[CivilSoc] 60th Anniversary of Ukrainian Anti-Polish Pogroms Commemorated by Two Presidents

[Moderator]

[The following article was noted in the July 29 issue of (Un)Civil
Societies, RFE/RL, www.rferl.org. Excerpts are from a longer article by
Krzysztof Renik of The Warsaw Voice. See The Warsaw Voice Online,
http://www.warsawvoice.pl/index.phtml?pg=druk&a=2969.  © 2003 The Warsaw
Voice. All rights reserved.]
DEATHS OF THOUSANDS OF POLES KILLED BY UKRAINIAN NATIONALISTS IN 1943
REMEMBERED IN PAVLIVKA, UKRAINE
Pavlivka, Ukraine, July 11.  It was the first official tribute in 60 years
to the nearly 60,000 Poles murdered in Volhynia, attended by presidents of
both countries: Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland and Leonid Kuchma of
Ukraine.
Before World War II, Pavlivka was called Poryck and was located on the
territory of Poland. The town was inhabited by Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish
populations who lived in peace, as witnesses state unanimously. Poryck had
never been a site of ethnic conflict or friction. It was during the war that
tensions first appeared, leading to conflicts, accusations and hatred.
The summer of 1943 witnessed the climax of this conflict. On July 11, a
group of Ukrainian nationalists attacked Polish civilians gathered for
Sunday mass in the local church. Over 200 Polish people, chiefly women and
children, were killed in the attack. On the same day, similar assaults took
place in over 100 other towns and villages in Volhynia. The bloody summer
began. The Ukrainian nationalists, in committing the killings, wanted to
cleanse Volhynia of the Polish population; they believed that Volhynia
should become a region inhabited exclusively by Ukrainians. The crimes
committed in Volhynia led to the death of over 60,000 Poles and over 10,000
Ukrainians. Most of the Polish victims were civilians.
Until the 1990s, which marked the fall of communist rule in Central and
Eastern Europe, knowledge of these tragic developments was communicated
practically only through family and personal contacts. The Polish and Soviet
communist authorities were not interested in explaining or commemorating the
tragedy. The more so, as there had been more than just two sides involved in
the conflict: Soviet partisans and regular units of the German army were
also involved. Owing to the complexity of the situation and the unclear role
played by Soviet intelligence in creating the tragic conflict, the communist
authorities were neither interested in investigating the truth nor allowing
people to talk about it.
Thanks to the great transformation which took place in Central and Eastern
Europe in the late 80s and early 90s, Poles and Ukrainians started to
revisit that period to seek the truth about the past tragedy. The search was
supposed to result in an explanation to the roots of the bloody conflict,
the acceptance of responsibility and, finally, reconciliation between both
nations.
The July ceremonies in Pavlivka were meant not only as a tribute to the
people killed in the former town of Poryck and victims of other massacres
committed in Volhynia. They were also supposed to be an important step
toward Polish/Ukrainian reconciliation. As long as past divisions are not
overcome, the Polish-Ukrainian partnership will be exposed to difficult
tests ...
The anniversary ceremony was held on the site of the former Catholic
cemetery. The site was tidied up thanks to the efforts of the Polish Council
for the Remembrance of Struggle and Martyrdom and thanks to the friendliness
of the local authorities and residents. The exhumed remains of the people
killed in the local church on July 11, 1943, which had been buried in
different parts of Pavlivka, were interred in the cemetery.
The anniversary ceremonies started with a church service. Stanislaw
Filipowicz, a resident of former Poryck and one of the few people to survive
the pogrom, spoke after the service. His speech was the dramatic voice of a
witness, a forewarning and an appeal for reconciliation. "May the three
large crosses which I brought here from Poland be a forewarning for us so
that a tragedy like this never takes place in the future. May this historic
day be a day of tribute to truth and memory, and a call for genuine
reconciliation between Poles and Ukrainians, between both our nations."
The two presidents spoke in a similar tone, calling for historical truth,
forgiveness and reconciliation. President Leonid Kuchma said: "In this place
where Polish victims rest, on behalf of all Ukrainians who want peace and
justice, I wish to express my deep sympathy to all the wronged Poles, all
those who suffered as a result of this disaster. We issue a strong
condemnation of the violence committed against the Polish civilian
population."
President Aleksander Kwasniewski on his part remarked: "One should not blame
the Ukrainian nation for the massacre of the Polish population. There are no
culprit nations. It is always specific people who bear responsibility for
crimes and misdeeds. But it is necessary for us to express our moral protest
against the ideology which led to the "anti-Polish operation," initiated by
part of the Ukrainian Nationalist Organization and the Ukrainian Insurgent
Army. I know that these words may be painful to many. But no goal, even one
as noble as national freedom and sovereignty, can justify genocide, the
slaughter of civilian populations, violence and cruel suffering inflicted on
your neighbor."
The most important part of the ceremonies was the unveiling of the Monument
to Polish/Ukrainian Reconciliation by the two presidents and fixing to it
the Declaration on Reconciliation. The Declaration includes the following
words: "We believe that what has united Poland and Ukraine for centuries
cannot be destroyed by conflicts of the past. From this place, which has
gone down in both nations' history as a tragic chapter, we want to appeal
for the tightening of the ties which unite us, and for understanding that
anyone who tries to sever these ties acts not only against the other Nation
but also against their own Nation. Today, we are closer to the truth, closer
to each other-together in the united Europe."
However, many of the people who arrived in Pavlivka expected the Ukrainian
president to offer an apology, similar to that made several years ago by the
Polish president towards the Ukrainians who suffered as a result of the
Vistula operation, the resettlement of the Ukrainian population following
World War II. But President Kuchma did not offer an apology. Similarly, the
crosses placed in Pavlivka lack any explanation as to what happened in this
village on July 11, 1943, to why over 200 Polish people lost their lives on
that day. Does the lack of such an explanation mean that the present-day
situation and state of Polish/Ukrainian relations are not mature enough for
us to fully document the painful past? If so, then the ceremony in Pavlivka
should be regarded only as the beginning, the first step on the road towards
Polish/Ukrainian reconciliation.