Przebraże. Baza polskiej samoobrony na Wołyniu podczas II wojny światowej

Abstrakt

Przebraże. A base of Polish self-defence in Volhynia during the Second World War
The present article describes the emergence and the activities of the most famous Polish self-defence group organized in Przebraże in Volhynia during the Second World War. It discusses the activities conducted by the self-defence soldiers whose purpose was to save the Polish people from the local villages from the threat posed by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. There were also repressions for which the Soviet and then the German occupiers were responsible. The self-defence, organized in Przebraż by Henryk Cybulski and Ludwik Malinowski, was a reaction to the series of attacks of Ukrainian nationalists against Polish people which were organized as early as in the autumn of 1942. The purpose of these attacks was to exterminate Polish people and to cause them to flee from Volhynia. The self-defence activities, conducted from March 1943 until January 1944 enabled the survival of almost 20 thousand people located near Przebraże.
In the article a great deal of attention is devoted also to the self-defence activities organized in Ragałówka, Komarówka and Huta Stepańska, which collaborated closely with Przebraże.