Глава УГКЦ: Нас с Польшей разделяют не сами факты борьбы УПА, а мифы о нейHead of the UGCC: What divides us from Poland is not the facts of the UPA's struggle themselves, but the myths about it
Sviatoslav Shevchuk called for a return to the papal formula of reconciliation "we forgive and ask for forgiveness" and urged not to leave the topic of Polish-Ukrainian dialogue in the hands of politicians.
Svyatoslav Shevchuk stated that Polish-Ukrainian contradictions are caused not by the historical facts of the national liberation struggle, but by political myths about it formed in Poland. The head of the UGCC wrote about this on his Facebook page.
According to Shevchuk, "today, as national egoisms are reviving, it is becoming increasingly difficult to speak of reconciliation." "That is why it is so important for objective historical science to disarm political manipulations. There are crimes and victims on both sides," said the head of the UGCC. Whether he agrees that the Volhynia massacre carried out by members of the OUN-UPA was a crime, the head of the UGCC did not clarify.
The head of the UGCC also pointed to the need for objective historical study of the tragic pages of Polish-Ukrainian relations — in particular, the exhumation of victims on both sides of the conflict. According to him, many mass graves on both sides of the border are still awaiting Christian burial. Without serious scholarly work, Shevchuk warns, politicians will always manipulate historical truth for narrow political purposes.
As the UOJ reported, Poland is demanding systematic exhumations of the victims of Volhynia. The topic of the Volhynia tragedy of 1943, when fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) killed tens of thousands of Polish civilians, remains one of the main stumbling blocks in bilateral relations.
