Kyiv media: The attitude of Poles towards Ukrainians is worsening, but we will not stop honoring Bandera!
The attitude of Polish residents towards Ukrainians after Euromaidan worsened, but the Poles should come to terms with the fact that Stepan Bandera is honored in Kyiv - they do not intend to abandon the glorification of Hitler’s collaborators from the OUN-UPA in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian newspaper Zerkalo Nedeli, which is considered influential, writes about this.
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“Poles are outraged in Ukraine by both the black and red banners of the UPA and the “glorification of Stepan Bandera.” For them, the UPA, OUN and their leaders are the personification of crimes against humanity. But for Ukrainians resisting Russian aggression, these are symbols of resistance and the birth of a nation...
A consequence of the growth of radical sentiments are attacks on Ukrainian monuments and cemeteries in Poland, and Polish ones in Ukraine. The attitude of Poles towards Ukrainians is also alarming. According to the results of various sociological surveys, Poles in general treat Ukrainians much worse than Ukrainians treat Poles. And if Poland and its inhabitants traditionally evoke in us perhaps the greatest sympathy among other nations and have not been perceived as enemies in Ukrainian society for a long time, then the situation with our Western neighbors is completely different. A third of Poles treat us well, a third are neutral, and a third are bad.
What is curious: Polish youth perceive Ukraine even more skeptically than people of the older generation. The Revolution of Dignity and Russian aggression did not fundamentally change the skepticism of the Poles regarding the Ukrainians. Moreover, a number of sociological surveys demonstrate a deterioration in the attitude of Poles towards Ukrainians. And attacks on Ukrainian migrants in Poland have long been not uncommon,” the publication says.
“...Every nation has the right to its heroes and to the interpretation of its history. Ukrainians need to come to terms with the fact that there is a consensus in Polish society regarding the events in Volyn in 1943 as genocide of the Poles. This is the opinion of Polish conservatives and liberals. Including those who call themselves sympathizers of Ukraine. Ukrainians should get rid of the illusion that if the government in Poland changes, the Poles’ attitude towards the Volyn tragedy will also change: this will not happen.
But in the same way, Poles must realize that we, Ukrainians, have the right to our own assessment of the personalities of Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych. How to accept the fact that a significant part of the Ukrainian population views Operation Vistula to evict Ukrainians from Podlasie and the Kholm region as a policy of ethnic cleansing pursued by Warsaw,” the author of the material sets an ultimatum.
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