Polish Sejm urges Kyiv to admit guilt in Volyn massacre

Monument to the victims of the Volyn Massacre, Gdansk, Poland. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

On July 11, the Polish Parliament declared that the Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation, which representatives of both peoples have been building for years, should also include an admission of guilt and perpetuation of the memory of the victims of World War II. This is stated in the resolution published on the website of the Sejm.

“On July 11, 1943, Bloody Sunday took place in Volhynia – the culmination of the Volyn massacre, a genocide planned by the leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) with the aim of destroying the Poles in the southeastern border area, in the regions of Polissya, Lublin and Subcarpathia. On this day, Ukrainian detachments under the banner of the OUN and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), often with the support of the Ukrainian civilian population, attacked 99 villages of the former Volyn Voivodeship, inhabited by Poles, and killed a significant part of their inhabitants,” the text of the document adopted by the chamber says.

“The Sejm of the Republic of Poland seeks to honor the memory of all the victims of the Volyn massacre. Special recognition deserves those representatives of the Ukrainian people who, risking their lives, opposed the crime committed by their compatriots,” the adopted document says.

“Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation, which has been built for many years by representatives of both nations, should also include the recognition of guilt and the perpetuation of the victims of the Second World War,” the Sejm stressed.

“Today, in the face of brutal Russian aggression against Ukraine, when the Ukrainian people themselves are experiencing the crimes committed by the occupiers, it becomes utterly clear and relevant that violence and rape are not the right way to shape relations between neighbors,” the resolution says.

As the UOJ reported, in Warsaw, the head of the UGCC, S. Shevchuk, and the head of the Catholics of Poland, S. Gondetsky, signed the “Statement of Forgiveness and Reconciliation between the Polish and Ukrainian Peoples,” dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Volyn Massacre. One of the leaders of Svoboda, Iryna Farion, accused Shevchuk of surrendering national interests because of his position on this issue.

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