Poryck was first mentioned in the first half of the 15th century. In 1557 the town burned in a fire, and King Zygmunt August allowed its owner, Aleksander Porycki to exempt residents from taxes for the period of 10 years. Poryck belonged to several szlachta families, including the Koniecpolski and Czacki families. In 1806, Tadeusz Czacki built here two empire style palaces. Located at the lake, one palace housed a large library, in which a number of Polish national treasures was kept. Also, Czacki had a rare collection of fine china. Second palace served as a family residence. In 1816, Poryck was visited by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, who described his stay here in his “Historic Travels”. During the November Uprising, Poryck was one of targets of General Jozef Dwernicki's raid over Volhynia, Podolia and Ukraine. On 11 April 1831, a Polish-Russian battle took place here. After a Polish victory, Dwernicki issued an appeal tothe local residents, urging them to join the rebellion. In 1916, during World War I, the library was ransacked, and the china collection was destroyed, together with Czacki family archive. The residence was burned down, and what remained of the library was transported to Pulawy.
Poryck 1943 massacre of Poles
In the interbellum period Poryck belonged to Poland. It was a town in the Wołyń Voivodeship inhabited by almost 2000 people, half of whom were Jewish and the remaining part mostly Polish and Ukrainian. The residents had lived peacefully together for the most part. On 11 July 1943, units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and OUN nationalists murdered Polish inhabitants of the town. Most people were killed during a ceremony in a local Roman Catholic church. The Ukrainian sotnia of 20 men surrounded and entered the church filled with people. They threw grenades at the faithful most of whom were women and children. Then they shot at them with machine guns and finally set fire to the church with survivors in hiding. Altogether 300 persons were murdered. Later on, Ukrainian nationalists burned what remained of the Czacki palace. The town was captured by the Red Army on 18 July 1944. On the 60th anniversary of the massacre, Presidents Aleksander Kwaśniewski of Poland and Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine unveiled a monument commemorating the event. Both presidents called for forgiveness and reconciliation, with Kuchma saying "In this place where Polish victims rest, on behalf of all Ukrainians who want peace and justice, I wish to express my deep sympathy to all the wronged Poles, all those who suffered as a result of this disaster. We issue a strong condemnation of the violence committed against the Polish civilian population." — Pavlivka
