Mikołaj Riabczuk, Ukrainian author and essayist, in an interview with PAP on August 24, assessed that the debate on UPA must be frozen until the end of the war with Russia. At the same time, he accused a part of the Polish right hand of fueling hatred towards Ukrainians. For Poland, the conclusion is simple: helping Ukraine does not mean giving up the fact about Volyn.
Appeal from Ukraine and Polish response
Mr Riabczuk spoke on the occasion of Ukraine's independency Day. As Wprost said for PAP, the Ukrainian author spoke about deteriorating Polish-Ukrainian relations, force against Ukrainians surviving in Poland, dispute about Volyn and the function of UPA in Ukrainian memory. The strongest point of this message was history: Riabczuk proposed that the UPA case be temporarily postponed until the end of the war with Russia.
That sounds like a plea for peace. However, for Poland it cannot mean suspension of truth. force against Ukrainians in Poland, if it occurs, must be prosecuted by the state. There's no concession fee here. But equally powerfully 1 must reject the proposition that the Polish memory of Volyn is simply a problem which should be put in the political freezer, due to the fact that it hinders current diplomacy.
Volyn is not a side topic
The Volyn massacre is not a substance of temper or election material. It is simply a national wound, a crime on the civilian population and the work of the Polish state towards the murdered and their families. If the talk about UPA is to be hard for Kiev, the more it should be conducted honestly, not put aside for a more convenient moment. past doesn't usually wait for a comfortable moment.
The National diary late wrote that Moscow tries to play Poland and Ukraine Volyn. That's true, and you should be immune to it. Russian propaganda cynically uses all Polish-Ukrainian wound. The answer, however, must not be silence about crime, but a tough, calm and sourced memory policy. Lying to the Kremlin fights the truth, not self-censorship.
UPA in 2 memories
Riabczuk pointed out that for many Ukrainians UPA is associated with the fight against the USSR, and for Poles above all with crimes against civilians. This description reflects part of the dispute, but does not solve its moral burden. A country that wants a permanent partnership with Poland must realize Polish sensitivity not as a whim, but as part of our state's right.
Dzirze.pl recalls that the dispute exacerbated Volodymyr Zelenski's decision to give the Ukrainian military unit the name “UPA heroes”, criticized in Poland by representatives of various political camps. In the same context, decisions and gestures related to the Order of the White Eagle appeared. This shows that we are not talking about the archival debate of historians, but about the real state policy conducted today, during the war in Ukraine.
No violence, no memory blackmail
The Polish right has to defender 2 borders. The first is obvious: no force against Ukrainians, no collective responsibility, no language of contempt. A man speaking Ukrainian on the Polish street is not guilty of decisions by the authorities in Kiev or the mistakes of Ukrainian memory policy. The Polish State has a work to defend the public order and dignity of all person.
The second limit is equally important: it must not be allowed to let the charge of “anti-Ukrainianity” to close its mouth to Poles who request exhumation, worthy of burial and unequivocally condemn UPA crimes. In relations with Kiev, national realism is needed, not tense reflex. That is why the texts in which German media defends Polish memory of Volynbecause they show that this case is not a local obsession of the Polish right.
The Alliance Needs Truth
Ukraine fights Russian imperialism and Poland has an interest in Moscow not winning this war. But Polish business does not end on a military map. It besides includes memory, dignity of victims, social safety and honesty in relations with the neighbour. An alliance in which 1 side is constantly to realize individual else's sensitivity, and its own to postpone is simply a shaky alliance.
Riabczuk talks about the request to frost the UPA dispute. The Polish answer should be calm and tough: the temperature of the debate can be reduced, but the fact must not be frozen. You can aid Ukraine, but you must not quit Volyn. You can argue Russia and at the same time require Kiev to mature. Only specified a policy is serious.
DN already described how OUN-UPA cult hits Polish memory. Riabczuk's message present confirms that the dispute will not go distant from silence. If there is to be a permanent Polish-Ukrainian agreement, its foundation must be the fact about victims, not diplomatic silence over graves.
Source: Straight/PAP, Acts.pl.
Source: Banderism / Ukraine (monitor PL)
