President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski gave a surprising interview to local TV channel TVN24. In it, Komorowski touched upon de-communization laws, passed by the Verkhovna Rada earlier in April. In particular, he said that the law recognizing the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA) soldiers as 20th century fighters for the independence of Ukraine “complicates the historic Polish-Ukrainian dialog.” “Without dialog, there is no way to reconcile Poland and Ukraine. We still have a lot of work before us in our relations with Ukraine,” Komorowski stressed. Meanwhile, he added that regarding the two countries’ bilateral relations, “we need to look for a positive solution as well, instead of striking a negative pose.”
Why did the president of Ukraine-friendly Poland make such a statement? Piotr Koscinski, an expert at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, believes that Ukrainians and Poles have been failing to sustain enough of a dialog on this topic. “In Poland, the public does not understand why Ukraine has passed such a law and why the UIA soldiers, whom we perceive negatively, are considered heroes by Ukrainians. In my opinion, however, this law is not aimed at Poland, but rather at the period when Ukraine was part of the USSR,” the Polish expert said.
According to Koscinski, Ukraine needs to explain to Poles why Ukrainians see the UIA soldiers as heroes, while Poland needs to explain to Ukrainians why Poles perceive them negatively. “It will not be easy, but we need to find a common ground,” Koscinski summed up.
Head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Volodymyr Viatrovych said that it was obvious that the interviewer literally forced Komorowski to make a statement on the UIA. “He tried to move away from the topic, but given that Poland is on the cusp of presidential election, he said the words likely to please his voters,” the historian said.
Viatrovych is convinced that recognition of the UIA soldiers as fighters for the independence of Ukraine will “in no way impede dialog between Ukrainians and Poles.” “Current relations between Ukraine and Poland offer a perfect example that reconciliation is possible. Only fringe forces in both countries want the opposite to happen,” Viatrovych added.
“Moreover, I believe that these newly-passed laws will help Ukrainians to get rid of the remnants of Soviet myths. One of these laws will allow not only Ukrainian, but Polish researchers as well to work with archives of the KGB,” the expert continued.
According to the Ukrainian historian, quarrels between Ukraine and Poland benefit Russia, which, following in the USSR’s steps, acts as a “third party” in the dialog between the two nations.
“The only way to prevent this kind of disinformation spreading is via discussions, professional research, and open access to information. We must nurture critical thinking in the public so that it compares the sources and withstands provocations,” Viatrovych added.
He believes that the dialog between Ukraine and Poland may even grow stronger with de-communization. Moreover, the historian added that Ukrainians would benefit from studying the experience of Poland, which has gone through similar processes. “Having got rid of various communist myths, we will get to the historical facts which lend themselves to a serious and thorough discussion. We have already initiated a dialog with our Polish partners, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance. Its representative will visit Ukraine soon. We are establishing a bilateral group of historians who will deal with Ukrainian-Polish relations, including the Polish-Ukrainian conflict during the World War Two,” Viatrovych said.
