Poland launches exhumations of Volhynian massacre victims in Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka

The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) announced that exhumation work has begun at three sites in the former villages of Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka in the Volhynian region. The operations, conducted with Ukrainian permission and in cooperation with specialists from the Medical University of Wrocław and the firm “Wołyńskie Starożytności,” will continue until 7 August. Investigators will recover the remains of Polish civilians killed by Ukrainian nationalists in August 1943, focusing on a mass grave at the former Aleksander Strażyca farm in Wola Ostrowiecka, a collective burial near the former school foundations in Ostrówki, and an individual grave beside the local cemetery.

In a related effort, Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska reported that the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage is delivering identification notes to families of eight victims from the former village of Puźniki, the first such identifications achieved through genetic testing. The notes provide names for victims previously buried anonymously, marking a step toward restoring personal dignity to those lost in the 1943 Volhynian massacre.