UWC statement on recent efforts by presidents of Ukraine and Poland (05/25/03)

UWC statement on recent efforts by presidents of Ukraine and Poland

The recent joint statement by Ukraine's and Poland's presidents on mutual cooperation, good neighborliness and the historical record, while seemingly of some benefit on practical contemporary issues, is not even-handed in its evaluation of the historical record and harmful to current and future Ukrainian-Polish relations. Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma acquiesced in rewriting Ukrainian-Polish history for the sake of political expediency. Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski seemingly took advantage of his counterpart's current weakened international position.

Ukraine and Poland today find themselves in a position of mutual need. Poland needs a democratic Ukraine as a buffer against Russian expansionism, while Ukraine needs Poland as a conduit to Western integration. Clearly, today's Poland has the upper hand in this symbiotic relationship, since it is developing democratic and free-market institutions more expeditiously and has been accepted for Western integration. Nevertheless, the subject of Ukrainian-Polish history is so thorny that addressing it is a political landmine, more so, if only one tragic incident is considered in isolation from the broader historical context.

Normally, apologies are helpful in healing old wounds and cathartic for inveterate guilt. The subject of wartime excesses in Volyn in 1943-1944 by Ukrainian partisans against Polish civilians is unique in terms of Ukrainian guilt against the Poles. Still, even this tragedy requires more than Polish eyewitness memoirs. It must be assessed by scholars within a wartime milieu and with recognition of its reciprocal character - consider the excesses of Polish partisans and Polish Nazi and Soviet collaborators against Ukrainian civilians.

Unfortunately, Ukrainian-Polish relations are replete with tragedies involving Polish guilt against Ukrainians. In all instances Poland was the invader and Ukraine the victim. Even Volyn represents Ukrainian land forcibly occupied and settled by Poles pursuant to government policy. This does not justify the killing of civilians, and Ukrainians should apologize for their transgressions. Still Ukraine's apology should be preceded by a litany of apologies from the Polish side dealing with events as far back as the 14th century and culminating with the forcible dislocation of Ukrainians in Poland in 1947 from their ancestral lands (Akcja Wisla) and the discriminatory policies of Poland towards its own Ukrainian community after the dislocation - and as recently as the 1980s.

The leaders of today's Ukraine and Poland - and this includes not only the two presidents but other government leaders and even opposition figures - would do well to foster better relations between their peoples by carefully and objectively examining their history or, perhaps, acknowledging that they are incapable of objectivity and addressing only contemporary issues, recognizing the significance of political expediency. Ukrainians and Poles are neighbors with mutual interests, but a difficult past. A long-term period of genuine cooperation and mutual assistance is necessary to forge a real friendship.

For the Ukrainian World Congress:
Askold S. Lozynskyj, president
Victor Pedenko, secretary general

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