive Destruction of Orthodox Churches of Ukrainians in the Second Polish Republic - фото 1
In order to inform the general public about the mass destruction in 1938 of Orthodox churches in the Kholm region and southern Pidlyashya members of the Homo Faber association organized a bicycle expedition from July 30 to August 10.

Ліквідація_церков1.jpgIn order to inform the general public about the mass destruction in 1938 of Orthodox churches in the Kholm region and southern Pidlyashya, which were populated mostly by Ukrainians, members of the Homo Faber association organized a bicycle expedition from July 30 to August 10. According to the organizers of the event, the purpose of the expedition is to “bring attention to one of the most hidden pages of the history of the Second Polish Republic, to share history that is not found in any books.” In addition, the participants of the event will collect testimonies, photographs, and memoirs. The collected materials will be published on the internet.

As informs Gazeta Wyborcza, although some of the people who lived through these events were deported as part of Operation Vistula, some eyewitnesses are still alive and in the regions live their relatives.

Зруйновані_храми1.jpg“We are contacting pastors that know about these events. We want to remember one of the most hidden pages of the history of the Second Polish Republic, which is practically unknown by the society,” said Oleksandra Hulinska from Homo Faber.

The participants of the expedition will travel through the territories along the Buh River, north to south, from Tyraspol to Dorohusk. Small towns and villages are concentrated on these territories. These were places largely settled by Ukrainians. The operation to destroy the holy places was directed first and foremost against them.

Background Information:

In the summer of 1938, 127 churches and Orthodox chapels were completely destroyed in the Lublin Voivodeship. Every day from May to July 1938 in the Kholm region and southern Pidlyashya two Orthodox churches were destroyed. Polish workers, police, and soldiers took part in the destruction. Ukrainians who lived on these territories and who were parishioners of the ruined churches, were forcefully Polonized and forced to convert to Catholicism. These actions were part of the Polish national policy.

Погроми_церков1.jpgThe destruction of Orthodox churches in the Kholm region and southern Pidlyashya in 1938 was one of the most tragic events in the history of Orthodoxy and the Ukrainian people in the Kholm and Pidlyashya lands. “The events of 1938 were the result of fundamental changes in the domestic policy of the state, and the most brutal and overt attempt to realize the conception made up of the principles of the policy of the Second Polish Republic concerning the Orthodox church and the Ukrainian Orthodox population in the Kholm region and southern Pidlyasha,” stress the participants of the expedition.

From the very beginning of the inter-war period the Polish government tried to take away property and limit the influence of the Orthodox Church, and to administratively limit the number of parishes. At the same time, the state took steps to regulate and organize the Orthodox Church so that it could function under new conditions, but remain dependent on the state, which was trying to Polonize the church.

Especially harsh was the policy of the state toward the Orthodox Church on the territory of the Kholm region and southern Pidlyashya, which in the inter-war period were part of the Lublin Voivodeship. The government understood that Orthodoxy was one of the most important distinguishing elements of the local Ukrainian population.

The Ukrainian association in Lublin has already begun work to gather and publish materials about the destruction of Orthodox holy places in the Second Polish Republic in 1938. These materials are available on a specially created site.

спеціально створеному сайті.