Today, on August 14, a bicycle ride from Sokal to the village of Horodylovychi, through Ulvivok, continues in the Sokal region
As noted by Yuriy Korin, the participants set off from the Cathedral Church of Ss. Peter and Paul at 10:00, the next stop was in Ulvivka, the final stop was Horodylovychi.
Horodyłovychi is a village in the Sokal region that was destroyed in 1946 during the armed struggle between Poles and Ukrainians.
The village of Horodylovychi was destroyed during Operation Vistula in 1946. It was only in 1996 that a memorial complex was built on the site of the burned village , and 68 crosses were erected to symbolize the villages of the Kholm region that were wiped off the map. A chapel was built on the site where the church stood, and a symbolic grave for the fighters for the freedom of Ukraine was built next to it. There is a memorial plaque on it in honor of Vasyl Protsiuk (“Kropyva”), the chief of staff of the UPA’s South group, who came from Horodylovychi. Next to the grave, crosses mark all the villages that were destroyed by the Poles during Operation Vistula and the KGB punishers. We read: Horodylovychi, Pechyhory, Hora, Kliusiv, Bezeyi, Madzharka, Ivanka, Korkiv, Pavlovychi, Perevodiv, Vorokhta, Budynyn, and others.
“If you have come to Horodylovychi once, you cannot help but come back a second time,” says Olha Madzopa, a native resident of Horodylovychi.
In 2014, the 91-year-old woman gave an interview in which she said that she could talk for hours about her village. In her stories, lyricism is intertwined with subtle humor, longing with pride. And such a wonderful inflorescence of memories that one is envious that at such a venerable age one can remember the names of people, events that took place several decades ago so well, that the story is so smooth and logical. And how many poems I heard by heart from Ms. Madzopa, ranging from patriotic children’s poems to wedding poems, lullabies, spring songs, Christmas carols, and carols. When Olha Madzopa turned sixty, she began writing memoirs, recalling poems, and composing her own poetic stanzas.