Ukrainian officials say the forest burial site may contain the remains of about 20 people.
The UPA was a nationalist formation active during and after World War II across areas that are now in Ukraine and Poland.
The work started on Tuesday morning under police supervision, with several Ukrainian staff on site and Polish staff from the Warsaw-based Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) present.
Poland’s PAP news agency reported that the dig is taking place in dense woods roughly 150 meters from the paved road through Jureczkowa. A metal cross stands at the spot.
By the time reporters visited, two test pits had been opened, each about half a meter deep and 1.5 meters long, and a third was under way using a gasoline-powered auger and shovels, the PAP news agency said.
A Ukrainian representative said no remains had been found yet.
Ukrainian Deputy Culture Minister Andriy Nadzhos said last week that preliminary findings by Ukrainian historians point to the presence of UPA fighters’ remains in Jureczkowa. He added that the first stage of work would remove the top layer of soil.
Oleksandr Alfiorov, director of Ukraine’s Institute of National Memory, said in a statement last week that the grave likely holds UPA fighters who resisted the forced removal of Ukrainians from the area under postwar arrangements between Soviet authorities and Poland’s communist regime.
“Such actions were the result of agreements between the Soviet authorities and the Polish communist authorities, which in essence meant deportation,” he wrote.
“In every locality there is a separate history. We will communicate it openly and it is important to us that it be the truth. Every case is unique and requires a separate discussion," he added.
Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance granted initial approval in June for Ukrainian-led search and exhumation work in Jureczkowa, according to the institute’s spokesman at the time, Rafał Leśkiewicz.
The work is being funded by Ukraine and concerns the search for graves of UPA members. Polish authorities have agreed to searches at four sites in total, Ukrainian officials said, with additional locations possible.
Separate Ukrainian requests concern Łasków near the southeastern Polish town of Hrubieszów and a cemetery in the city of Przemyśl, according to reports.
Asked about the Jureczkowa search on Tuesday, Polish President Karol Nawrocki told private broadcaster Radio Zet that the approval was not his decision during his tenure as head of the Institute of National Remembrance.
“I do not recall such a decision of mine,” he said, adding that he does not know the purpose of the exhumations.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP