Polish wartime memorial to be restored in Ivano-Frankivsk region
A Polish military cemetery, which was destroyed during the Soviet era, was renovated in Dytyatyn village, Ivano-Frankivsk region, on the 95th anniversary of the heroic battle of Polish forces against the Bolshevik invasion.
The Pantheon was built with the financial support of the Council for protection of memory and martyrdom of Poland.
On September 19, 2015, the Holy Mass for the dead and for peace in eastern Ukraine and worldwide was led by the RCC Bishop Marian Buchek – a delegate of Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki. He was concelebrated by clergymen fromthe deaneries of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Lviv archdiocese, Edward Kava, a delegate of the provincial of the Franciscan Order, and priests from Poland. A procession of Greek Catholicswith their pastors came from the neighboring villages.
In his sermon, the Bishop recalled that the Bolshevik army led by Budyonnyy and Tukhachevskyy was coming to Warsaw in 1920 through this area to destroy Poland and enslave Europe. The troops of Jozef Pilsudski Polish together with their then allies –the Ukrainian troops of Symon Petliura held them back in deadly fights. Bishop Buchek also recalled that recently a monument to Polish soldiers, who in 1920 died in Zadvirya, defending Lviv from the cavalry of Budyonnyy, had been restored.
A letter by President of Poland Andrzej Duda, addressed to the participants of the celebration in Dytyatyn, was read.
Secretary of the Council for protection of memory and martyrdom of Poland,Prof. Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert extended special gratitude to the initiators of the restoration of the memorial - Mrs. Wieslawa Cholik from Poland and Fr Grzegorz Tzymbala OFM Conv. from the monastery in Bilshivtsi. Ambassador of Poland to Ukraine Henryk Litwin, the authorities of Galicia region and Ivano-Frankivsk region also spoke to the assembly.
Bishop Marian Buchek and priests of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the UGCC consecrated the restored war memorial.
According to the website of Lviv archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine,among the visitors of celebrations in Dytyatyn were Polish Senator Lukasz Abharovych, representatives of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Poland, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage PR, other Polish institutions and organizations, soldiers of the Polish Army, Polish scouts (Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego) from Lviv, a delegation of Polish Organizations of Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions.
