National Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of Polish Citizens by Ukrainian Nationalists

On July 15, 2009, the Sejm of Poland, in its decree (adopted by unanimous acclamation without a voting procedure), stated that the OUN and UPA carried out an “anti-Polish action - mass killings that had the character of ethnic cleansing and possessed signs of genocide,” in addition, the Seimas “honors memory fighters of the Army of the Territory , Self-Defense of the Eastern Kres and Peasant Battalions , who rose to the dramatic struggle to protect the Polish civilian population, and also painfully recalls the victims among the Ukrainian civilian population ” ^{[1] [2]} .

On July 15, 2013, the Sejm of Poland adopted a special resolution dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the “Volyn Crime” (the name was used in the resolution), which states that the crimes committed by the OUN and the UPA had an “organized and massive scale”, which gave them an “ethnic character” purges with signs of genocide. " Also in the Seimas resolution is called the figure of the dead Poles in 1942-1945. in Volyn and Eastern Galicia - about 100 thousand people. Also in the resolution, the Sejm declared that it “honors the memory of citizens of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of Poland brutally murdered by Ukrainian nationalists. The Sejm of the Republic of Poland expresses its highest recognition to the soldiers of the Home Army, Self-Defense of the Eastern Lands and Peasant Battalions, who entered the heroic struggle in defense of the Poles. " In comparison with the resolution of July 15, 2009, the 2013 resolution differently formulated the thesis about victims among Ukrainians: “The Sejm of the Polish Republic expresses its gratitude to the Ukrainians, who, at the risk, and sometimes giving their life, protected the Polish brothers from the atrocious death at the hands of the Ukrainian Nationalists and detachments of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. " The resolution was adopted by 263 votes, with 33 against and 146 abstentions. The voting results were influenced by the fact that a number of opposition parties insisted on a much tougher version of the resolution, in which the events qualified as “genocide”, as well as on July 11 (the day in 1943, in which 99 Ukrainian settlements were attacked in Volyn, Ukrainian Poles) was proposed to declare "Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Volyn Crime", but in the final version of the resolution all these proposals were rejected. The final version of the resolution at the Seimas meeting was defended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radoslav Sikorski ^[3] .

On July 7, 2016, the upper house of the Polish parliament, the Senate adopted a resolution "on the perpetuation of the memory of the victims of the genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists against citizens of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1939-1945," which states that "July 2016 marks the 73rd anniversary of the peak of the atrocity wave of crimes carried out by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), as well as the SS Galizien and Ukrainian collaborationist units at the Eastern Chairs of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As a result of the genocide in 1939-1945, over one hundred thousand citizens of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were killed. Their exact number is still unknown, and many of them have not been adequately buried to date and their memory has not been honored. In addition to Poles, massacres also killed Jews, Armenians, Czechs, representatives of other national minorities, as well as Ukrainians who tried to help the victims. This tragic experience should be returned to the historical memory of modern generations. The Senate of the Republic of Poland honors the memory of citizens of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth brutally murdered by Ukrainian nationalists. The Senate of the Republic of Poland expresses the highest recognition to the self-defense of Kresy, soldiers of the Home Army, Peasant battalions and other organizations fighting for independence, who stood up to the heroic struggle in defense of the victims. The Senate of the Republic of Poland expresses respect and gratitude to those Ukrainians who, at the risk of their lives, saved the Poles. The Senate of the Republic of Poland appeals to the President of the Republic of Poland with a request to award all who deserve it with state awards. Victims of crimes committed by Ukrainian nationalists in the 1940s have not been properly perpetuated to date, and massacres have not been named - in accordance with historical truth - genocide. The Senate of the Republic of Poland postulates that the Sejm of the Republic of Poland declares July 11 as National Memorial Day for the victims of the genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists against citizens of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ” ^[4]

The Sejm of the Republic of Poland July 22, 2016 established this memorial day in memory of the victims of the Volyn massacre of the Polish population, organized by fighters of the OUN , UPA , the SS Galicia division and other Ukrainian forces during the Second World War . The document adopted by the Polish deputies states that during the genocide in 1943-1945 more than one hundred thousand Poles, mostly peasants, were killed ^[5] . Deputies from the Polish Peasant Party proposed another name - "Memorial Day of the Poles who were victims of the genocide committed by the OUN-UPA in the Eastern Chairs of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth" ^[6] .

The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in his Facebook account expressed the opinion that he “regrets the decision of the Polish Sejm. I know that many will want to use it for political speculation. However, we should turn to the testament of John Paul II - we forgive and ask for forgiveness ” ^[7] .

The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs of Ukraine issued a special statement in which it expressed "deep concern" with the Seimas resolution, which, in the opinion of the Verkhovna Rada committee, "gave a distorted, politically and legally incorrect assessment" regarding the events in Volyn. The Verkhovna Rada Committee emphasized that "the adoption by the Senate and the Sejm of the Republic of Poland of anti-Ukrainian resolutions crosses out all constructive political and diplomatic achievements and efforts of both countries and both peoples, aimed at mutual forgiveness and reconciliation and respect for the memory of innocently killed Ukrainians and Poles." The Verkhovna Rada Committee also reported that there was a proposal of the Verkhovna Rada to the Polish Sejm “to commemorate the victims of Volyn events jointly by adopting a joint resolution, the draft of which was submitted to the Polish parliamentarians ahead of time, but was left without any reaction”, that is, according to the Verkhovna Rada We are glad that her project was "ignored by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland." The Verkhovna Rada Committee also stated that the assessments of the events of the Volyn tragedy given by the Polish Senate and the Sejm are “politically unbalanced and legally incorrect”, and the decision-making of the Polish Senate and the Sejm as “a provocative action of nationalist forces in the Republic of Poland”, which is “consciously directed to undermine the friendly atmosphere of Ukrainian-Polish relations. ” The Verkhovna Rada Committee also stated that “the only way to reconciliation and unity between the Ukrainian and Polish peoples lies through the knowledge of historical truth and mutual Christian forgiveness for past mutual insults to which Pope John Paul II called in his message of July 7, 2003 of the year ”, as well as the Verkhovna Rada committee“ again makes a sincere request to forgive and forgives, in the spirit of Christian morality and reconciliation, the sins of those Ukrainians and Poles who, consciously or not, in conditions of military upheaval He confessed on the path of evil, his hand against the unarmed and defenseless Polish and Ukrainian brothers and sisters " ^[8] .

The All-Ukrainian association “ Freedom ” condemned the decision of the Polish Sejm, saying that “Freedom” “sees this openly hostile step as a sneaky stab in the back of our nation”, which “destroys good neighborly relations between our countries” and described the Sejm’s decision as “a manipulation of history and abuse of the Ukrainian national memory ”, emphasizing that“ the charges against Ukrainians are absurd and insignificant from the point of view of international law ” ^[9] .