Polish-Ukrainian solidarity over Russian threat undermined by bitter historical dispute | Ukraine

IFollowing Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022, Polish-Ukrainian solidarity emerged as one of the most heartwarming subplots of the Kremlin’s brutal war. Remembering their country’s tragic past with Russia, millions of Poles mobilized to help large numbers of Ukrainian refugees with food, shelter and support as they crossed the border to escape the conflict.

Four years later, this outpouring of generosity and solidarity is a distant memory; The two countries find themselves locked in a bitter dispute over history that has led to angry rhetoric, mutual mud-slinging and Poland threatening to block Ukraine’s EU membership until it puts its historical house in order.

The dispute revolves around the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), one branch of which was responsible for the 1943 massacre of nearly 100,000 Poles in Volyn in western Ukraine, a part of Poland then called Volhynia. This incident has long been a point of contention between Warsaw and Kiev, but the latest conflict was sparked when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided to name a military unit “UPA heroes” despite protests in Poland.

In Ukraine, the UPA is remembered mainly for its struggle against Soviet rule, while its role in the massacres of Poles and Jews is minimized or depicted as part of a catalog of crimes committed by different forces during the bloody chaos of the Second World War. Some Ukrainians also point to the historical context of discriminatory policies implemented by Polish authorities against their ancestors. But there is little doubt that the murders were committed, and in Poland they are called genocide.

“Praising or ignoring genocide is an invitation to more genocide,” Poland’s nationalist president Karol Nawrocki said in a speech on Saturday on the anniversary of the massacres near the Ukrainian border.

In June, Nawrocki stripped Zelenskyy of his Polish state award over the dispute. This led to numerous Ukrainian officials returning their own Polish decorations and an angry response from Ukraine’s political elite.

“No one will ever again be able to dictate to Ukrainians which heroes to honor, which holidays to celebrate, or what history to study,” Kyrylo Budanov said. Zelenskyy’s private secretary wrote to XThe government has announced that it is moving towards creating a “pantheon” of Ukrainian national heroes, possibly including UPA figures.

Z.Elenskyy is an unlikely nationalist figure. He took office in 2019 as an “inclusive” figure who could unite Ukrainians, and he grew up in a Russian-speaking Jewish family in Ukraine’s southeastern industrial region, far from the nationalist heritage of western Ukraine. “A man who knows very well how harmful it is to honor the UPA suddenly started playing with this nationalism,” said Bartosz Cichocki, Polish Ambassador to Ukraine from 2019 to 2023.

Some suggest that Zelenskyy judged the move to have clear domestic benefits at a time when society was growing stronger in the fight against Russia and eager for national heroes. “It’s gaining legitimacy domestically, but it’s losing something much bigger… I think they were surprised at how strong our response was,” Cichocki added.

In Poland, Nawrocki seized on the scandal with enthusiasm. As a historian, he focused on Poland’s past suffering and heroism, and last year he defeated a liberal presidential candidate with anti-Ukrainian sentiments as part of his platform. It was a surprising move that Zelenskyy was stripped of the Polish state’s highest civilian honor; especially since the same award was given to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and the openly pro-Russian former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, and was never withdrawn.

Still, it’s clear there is political capital in taking a tough line on Ukraine, and a recent poll commissioned by Polish news outlet Onet suggested the scandal had boosted Nawrocki’s popularity, taking his trust score to an all-time high of 55%, up more than 8% from a month ago.

Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Hrytsak said: “A memory warrior is in power in Poland, who uses memory as a tool in partisan wars in Poland.” Referring to Nawrocki and Zelenskyy, he added: “On the one hand, we have a president who pays too much attention to history, and on the other hand, we have a president who pays too little attention to history.”

Poland’s coalition government led by Donald Tusk has been in fierce political opposition to Nawrocki. Some of its members tried to strike a more conciliatory tone on Ukraine, but they were also infuriated by the UPA’s announcement. With parliamentary elections due next year, they are acutely aware of the consequences of appearing soft on Ukraine.

Last weekend Tusk announced: Creating a “memory wall”It was claimed that the names of all known victims of the massacre would be written down and that Ukraine would have no place in the EU unless it confronted its own history. “Reconciliation in Europe after the Second World War was made possible by the ability to talk honestly about the facts and the past,” Tusk said. “Those who want to join this community need to be ready for this reality.”

S.Such an apparent deterioration in Polish-Ukrainian relations may be new, but discontent had been simmering on both sides for some time. The Union had prevailed because Ukraine knew it could not afford to alienate a key ally; Poland, on the other hand, understood that Ukraine’s war forces stood between it and expansionist Russia. But events such as the blockade of Ukrainian trucks by Polish truck drivers in late 2023 signaled a more complex relationship beneath the surface.

For many Poles, there is resentment towards the more than 1 million Ukrainians currently living in Poland, fueled by nationalist politicians who ignore the fact that Ukrainians are net contributors to the Polish economy.

There is a feeling for Ukrainians that the Poles underestimate them and do not appreciate the sacrifices they made to protect the rest of Europe from Russia. Many express anger at the degrading treatment they receive at Polish border crossings, the only way to leave Ukraine due to no flights to the country since 2022. Even after four years of war, there are often few facilities, aggressive border guards and long lines outdoors where elderly people and young children have to wait for hours in the heat, rain or snow.

Olha, a graphic designer from Kiev who did not want her surname to be published, said, “Every time I enter Poland, I feel my whole body shaking with anger at the way they look at us, the way they treat us.”

More broadly, Jewish groups have also expressed concern over the years about Ukraine’s deference to some UPA figures whose followers were complicit in the Holocaust. In 2010, US historian Timothy Snyder criticized former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko For honoring Stepan BanderaLeader of a wing of the UPA. Snyder described Bandera’s political goal as a “one-party fascist dictatorship without national minorities,” but streets in cities across Ukraine are named after Bandera and his quotes can be found on the walls of popular Kiev cafes.

This is not evidence that Ukrainian society is consumed by fascism, as Kremlin propaganda has long suggested. The broad acceptance of the UPA is part of a larger national consolidation process in Ukraine in which many who have rallied against the Russian threat have embraced past Ukrainian figures.

Hrytsak said: “Previously, Ukraine was very divided over the UPA, with about half of Ukrainians thinking they were bandits or collaborators. Since the beginning of the war, there was an immediate consensus that they were freedom fighters.”

He cited “ignorance and apathy” in Ukraine regarding the UPA’s more controversial legacy, adding that many Ukrainians now view the nationalist movement solely through the lens of the struggle against Soviet power and are surprised and insulted by Poland’s strong response.

Carolina Romanowska, president of the Polish-Ukrainian Reconciliation Association, whose grandfather survived Volhynia, made a film about the massacre in 2023 and has traveled to Ukraine many times, sometimes holding workshops at the sites where the incident occurred. “Most of the time people are completely shocked by what they hear,” he said. “It was the first time they were hearing about what was happening where they lived.” He said Ukraine’s recent rhetoric left him “sad and disappointed.”

toEfforts to bring historians from the two countries together to reach a common understanding now appear doomed to failure, with politicians taking the lead in the discussions and conciliatory voices going unheard. At a ceremony for the victims of the massacre in Volyn at the weekend, the top Polish diplomat in Ukraine also drew attention to the “Ukrainian victims of Polish violence”, which sparked outrage in Poland and calls for him to resign.

With elections likely to be held in Poland next year, and soon in Ukraine if the military situation permits, many argue there is little hope of reducing tensions. Zelenskyy and Nawrocki talked for an hour during the NATO summit in Türkiye last week in an attempt to reduce tensions, but no agreement was reached.

Cichocki said the relationship could possibly improve to some extent, given that most Poles appreciate that Warsaw and Kiev face a common enemy in Russia, but in the future the relationship may lack warmth and genuine commitment. “This will be limited to mutual benefit and we will see that both Poles and Ukrainians will benefit,” he said, adding: “There will be no more romance, no more naivety, and Poland will be very strict on Ukraine’s EU integration.”

Hrytsak said that any reckoning would take time and that blocking Ukraine’s path to European integration would be counterproductive: “All the national reconciliations that took place in Europe took place after wars, not during wars. Ukraine must win the war and or at least survive, then we can start dealing with these complex problems.”

He added that given the long and complex history between the two countries, it was “some kind of miracle” that they were able to successfully maintain relations so long after the fall of communism. At the time, many predicted that a new conflict was inevitable, but a different path was taken. Now, hard-earned goodwill is quickly evaporating. “The miracle was shattered,” he said. “Where it goes from here could be very dangerous.”

Additional reporting by Jakub Krupa