In 2025, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance plans to conduct search operations for the victims of the Volyn tragedy in Rivne region in response to an appeal from Polish citizens, UNN reports citing the UINR.
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The Institute reported that this year they began to receive requests from Polish citizens regarding the possibility of searching for and exhuming the remains of their family members. In particular, a request was received to conduct such work in the Rivne region.
Based on the results of the consideration of the appeal, which was received in September 2024, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance intends to include search work in the Rivne region in the work plan and activities for 2025, the Institute reported.
The UINP remains open to cooperation with Polish institutions in the area of searching for, preserving, and caring for the places of memory of Ukrainians in Poland and Poles in Ukraine. However, given that official interinstitutional mechanisms for resolving problematic issues with the Polish side in the restoration and preservation of memory sites have not been in place for a long time (in particular, working groups between memory institutions and ministries responsible for cultural issues), the UINP is inclined to meet the interests of Polish citizens and, on an exceptional basis, directly assume the role of coordinator in conducting search operations at the request of Polish citizens with the invitation of the Polish side as an observer. Therefore, in case of receiving the necessary clarifications from Polish citizens regarding the localization of potential search sites, we will try to help them despite the war and the difficult economic situation
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In implementing this decision, the Institute will cooperate with the State Interdepartmental Commission for the Perpetuation of the Memory of Participants of the Anti-Terrorist Operation, Victims of War and Political Repression and the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, which are responsible for issuing permits for search operations, exhumations and the arrangement of monuments, memorials, memorials, as well as with specialized organizations that have the right to conduct such work in Ukraine.
"Given the limited number of specialists and the continuation of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, which is accompanied by search and exhumation of the dead military and civilians, the efficiency of the search operations will also depend on available resources," the statement said.
Help
In December 2020, the heads of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and the Institute of National Remembrance of the Republic of Poland (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej) agreed to hold Ukrainian-Polish expert consultations in January-February 2021 to resolve problematic issues in the field of commemorating victims of wars and political repression. As a result of lengthy correspondence, a draft regulation for the group to consider problematic issues was developed, but since 2021 it has not been approved by the Polish side.
In June 2022, the Ministries of Culture of Ukraine and Poland signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the Field of National Memory. The document envisaged the creation of a Ukrainian-Polish working group chaired by the deputy ministers of culture, which will implement joint agreements on cooperation between the states on the search, exhumation, burial, commemoration, legalization, reconstruction, and legal protection of places of honor and burial. According to the Memorandum, the working group should include representatives of specialized institutions in Poland and Ukraine, as well as representatives of the expert community. The Memorandum was supposed to come into effect after the termination of martial law in Ukraine. However, the issue of searching for and exhuming Polish graves on the territory of Ukraine was raised by the Polish side throughout the entire period of the full-scale war.
In 2023, Ukraine met Poland halfway and, pursuant to the Memorandum, joint Ukrainian-Polish research was conducted to establish the location of Polish burials on the territory of the former village cemetery of Sadove, Chortkiv district, Ternopil region (formerly Puzhnyky village).
In early 2024, historical issues were actualized during intergovernmental consultations between Poland and Ukraine during the visits of Donald Tusk to Kyiv and Denys Shmyhal to Warsaw. To implement the action plan developed as a result of the intergovernmental consultations, the Ministry of Culture approved the composition of the Ukrainian part of the Ukrainian-Polish Working Group on National Memory. As of October 1, 2024, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance has not received any information on the formation of the Polish part of the Working Group.
The UINP also recalled that despite repeated steps by the Ukrainian side to meet the Polish side (at least three times since 2019, the Polish side has been granted permission to conduct work and research at Polish memorial sites in Ukraine), Ukraine's request to restore the memorial plaque at the burial site of UPA soldiers on Mount Monastyr remains unfulfilled. The restoration of the plaque in its original form with the names of those buried in this mass grave was the subject of negotiations at the highest level between the presidents of Ukraine and Poland.
The above leaves open the question of the Polish side's readiness for parity and equal relations with Ukraine in the field of historical memory.
For its part, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance plans to prepare and publish additional explanations on the algorithm for applying for such work in Ukrainian and Polish in the spring of 2025, before the start of the search and exhumation season.
The Institute also appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with a proposal to include in the state budget for 2025 a budget program "Preservation of Sites of Remembrance", the purpose of which will be to conduct relevant research and work, including at the sites of memory of the Polish people.