To all correspondents trying to understand the Polish-Ukrainian dispute over OUN-UPA symbols: a brief compendium.
This is not an “old Eastern European quarrel.” This is about genocide, unburied victims, and present-day political decisions that cross a moral line.
In 2022, Poles showed what real solidarity means. We opened our homes, cities, schools, train stations, and hearts to millions of Ukrainians fleeing Russian aggression. Many of us, myself included, volunteered to help people escaping war.
We did not do it for a reward. We did not ask for payment, gratitude, or political concessions. We did it out of compassion, decency, and the belief that Ukraine was defending itself against Russian imperialism.
But many Poles believed one thing would now be obvious: that the people and organizations responsible for murdering Polish civilians would not be elevated again as public symbols, military traditions, or objects of state honor.
That is why OUN-UPA symbolism hurts so deeply.
OUN and UPA are not abstract “resistance symbols” to Poles. They are associated with the organized murder of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia: women, children, the elderly, entire villages, people killed because they were Polish.
The Volhynia massacres were genocide.
For decades, Polish families have asked for something basic: exhumations, graves, crosses, names, and the right to bury their dead with dignity. Not revenge. Not humiliation of Ukraine. Just truth and burial. Only now, very slowly, are the first decisions and works beginning.
So when contemporary Ukrainian leaders honor figures connected with the OUN tradition, or when modern Ukrainian units inherit UPA traditions, Poles do not hear a nuanced lecture about anti-Soviet resistance. They see the symbols of those who murdered their relatives placed back on banners.
This is happening now, after 2022, after Poland helped millions of Ukrainians, after one of the greatest acts of civilian solidarity in modern Europe.
The issue is not that Poles want to weaken Ukraine. We do not equate Ukraine with Russia. We do not deny Ukraine’s right to defend itself. Poland has been one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters, militarily, politically, socially, and morally.
But support for Ukraine against Russian aggression cannot require silence about the murder of Polish civilians. Solidarity cannot mean pretending that symbols associated with ethnic cleansing and genocide are harmless, “complicated,” or merely “historical.”
A democratic Ukraine deserves support precisely because it is not Russia. And because it is not Russia, it should be able to face historical truth, respect the victims, and understand why its neighbors cannot be expected to celebrate those responsible for their suffering.
The essential point is this:
Polish anger over OUN-UPA symbols is not anti-Ukrainian.
It is anti-genocide.
Anti-amnesia.
Pro-truth.
Poland stood with Ukraine when it mattered most. But solidarity cannot mean silence when the symbols of those who murdered our families are placed back on banners.
Spread it out.