On Friday, the Freedom and Democracy Foundation and the Ministry of abroad Affairs informed about the Ukrainian authorities' consent to search and exhumation works of Poles murdered by UPA in Ukraine.
"The Ukrainian organization formally informed us that it would be possible to search for Polish specialists in Ukraine" – Marcin Przycz, Deputy Head of the Ministry of abroad Affairs, told PAP. He added that the fact of the formal notification from Ukraine regarding the anticipation of conducting search work "is a large change in relation to how the Ukrainian authorities had previously treated this situation".
According to the Useful, it is "a step in a very good direction, which shows that consistent dialog and cooperation can lead to breaking even specified hard decisions".
"We are pleased to note this crucial gesture, which will enable exhumations and the anticipation of a worthy burial of Poles who lost their lives in Ukraine in the 20th century, including during the Volynian Reich," said the Deputy Head of the Ministry of abroad Affairs.
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He recalled that “in this hard time Ukraine can number on all the support of Poland – humanitarian, financial and military”. "We have made any advancement besides in these hard historical matters," the Deputy Minister stressed.
The Freedom and Democracy Foundation, which informed on its Facebook profile that on 2 November it obtained approval from the Ukrainian authorities to begin archaeological and exploration works of the graves of Poles murdered by the UPA branch in February 1945 in Puźniki, Podolu, in the erstwhile Tarnopolskie Voivodeship.
"We thank the Ukrainian authorities for this crucial decision and all the Polish representatives, in peculiar the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, who took steps to let the search and exhumation of our fellow countrymen, whose remains lie within Ukraine," the foundation donated.
The agreement of the Ukrainian authorities concerns each organisation acting in this area and will be issued individually.
"The note, which went to the Ministry of abroad Affairs, shows the conditions under which the Ukrainian side can grant specified consents. These are, among others, legal conditions. It shows that if search organisations or institutions follow the conditions of Ukrainian law, specified consents will be issued. (...) The aim is that this should be done not only for the cognition of Ukrainian search and exhumation specialists, but besides for their involvement," said the Deputy Minister.
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Volynska massacre
Since the beginning of 1943, Ukrainian nationalists have been killing and expelling Poles from their homes. Around 100,000 Poles died in Volyn and in east Galicia. The perpetrators of the Volynian Crimes were the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – the faction of Stepan Bandera and the subordinate Ukrainian Pows dancing Army. OUN-UPA called its activities "anti-Polish action". This word concealed the intention to execution and expel Poles. The word “Wołyńsk Crime” refers not only to mass murders carried out in the area of Wołyń, or the erstwhile Volynsk Voivodeship, but besides in the Lwów, Tarnopolski and Stanisławów Voivodeships (Eastern Galicia), as well as in the Lublin and Polesian provinces.
Since spring 2017, Ukrainian authorities have banned the search and exhumation of the remains of Polish victims of wars and conflicts in Ukraine. The ban was issued after the removal of the UPA monument in Hruszowice, Podkarpacie in April 2017. The conflict deepened in 2018 erstwhile the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory accused Polish archaeologists of incorrectly searching for remains of UPA members buried in the cemetery in Hruszowice.
Ukrainians about Poles
According to a study by the Juliusz Mieroszewski Centre of dialog entitled “Poland and Poles with Ukrainian eyes”, 73 percent of Ukrainians admit that their opinion about Poles has changed for the better since the outbreak of the war with Russia. In total, 83% of Ukrainian society has a affirmative opinion about Poles, including 46 percent – very good. 15% declare neutral attitude. Ukrainians consider Poles mainly to be “neighbors” (54%), “souls” (52%), and “friends” (49%).
Dr. Łukasz Adamski, Deputy manager of the Juliusz Mieroszewski Centre for Dialogue, said in an interview with Interia that the Russian-Ukrainian War "brings tremendous emotions" which you can see. According to him, "this absolute Ukrainian consensus, erstwhile it comes to sympathy for Poland (...) shows that even the most skeptical and mistrustful Ukrainians felt it was time to change their minds about us". However, he said that "this poll will measurement the moods of the minute which may later cool off a bit."
The survey by Ukrainians asked how they viewed the future of relations between Poland and Ukraine. 29 percent of them support the concept of "something in the form of a federation" of Polish-Ukrainian, that is, "a strong community... in which countries agree on abroad policy, the border is only symbolic, and citizens have full freedom of movement and work in both countries". A akin percent of respondents advocate an option of a close alliance in which Poland and Ukraine would consult their policies and the crossing of the border between both countries would be importantly improved. 40% of Ukrainians would like a good neighbourhood, i.e. friendly relations, as well as a simplification of border crossings, but without having to agree or consult their policies. At the same time, little than 60% support cooperation, in which Poland and Ukraine would consult their abroad policy.
At the same time, the survey revealed the advanced ignorance of Ukrainians in the most delicate in common relations of the issue of genocide in Volyn. Almost half of Ukrainians (42%) say they have no opinion on the Volyn massacre. Only 14 percent chose during the survey a consequence that points to Ukrainian side's fault. On the another hand, 8 percent say that it was “the war of the Polish underground against Ukrainians who had to defend themselves”, i.e. that it was the responsibility of the Polish side. The remaining 36% of Ukrainian society believes that the responsibility was on both sides. According to the 27% Ukrainians, the Volyn massacre was the consequence of the “war of the Polish and Ukrainian undergrounds, whose victims were civilians on both sides”. 9% say that these were "the common murders of Polish and Ukrainian peasants".
"This shows how much more there is to be done on this issue and that Volyn's subject must be worked. nevertheless to explain this, the results of this question are not comforting" - emphasised Deputy manager of the Juliusz Mieroszewski Centre of Dialogue.
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