Bobko
16 Sep 2024
History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]
As promised in the "Polish Aid to Ukraine" thread, I'm posting here the parts of the interview Radoslaw Sikorsky gave to Ukrainska Pravda, that cover the controversy around the Wolyn and Galicia massacres.
The translation is from a Ukrainian transcript, where I primarily used Google Translate, with additional minor corrections made by me.
The journalist's questions are italicized, and Sikorsky's answers are in bold.
Attaching link to the full video in English (it was conducted in English), below. Unfortunately, I could not find a ready made English transcript - so apologies for the lengthy copy-paste in lieu of a link.
1) - Finally, let's talk about history. Can we agree on a resolution to our dispute? Are we moving forward in our dialogue?
- Something really needs to happen - we need to stop playing politics on this issue.
There are painful moments in the history of every country. Every nation has done things that we are not very proud of. Here, every nation does things differently. But at the same time, it is a Christian duty to bury the dead.
I don't know how much Ukrainian society knows about what happened in Volyn. What happened was that the Ukrainian resistance of that time gave the order for an ethnic cleansing of the Polish population of Volyn. This ethnic cleansing took place due to large-scale massacres. Between 80 and 120 thousand people died, were killed.
Of course, there were Polish countermeasures. But the initiators were the Ukrainians, and the bulk of the victims were Polish residents of Volyn.
We do not want to make politics out of this. But for Poland, this is an acute political issue, because these Poles have descendants. The entire population of these territories was deported to Polish territory.
These people have relatives who vote in elections. Therefore, this is a political issue.
The victims of this massacre must be buried in a Christian manner. That is all we ask for.
2) - In Ukraine, Volyn is known. But there is another view: that this is a political dispute, although it should be dealt with by historians.
- Yes, when the victims are buried in a Christian manner, then it will be the historians' business. But first, they need to be exhumed and buried. Do you agree or not?
3) - I certainly cannot agree with the statements made in Poland that with Bandera and Shukhevych Ukraine will not become a member of the EU. History is complex, and for Ukrainians these people are heroes. Does this mean that if you stick to your position, and we stick to ours, then the road to the EU is closed for us?
- Each country has the right to its own interpretation of history.
That is why, for example, Poland and Germany created a commission to write history textbooks, in particular school textbooks, in which we and the Germans agree at least on the facts.
And the fact is that Bandera's organization - although I understand that he himself was in a concentration camp at the time - ordered the mass extermination of civilian Poles.
4) - The question is, can we get into the EU by glorifying these people?
- It is you who ask this question, not me.
And I say that you will need friends. You need them now. And you will need them in the process of joining the EU.
And we ask you to respect our dead. I do not think that is too much to ask.
As promised in the "Polish Aid to Ukraine" thread, I'm posting here the parts of the interview Radoslaw Sikorsky gave to Ukrainska Pravda, that cover the controversy around the Wolyn and Galicia massacres.
The translation is from a Ukrainian transcript, where I primarily used Google Translate, with additional minor corrections made by me.
The journalist's questions are italicized, and Sikorsky's answers are in bold.
Attaching link to the full video in English (it was conducted in English), below. Unfortunately, I could not find a ready made English transcript - so apologies for the lengthy copy-paste in lieu of a link.
1) - Finally, let's talk about history. Can we agree on a resolution to our dispute? Are we moving forward in our dialogue?
- Something really needs to happen - we need to stop playing politics on this issue.
There are painful moments in the history of every country. Every nation has done things that we are not very proud of. Here, every nation does things differently. But at the same time, it is a Christian duty to bury the dead.
I don't know how much Ukrainian society knows about what happened in Volyn. What happened was that the Ukrainian resistance of that time gave the order for an ethnic cleansing of the Polish population of Volyn. This ethnic cleansing took place due to large-scale massacres. Between 80 and 120 thousand people died, were killed.
Of course, there were Polish countermeasures. But the initiators were the Ukrainians, and the bulk of the victims were Polish residents of Volyn.
We do not want to make politics out of this. But for Poland, this is an acute political issue, because these Poles have descendants. The entire population of these territories was deported to Polish territory.
These people have relatives who vote in elections. Therefore, this is a political issue.
The victims of this massacre must be buried in a Christian manner. That is all we ask for.
2) - In Ukraine, Volyn is known. But there is another view: that this is a political dispute, although it should be dealt with by historians.
- Yes, when the victims are buried in a Christian manner, then it will be the historians' business. But first, they need to be exhumed and buried. Do you agree or not?
3) - I certainly cannot agree with the statements made in Poland that with Bandera and Shukhevych Ukraine will not become a member of the EU. History is complex, and for Ukrainians these people are heroes. Does this mean that if you stick to your position, and we stick to ours, then the road to the EU is closed for us?
- Each country has the right to its own interpretation of history.
That is why, for example, Poland and Germany created a commission to write history textbooks, in particular school textbooks, in which we and the Germans agree at least on the facts.
And the fact is that Bandera's organization - although I understand that he himself was in a concentration camp at the time - ordered the mass extermination of civilian Poles.
4) - The question is, can we get into the EU by glorifying these people?
- It is you who ask this question, not me.
And I say that you will need friends. You need them now. And you will need them in the process of joining the EU.
And we ask you to respect our dead. I do not think that is too much to ask.
