Of the tens of thousands of Poles killed in Volhynia, only five thousand have so far been buried. Some still at the time of the massacre, as it was in some localities. The rest – under exhumation. The others still rest where they were killed.
The first exhumations were carried out by Dr Leon Popek in Ostrówki Wołyńskie and Wola Ostrowiecka. As he emphasises: ‘Most of our ancestors still lie either where they were killed or in so-called death pits where their bodies were dumped. To this day there are graves in which several hundred people lie, untouched since 1943.
All because bilateral talks on exhumations in Volhynia between Poland and Ukraine have never been easy, and have been blocked for several years.
Ukrainians treat the Ukrainian Insurgent Army mainly as heroes of the fight against the Soviet Union, and many of them do not know what happened in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Most Ukrainian historians consider the slaughter to be a mutual struggle between Poles and Ukrainians rather than a planned ethnic cleansing. Some fear that condemning the UPA will mean condemning Ukraine's struggle for independence.
Poles, on the other hand, resent Ukraine for naming streets and squares after bandits, including the perpetrators of the massacre, for its inability to acknowledge the UPA's responsibility for the murders and for blocking the exhumation of the victims and their Christian burial.
Not an easy dialogue
This benefits Russia, which for many years has been trying to exploit the tragedy of Volhynia to divide Poland and Ukraine. This problem has been seen by many, including Pope John Paul II, who called for Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation on several occasions. ‘One feels the need for reconciliation to look at the present and the future in a new spirit,‘ he wrote in a letter to the bishops of Poland and Ukraine on the 60th anniversary of the massacre. In turn, during a visit to Ukraine in 2001, in Lviv, he said to the Ukrainians themselves: ‘it is time to detach ourselves from the painful past. [...] May forgiveness – granted and obtained – spread like a beneficial balm in every heart. May, through the purification of historical memory, all be prepared to place higher the things that unite than those that divide, in order to build together a future based on mutual respect, on fraternity, on fraternal cooperation and on genuine solidarity.‘
Reconciliation understood in this way does not mean forgetting. Instead, it means being able to move on, with respect and understanding of what has happened. It means trying to look into a future that cannot be determined by the past.
Reconciliation understood in this way does not mean forgetting. Instead, it means being able to move on, with respect and understanding of what has happened. It means trying to look into a future that cannot be determined by the past.
Not an easy dialogue
Of the tens of thousands of Poles killed in Volhynia, only five thousand have so far been buried. Some still at the time of the massacre, as it was in some localities. The rest – under exhumation. The others still rest where they were killed.
The first exhumations were carried out by Dr Leon Popek in Ostrówki Wołyńskie and Wola Ostrowiecka. As he emphasises: ‘Most of our ancestors still lie either where they were killed or in so-called death pits where their bodies were dumped. To this day there are graves in which several hundred people lie, untouched since 1943.
All because bilateral talks on exhumations in Volhynia between Poland and Ukraine have never been easy, and have been blocked for several years.
Ukrainians treat the Ukrainian Insurgent Army mainly as heroes of the fight against the Soviet Union, and many of them do not know what happened in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Most Ukrainian historians consider the slaughter to be a mutual struggle between Poles and Ukrainians rather than a planned ethnic cleansing. Some fear that condemning the UPA will mean condemning Ukraine's struggle for independence.
Poles, on the other hand, resent Ukraine for naming streets and squares after bandits, including the perpetrators of the massacre, for its inability to acknowledge the UPA's responsibility for the murders and for blocking the exhumation of the victims and their Christian burial. This benefits Russia, which for many years has been trying to exploit the tragedy of Volhynia to divide Poland and Ukraine. This problem has been seen by many, including Pope John Paul II, who called for Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation on several occasions. ‘One feels the need for reconciliation to look at the present and the future in a new spirit,‘ he wrote in a letter to the bishops of Poland and Ukraine on the 60th anniversary of the massacre. In turn, during a visit to Ukraine in 2001, in Lviv, he said to the Ukrainians themselves: ‘it is time to detach ourselves from the painful past. [...] May forgiveness – granted and obtained – spread like a beneficial balm in every heart. May, through the purification of historical memory, all be prepared to place higher the things that unite than those that divide, in order to build together a future based on mutual respect, on fraternity, on fraternal cooperation and on genuine solidarity.‘
Reconciliation understood in this way does not mean forgetting. Instead, it means being able to move on, with respect and understanding of what has happened. It means trying to look into a future that cannot be determined by the past.
The first exhumations were carried out by Dr Leon Popek in Ostrówki Wołyńskie and Wola Ostrowiecka. As he emphasises: ‘Most of our ancestors still lie either where they were killed or in so-called death pits where their bodies were dumped. To this day there are graves in which several hundred people lie, untouched since 1943.
All because bilateral talks on exhumations in Volhynia between Poland and Ukraine have never been easy, and have been blocked for several years.
Ukrainians treat the Ukrainian Insurgent Army mainly as heroes of the fight against the Soviet Union, and many of them do not know what happened in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Most Ukrainian historians consider the slaughter to be a mutual struggle between Poles and Ukrainians rather than a planned ethnic cleansing. Some fear that condemning the UPA will mean condemning Ukraine's struggle for independence.
Poles, on the other hand, resent Ukraine for naming streets and squares after bandits, including the perpetrators of the massacre, for its inability to acknowledge the UPA's responsibility for the murders and for blocking the exhumation of the victims and their Christian burial. This benefits Russia, which for many years has been trying to exploit the tragedy of Volhynia to divide Poland and Ukraine. This problem has been seen by many, including Pope John Paul II, who called for Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation on several occasions. ‘One feels the need for reconciliation to look at the present and the future in a new spirit,‘ he wrote in a letter to the bishops of Poland and Ukraine on the 60th anniversary of the massacre. In turn, during a visit to Ukraine in 2001, in Lviv, he said to the Ukrainians themselves: ‘it is time to detach ourselves from the painful past. [...] May forgiveness – granted and obtained – spread like a beneficial balm in every heart. May, through the purification of historical memory, all be prepared to place higher the things that unite than those that divide, in order to build together a future based on mutual respect, on fraternity, on fraternal cooperation and on genuine solidarity.‘
Reconciliation understood in this way does not mean forgetting. Instead, it means being able to move on, with respect and understanding of what has happened. It means trying to look into a future that cannot be determined by the past.
Wola Ostrowiecka, Leon Popek przy pracach ekshumacyjnych. 1992.
Fot. archiwum Leona Popka
Fot. archiwum Leona Popka
☰
