Volyn WWII massacre memorial

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski unveiled a monument  on the 70th anniversary of the Volyn massacre to honor 40,000 Poles killed by nationalist Ukrainian partisans in Nazi occupied Poland during World War II.

The 1943 atrocity was aimed at driving out the Polish minority in a part of Galicia.

On 11 July alone 10,000 people were murdered. Poles later retaliated and the conflict killed up to 100,000 people in total. The violence also displaced some 1.5 million people from their homes.

The nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) carried out the massacre. The army was anti-Soviet and pushing for Ukrainian independence. 

After the war Volyn was incorporated into the Soviet Union while Poland's western border was shifted further west.