Granting permission for the exhumation of Volhynian massacre victims would signal Ukraine’s willingness to engage. If cooperation with Ukraine on prosecuting Russian crimes remains on the table, what shape would it take if cases from eight decades ago still go unresolved, asks Dr. Karol Nawrocki, president of the Institute of National Remembrance.
As he recalled, inquiries about exhuming the Volhynian massacre victims have been sent to Ukraine since 2020, even before the current war began. Unfortunately, there has been no reply, he noted.
Solidarity and support for Ukraine in the fight against Russia are unequivocal. Given personal and institutional ties, it is natural that Poland stands with Ukraine, Nawrocki emphasized. Yet he stressed that Ukraine’s responses and the gestures observed so far, which seem to lead to nothing, cannot be translated into the present, even dire, circumstances. The war has not changed that a lack of permission to bury Polish victims remains a stubborn obstacle, he argued.
The Institute’s president noted that Ukraine recently agreed to the exhumation of 74 Wehrmacht soldiers who died after 1941 on territory then part of the Soviet Union. Yet Ukraine has not extended the same consent to Polish civilian victims, numbering about 1,300 sites where remains of Polish children, women, and the elderly lie awaiting proper handling.
Even a single permit for excavations would demonstrate goodwill on the Ukrainian side, Nawrocki added. He framed the issue as about the future, not merely memory, stressing that it is a matter of historical fidelity and national memory that bears on current international relations.
Looking ahead, Nawrocki described a future in which international structures with Ukraine could be created after a victory. The Institute of National Remembrance already has prosecutors prepared to pursue genocide and mass murder charges against civilians. The aim is to bring Russian perpetrators to justice for their actions today. Yet he asked how cooperation in the international arena would look if Russian crimes were pursued now while cases from eight decades ago remained unresolved.
For many Polish families, the exhumation question remains deeply personal. In public discourse, there is risk that Russian propaganda could exploit Poland’s difficulty in addressing these fundamental issues. Nawrocki argued that not everyone demanding exhumation is a spy, and he asserted a personal right and duty to seek permission for exhumation, denying accusations of serving Russian propaganda. He noted that the Russian authorities have targeted his work, even mentioning potential consequences for him personally.
Nawrocki also referenced Russian efforts to dismantle Soviet propaganda facilities in Poland that existed since the era of the Polish People’s Republic, tying this to broader tensions in the information sphere.
Geopolitics cannot erase the truth, Nawrocki maintained. If he understands the complex security framework of the Polish state, he will not abandon the demand for exhumation. There is a duty to honor those who lost their lives in these tragic events and to remember the families still living with the memory, regardless of the ongoing military, political, or economic negotiations. Resolving the exhumation issue remains a priority, he emphasized.
Since spring 2017, there has been a dispute between Warsaw and Kyiv over a ban on searching for and exhuming Polish victims on Ukrainian soil, a ban imposed after the dismantling of the UPA monument in Hruszowice in April 2017. Poland and Ukraine have long been divided by historical issues, especially differing views on the role of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army who conducted mass ethnic cleansing in 1943–45 targeting Polish people. For Poland, this is a genocidal crime worthy of commemoration and lawful exhumation efforts; Ukraine has often framed these issues within a broader anti-Soviet narrative rather than as anti-Polish actions. Poland seeks to honor victims at Polish cemeteries and to exhume certain individuals who died during or after the Volhynia and Galicia events, including those who perished fighting the Soviets after 1939. Ukraine has resisted some conditions, including Polish reconstruction of a commemorative monument in a specific site, a demand Poland has deemed unacceptable.
These tensions reflect a larger debate about memory, history, and reconciliation between the two nations. The Polish side seeks to ensure that victims of the OUN-UPA era are remembered properly at dedicated sites, while the Ukrainian side cautions against reopening wounds that might complicate current relations. The discussion remains a live, painful issue for many families and communities in both countries, with ongoing public commentary and political discourse shaping perceptions of past events and present diplomacy.
In this context, the discussion about exhumation is framed not only as a historical question but as a test of trust and an indicator of the kinds of future cooperative arrangements Poland and Ukraine could build. The broader aim is to establish a shared, truthful account of the events and to determine appropriate acts of remembrance that respect the victims and the memories of all affected communities.
Source: wPolityce