I'll save my luck teller tonight. I'm certain of my luck so much that I'll bet nuts against dollars that it will.
In the coming months I foretell many friendly gestures towards Poland from Ukraine. There'll be quite a few hugs and tearful songs. I think it is this year that the words of regret for Volyn will fall. The 80th anniversary of Ukrainian murders in Poles is simply a suitable time for Ukraine to shed the burden of extraordinary murders. We'll have any kind of apology. most likely the kind wrapped in ambiguities. Something like "we forgive and ask for forgiveness." many journalists both right and left in Poland and Ukraine will point to russian or God knows what another inspiration. We're going to hear a fewer litany saying that granddad's guilt falls on grandchildren, and it was a time of war.
It will not be honest, nor preceded by genuine regret, nor by the desire to make real amends. This will not be primarily preceded by honest investigation and papers found in archives outside Poland. This will not be preceded by real exhumations and funerals of Poles beaten by both and killed by sickles by their neighbours – Ukrainians. It'll be a cynical play. In all discussion after this act it will be ritually – “What else do you want, after all, they apologized?”
The next step after the apology will be accelerated softening. Tales of a common tragic past. How many of these descriptions are russian fakes. Later on, the first timid declarations – now it would be our turn to apologize to the Ukrainians for the evil done in the past. And the bolder ones, we should have done it long ago. After a while, there will be an effort to balance things that are incomparable. There will most likely be any character from the border environment, which is equivalent to Mr Wanda Traczyk-Stawska, who will talk in the media about everything being done. And it doesn't belong to this case.
We should be prepared for this. We must be ready to talk out loud – this is not the time! These issues of this importance must not be allowed to be discussed against the background of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war. The Volyn massacre and the Russian-Karain war are 2 different cases and must be dealt with separately. Today, you can't talk about these matters peacefully. There's no chance of objectivity right now. It will come after the war that Polish and Ukrainian historians examine the remaining papers in Ukrainian archives and describe them. Then it may be time for an authentic apology and real redress. besides in financial form. And then, the families of the savagely murdered Poles will be able to accept with a clear conscience an apology.
Michał Zagiejczyk (USA)
The author was a longtime publicist of “Home”
