Poland's Foreign Ministry warns inclusion of Bandera and Shukhevych in Ukraine's National Pantheon would cause "major problems" in EU

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki has stated that the inclusion of figures such as Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych in Ukraine's National Pantheon would lead to major problems with the country's integration into the European Union.

Source: Bosacki, cited by RMF 24, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Bosacki said that "every nation and its authorities have the right to choose whichever heroes they see fit".

At the same time, he stated that "if individuals responsible for mass crimes against the civilian population, such as Bandera or Shukhevych, were indeed to appear in Ukraine's National Pantheon, it would significantly worsen Ukraine's relations not only with Poland but with Europe as a whole".

Bosacki pointed out that the reburial of "a far less controversial figure, namely Yevhen Konovalets, leader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, a few days ago, was attended by almost no diplomatic representatives from EU member states". He noted that "this was a Polish diplomatic initiative".

"Ukraine knows that it will have enormous problems integrating into Europe under the flags of those who killed not only Poles, by the way, but also some Ukrainians, as well as Czechs, Jews and Roma – that is, the founders of the UPA during the worst period of its activity, in 1943-1944," the deputy foreign minister said.

For reference: The OUN (Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists) was a Ukrainian nationalist political group; the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) was its military wing, involved in armed resistance.

In Ukraine, the OUN and UPA are most often commemorated as organisations linked to the struggle for Ukrainian statehood against both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. In Poland, they are remembered above all in connection with the massacres of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, known as the Volyn tragedy, a series of events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish and Ukrainian populations in 1943.

The Home Army (Armia Krajowa) and Peasant Battalions (Bataliony Chłopskie) are commemorated in Poland as anti-Nazi resistance formations. In Ukraine, some units linked to these formations are associated with retaliatory and pacification actions against Ukrainian villages. These differing historical experiences continue to shape Ukrainian and Polish public debates over commemoration, national pantheons, and bilateral memory policy.

Background:

• Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz recently stated that Ukraine will face serious problems joining the EU if it does not abandon the honouring of OUN and UPA figures. The minister also agreed with the argument that there are "certain forces" in Kyiv that do not want their country to join the EU.
• Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine's ambassador to Poland, stated that no one has the right to dictate to Ukraine regarding who it should consider its heroes and that historical disputes should not stand in the way of supporting the country on its path to EU membership.

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