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Szczepan Siekierka born in 1928 in Tolustobabach, Wołyń.
As a teenager, Szczepan survived the genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists in Wołyń and East Malopolska. He survived in hiding thanks to his Ukrainian neighbors, while losing a dozen members of his family.
After the war, his family settled near Dzierżoniów in what was pre-war Germany. Throughout the communism in post-war Poland, he and thousands of other survivors were forced to remain silent. The Polish People’s Republic and the USSR have actively pursued a policy of denying crimes on the basis of nationality. These events were to be erased from history.
In 1990, Szczepan Siekierka founded the Association of Families of Victims of Ukrainian Nationalists – “Mission of Reconciliation and Repentance” in Wrocław and began a long struggle for memory, documentation and recognition. His association collected more than 20,000 witness accounts and documented dozens of names of Ukrainian Righteous who warned Poles of the danger they were in.
“We as families of the murdered absolutely do not charge the Ukrainian state or the Ukrainian people for this crime. “