“The exhumation of the Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy in the former village of Puzhniki in Ternopil region will begin after Easter, about April 25. This was stated by Deputy Head of the Polish Foundation “Freedom and Democracy” by Matsei in a comment to Ukrinform. According to him, in late March – early April part of the Polish group, which will participate in exhumation work in the dusaders, will be in Ukraine”, – WRITE ON: ua.news
The exhumation of the Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy in the former village of Puzhniki in Ternopil region will begin after Easter, about April 25.
This was stated by Deputy Head of the Polish Foundation “Freedom and Democracy” by Matsei in a comment to Ukrinform.
According to him, in late March – early April, part of the Polish group, which will participate in exhumation work in the Lenniki, will be in Ukraine with a working trip to reconcile all technical details of future work.
“Work will start after Easter, a specific day has not yet been determined. I evaluate that it will be about April 25, ”Dantsevich said.
He said that the Polish part of the group that will exhumulate in the Lenniki will consist of more than 10 people. It will be headed by Dr. Andrzej Ossovsky of the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin.
At the same time, the educational institution created a Polish genetic base of victims of totalitarianism, and its specialists (genetics, anthropologists, archaeologists) are some of the most experienced in Poland. They have the appropriate tools and experience of carrying out such field work.
In addition to the specialists of the Pomeranian Medical University, the Polish group will also include experts in the Foundation “Freedom and Democracy” and representatives of the Institute of National Memory of Poland.
Exhumation work will last about a month. They will be kept near the old cemetery, at the place where in 2023 the search was confirmed by the presence of the remains of Polish victims of tragic events in Volyn.
“We will want to exhumulate the grave, conduct a study of the remains, and then make their reburial at the old cemetery in the Lenniki, which was previously agreed with the Ukrainian side,” Dantsevich said.
According to him, the Polish side established the names of 80 residents of this village, who died on the night of February 13 to 14, 1945. Therefore, the Polish side expects that this place will be exhumed, approximately 80-90 remains of the dead residents.
As Danesevich emphasized, after the exhumation in the Lenniki, the Foundation will be ready to work in several more places in Ukraine. In particular, it is about the implementation of search and exhumation works by soldiers of the Polish army who died during the fighting with the Wehrmacht troops in September 1939 near Lviv.
“This year, we will ask the Ukrainian authorities for permission to continue the work in this place, which was already conducted in 2014-2017. However, we are now focusing on the works in April and May in the Lenniki, ”the Polish Foundation spokesman added.
We will remind, Ukraine has allowed Poland to search and exhumation of victims of the Volyn tragedy. In turn, Poland will support Ukraine’s aspirations in the EU.
Before that, Polish Defense Minister Vladislav Kosynia-Kkysh stated that the official Warsaw should not approve of Ukraine’s membership in the European Union in the future until the issue of the Volyn tragedy in 1943 was resolved.
