Poland reaffirms its commitment to bringing SS Galizien war criminals to justice

The National Remembrance Institute (IPN), a state-run organization aimed at tracking down and bringing former Nazi and Soviet war criminals to justice, says it will file a formal request with the British Foreign Ministry to conduct a background check on former members of the 14th SS Galizien division residing in the UK, who are suspected of participating in the mass murder of 800 people in Huta Pieniacka near Lvov in 1944. According to documentation at the IPN's disposal, 500 soldiers from a unit of the 14th division were responsible for the war crime. The Polish investigation into the mass murder was initiated immediately after it was committed, and in 1947 the Polish government sent its British counterpart a list of those accused, requesting that Britian confirm their presence in the UK. However, the government's request was left unanswered. Last Friday, British television station ITV aired a documentary that claimed that around 1,500 Ukrainians from SS Galizien live in the UK. To date, no explanation has been made as to why the British government left the Polish government's request unanswered. (Zycie, p.1)