Poland is among Ukraine’s most prominent supporters during the war against Russia. The neighboring country in the west has according to Statesman received several million refugees, and was very proactive in providing military aid as a member of Nato.
Nevertheless, the relationship between the two countries is plagued by a historical backlash. At the latest this week, Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski states that relations with Ukraine are currently “not the best”.
– Not possible
The most immediate reason is the dispute over the import of Ukrainian grain, which Poland, like several other Eastern European countries, has banned in order to protect its own food market. But in connection with the heated exchange of words between the countries, the painful memories of an 80-year-old tragedy come to the fore:
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– We still have to deal with a situation where this case is a major problem for our relationship. […] It is not possible to have a real Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation without this being resolved, says Jablonski to the radio station RMF FMpassed on by Danish TV 2.
The Deputy Foreign Minister is referring to The Volhynia Massacre During World War II. According to historians, including the Polish Grzegorz Motyka, this was actually a series of mass murders of Poles and other minorities in the region, such as Jews, Russians and Czechs.
According to the historians, the massacres were carried out by the ultra-nationalist guerrillas Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)in cooperation with local Ukrainians, in the historical landscape of Volhynia, which today lies mainly in western Ukraine.
German occupied
After the First World War, most of Volhynia (Ukrainian Volyn, Polish Wolyn) belonged to the newly created Polish nation-state, but in the Second World War the area was occupied by the Germans according to Molotov-Ribbentrop suitswhich determined the division of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union.
RESPONSIBLE: Members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) pictured in 1947. The militia is named as the main responsible for the massacres of minorities such as Poles, Jews, Russians and Czechs in German-occupied Volhynia. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Show more
Volhynia was included The General Government – the German-occupied parts of Poland that were not incorporated into the Third Reich. The majority of the population was ethnically Ukrainian.
The UPA was the military wing of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN)led by, among others, highly controversial Stepan Bandera. The militia initiated large-scale ethnic cleansing in the region; according to historians, the motive was to prevent Poland from regaining control of the area after the war.
This culminated in particularly brutal massacres in July and August 1943, mainly of Polish women and children.
It is estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 Poles were killed. According to Polish historians, up to 12,000 Ukrainians were killed in reprisals.
Adopted “genocide”
After the war, Poland was shifted westwards according to the agreement between the victorious powers, and Volhynia was included in the Ukrainian Soviet Republic, then in independent Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union.
TOGETHER AT THE MARK: Presidents Andrzej Duda and Volodymyr Zelenskyj appeared together during a commemoration of the massacre in Lutsk on 9 July. Photo: Alina Smutko / Reuters / NTB Show more
The Polish National Assembly has decided that the massacres constituted a “genocide carried out by Ukrainian nationalists”, but this is contested by Ukraine and some historians outside Poland, who prefer the term “ethnic cleansing”.
Significant attempts have been made by Poland and Ukraine to approach each other. On July 9 this year at the latest, presidents Andrzej Duda and Volodymyr Zelenskyj appeared together in a church in Lutsk in Volhynia during an 80-year commemoration of the massacre.
– Memory unites us! Together we are stronger, wrote the Polish presidential office on Twitter, according to NTB.
In 2003, during the national Polish Remembrance Day on 11 July, Presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski and Leonid Kuchma attended a ceremony in the village of Pavlivka, where they unveiled a memorial to the massacre.
HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL: Stepan Bandera was one of the top leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), of which the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was the militant wing, and which bears the main responsibility for the massacres. In parts of the population, he has national hero status, here from Kyiv on New Year’s last year. Other Ukrainians see him as a fascist war criminal. Photo: Jefrem Lukatskyj / AP / NTB Show more
Kuchma maintained that it is unfair to blame the entire Ukrainian nation:
– No nation is guilty. It is always individuals who bear the responsibility for criminal acts, he said Radio Free Europe.
– Blocked
– For us, the Volhynia crime is genocide. There is still no agreement on this genocide, the victims have not been honored, excavations are being blocked, says Deputy Foreign Minister Jablonski during the recent interview.
He points out that the topic is constantly on the agenda in Poland; among other things, the massacre was duly mentioned by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on 11 July.
Ukraine is struggling to break through the extensive Russian defense structure called the Surovikin Line. Reporter: Vegard Krüger / Dagbladet TV. view more
– The Volhynia crime is one of the most important cases where an agreement has not yet been reached, states the Deputy Foreign Minister, adding:
– We just want to talk openly about it, so that the victims can be exhumed and honoured. The problem must be solved.
OUN leader Bandera also remains a controversial and divisive figure in today’s Ukraine; while many in the eastern parts of the country consider him a fascist war criminal, he was proclaimed a “Hero of Ukraine” by former President Viktor Yushchenko in 2010.
Condemned by Poland, Russia and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the award was reversed by Yushchenko’s successor Viktor Yanukovych. Nevertheless, the Bandera issue is constantly brought up when allegations of Ukrainian right-wing extremism and “Nazism” are made, not least from the Kremlin and their supporters.
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Strong wording
The Polish import and sale ban on Ukrainian grain was introduced with the EU’s approval in May. The purpose is to protect the market from the grain from the neighboring country, which Ukraine sells cheaply because of the difficulties in getting the ship out via the Black Sea.
The ban expires on September 15, but Poland wants to extend it, against strong Ukrainian displeasure. The Polish government believes Ukraine is expressing ingratitude by disagreeing:
– Ukraine has now received a lot of support from Poland. I think it will be worth the trouble for them to start appreciating the role Poland has played for Ukraine in recent months and years, says President Duda’s adviser Marcin Pzydacz to state broadcaster TVP.
Into the carpet
This goes down well with the Ukrainian government, which on Tuesday called in Poland’s ambassador Bartosz Cichocki on the carpet. In specific terms, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a press release:
MASSACRED: Polish victims of one of the UPA-led mass murders in 1943, in the village of Lipniki. Photo: Henryk Slowinski collection / Wikimedia Commons Show more
– During the meeting, it was emphasized that statements about the Ukrainians’ alleged ingratitude for the support from the Polish Republic do not reflect reality, and that they are therefore unacceptable.
Prime Minister Morawiecki reacted strongly to the summons of his ambassador and believes it “should never have taken place”. Then the Ukrainian ambassador was summoned to Warsaw. This made Volodymyr Zelenskyj go out on a limb X/Twitter and emphasize the need for unity.
– We will not allow any political moments to destroy the relationship between the Ukrainian and Polish people, and the feelings should certainly cool down. The freedom and well-being of our nations, our European values and the victory over our common Russian enemy are more important than anything, writes the president.
2023-08-04 05:11:00
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