Polish parliamentarians lacked the courage to use this word. It was replaced with “ethnic cleansing bearing the hallmarks of genocide.” Once again, the truth about the terrible massacre of Poles in the Eastern Borderlands was left unspoken.
Of course, all kinds of resolutions have only symbolic significance. Personally, I believe that one should not provoke unnecessarily or seek conflict. Let us remember, however, that the truth will not defend itself.
Today I will try to answer an important question. Is Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation possible? And what stands in its way? I will try to point out to you the distortions concerning the Volhynia massacre that we Poles continue to repeat.
The cornerstone of our discussion is the film “Volhynia,” made not long ago and directed by Wojciech Smarzowski. A difficult, highly controversial film. A picture that appealed not only to Ukrainians, but also… to Poles.
I had been waiting a long time for “Volhynia.” At first, the film disappointed me somewhat. In the media, it was described as saturated with blood and violence. Indeed, there was plenty of it, but the media created an entirely different impression of the film. The first 20 minutes showed the traditions and folklore of old Volhynia perfectly. That is a major advantage. Thanks to this, the viewer does not focus solely on death. The director shows the true relations between Poles and Ukrainians. And they were not so bad…
I do not want to reveal the plot in detail here. I think it is worth watching the film and forming your own opinion.
The commotion surrounding the film has gradually died down. This is a good time to assess it and its contribution to reconstructing true historical events. For obvious reasons, the film did not become popular in Ukraine. To Ukrainians, it is biased, anti-Ukrainian and distorted. One Ukrainian wrote on a social networking site: “I am bursting with pride for my homeland. We slaughtered the Poles, and we will slaughter the Muscovites too” (according to www.kresy.pl). There are, of course, more comments like this. This is one of the few milder examples. Such a reaction is hardly surprising. Surely no one expected the director to receive a medal in Ukraine.
According to our eastern neighbours, the film is anti-Ukrainian. And what else could it be? If we watch any war film depicting the Third Reich, no one certainly presents the Nazis’ actions in a glorifying manner. That is obvious. Even the most moving cinematic works, such as “Downfall” (directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel), in which Adolf Hitler is a poor, mentally exhausted old man, or “Valkyrie” (directed by Bryan Singer). In the latter, the main character tries to overthrow the Führer, but that does not mean that he has a friendly attitude toward Poles. Quite the contrary. Both examples prove that one cannot escape from evil that has been committed. Not even in a film.
Thus, to sum up, “Volhynia” is anti-Ukrainian, or more precisely, anti-Banderist. It has to be. Otherwise, making this film would lose its meaning.
The negative opinions of our compatriots are surprising, however. I was personally shocked by the misguided review in “Kultura Liberalna.” According to the journalists, “Volhynia” is too saturated with violence. One bloody scene follows another. The basis of Wojtek Smarzowski’s film is “the banality of cruelty, and it drives the entire plot.” I have the impression that the editors (who are, incidentally, academics) watched an entirely different film. Anyone with even a fragmentary knowledge of the Volhynia massacre knows perfectly well that it involved horrific cruelty. Genocide took place in Volhynia, and it was reconstructed in a realistic and graphic manner. It is difficult to depict war without war…
“Kultura Liberalna” also failed to avoid repeating falsehoods. In an article entitled “Volhynia. The Kitsch of Evil,” the editors incorrectly describe events that took place on the Polish-Ukrainian borderlands. I quickly consult a pre-war map of Poland. I see no borderlands here. The term “Polish-Ukrainian borderlands” is incorrect. Until 1939, Volhynia lay within Poland’s borders. It was an integral part of the country. Beyond the Zbruch River there was indeed a Ukrainian Soviet republic (the Ukrainian SSR), but it was a puppet state and an integral part of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian genocide took place on Polish lands.
Ukrainians predominated in Volhynian Voivodeship, while Poles constituted a minority. The population ratio depended on the place of residence. According to the “Little Statistical Yearbook” of 1939, Poles accounted for 16.6% of the total population of Volhynia, while 68% of the population spoke Ukrainian. The remainder consisted of Russians, Germans and Jews. As many as 75% of Ukrainians lived in the countryside. They were mainly illiterate peasants. The statistical yearbook does not provide precise data on the degree of illiteracy in individual voivodeships. It generalizes the figures, referring to the eastern voivodeships, where the highest proportion of people unable to read and write lived. Children aged 10–14 accounted for 71% of all illiterate people.
The remaining age groups:
- 20–24 – 55.6%
- 30–39 – 59%
- 40–46 – 67%.
The illiterate population was not classified by ethnic groups. Let us remember, however, that Ukrainians constituted a decisive majority. I mention this because it is a very important issue. The level of education played an enormous role here. An uneducated society is easier to manipulate and incite to crime. In Volhynia, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church called for the extermination of the Polish population.
Another frequent distortion is the claim that there was a Polish-Ukrainian war during the Second World War. It is difficult, however, to speak of an armed conflict when one side is organized militarily and the other clearly is not. The figures themselves provide the best evidence. Approximately 100,000 Poles were killed by the UPA and Ukrainian peasants. In retaliation, Poles murdered 15,000 Ukrainians. Both figures represent immense suffering for both nations.
In our country, there is a belief that in Western Europe the genocide in Volhynia is an unknown fact of Polish history. It may be little-known, but it is nevertheless known. Stefan Bandera, the leader of the Ukrainian nationalists, spent most of the wartime turmoil in Germany. There he was active and collaborated with the Nazis. As early as 1948, the German secret services began cooperating with Bandera. He even received personal protection consisting of former SS men. British and Italian intelligence also cooperated with Bandera. He trained, among others, British agents who were sent into the USSR. The British cooperated with the OUN leader despite the fact that he was a terrorist and murderer. They were fascinated by his patriotic struggle. It is a pity that this patriotism was paid for so heavily with Polish blood.
So is there any glimmer of hope for Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation? Yes, but the road to it is long and winding. Ukrainians have not yet apologized for this crime. The cult of Bandera and the UPA is still strongly maintained in Ukraine. Ukrainians need this myth to consolidate their state. They forget, however, about the crimes that the UPA also committed against Ukrainians.
Regarding the genocide in the territory of former Galicia, it is worth listening to those who study the history of the Eastern Borderlands. One of them is Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski. A Polish clergyman of the Armenian and Latin rites and a church historian. I decided to ask Father Zaleski whether Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation is possible at all. The clergyman points to several important facts that should be remembered when considering Polish-Ukrainian relations. Above all, various historical events, such as the defence of Lviv by the Lviv Eaglets in 1918, the Treaty of Riga, Operation Vistula and the collapse of the USSR, do not divide Poles and Ukrainians as deeply as the Banderist massacre in Volhynia and Eastern Lesser Poland. Poles have a friendly attitude toward the Ukrainian nation. Many of us have friends and relatives in Ukraine. The culture of our eastern neighbours fascinates many people. Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski quotes, among other things, the words of an elderly woman who, as a 10-year-old girl, survived a Banderist pogrom near Ternopil: “So that the Banderists would stop lying, so that they would let us bury the bones of our people, so that they would let us put crosses on the graves” [Ks. T. Isakowicz-Zaleski, Bez prawdy nie ma pojednania, Kraków 2014].
Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski:
Half-truths, silence and even lies prevail [...]. A considerable part of historians, including some Ukrainian historians (such as the late Wiktor Poliszczuk), use the terminology of the lawyer Raphael Lemkin […]. He (Lemkin) states that it was genocide. The same as the extermination of Armenians in 1915 or the Holocaust of the Jews.
According to the priest, reconciliation between our Slavic nations is possible. It should, however, take place at the political and ecclesiastical levels. Both politicians and clergy must actively engage in the process of forgiving wrongs and follow the example of local communities that are gradually moving in that direction.
Developing a common Polish-Ukrainian historical assessment of the Volhynia massacre is extremely difficult. Each nation views its history entirely differently. For many Ukrainians, including those gathered around the nationalist Svoboda party, it was we Poles who played the role of occupiers. Our eastern neighbours, however, forget a very important matter. An independent Ukrainian state did not emerge after the First World War. It is true that the Ukrainian People’s Republic was established with Symon Petliura at its head, but it did not stand the test of time. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was also created, and Poles recognized it under pressure from the Russians. The actual partition of Ukrainian territory took place. The western part remained within the borders of the Second Polish Republic. The eastern part became a Ukrainian Soviet republic. A similar fate befell the Belarusians, although they did not show such a strong desire to establish sovereign statehood.
One must look objectively at the Ukrainian question, for example in 1921 (the Treaty of Riga, which established the eastern border of the Second Polish Republic). We are not without fault. In reality, we abandoned our Ukrainian ally—40,000 Ukrainian troops supporting the fight against the Bolsheviks. We handed over a significant part of Ukraine and Belarus to Soviet hands. Western states accepted this fully. No one was interested in the Ukrainian question. This was especially remembered by us. It was also one of numerous factors that contributed to strong nationalist, anti-Polish armed uprisings.
This must in no way be interpreted as a justification of the criminal actions of the OUN and UPA. Let us remember that the genocide in the Eastern Borderlands was mainly the work of Banderists, and that there were also people among the Ukrainian nation who were not indifferent to human suffering.
Paweł Skiersinis
The author is a blogger and history enthusiast, particularly interested in the history of Lower Silesia and Poland. Why Lower Silesia? As he himself says: “Why not?” The most interesting history is the history around us, concerning us and our ancestors.
He adds: “I try to present history from a different perspective, in an interesting way, not in the typical textbook style, full of dry dates and facts. My articles concern facts that we will not find in textbooks and well-known publications. The history of Lower Silesia is undoubtedly interesting and fascinating, so it is sometimes worth devoting at least a brief moment to it.”