Casual observers might be surprised that a World War II-era genocide of over 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian fascists has become a major problem in these two countries’ contemporary relations. It happened several generations ago and they nowadays closely coordinate against Russia. Nevertheless, Ukraine has thus far refused to exhume and properly bury the remains of the Volhynia Genocide’s victims, which has enraged Poles and forced their government to escalate these demands for the following reasons:
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1. Ukraine Is Behaving In An Incredibly Ungrateful & Disrespectful Way Towards Poland
Polish President Andrzej Duda recently confirmed that his country spent 3.3% of its GDP (approximately $25 billion) on multidimensional aid for Ukraine, yet it was then reported that Zelensky angrily rejected Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski’s Volhynia-related requests soon thereafter. Poles regard this behavior as incredibly ungrateful and disrespectful after all that they’ve done for Ukraine, whose stance shockingly suggests that it doesn’t consider the victims to be innocent, but that they deserved to be murdered.
2. Its Double Standards Towards Bucha Imply That Only Ukrainians Are Ever Victims
The aforesaid perception is reinforced by Ukraine’s double standards towards Bucha, which Kiev claims was a genocide despite the circumstances being much murkier, the number of victims much smaller, and their deaths much less grotesque than the Volhynia Genocide’s. The innuendo is that Ukraine believes in a hierarchy of victimhood within which its people are placed much higher than Poles, who can only be described as victims of genocide if they were killed by Russians, not Ukrainians.
3. Poles Have A Very Strong Sense Of Historical Justice Towards All World War II-Era Crimes
Polish historical memory can be divided into the pre-partition, post-partition, and independence eras, with all the crimes committed against Poles in the latter still weighing heavily on their national psyche. They accordingly feel strongly about historical justice, which includes detailed investigations into every such event and holding the perpetrators to account. Germany already apologized for World War II and Russia for Katyn, but Ukraine has never apologized for Volhynia, which is unacceptable to Poles.
4. There’s A Lingering Feeling That They’re Living Out The Frog & Scorpion Fable With Ukraine
The frog and scorpion fable comes to Poles’ minds when reflecting on their relationship with Ukraine, with many now having the lingering feeling that they’re the frog helping the scorpion cross the river only to be stabbed in the back by it halfway through because the scorpion couldn’t help itself. Poles believe that Ukraine is backstabbing them by refusing to comply with their Volhynia Genocide requests after all they’ve done for it, which they see as proof of most Ukrainians’ treasonous and self-destructive nature.
5. The Dark Reality Of Contemporary Ukrainian Nationalism Is Finally Dawning On Poles
And finally, Poles are waking up to the dark reality of contemporary Ukrainian nationalism, which still considers them subhuman and no better than the Russians who some Poles also hate. They naively thought that the ethno-religious hatred that was responsible for Ukrainians genociding Poles during Khmelnitsky’s Insurrection, the “koliszczyzna”, and other such slaughters throughout the centuries was a thing of the past, but they’re now discovering that most Ukrainians’ views towards them never changed.
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Casual observers should now better understand how emotive Poland’s Volhynia Genocide dispute with Ukraine is for a growing number of Poles after reviewing the five points that were enumerated above. They’ve successfully pressured their government to once again raise this issue at the highest levels with Ukraine, which is partially being done with cynical political considerations in mind ahead of next year’s presidential elections but is nonetheless the morally right thing to do, albeit long overdue.
