Polish Sejm adopts resolution on Volyn tragedy: reconciliation must include admission of guilt

The Polish Sejm passed a resolution on Tuesday 11 July to commemorate the victims of the Volyn tragedy on its 80th anniversary, stating that Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation should include "an admission of guilt and commemoration of the victims". [The Volyn (Volhynia) tragedy was a series of events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish and Ukrainian populations in 1943 during World War II. It was part of a long-standing rivalry between Ukrainians and Poles in what is now Ukraine's west. Poland considers the Volyn tragedy a genocide of Poles - ed.]

Source: Onet; European Pravda

Details: The vote was attended by 440 MPs, all of whom voted in favour. 

The resolution recalls the events of 11 July 1943 in Volyn when, according to the resolution, "Bloody Sunday took place, the culmination of the Volyn tragedy", which the Polish MPs refer to as a genocide. 

The resolution emphasises that "on that day, Ukrainian units of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), frequently supported by Ukrainian civilians, attacked 99 villages inhabited by Poles in the former Volyn Voivodeship and killed a significant part of their population".

The resolution states that since 2016, 11 July has been marked as the National Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Genocide, on which "more than 100,000 Poles were killed –  often in a very brutal manner".

"The Sejm of the Republic of Poland would like to honour the memory of all the victims of the Volyn tragedy. Those representatives of the Ukrainian nation who, risking their lives, opposed the crime committed by their compatriots, deserve special recognition," the document also says.

The resolution stresses that "Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation, built up over years by the representatives of both nations, must also include an admission of guilt and the commemoration of the victims of World War II". 

"It is essential that exhumations be carried out, so that all the victims of the genocide in the Eastern Borderlands can be buried in dignity and commemorated," the resolution says.

Background: This Sunday, on 9 July, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish President Andrzej Duda visited Lutsk to jointly commemorate the victims of the Volyn tragedy.

For more on whether the anniversary of the tragedy will harm relations between Ukraine and Poland, read Yurii Panchenko's column An unsettling anniversary: when will the history of the Volyn tragedy no longer divide Ukraine and Poland?

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