WW2 massacre of Poles by Ukrainians must be called genocide, says head of Polish church

Reconciliation between Poland and Ukraine cannot be achieved unless the wartime massacre of ethnic Poles by Ukrainian nationalists is correctly referred to as a genocide, says the head of Poland’s Catholic church.

The atrocities, known as the Volhynia massacres and in which up to 100,000 Polish civilians were murdered, are regarded in Poland as a genocide. However, the Ukrainian authorities have rejected the use of that term, and the issue has often caused tension between two otherwise close allies.

Next Tuesday will mark the 80th anniversary of the massacres, which took place between 1943 and 1945. As part of the commemorations, the heads of Poland’s Catholic Church, Stanisław Gądecki, and of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, led a religious service in Warsaw today.

The two archbishops also signed a joint declaration. “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine makes us realise that reconciliation and cooperation between our nations is a necessary condition for peace in our part of Europe,” they wrote.

“Reconciliation is not an easy process,” they continued. “[But] today, after the discovery of mass graves in Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel, we all understand how important it is to clearly name the perpetrators, exhume the victims, respect their right to a dignified burial and memory.”

Forgiveness and unity “cannot be achieved without reference to the truth and without calling the genocide of the Polish population in Volhynia by its name…[not] resorting to half-truths and euphemisms like ‘Volhynia tragedy’, ‘Volyhnia crime’, ‘ethnic cleansing’ or ‘anti-Polish action'”, said Gądecki, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

It is also important to remember other groups who were victims of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), added the archbishop: Jews, Czechs, Armenians, Roma, and also Ukrainians who tried to save those being victimised.

Gądecki declared that he wanted to “express our opposition to the glorification of Ukrainian nationalists, members of the OUN and UPA”. The veneration in Ukraine of some nationalist leaders linked to the Volhynia massacres has often caused tension with Poland.

The archbishop then addressed another longstanding point of contention by calling for the bodies of victims to be exhumed and properly buried. While sporadic exhumations took place in the past, the Ukrainian authorities have banned them since 2017.

Shevchuk, meanwhile, declared that “the Volhynia crime is an experience that is a tragedy on both sides”, reports PAP. “The Polish and Ukrainian sides have their wounds, wounds resulting from their suffering.”

“Reconciliation between our nations is a process of healing wounds, a process of healing memory and a process of forgiveness,” he continued. “We should keep repeating to each other: ‘I forgive and ask for forgiveness.’ This process must be mutual.”

The Ukrainian archbishop’s words echo those recently used by the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, during a landmark address to the Polish parliament in Warsaw.

Stefanchuk acknowledged Poles’ pain over “the terrible events in Volhynia” and “expressed my sincere sympathy” to the victim’s families. But, like Shevchuk, he called for both Poles and Ukrainians to follow the formula “we forgive and ask for forgiveness”.

A common narrative in Ukraine has been that the Volhynia massacres must be contextualised by understanding previous Polish treatment of Ukrainians – for example, repressive actions taken against them in the interwar Polish republic.

Speaking in Ukraine today, Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, warned that, unless the two countries can reach a shared understanding of history, “Russia will always use the Volhynian card to drive a wedge between Poles and Ukrainians”.

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.