LUTSK – This book has another title: Ukraintsi – poliaky: braty/vorohy, susidy... (“Ukrainians and Poles: Brothers/Enemies, Neighbors...”). And this part of it made the main theme for debate at the forum. Although its participants were anxious to discuss the prospects of Ukraine’s integration into Europe’s economic and political space and, according to the forum’s Ukrainian co-chair Anatolii Kinakh, MP, “this process has become irreversible and strategic for our state in the long-term perspective,” the meeting was held in Volyn oblast, and it left its trace on the tone and themes of debates. Still, there was one key issue, which aroused the most emotions: “Operation Vistula, the Volhynian tragedy: common memory of the past legacy as a factor in the rapprochement of nations in the united Europe.”
Well, this is at least natural. Even now the work on the memorial of the victims of ethnic conflicts is under way on the site of the former village of Ostrivky, Liuboml raion. This work is financed by Poles, while Ukrainians have been waiting for a formal inauguration of a similar (and already built) memorial in Sahryn for years, all to no avail. The definition from The Day’s book, “brothers/enemies, neighbors,” touches both Volhynians and their close neighbors, Poles, to the quick. From the commentaries below you can see how the discussion of this issue and The Day’s book went.
Valerii SOLDATENKO, director, Ukrainian Institute of National Memory:
“It will take a lot of effort to persuade both Poles and Ukrainians that further confrontation leads us to nowhere. Appealing to the past is a convincing historical argument: we cannot and may not allow this tragedy to repeat itself in the future. However, we still have too few books like this one, Wars and Peace, published by The Day. Quite recently I was presented with a book, where various authors from all over Europe cover the problems of Ukraine-Poland confrontation in the 1940s – but they are very biased. Surprisingly, this book was sponsored by the Ukrainian parliament.
“What attracts me most in the book from The Day’s Library is the scope of authors, for there exist three views on this problem: one justifies the Poles, another likewise justifies the Ukrainians, and the third attempts at an analysis and a compromise approach to these complex problems. In its book The Day represents not only the Ukrainian view, as it gives the floor to Polish authors and to the moderate wing of authors, which is crucial for the solution of this problem. Each of the parties tries to overstate its casualties, understating the victims on the other side. I think it is necessary to emphasize that the differences here can only be overcome on firm and fundamental grounds of strict, consistent scientific principles. We have not even started to examine Russian and German archives on this matter, which still have a lot of discoveries in stock.”
Maciej DACEWICZ, director, international relations department, the Defense Council of Memory and Martyrdom:
“It is no easy task to restore the victims’ names just at one village of Ostrivky, since people were dying in the woods, or in their own homes. However, over the recent two years of our cooperation with Volhynia we have noted a perceptible progress in what concerns the development and studying of this theme. Both parties have a better comprehension of what happened in the past. As far as we are concerned, I think we are really making a lot of concessions, although many Poles do not agree, because they come from Volhynia, and their family are buried here. Yet after numerous arguments they are inclined to mutual concessions. It is important that it is ordinary people who arrive at this mutual understanding, and they take part in commemorating the victims. The good thing is that politics does not play a great role in their views, they can get together for a quiet discussion of the problems of our former confrontation. Next year we will be marking the 70th anniversary of the Volhynian tragedy, and by that time we have to complete the memorial in Ostrivky. I hope that we will arrive at this date without conflict, because the Polish side, too, always assists Ukrainian institution in restoring the people’s memory.”
Adam EBERHARDT, political scientist, deputy director, Center for Eastern Studies (Warsaw):
“The problems of historical memory are very complex, and it is very important that we have a communication because it is necessary to talk, exchange ideas, and get your own message across. It is absolutely necessary to listen to each other and find solutions, acceptable for both Poles and Ukrainians. From the Polish viewpoint, the problem of the Volhynian tragedy is very sensitive, it is an important element in Poland’s domestic policy and it can also influence our countries’ mutual relations. But we must use the maps of our common tragic history in order to build a dialog, rather than use history as an element of conflict and confrontation. I believe that over the recent two decades of Polish-Ukrainian history, many steps have been made to meet Ukraine. We are happy with its European Union aspirations and support them. Among Polish politicians and broad social circles such support for Ukraine is considered even more important than history. But we cannot forget history either. The only problem is that Ukrainians, too, would hear the Polish view concerning this history. Is Ukrainian society prepared to look at the Volhynian tragedy through the Polish eye, that is the question. I would like to read Wars and Peace in Polish, because among the authors I can see a lot of respectable names.”
Mykola ZHULYNSKY, academician, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; director, Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature at the NASU:
“At a certain point in time I had the honor and an opportunity to prepare a joint statement of our respective parliaments, which was passed on July 10, 2003. It was the statement on the 60th anniversary of the so-called Volhynian tragedy. I believe that the tone and contents of this statement do us credit. All the problems like death toll, and the reasons and circumstances of that horrendous conflict, should be left for historians to study, because it is our past which we cannot deny. But we must do our best to instill understanding and concord between our nations, and I think we are going the right way. There can be no justification for one nation’s violence and terror against another. The Ukrainians acknowledge this. I have a moral right to talk about it, because I was a baby when our Volhynian village was decimated in an ethnic purge, and I only survived due to a noble gesture of some Polish people who had warned my father. And my mother also told me that UPA fighters would also come from the woods and tell her to warn her Polish neighbors because trouble was coming.
“We both have a lot of things to consider, Poles and Ukrainians alike. Wars and Peace is good help in these reflections. Ukrainians will find it interesting first of all because it brings up problems which can be obscure for an ordinary citizen, and expounds the causes of many events in our common history. I think The Day is doing what, sadly, no other printed media in Ukraine does: it is shaping national identity by the regular and systematic publishing of articles on a wide range of issues, and printing books on those issues. Moreover, it is important that young people are involved in this process. In my view, Den’s Summer School of Journalism plays an important role here. It is clear that the formation of national elite, an important mission that The Day has undertaken, is no easy matter. Due to Wars and Peace we can infer that there still is a lot to learn about Polish-Ukrainian relations, and a lot of conclusions to draw. We should not idealize Poles because they, too, are responsible for catastrophic conflicts between our nations. But Shevchenko wrote: ‘You are boasting about having ruined Poland in the past! Right you are: Poland did fall, and in doing so, it crashed you.’”
The participants of the Ukraine-Poland forum also discussed the political situation in Poland and Ukraine, the conditions and prospects of Ukraine-Poland cooperation in secondary and higher education, and the problems learning the Polish language in Ukraine and Ukrainian in Poland. Professor Ihor Kotsan, president of Lesia Ukrainka Volyn National University, presented the concept of the Eastern European University and a campus on the basis of the school he is now leading.
In concluding the forum, Kinakh supported the proposals to hold a serious Ukraine-Poland historiographical forum and honor the people who showed examples of high moral standards in the ethnic conflict, just as Israel honors the people who rescued Jews in the World War II. There were a lot of such Righteous among the Nations both on the Polish and Ukrainian side.
