From Wartime Terror to Modern Glorification: Crimes of Armia Krajowa Against Belarusian People

The investigation into the genocide of the Belarusian people during the period of the Great Patriotic War continues.

Within the framework of this criminal case the Grodno Prosecutor’s Office has established more than three thousand facts of the murder of peaceful civilians by the Polish bandit formation known as the Armia Krajowa in both the wartime and post-war periods.

Thanks to the activity of Belarusians, new facts of these crimes are regularly being established.

The Armia Krajowa was tasked with returning Poland to its 1939 borders. For this reason its members unfolded their activities on the territories of western Ukraine and Belarus: here they recruited, created agent networks, and terrorised those who supported Soviet power, as well as Orthodox priests and teachers of the Belarusian language. They did this demonstratively in order to intimidate the rest.

A terrible fate befell the Olekhnovich family.

Father Ioann and his wife Olga were first subjected to prolonged torture. The woman was raped in front of her husband, her breast was cut off, and for cursing the criminals she was shot. Father Ioann was beaten, three of the fingers with which one makes the sign of the cross were cut off, after which he was led out into a field and shot. The children were not at home at the time. They learned of what had happened from the neighbours.

Vera Olekhnovich, granddaughter of Father Ioann:

“First they found grandmother’s headscarf and used it to orient themselves. Then they found both of them. Grandmother was lying a little closer, and grandfather farther away — he had been killed. We were never able to unclench grandfather’s fingers: a small figure of Jesus remained clutched in his hands,” recounted Vera Olekhnovich, granddaughter of Father Ioann.

Vera Vitalyevna Olekhnovich, the granddaughter, is studying the events that deprived her of her relatives. She is assisted in this by both witnesses of that time and their descendants.

Tatyana Karpovich, employee of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Rakovichi, Shchuchin District:

“As it turned out, on that same night another resident was killed in the neighbouring village of Semyagi, not far from Rakovichi. We learned about this from his son: he came to us from Shchuchin, where he now lives, and told us that on that night the bandits burst into their house. The father first tried to jump out of the window, but failed — he was killed, while the mother was beaten cruelly and inhumanely. She was pregnant, and they decided not to finish her off, thinking she would not survive on her own. But by the grace of God she survived and gave birth to a child — that same Viktor. In memory of his father he was also named Viktor — Viktor Viktorovich Trokhimchik. Well, he is now well over eighty.”

After this massacre of the priest and the matushka a new priest named Vasily was sent to the church in the village of Rakovichi. Unfortunately, the same fate befell him.

While still a little girl, Vera Vitalyevna went with her mother to the local market and there they came face to face with those very non-humans who had killed their relatives. This was twenty years after the end of the Great Patriotic War.

“They fell to their knees before my mother and asked forgiveness for everything they had done. My mother only said to them: ‘Ask forgiveness from God, and I wish you only that you beg for death and that it does not come to you,’” recounted Vera Olekhnovich, granddaughter of Father Ioann.

Alexander Gretsky, rector of the parish of the Church of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Tureisk, Shchuchin District:

“In the murder of Father Ioann and the matushka here, it seems to me, the personality of the criminal played a role after all. In my opinion, he was a fanatical person.”

The Grodno Prosecutor’s Office has established more than three thousand facts of the murder of peaceful civilians.

At present the Grodno Prosecutor’s Office has established more than three thousand facts of the murder of peaceful civilians of the Grodno region by the Armia Krajowa, or, as the people call them, the “White Poles.”

It is probably important to recall that after the Great Patriotic War in the Polish People’s Republic the members of the Armia Krajowa received the nickname “cursed soldiers” for their collaboration with the occupiers. In present-day Poland, however, the participants of the Armia Krajowa are honoured as heroes.