Wehrmacht's war crime in Urycz

Little known but still terrible due to its size. On 22 September 1939 Wehrmacht burned alive in a barn 73 Polish prisoners of war in the village of Urycz, near Przemyśl, Poland. Victims belonged to the 4th Podhale Rifles Infantry Regiment, defeated after heavy fighting in mid-September along the San river line.

On 22 September 1939 a column of POWs stopped for a rest in Urycz (former Lviv district). POWs were divided into 2 groups. Those who claimed to be Ukrainians or Silesians were not subject to "further proceedings". The other group was closed in a barn where they were supposed to stay for a night rest. At 3 p.m. Germans closed the barn's door and used gasoline to set the building on fire using their hand grenades. Almost all detainees burnt alive, those who made attempts to escape were killed by machine guns. Three Polish POWs are reported to have survived as they were taken to hospital. One of them died of wounds shortly in Drohobycz. Those killed were not trying to escape and were not subject to any accusation after being seized by Germans.

The German Wehrmacht unit's soldiers who commited the crime were never found or identified not to mention being brought to justice. One of the witnesses Antoni Dobija declared that the action was led by a Wehrmacht's sergeant. Polish Institute for a National Rememberance found out that German soldiers who participated it the crime were assisted by a group of unidentified Ukrainian nationalists.

Read more:

·         Szymon Datner: Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu na jeńcach wojennych w II wojnie światowej. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo MON, 1961, s. 56–57. Śledztwa - S 17/05/Zn. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. [accessed on 1 April 2010]. Polska Akademia Nauk. Komisja Nauk Historycznych: Studia historyczne, Tomy 26–27. 1984, s. 143.

·         Jochen Böhler: Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu w Polsce. Kraków: Wydawnictwo "Znak", 2009, s. 184. ISBN 978-83-240-1225-1.