They say that a country’s level of civilization is determined by its attitude towards its diaspora. Judging by this indicator, Poland had already joined the community of civilized states. At least, Polish residents in Ukraine do not suffer from luck of attention from their historical motherland.
This was also confirmed by the traditional days of Polish culture which were held in Rivne oblast. Leading groups from Poland performed for less than numerous local Polish audiences. Our neighboring country’s official representatives brought valuable gifts to the local Polish cultural community, and the community’s head, Yanina Dolhikh, was even awarded a medal by the Polish parliament.
A prominent Polish politician, Senator Tadeusz KOVASZ, was present at the days of Polish Culture. In an interview with The Day he said, “We support the cultural communities in your country and try to give the Poles living in Ukraine an opportunity to be included in their historical mother country’s cultural life. At the same time, we understand that today the state of your country’s economy is very complicated, and this is why our Senate directs some costs to support our diaspora. We are building schools in Ukraine. But while in Poland citizens of Ukrainian origin have an opportunity to study in their native language, and schools for them are built at state cost, here in Ukraine they say that we must build our schools on our own. Thus there is a disproportion on this issue. As regards the emigration of the ethnic Ukrainians from Poland to Ukraine and vice versa, I don’t know any cases of Polish Ukrainians wanting to return to their historical motherland. As to the repatriation of the Poles from the former Soviet states, such a problem exists. During last year alone 5000 persons moved to Poland for permanent residence. The total of those wishing to do so is estimated at about 100,000. This problem was seriously discussed in our parliament, and we reached the consensus that all ethnic Poles who for one or another reason live abroad have the right to come to Poland. However, the state assists only those families who need it most. This factor restricts emigration to some extent. Most seriously this problem applies to those Poles who live in Kazakhstan.”
On the whole, analyzing the politics of the Polish state towards its diaspora in Rivne which is third in terms of number in the region (according to the official data, there are about 3,000 ethnic Poles in this oblast), the emphatic loyalty of Polish representatives to Ukrainian authorities, and their unwillingness to aggravate the issue by recalling past conflicts are obvious. Local Poles are urged to be good citizens of Ukraine. This kind of policy brings some results, and one cannot speak of any serious disagreement between Ukrainians and Poles in Rivne oblast. The Catholic churches which had traditionally been centers of Polish cultural life are functioning there without constraint, and there are no obstacles to organizing various cultural events.
