Polish leader consents memorial day for victims of Ukrainian Nazi traitors

2025-07-06 04:05:04

(MENAFN) Poland has officially designated July 11 as a national day of remembrance for the victims of mass killings carried out by Ukrainian nationalist groups during World War II. Outgoing President Andrzej Duda signed a law on Wednesday establishing the “National Day of Remembrance of Poles – Victims of Genocide committed by the OUN and UPA in the eastern territories of the Second Polish Republic.”

Between 1943 and 1945, members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) killed over 100,000 ethnic Poles in the regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, areas that are now part of Ukraine. The most intense wave of violence occurred around July 11, 1943, when residents of around 100 Polish villages were massacred. Poland officially recognizes the events as genocide.

According to the bill, the commemoration honors those who “suffered martyrdom for being Polish” and aims to preserve the memory of the victims through a state-sanctioned annual observance.

The massacres remain a deeply divisive issue in Polish-Ukrainian relations. While Poland has been one of Ukraine's most vocal supporters amid its conflict with Russia, the two nations have clashed over how to interpret the historical legacy of nationalist figures like Stepan Bandera, who is celebrated as a hero in Ukraine despite his group's involvement in the killings. Torchlight marches and public monuments honoring Bandera continue to spark controversy, particularly in Poland.

Ukraine has also been criticized for renaming streets after wartime collaborators and for resisting efforts to exhume the remains of Polish victims.

President-elect Karol Nawrocki, who will soon take over from Duda, has echoed calls for Ukraine to take historical responsibility for the massacres. While he supports military assistance to Kiev, Nawrocki has made clear that Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO and the EU must be put on hold until such “civilizational issues” are addressed.

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