WARSAW (dpa-AFX) - Overshadowed by a historical dispute with Ukraine, Poland observed the "Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Volhynia Massacre and other crimes of Ukrainian nationalists." National-conservative President Karol Nawrocki said at a commemoration event in Radruz on the border with Ukraine: "We refuse to let the 120,000 Poles - civilians, women, and children who were brutally murdered by Ukrainian nationalists - be forgotten."
On July 11, 1943, partisans of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) attacked more than 100 Polish villages in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia (now western Ukraine). The massacres cost tens of thousands of Poles and Jews their lives by 1945. The so-called Bloody Sunday, which the Day of Remembrance in Poland commemorates, marked the peak of a wave of murders of the Polish and Jewish civilian population.
Volhynia Massacre divides allies
The fact that the perpetrators of that time are still revered as heroes in Ukraine today because they later fought against the Soviet Union has been causing new disagreements between the two close allies for weeks. Polish President Nawrocki had revoked the highest Polish order from his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in June. The reason for this was that Zelensky had given a military unit the nickname "Heroes of the UPA" as a special honor.
In Poland, the glorification of the UPA as "heroes" caused outrage. In Ukraine, however, the revocation of the order sparked displeasure. Several Ukrainian politicians also returned their Polish awards out of annoyance.
Tusk: Memory must not serve hatred
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced in a video message on platform X the construction of a memorial wall with an "eternal flame." The wall should bear the names of all identified victims of the wars of the 20th century in Ukraine, said the head of government. "The murdered must not remain nameless," demanded Tusk and promised: "The Republic of Poland will not forget any of them." At the same time, Tusk also warned: "Memory must not serve hatred." /ct/DP/zb
