Bortnytsia

Bortnytsia
Village

Bortnytsia (Bortnica) on the map of Soviet occupied Second Polish Republic (now Ukraine) before the massacres of Poles between 1942-1945
Coordinates: 50°30′N 25°53′E / 50.500°N 25.883°E / 50.500; 25.883
Country Ukraine Ukraine
Voblast Volyn Oblast
Raion Volodymyr-Volynskyi Raion

Bortnytsia (Ukrainian: Bortnytsia Бортниця, Polish: Bortnica) is a village in Volyn oblast, near the town of Dubno, in Dubno County, Ukraine. The village currently has a population of 365. Before the Nazi German and Soviet invasions of Poland the village was located in Wołyń Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic.

History

In World War II Bortnica was one of many sites of massacres of Poles and Jews committed between 1942 and 1945 by UPA and the local Ukrainians peasants.[1] The village was raided repeatedly in a process of ethnic cleansing. Farms were burned down mostly at night. Jews kept 24-hour vigil, because, unlike the Polish families who could flee into the Nazi German–occupied cities (in the worst-case scenario), Jewish families had nowhere to run. Pitched battles with Ukrainian Insurgent Army were breaking out all the time. The bloodiest fighting broke out in Bortnica on Christmas Eve 1943 – six weeks before the arrival of the Red Army. Fifteen Poles and eight Jews were defending themselves against the invading force of 400 Ukrainians. Void of ammunition, the defenders fell a day later. Half were killed in battle. A few escaped into the forest.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Tadeusz Piotrowski, Genocide and Rescue in Wołyń Published by McFarland

Coordinates: 50°28′48″N 25°46′12″E / 50.48000°N 25.77000°E / 50.48000; 25.77000

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