Originally posted by RP:
I am sorry for getting off topic. Sometimes I pick up on a phrase and it angers me so. I have to learn humility and restraint. Please pray for me in your prayers
Tomasz
Dear Tomasz,
The truth is that there were mistakes made by everyone during the last World War. The anger you feel is mostly the product of 'half truths' being leveraged over generations for the benefit of various political groups - mostly the Communists in both Poland and Ukraine.
For example, the statement that you made concerning UPA collaborating with the NAZIS is untrue. In fact, the UPA was organized in Volyn in 1943 to help speed up the NAZIS' full retreat from Ukraine, and block the entry of the Russian Communists. There is ample archival evidence (German, Dutch, Polish, Slovak, etc...) of the UPA's fight with the NAZIS.
If you read my statement carefully, it was stated that Mr Kruk lead the UPA from 1950 to 1954 when there were no more NAZIs regimes anywhere (o.k. maybe there were a few goose steppers in Argentina
). Clearly, they were fighting the Communist who had a very difficult time consolidating power on all sides of the Carpathian mountains. During this period, the Carpatho-Rusyns played an integral role in helping fleeing anti-communist Ukrainian nationalists escape to the west (once they realized the situation was hopeless and surrender meant execution or deportation to Siberia for long periods of time).
There was a brief conflict in early 1943 between the UPA and the Poles in Volyn only. It would be pointless to blame one side or the other for this conflict. The figures you mentioned appear to be inflated even by Communist reports who tried to exploit this conflict for their own needs - and still do. After Volyn, the Polish KA did not fight with the Ukrainian UPA, and in many ways was later supportive of their efforts (ie: they even collaborated
).
Immediatelly after the war some members of both groups were deported in to Siberia where they came to better understand each other's positions. They actually reconcilled and continued to meet in secret in both Eastern Europe and the diaspora until the early 1990's.
There was much benefit to cooperating over this time. For example, the Polish political party 'Solidarity' fully supported the recognition of the current boundaries of Ukraine. Lech Walesa on many occassions stated that "without an independant Ukraine, there will be no independance for Poland". This philosophy eventually became political policy of the ELECTED Polish government. Poland was the first country to recognize Ukraines declaration of independance after it's national referendum in 1991. The Polish government now fully recognizes the national boarders of Ukraine. Your idea of re-establishing a 'Greater Polish Lithuanian Commonweath' (actually by your description even bigger
) is clearly not an idea shared by Poles today.
On this side of the pond, mutual cooperation and understanding has been an integral element in re-establishing independance for both nations. For exmple, in one of Toronto's west end communities, where the Ukrainians and Poles were numerous, they would take turns electing a member of their ethinic group to the Canadian Parliment. By cooperating they were able to both win power in government. There are many other good examples.
Also, I'm happy to say that the vast majority of young educated recent immigrant Poles to North America whom I meet are very supportive of a complete reconcilliation of the two nations.
I'm sorry that your views are different. Perhaps it's time to evolve.
Hritzko
