In the text published on PCh24.pl, “Don't talk about Cannons. The victims of the UPA crime will not be buried?” based on our conversations with those active in the search for the bodies of victims of the Volynsk crime in the Ukrainian village, we wrote that there is no indication that Kiev would give consent to the exhumation. And indeed. The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture instigated in this substance wrote: exhumations are possible, but only after the end of the war.
About the search for the bodies of Polish victims of the Volynsk crime in Puźniki and delaying the decision to exhume, We wrote here. The case began in October 2023, erstwhile in the area of the no longer existing village the Polish investigation squad from Szczecin and Ukrainian co-workers found a grave where the remains of murdered Poles were laid.
Since then, the Polish side has been awaiting the Ukrainian authorities' decision on the exhumation. This decision will let relatives of victims to bury Poles murdered there.
In the text, we wrote a lot about the hope that the Polish side inactive has in the substance of the expected consent, although the Polish Ministry of Culture, who should be curious in the matter, has laconically stated in the information sent to us that they are not a organization to the matter. It is true, after all, the initiator is the Freedom and Democracy Foundation, and the remains were sought by the squad of Prof. Andrzej Ossowski from the Polish Genetic Base of Victims of Totalitarianism from the Pomeranian Medical University. However, it is amazing the helplessness of the Polish government, after all, the burial of victims of the Volyn crime is simply a question of the Community interest of all Poles, and so besides the work of our country.
However, it seems that hopes of solving this substance may not be long enough. We besides asked questions about Puźniki to the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture. He wrote us back on 11 July (a fewer hours after the publication of the text on Puźniki on PCh24.pl) the State Secretary of this ministry, Mr Yuri Lesszczuk. The answer surprises.
In the beginning, we read that the answer concerns “the provision of information on the carrying out of exhumation works Polish victims of Volyn, 1945 tragedy in the village of Puźniki, the Tarnopolski region". Therefore, the communicative of the Ukrainian authorities is clear: there is no talk of the crime committed by UPA in Poles, but of the unspecified tragedy which happened in Volyn.
A further part of the text is taken up by references to regulations, including the Constitution, which orders the Ukrainian authorities to act in these matters on the basis of national regulations, which is apparent since the Polish government has not yet signed any agreement or global agreement on the matter, which could regulate possible questions of the search and exhumation of Polish victims.
It is besides referred to as the "State Interministerial Commission for Affairs to evidence the memory of participants in counter-terrorism operations, victims of war and political repression", which is essential to agree to the exhumation of bodies from a grave discovered in Puźniki. The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture mainly writes about regulations concerning the operation of specified a commission.
The key words are in the last paragraph and, although it is simply a bit longer passus, we will quote it in its entirety so that readers can get their own opinions on this subject: “At the same time, we inform that in order to implement the cooperation agreement on the issue of national memory between the Minister of Culture and the national heritage of the Republic of Poland and the Minister of Culture and the information policy Ukraine of 1 June 2022 in Kiev and due to the continued armed aggression of the Russian Federation to Ukraine exhumation works of Polish victims will begin after the end of the three-month period after the abolition of the martial law throughout UkraineIt’s okay. ”
The Ukrainian Government so takes into account the issues of the memorandum, which was signed in June 2022 between the Ministry of Culture of Poland and Ukraine, and which was intended to consequence in the establishment of a peculiar Polish-Ukrainian working group to address delicate issues related to national memory, including the issues of exhumation and burial. Only that we are talking about a paper which is not a hard legal basis, on the basis of which we can request a worthy burial of Polish citizens murdered during planet War II.
The Ministry of Culture explains in the last conviction that exhumations will only be possible... after the end of the war and 3 months after the martial law was revoked. Let us reserve that this is not a guarantee. This is just information sent to us in consequence to questions about the possible time limit for granting consent to the exhumations in Puźniki.
At the same time, the search and exhumation work of German soldiers who died in Ukraine during planet War II continues. The German People's Association on Tombs in Ukraine, established for this purpose, not only operates on the basis of a peculiar German-Ukrainian agreement of 1996, but besides without major obstacles, operates during the ongoing war in Ukraine. In 2022 the German Union managed to bury 972 bodies of German soldiers.
When will the Polish government claim thousands of bodies of Poles lying in nameless graves?
Krzysztof Gędłek
Don't talk about the Cannons. The UPA crime victims won't be buried?
