Ukraine. Puźniki – a collective pit with the remains of murdered Poles, found by specialists

Minister at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Michał Dworczyk, announced in a Friday entry on the a collective pit in which the bodies of murdered villagers were placed in 1945.

“In accordance with applicable regulations, permission was sought from the relevant Ukrainian authorities to carry out exhumation, research and dignified burial,” Dworczyk wrote. He emphasized that this is the first case in over nine years that the remains of Poles, victims of Ukrainian nationalists, have been found in Ukraine.

The minister added that the search was conducted by specialists (archaeologists, anthropologists) from the Polish Genetic Database of Victims of Totalitarianism – Pomeranian Medical University, a representative of the Institute of National Remembrance, Ukrainian archaeologists and Polish volunteers from the Freedom and Democracy Foundation and the Polish Scouting Association.

The Minister of Culture, Piotr Gliński, also posted an entry on Twitter in which he announced the discovery of the remains of Poles.

As previously reported by the Tarnopol media, in 1921 in the village of Puźniki (now Sadowe), the majority of inhabitants were Poles. In 1940, the NKVD deported most of the local families to Siberia.

“In 1945, the village inhabitants were murdered and the buildings were burned. Four years later, the Soviet authorities liquidated the village. During the German occupation, a burial trench was dug near the cemetery. According to the memories of former residents, the trench was not used by the Germans and the deceased village inhabitants were buried in it.” – reported Nowyna Ternopilszczyna’s website.