Grzegorz Braun on September 10 published a recording on which he hits the UPA monument in Białystok close Hrubieszów with a hammer. The Ukrainian Ministry of abroad Affairs replied that the Polish politician has taken up "the fight against graves". The dispute concerns the burial site of 41 UPA members and shows the price of the long-term deficiency of firm, legally structured policy of memory of the Polish state.
Ukrainian Ministry corresponds to Braun
The Ukrainian Ministry of abroad Affairs reacted to the movie published by Grzegorz Braun. The Ministry stated that the representatives of the political margin in Poland were engaged in the fight against graves. This is simply a consequence to the recording on which the Euro MP, along with the man accompanying him, hits the granite obelisk at the Białystok ceremony, in the municipality of Dołhobycz.
Braun says in the video that the object should be removed utilizing professional tools. An earlier account of the National diary describes the recording itself and the police activities initiated. At the time of the preparation of this material, no information was provided on the presentation of any charges related to the action recorded on the film. Legal evaluation belongs to law enforcement authorities and courts.
Mogila, monument and unregulated status
Obelisk stands at the burial site of 41 members of the Ukrainian Insurgency Armywho died in February 1946 in a fight against the NKVD squad. The first commemoration was most likely there from 1996 to 1997, and the current granite boulder with surnames was placed in 2019. The Lublin Provincial Office reported that the grave is not in the records of graves and war cemeteries led by the voivode.
The object has been damaged before. Police were conducting proceedings following the demolition of the inscriptions, and during a prior examination, among another things, a paint can and a fragment of the cut arch was secured. We wrote about the erstwhile harm to the monument close Hrubieszow on 7 September.
These facts request to be separated. The protection of human remains and burial sites is the work of a civilized state. A separate substance remains the legality, content and form of commemoration of a formation charged with crimes in Poles. The failure of Polish institutions to resolve this issue created a space for further voluntary actions and diplomatic accusations.
UPA cannot be extracted from Polish memory
Kiev has the right to request respect for the grave. However, there is no right to bring Polish opposition to the worship of UPA to the alleged obsession with the political margin. For Poles the abbreviation UPA involves genocide in Volyn and east Małopolska. Bloody Sunday of July 11, 1943 remains the central symbol of this crime. This fact must not be blurred with an anti-Soviet card of Ukrainian underground history.
At the same time, there is no reason to attribute 41 people buried under the Foxes to individual participation in circumstantial murders in Poles. The Polish State should find the position of the grave, the legal basis for setting the obelisk and the compatibility of its content with Polish law and historical truth. If commemoration violates the law, it should be amended or deleted by decision of the competent authority. The hammer policy is not a state procedure.
Poland needs politics, not replacement gestures
Braun's action focuses on a spectacular gesture, not on the work of the Polish authorities. It's convenient for Kiev. The Ukrainian MFA can talk about graves and skip the major problem: the state and public glorification of UPA hurts the memory of Polish victims and poisons relations between nations.
The stakes for Poland are specific. It is about the right to defend your own historical memory, the effectiveness of Polish institutions and the ability to conduct a hard policy towards your neighbour without self-righteousness and without cultural hostility. Warsaw must yet settle specified matters itself. Otherwise, the hammer will replace the state, and another diplomats will impose on Poles the language of talking about their own victims.
Source: Interia Events, Weekly Chronicle, One for PAP
Source: Interia Events
