Volyn: Kosiniak-Kamish about fact and reconciliation with Ukraine

On Friday marks the 82nd anniversary of the culmination of the Volyn-Galician crime, during which Ukrainian nationalists from the OUN-UPA murdered tens of thousands of Poles. On 11 July 1943, UPA troops raided almost 100 Polish towns in Volyn on a day called "a bloody Sunday". An exhibition dedicated to these tragic events was opened at the Polish Military Museum in the Warsaw Citadel. Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that the fact about genocide must be shown in order to build the future.

On Friday morning, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Head of MON Paweł Bejda, Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Piotr Zgorzelski and MPs of the PSL took part in the ceremonies at the Warsaw Citadel. During the event the exhibition "Ludbicide in Volyn and Polish self-defense 1943 - 1944" was opened.

Alina Amborska - a witness of events in Volyn - was symbolically opened. Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed the importance of this minute for the heirs of the victims.

The conflict for Historical Truth

"We have been waiting for this moment. The heirs, families, the exterminators, all those who never doubted and never lost hope that the fact - due to the fact that not revenge - for the truth, for the show, for the memory worth fighting for" - said Deputy Prime Minister. He pointed out that tens of thousands of victims and generations who bore the fact had never passed away.

The Minister of Defence stressed that he did not belong to people "putting any disagreement between Poland and Ukraine". "I want to build the future on this fact that must be shown, in respect for the past. This wound won't heal until it's cleared," he said.

Conditions for wound cleaning

The head of the MON explained that clearing the wounds meant admitting that genocide had taken place. It besides means honoring the victims and their families, setting a cross on Ukrainian land, where Polish blood is left, and exhumation and burial for the victims.

"This is our commitment to past generations - no 1 has fired us from this commitment and we must keep this commitment. I will say more - we want to keep this commitment and keep it" - said Kosiniak-Kamish.

Contemporary Polish-Ukrainian relations

The Deputy Prime Minister referring to the war in Ukraine declared that present Poland and Ukraine are on the same side. "Between friends, you should be honest, don't beat around the bush. We are and we aid Ukraine. We will aid due to the fact that it is besides in the sense of our responsibility" - he said.

Kosiniak-Kamish pointed out the tragic similarities between the past and the present. "Because if kids are dying now due to the fact that Russian bombs are flying on their nursery, kindergarten, you gotta help. due to the fact that in the same places where Polish blood of officers in Katyn flowed, blood of Ukrainian children in Bucza and in another areas" - he emphasized.

The Way to Reconciliation

Deputy talker of the Sejm Piotr Zgorzelski (PSL) quoted the words of Jan Zaleski, the father of the priest Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, who said that "Kresowian was killed twice - erstwhile with an axe, and the second time by silence and the second death is worse than the former". Zgorzelski noted, however, that these words are no longer so timely today, due to the fact that there has changed a lot about memory.

The PSL politician stressed that "the way of Ukraine to the EU leads through Volyn truth, due to the fact that only on the basis of fact can honest neighbourly relations be built". The Sejm, on the initiative of the PSL in June, adopted the Act establishing the 11th July Polish Memorial Day - victims of genocide committed by the CNS-UPA on the east Borders of the Second Republic of Poland.

Differences in historical memory

Poland and Ukraine have for many years different memories about the function of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (CNS) and Ukrainian Insurgency Army (UPA), which committed genocide cultural cleansing on about 100,000 Polish men, women and children in 1943-45. For the Polish side, this was a condemnable crime of genocide, while for Ukrainians it was a consequence of symmetrical armed conflict.

Ukrainians view CNS and UPA exclusively as anti-Soviet organizations due to their post-war opposition against the USSR, alternatively than anti-Polish. president Andrzej Duda signed a bill establishing Memorial Day in early July.

(PAP) Note: This article was edited with Artificial Intelligence.