Stephen Shooster
Operation Vistula
that was their plan. It was also decided that those caught with weapons were to be prosecuted, while those still shooting were to be killed. Although this operation had many of the echoes of the Jewish deportations and the ensuing Holocaust, it was not an exercise replete with crematoria and mass killings. The toll on the people was severe, and many needlessly died. April 28th, 1947, Operation Vistula was executed, including Polish, Russian and Slovakian soldiers. The Ukrainians were well-armed and dug in on their home turf. The operation was centered in Lesko, deep in the southern Carpathian Mountains, on the border with Russia. This is where the SS recruited its Ukrainian guards. These people still hated the Jews after the war. From my perspective, these were the same Ukrainians who were complicit in the extermination of Polish Jews, including my fam- ily. I was summoned to join the action against them. According to a newspaper article, Leon was involved in an action hunting for The First Assault Platoon of the Home Army of Greater Poland and a fellow called Zyg- munt Góralski. It went on to say that Zygmunt Góralski was born to a working family on April, 10th, 1930, in Żnin, Poland. He was one of three children. He completed elementary school and was a member of the Polish Scouting Association. During the
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