Polish politicians have decided to take a “step toward reconciliation” in response to a statement by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, writes Volodymyr Viatrovych, former head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.
Yesterday, a draft law was submitted to the Sejm to amend the Law on the Institute of National Remembrance — the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation and the Criminal Code.The Criminal Code article on punishment for public propaganda of Nazism, communism, fascism, or other totalitarian regimes proposes adding the phrase: “as well as the ideology of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Bandera faction (OUN-B) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which led to the genocide in Volyn and neighboring regions in 1943–1945.”
In other words, Polish politicians want to condemn the ideology of Ukraine’s struggle for independence – a struggle that is ongoing right now, a struggle whose outcome affects not only Ukraine but also Poland.
As reported, Poland has restored only one out of ten Ukrainian monuments destroyed by vandals since 2014.
