Poland again talks about exhumation of Volyn tragedy victims - encouraging Ukraine to show “good will”

Agreeing to at least one site for the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy would demonstrate Ukraine's goodwill. If we plan to cooperate in prosecuting Russian criminals for their current actions in Ukraine, what will this cooperation look like if we do not solve the 80-year-old cases. This statement was made by the President of the Institute of National Memory of Poland Dr. Karol Nawrocki, reports UNN with reference to RAR.

As the president of the Institute of National Remembrance of Poland recalled, statements about the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy had been received in Ukraine since 2020, i.e. before the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine.

"Unfortunately, there was no response," he said.

"Of course, our solidarity, sympathy and support for Ukraine is obvious in the fight against the Russian federation. Also due to personal and institutional ties, it is natural that we are on the side of Ukraine," Navrotsky emphasized.

He noted, however, that, in his opinion, "Ukraine's behavior and the gestures that we see, which actually lead to nothing, the lack of consent to bury the victims of the Volyn genocide - this is a problem...".

"The war has changed nothing, as the Ukrainian side has been consistently unwilling to start exhumation work and to accept or respond to any of our nine requests," said the president of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance.

He also noted that Ukraine, for example, recently, already during the ongoing war with Russia, agreed to the exhumation of 74 Wehrmacht soldiers.

"They agree to the exhumation of German soldiers who died on the territory of the then Soviet Union after 1941, but they do not agree to the exhumation of Polish victims. As president of the Institute of National Remembrance and a historian, I cannot understand why they do not agree to the exhumation of Polish civilian victims in 1.3 thousand places where the remains of Polish children, women and elderly people are located," said the president of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance.

"Even one consent to the exhumation would indicate the goodwill of the Ukrainian side," the president of the Polish institute added.

Nawrocki said the issue is being raised out of, among other things, "concern for the future.

"These are not simply historical emotions arising from a function that demands fidelity to national memory," he said.

"We envision that in the future we will establish international structures with Ukraine after its victory. At the Institute of National Memory, we have prosecutors trained to investigate crimes of genocide and massacres of civilians. We hope that Russian criminals will be brought to justice.... But what would this cooperation in the international sphere look like if we were prosecuting Russian criminals for what they are doing to innocent Ukrainians today, rather than solving 80-year-old cases?" asked Navrotsky.

He reminded that for many families in Poland the issue of exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy is still very important.

"Even in the issue of communication, we are giving fuel to Russian propaganda, which takes advantage of the fact that we are unable to deal with matters of principle. Because of this impotence of the circles that know how much Poles suffered in Volyn, the Russian side starts to use this for propaganda purposes," the president of the Institute of National Remembrance of Poland argues.

"I believe that this issue should be resolved. It is not that everyone who demands exhumation is a 'Russian spy'. I, as president of the Institute of National Memory, demand permission for exhumation and this is my right and duty. And I will not be accused that my actions are part of Russian propaganda, because the Russian Federation is persecuting me and I am facing five years in a labor camp," Nawrocki emphasized, referring to the actions of the Russian authorities in connection with the activities of the Institute of National Remembrance, which is liquidating Soviet propaganda sites that have existed in Poland since the time of the Polish People's Republic.

At the same time, Nawrocki emphasized that, "understanding the whole geopolitical picture of the security infrastructure of the Polish state, (...) he will not give up the demands for exhumation".

"A commitment to those who died in such tragic circumstances, a commitment to those in whose families he is still alive today, in any negotiations - military, political, economic - this will not allow me to forget the need to address the issue of exhumation," he stressed.

Add

Since spring 2017, a dispute has been ongoing between Warsaw and Kyiv over the ban on the search for and exhumation of remains of Polish victims of wars and conflicts in Ukraine imposed by the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance. The ban was introduced after the dismantling of the UPA monument in Hruszowice in April 2017.

Previously

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski expressed hopethat Ukraine will resolve historical issues with Poland "in a spirit of gratitude" for the help the state has provided. 

Also, as the mass media reported, the head of the Polish Defense Ministry, Vladyslav Kosyniak-Kamish, said that Ukraine's further European prospects would depend on meeting Poland's demands to resolve the Volyn tragedy issue.