Between 1937 and 1938, more than 150 Ukrainian Orthodox Churches were destroyed under the auspices of the Second Polish Republic in the two regions of Kholm and Pidliashia that now respectively comprise the Lublin and Podlaskie Voivodeships.
In 1938 a coordinating committee was formed and headed by General J. Morawinski who was delegated the role of implementing the plans, bolstered by the help of military garrisons.
In July 1938, The Polish Parliament (Sejm) was the scene of protest, when Ukrainian members of parliament including the Orthodox Priest Reverend Martyn Volkov (Sarny), Stepan Skrypnyk and the Ukrainian Catholic Stepan Baran lodged a number of complaints "against the convention between Poland and the Vatican".
Similarly, protests were also lodged by Ukrainian delegates Ostap Lutsky and deputy senator Mykola Maslov on 14 July 1938.
[1] In response to the recent actions in the Polish Parliament, the Lviv-based newspaper Dilo wrote on 9 July 1938 "Today in the Polish Sejm the representatives of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Orthodox population of Galicia, Volyn, and Pidliashia demonstrated their Ukrainian national unity and community in defence of national-religious positions.
In his interpellation to then Polish Prime Minister Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, parliamentarian Stepan Baran noted that "all of these gems of ancient Ukrainian architecture were utterly destroyed and irredeemably lost to civilization" [1] On 16 July 1938 Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, issue his archpastoral letter condemning "the acts of vandalism committed by the Poles, who had shown themselves to be the enemies of the Christian faith".