Ukrainians and Poles finalize draft joint statement on massacres in Volyn

[Ulysses]

Verkhovna Rada deputies have finalized with their Polish counterparts a joint statement on the tragic events involving Ukrainians and Poles in Volyn, Ukraine▓s Foreign Ministry press service cites the Ukrainian embassy in Poland as declaring. Soon, the draft goes for consideration by both parliaments. Given its approval by the Polish and Ukrainian parliaments, it is expected to foster reconciliation and mutual understanding between both nations.

According to Ukrainian historians, during large-scale massacres of civil population in Volyn in 1943-1944, Ukrainians lost 20,000 people while Poles estimate their losses at between 80,000 and 100,000.

[yurilev0]

Where can I learn more about this?

Yuri

[Zbyszek]

1. M. Terles: Ethnic cleansing of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, Toronto 1993

2. Jan T. Gross: Polish Society under German Occupation, Princeton, NJ 1979.

3. Martin Gilbert: Atlas of the Holocaust, London 1982

4. Wiktor Polishchuk: Bitter truth...OUN-UPA activities, Toronto 1993.

5. Norman Davies: Europe. A history, Chapter Tenebrae, capsule named BUCHACH.
[Buczacz was a hometown of Simon Wiesenthal].
To be fair, I should add that even more Jews were murdered by the Ukrainian nationalists in 1942-1943.
The most bitter truth is that a big, although unknown to me, number of Ukrainians trying to help were murdered by the nationalists. God bless them. The situation of the Polish-Ukrainian marriages was just tragic.
Actually, there are a lot of talks and preparations before July 11 2003, when the presidents of Poland and Ukraine will meet in a small place in Western Ukraine (I forgot its name) where the entire Polish population was wiped out.
There are a lot of unreported rumors circulating about the events in Poland but it is better to wait for the facts.

I am sure the truth is not easy to swallow for the Ukrainian society which was fed with the communist lies and was deprived of honest historic account. I am also sure that for many Ukrainians living in the South or in the East of Ukraine it will be a shock, the more so because they had nothing to do with the butchery.
Maybe the most shocking fact was that the bloodshed idea was sometimes fostered in the GC Ukrainian churches. [see Davies].
Let us face bitter truth with courage and pure hearts. I know, many terrible things happened at war time. Polish-German reconciliation must have been much more difficult but it happened.
In the end, let us read what Katya Wolczuk said on the Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation [Kataryna is a lecturer at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, European Research Institute, the University of Birmingham, U.K., and co-author of "Poland and Ukraine: a Strategic Partnership in a Changing Europe?" (London, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2002)].

http://www.uanews.tv/archives/rferl/ukraine/ua57.htm


[Edited by Zbyszek on 27th June 2003 at 15:34]

[yurilev0]

I see that you haven't disappeared yet due to your family event. Good to see you.

This is all useful information. I would also like to find literature on the post ww2 razing of Ukrainian villages by the Poles. From what I understand, pro Ukrainian Lemko populations were resettled within Poland to prevent them from giving aid to UPA.

[Zbyszek]

Hi Yuri, I mentioned Pawel Smolenski's book in the other thread.

http://www.ukraine.com/forums/showth...2037#post52037

where a plight of a Ukrainian village placed near Przemysl(1945) was described as an example of the Polish cruelty.
(sorry, available in Polish only, maybe translated into Ukrainian in the meantime).
I once also mentioned the "Non-provincial Europe" a monumental set of articles devoted to the former Polish borderlands, printed in Polish but with the English summaries. A cruel attack of the communist Polish Army on the civilians of Terka in the Carpathians is described.
See the Genealogy forum.
http://www.ukraine.com/forums/showth...?threadid=5846

I consider the resettling of Lemkos as a definitely brutal and not justified move of the communist gov't of Poland.
I understand they found themselves in a very difficult position in 1945-1947. Yuri, I can give you a link to a Lemko site. Regards

[yurilev0]

Thanks again for your helpfulness. Will we be seeing you for a while yet?

Y

[Zbyszek]

Yuri, I do not think I will have any time to participate in the upcoming week.At least two important things will have to happen and one of them has something to do with Ukraine.
(it will be a surprise for Kathy and you).
Yuri, I want to give you a better perspective about the difficult but hopeful Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation.

http://www.danskukrainsk.dk/15-19%20maj%202003.htm

Zbyszek mentioned in this Danish site is not me! (how could I find a PL-UA subject presented in English between the Danish text?). I hope you will find the article useful. Hasta la vista!