“We cannot accept that we, Poles, are being denied the right to bury the victims of the Volhynia genocide. They are not calling for revenge — they are calling for a cross, a grave, and remembrance. And as the future President of Poland, I am obliged to speak with their voice. No one has released me from that duty,” said President-elect Karol Nawrocki yesterday, during the 82nd anniversary commemorations of the Volhynia Massacre.
The commemorations took place yesterday at the site of the emerging Museum of Remembrance for the Victims of the Volhynia Massacre in Chełm, with the participation of the President of the Institute of National Remembrance and President-elect Karol Nawrocki.
“The crime of the Volhynia genocide remains part of our national and collective Polish consciousness — even today, in the 21st century — because many wounds have yet to heal, and many families still suffer the trauma of what happened 82 years ago. It was a cruel crime. Cruel from the very beginning,” Nawrocki said at the outset.
He reminded that Ukrainian nationalists used brutal methods to murder Poles simply because they were Polish.
“As a result of this cruelty, around 120,000 of our compatriots lost their lives. 1,500 towns and villages vanished from the map. One such village illustrates the scale of this brutality — though this scale repeated itself across many places — Aleksandrówka, where 94 victims were murdered, 25 of whom were children, from infants just four months old to teenagers aged fourteen, all killed in brutal ways,” he said.
“This crime is embedded in our national and collective memory. It pains us deeply because it was a crime committed by neighbors — against people who had lived side by side for decades. It was a premeditated crime, and also a looting crime,” he emphasized.
“Yes, we Poles have the right to remember the Volhynia genocide — regardless of changing times and circumstances — and we will remember. Because, my dear friends, fellow Poles, Mr. Ambassador, ladies and gentlemen — there are no chosen nations with exclusive rights to experience their own history, their own pain, or their own suffering. No nation is uniquely entitled to grieve over its past, its present, or even its future suffering.
We cannot accept that we, Poles, are denied the right to bury the victims of the Volhynia genocide. They are not calling for vengeance — they are calling for a cross, for a grave, for remembrance. And as the future President of Poland, I am bound to speak with their voice. No one has released me from that obligation,” he firmly stated.
Full-Scale Exhumation
Nawrocki called on the Ambassador and the President of Ukraine to carry out a full-scale exhumation in Volhynia.
“Poles are waiting for the truth. People — Polish families and families from Volhynia — continue to suffer due to the trauma of what occurred 82 years ago. We must do this for the sake of our relations. We must do this so that Poland and Ukraine can truly reconcile, through truth — a truth we deeply need. The threat we see in the East today is too powerful and too serious, and the responsibility on Ukraine’s part — a responsibility Poles are waiting for — is enormous,” he said.
“In closing, I want to persuade you all — this occasion is a chance to remind us that independence, sovereignty, and freedom come with great responsibility. It is a responsibility not only of the President but of all of us. It is a responsibility that includes, on one hand, our refusal — even contempt — for the Ukrainian nationalists who murdered women and children, and on the other hand, the same contempt for the soldiers of the Russian Federation, who are today murdering in Ukraine. Yes, freedom, sovereignty, and responsibility mean being able to speak with our own voice — in difficult matters and in those most important. And Poland has earned its independence. The President of Poland will speak with the voice of free Poles. Glory and honor to the victims of the Volhynia genocide. Long live Free Poland!” he concluded.