dr. Andreja Valič Zver
In 1997, I attended a Council of Europe seminar in Lviv/Lvov, the historical and cultural capital of Galicia, in today’s western Ukraine, as a representative of Slovenian history teachers.
Let me mention a few small personal impressions that remain in my memory. The flight from Warsaw to Lviv was an adventure in itself, with an old‑fashioned aircraft and an unusual crew. The border control upon entering Ukraine resembled those from Soviet times. Heavily armed guards in front of the hotel and inside it, were impossible to overlook, and comically stout “guardians of order” with stern looks crouched in the hotel corridors. Yet the hosts surpassed themselves with their hospitality and a well‑prepared programme. The seminar at Lviv University would have remained a pleasant memory, were it not increasingly overshadowed by the ever-clearer picture of what happened in this area during the Second World War. Our Ukrainian hosts did not speak much about it. Today, as past events and the atrocities committed in this region are increasingly revealed, we can understand why.
Let me try to explain briefly. You have probably noticed the recent news about the withdrawal of a Polish state decoration from Ukrainian President Zelensky. Polish President Nawrocki, a historian who for several years headed the renowned Polish Institute of National Remembrance, made this decision after Zelensky named a Ukrainian military unit after a man who was one of the architects and perpetrators of the genocide against Poles in what is now western Ukraine. A storm followed in Ukrainian circles, and high‑ranking politicians began returning Polish decorations one after another, as if to say: “Bad, bad Poles.” But the sober voices, which should prevail especially in international relations, pricked up their ears and listened to the Polish arguments. These are anchored in the undeniable historical memory of wartime events that in many ways resemble a politicide – the elimination of anti‑communist opponents on Slovenian territory during and after the Second World War. As in Slovenia, the majority of victims in western Ukraine were women, children, and the elderly. Ukrainian military units (UPA), in the German‑occupied zone between 1943 and 1945, killed around 100,000 Poles and, in line with the policy of erasing Poles, destroyed entire villages. The massacres were carried out in the most brutal ways imaginable. More details about this bestial violence, which falls under the dry category of “ethnic cleansing” or more precisely “genocide”, can be found in the reports of the Institute of National Remembrance and online under the term Volhynia Massacre (the massacres in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia).
Let us return to the complicated present and recall the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, when Slovenian Prime Minister Janša was one of the three leaders who travelled by train to Kyiv to express support for Ukraine and Zelensky. He was joined by Czech Prime Minister Fiala and Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki, which was a welcome gesture of reconciliation between the Polish and Ukrainian nations. This was followed by Poland’s selfless and comprehensive assistance to the attacked Ukrainians. My Polish colleagues from the Platform of European Memory and Conscience constantly emphasised that painful history must not hinder helping friends in need. The genocide against Poles in western Ukraine was – at least temporarily – pushed aside. But forgetting is not a recipe for a successful and democratic present or future. Truth, justice, and memory are the true values that matter in the process of reconciliation between people who have inflicted deep wounds on one another. This applies not only to Polish‑Ukrainian tensions, but also to Slovenian traumas. Exhumation of victims, identification where possible, dignified burial, commemorative ceremonies, and a clear and decisive stance from politics and other responsible actors – all of this is part of the necessary process of social reconciliation. Irresponsible provocations, such as the one Zelensky allowed himself in relation to the proud Poles, who have suffered enormously throughout history, are unnecessary in this context and serve only the aggressor.