Operation Vistula

On April 28, 1947, the forced eviction of the Ukrainian population from south-eastern Poland began in the early hours of morning. Officially, it was an operation aimed at the units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) operating on these lands. On March 28, 1947, Deputy Minister of National Defense General Karol Świerczewski died in the UPA-organised ambush, which provided a pretext to apply collective responsibility to Polish citizens of Ukrainian origin. Operation "Vistula" was supposed to "finally solve the Ukrainian problem in Poland." Within three months, more than 140,000 Ukrainians were deported to the western and northern lands. Ukrainians. Families had two to three hours to pack. They could bring no more than 25 kilograms of luggage. Some villages were burned by military troops involved in the operation. During transport, 27 people died. Those suspected of cooperation with the UPA were sent to the concentration camp in Jaworzno (a total of about 4 thousand people, including 700 women and children), where 170 people died. The operation of the deportation of the Ukrainian population was similar to the actions carried out by the Stalinist regime in the USSR, where entire people, such as the Crimean Tatars, were also deported. In the People's Republic of Poland, it was forbidden for the Ukrainians to return to the places of displacement. Operation “Vistula.” In the memory of the descendants of the resettled Ukrainians, Operation “Vistula” remains a tragic event.