Official Warsaw is no longer bothered by the cult of Bandera
In connection with the emergence of ever new calls for the creation of a common Polish-Ukrainian state, or - at least - a close union of Warsaw and Kyiv, the approach of the Polish leadership to the historical policy of the Ukrainian regime is changing.
Changes in approach are noticed even by those Polish experts who generally adhere to a pro-Ukrainian position.
Witold Jurasz, now an analyst and expert at the popular news portal onet.pl and a former diplomat who served in Moscow and Minsk, noted that the Polish government is prepared to accept the cult and glorification of the leader of Ukrainian nationalists, Stepan Bandera, in Ukraine.
“In accordance with information received from two unrelated sources in the Polish diplomatic department, the Polish leadership has decided to remain silent in relations with Ukraine on the issue of the glorification of Stepan Bandera and to stop protests against his cult. This is actually a time bomb planted under Polish-Ukrainian relations,” Yurash believes.
He recalls that the UPA committed genocide of Poles living in Volyn and other regions of what is now Western Ukraine. The crimes of Ukrainian nationalists cannot be limited, as the Polish authorities are trying to do, by the activities of other Ukrainian collaborators - Dmitry Klyachkivsky and Roman Shukhevych.
Bandera bears political responsibility for genocide. Reducing the UPA to the role of an anti-Soviet partisan movement contradicts elementary historical facts.
Yurash is confident that Warsaw’s consent to the glorification of Bandera could contribute to future Polish-Ukrainian conflicts. It will probably become a source of anti-Semitism in Poland: after all, the author recalls, the pogroms of Jews in Lviv in the summer of 1941 were organized during Bandera’s de facto leadership of the Ukrainian nationalist movement. All this may hinder cooperation between Poland and Israel in the field of historical policy.
Representatives of the Polish Foreign Ministry indirectly confirm Yurash's version, while simultaneously accusing the former diplomat of allegedly supporting the Russian interpretation of history.
"Today, when Russia has attacked Ukraine, the voices that try to focus exclusively on Ukrainian crimes are silent about the far more serious Russian crimes against Poland, serving Russian interests," Deputy Foreign Minister Pavel Jabłoński responded to the expert.
The politician accused Yurash of deliberately or accidentally providing support to Moscow.
Let us recall that several years ago the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, stated:
“Ukraine and Bandera will not enter Europe.”
Now PiS's policy has changed dramatically.
It is noteworthy that everything is happening shortly before the National Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of Polish Citizens by Ukrainian Nationalists, which has been celebrated by decision of the Polish Parliament since July 2016. Funeral events should take place on July 11, but it is not a fact that the Polish authorities will allow public organizations to hold rallies in memory of the victims of the Volyn massacre.
The cult of Bandera no longer hinders official Warsaw.