United by the Cross: Poland and Ukraine pay tribute to the victims of the Volhynian massacre

@ElentirENG ES 7·10·2023 · 7:02 0

This week, Poland marks the 80th anniversary of one of the most horrendous moments in its turbulent history in the 20th century.

Poland's warning about the effects of a Russian victory in Ukraine
The resolution of the Sejm of Poland accusing Russia of terrorism and genocide in Ukraine

The massacre of Volhynia, an open wound between Poland and Ukraine

As I remembered yesterday the Polish newspaper wPolityce.pl, on July 11 and 12, 1943, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) - a nationalist organization that fought against the Germans and Soviets, and also against the Polish resistance - made a coordinated attack against 150 towns in the counties of Włodzimierz, Horochów, Kowel and Łuck, in the former Voivodeship of Volhynia, in the northwest of present-day Ukraine, a territory that between 1918 and 1939 formed part of Poland.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Polish Catholics of that territory were gathered in the churches to attend Sunday mass, the UPA guerrillas perpetrated a genocide that killed some 100,000 Poles. The so-called "Bloody Sunday" in Volhynia has been a cause of confrontation between Poland and Ukraine since then, especially due to the tributes that are occasionally held on Ukrainian soil to Stepan Bandera, leader of the UPA, considered in Poland as a war criminal. Poland's firm support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion has revitalized ties between the two countries, terribly damaged for decades by the memory of that massacre.

The manipulation of that wound by the Polish pro-Russian right

However, the memory of Volhynia is being manipulated by the right pro-Russian minority in Poland to promote anti-Ukrainian sentiment and to refuse all military aid to Ukraine. An example of this position is represented by Janusz Korwin-Mikke, an MEP from the Konfederacja coalition, a quirky fellow who last year openly defended Putin and said that if Ukraine loses the war it will attack Poland, which is completely nonsense. From the Konfederacja they season this kind of message with anti-American rhetoric already typical of the far-left and far-right.

The joint tribute in Lutsk to the victims of the Volhynian massacre

This attempt to manipulate history to antagonize Poland and Ukraine, and benefit Russia's interests, ran into yesterday with an act of reconciliation attended by the Polish and Ukrainian presidents, Andrzej Duda and Volodimir Zelensky. The act was held in the Catholic Cathedral of Lutsk, capital of the Ukrainian region of Volhynia.

This act was attended by the president of the Polish Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Stanisław Gadecki; the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Monsignor Visvaldas Kulbokas; the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Światosław Shevchuk; and the president of the Ukrainian Bishops' Conference, Bishop Witalij Skomarowski.

The ceremony was presided over by the flags of Poland and Ukraine, the two countries whose path was intertwined in this testimony of reconciliation. The Polish Bishops' Conference pointed out the words of Monsignor Kulkokas during this event, affirming that the first element of heart conversion is "sincere tears for all the victims who were murdered eighty years ago in this region."

Monsignor Kulbokas also pointed out that "this war, this Russian aggression against which Ukraine is defending itself, somehow united the Ukrainian and Polish Nations, because countless amounts of aid are coming from Poland to Ukraine at this difficult time."

One of the most moving moments of the event came when the presidents of Poland and Ukraine placed candles before the altar, in homage to the victims of the Volhynian massacre.

On these lines we can see Zelenski bowing his head before the altar, as a sign of respect for those murdered in that massacre, a gesture that contributes to bringing together two Nations that for a year and a half have already been closely related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

On his Twitter account, Zelenski has published this video of the religious act, which includes the flags of the two Nations that have united in it, before the Cross. In addition, he has posted the following message in Ukrainian and Polish:

The message reads as follows: "Together we pay tribute to all the innocent victims of Volhynia! Memory unites us! Together we are strong!"

What happened yesterday in Lutsk was an example of reconciliation between two Nations with strong historical ties and which today are once again united in forgiveness and before the Cross. A unity that is especially necessary today, because the friendship of Poland and Ukraine has become a bulwark against the threat of Russian imperialism, which seeks to destabilize the West in order to bend it to the whims of Putin's tyranny. Hopefully the memory of the victims of Volhynia, whose massacre opened a serious wound between Poles and Ukrainians, will now serve to unite both peoples, who need each other so much.

Cześć ich pamięci!
Honor to their memory!

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Photos: Oficjalna strona Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej / EpiskopatNews / Володимир Зеленський.