“As long as Poland exists, as long as Poles live, the memory of those crimes, of the martyrdom of the victims, and of the shame of the depraved perpetrators will never disappear,” Polish President Karol Nawrocki wrote in a letter addressed to participants of the March in Memory of the Victims of the Volhynia Massacre held in Lublin.
A large crowd of participants marched silently through the centre of Lublin. At the head of the procession, they carried a banner reading “Stop Banderism.” Many held Polish national flags, flags of the National Movement and other organisations, as well as placards bearing slogans such as “No forgiveness without accountability,” “Banderism = Nazism,” and “They died for being Polish.” Participants also carried signs listing the names of places such as Monasterz, Wierzbica, and Hulcze, where commemorations of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) are located, referring to them as “places of shame.”
The march proceeded from Lithuanian Square to the Volhynia Victims’ Square, where participants gathered at the monument commemorating the victims of the Volhynia Massacre. There, they sang the Polish national anthem, said a prayer, laid flowers, and lit candles.
“As long as Poland exists…”
Professor Dariusz Dudek, an adviser to the President of Poland who attended the march, read aloud Karol Nawrocki’s letter to the participants. In it, the president stressed that remembrance of the victims of the Volhynia genocide requires “the condemnation of the criminal ideology of Banderism, collaboration with Nazi Germany, and all acts of violence committed out of ethnic and racial hatred.”
“And because those whose earthly remains lie in anonymous mass graves among fields and forests can no longer speak, we give them a voice. As long as Poland exists, as long as Poles live, the memory of those crimes, the martyrdom of the victims, and the shame of the depraved perpetrators will never disappear,”
the president wrote.
According to the president, the revival in Ukraine of the cult surrounding the leaders of criminal formations responsible for the genocide of Poles is a cause for concern, while references to the legacy of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) have become part of the state’s official historical policy.
“We had hoped for a sober assessment and a change of heart among Ukraine’s political elites, particularly in the context of the country’s aspirations to join NATO and the European Union. Unfortunately, our expectations have so far not been reflected in the actions of the Ukrainian authorities,”
he added.
The president wrote that he has not lost hope that “the dark legacy of Banderism will never become part of the canon of Ukrainian patriotic traditions.” He recalled that other nations “aspiring to become part of the European community of values” also had to confront, among other things, the painful legacy of collaboration with Nazi Germany. “Undertaking an honest reckoning with their own history did not weaken those countries; rather, it strengthened their credibility and standing within the Western community. I am convinced that the Ukrainian nation, too, will be able to follow this difficult path and will have the courage to face its own history, understanding that the truth is never an obstacle to patriotism,” he wrote.
At the same time, he emphasised that Poland continues to support Kyiv’s defensive efforts against Russia’s unlawful armed invasion of Ukrainian territory and declared “its willingness to develop good-neighbourly relations and fruitful economic cooperation” with Ukraine.