Polish Sejm recognizes WWII battles with Ukraine as genocide

The Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, voted on July 22 to declare July 11 a day of memory for the Polish victims of the genocide committed by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-Ukrainian Insurgent Army in 1943-1945. The measure drew the support of 442 MPs, while none voted against and 10 abstained. The resolution also calls for solidarity with Ukraine, which is fighting against a foreign aggressor for its territorial integrity. It states that the single path to truth is a path to reconciliation.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expressed his regret at the Sejm’s decision, which he said can be exploited for political speculation. On his Facebook page, he called for reconciliation and unity in finding out all the facts of the tragic pages of history.

Zenon Zawada: Without delving too much into history, the period that this resolution refers to involved fighting between Polish and Ukrainian partisan armies in western Ukraine, with casualties in the tens of thousands being inflicted on both sides.

Even setting aside the questionable historical claims, we can’t think of a worse time for Polish legislators to politicize events that occurred more than 70 years ago in a conflict that had so many nuances, with such limited evidence that’s available today. The Russians will be sure to exploit this to their advantage, especially to create a rift in Polish support for Ukraine.

The pursuit of such measures, with little tangible benefit for average Poles, speaks to the inability of many Europeans, even Polish legislators, to set aside petty, short-sighted populism to cope with something far greater, which in this case is the threat that Russia poses to global security.