Ukrainian commentator Bohdan Vitvitsky sharply criticized the recent historical disputes between Poland and Ukraine in an opinion piece for the Kyiv Post. The controversy was triggered by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decree confirming the name of a Ukrainian military unit named after fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) from World War II. Polish Karol Nawrocki subsequently voiced criticism.
Voices of Reason
Vitvitsky highlights two “voices of reason”: Oxford historian Norman Davies and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Davies, a renowned expert on Polish history, warned in an interview with the Polish portal Wiadomosci Onet that Poland must be more cautious in its statements about Ukraine and its history. Zelensky’s decision had nothing to do with Volhynia, Davies said. Today’s appreciation of the UPA in Ukraine is based on its decades-long struggle against Soviet and German occupation. 90 percent of UPA members had nothing to do with Volhynia.
Donald Tusk stated publicly that attempts to revive historical grievances against Ukraine amount to “playing with fire.” Every missile or drone that Ukraine successfully uses to destroy Russian weapons makes Poland safer. Therefore, aid to Ukraine is in Poland’s national security interest.
Russian Propaganda as Beneficiary
Vitvitsky argues that the controversy provides a welcome pretext for Russian propaganda. At a time when Ukraine is in the fifth year of its war with Russia, Polish officials are attacking Ukraine. Historian Davies called this stance “folly.” Vitvitsky also points to a letter from PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński, in which he announced that a future PiS government would block Ukraine’s EU membership unless Kyiv abandons the alleged “Bandera cult” and “glorification” of the UPA.
The commentator also criticizes the European Parliament, which in 2010 passed a resolution condemning the posthumous award of the title “National Hero of Ukraine” to Stepan Bandera. Vitvitsky calls this resolution historically ignorant: Bandera was interned in the German concentration camp Sachsenhausen during the Volhynia massacre in 1943 and could not have given orders to the UPA. The claim of collaboration between the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and Nazi Germany is also misleading, as oppressed peoples often rely on foreign help to free themselves from foreign domination.
Vitvitsky calls for a differentiated view of history and warns that such disputes weaken the united front against Russian aggression.
Source: www.kyivpost.com
