In a letter marking the 82nd anniversary of the crime in Huta Pieniacka, President Karol Nawrocki emphasized that the Polish state will not rest until all the remains of the murdered compatriots are found. He also stressed that cooperation and mutual respect are essential in Polish–Ukrainian relations.
As the President recalled, on February 28, 1944, the Polish inhabitants of the village of Huta Pieniacka were murdered by Ukrainian soldiers of the SS “Galizien” division and Ukrainian nationalists.
“Nearly 160 intended victims of the massacre survived, and together with them, through their memories and testimonies, the memory of those tragic events endured. The truth about the crimes committed by Ukrainian chauvinists against Poles during the Second World War and after its conclusion was manipulated and exploited by the communists for their pro-Soviet historical policy, but it nevertheless persisted,”
he wrote in the letter.
The President declared that the Polish nation and state will not rest “until all the mortal remains of our murdered compatriots are found and given a dignified burial.” “Nor will we cease in our efforts to ensure that, on the one hand, the perpetrators, and on the other, the victims and the righteous who aided the persecuted, take their rightful places in Europe’s historical memory, appropriate to their attitudes and deeds,” he added.
Nawrocki noted that for four years, Ukraine has been struggling against Russian aggression.
“We understand that today, more than ever, Polish–Ukrainian relations require cooperation, mutual understanding, and respect; that under such conditions our genuine friendship should mature and bear good fruit. But precisely for this reason, we consistently repeat the words spoken in 2009 at the ceremonies in Huta Pieniacka by President Lech Kaczyński: ‘True friendship requires speaking the whole truth, including the most difficult and painful truths,’”
the President wrote.
He also stressed that on December 19 of last year, he hosted President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in Warsaw, and that, aside from political matters, they discussed relations between the two nations.
“I received assurances of readiness to cooperate on further exhumations of Polish victims of the genocidal crimes of the OUN-UPA, including a declaration that 26 applications submitted by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) to the Ukrainian side would be formally considered. I also intervened on behalf of Polish members of the Catholic parish in Kyiv, who for 35 years have been seeking the return of the deteriorating historic Church of St. Nicholas,”
he noted.
The President acknowledged that he welcomed the news of the agreement concluded in January this year, granting the local Catholic parish free use of the church building for a period of 50 years.
“I also trust that last year’s funeral of the exhumed victims of the crime in Puźniki will be the first in a long series of similar ceremonies, consistent with the declaration of Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, who in January of this year stated that ‘there can be no, there should be no, and there will be no obstacles to exhumations. (…) All victims deserve honor and remembrance,’”
he added.
According to Nawrocki, these words were confirmed by the final consent issued on February 18 by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture for search efforts to locate the remains of the murdered compatriots in the area of former Huta Pieniacka.
“I also expect long-term positive effects from the bill I submitted to the Sejm on September 26, 2025. Under this act, the dissemination in Poland of false claims concerning crimes committed by members and collaborators of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Bandera faction) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, as well as other Ukrainian formations collaborating with the Third Reich, will be punishable, particularly concerning the genocide committed against Poles in Volhynia. I trust that this will prompt reflection among those responsible for education and historical policy both in Poland and in Ukraine,”
he concluded.