Parliament Debates UPA Legislation: Defining the Volhynia Genocide
During a parliamentary session, political representatives debated a presidential bill aimed at legally defining crimes committed by the OUN-UPA and formally recognizing the events in Volhynia and...
During a parliamentary session, political representatives debated a presidential bill aimed at legally defining crimes committed by the OUN-UPA and formally recognizing the events in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia as genocide.
Table Of Content
Political Standoff Over Presidential Bill
Zbigniew Bogucki, Chief of the Presidential Cabinet, criticized the nine-month delay in moving the presidential project forward, attributing it to a lack of political will from the ruling coalition and the Speaker of the Sejm. He argued that the truth regarding the suffering of Kresy families must be acknowledged, labeling the events as genocide.
Bogucki emphasized that the legislation is directed against the perpetrators of these crimes rather than against the modern Ukrainian state. He insisted that the collaboration of Ukrainian nationalists with the Third Reich must be clearly stated to address this deep wound of the Polish nation.
Ideology and Historical Reckoning
MP Przemysław Czarnek condemned the ideology of the OUN-UPA, reading excerpts from Mychajło Kołodziński’s war doctrine which called for extreme cruelty against the Polish population. Czarnek equated this ideology with German Nazism, arguing it was pure totalitarianism.
Katarzyna Królak of the Civic Coalition stated that her party recognizes the events as genocide, while warning that polarizing Poles and Ukrainians serves Russian interests. Meanwhile, Jarosław Sachajko urged legal precision in the drafting process to ensure the law survives potential challenges in the Constitutional Tribunal and questioned whether the government plans to engage in diplomatic dialogue with Ukraine to reach an honest reconciliation.
Legal Framework and Definitions
The proposed legislation amends the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance and the Penal Code. It replaces the general term “Ukrainian nationalists” with specific references to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Bandera faction) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
A new provision, Article 2a, formally defines “Banderite crimes” to include the genocide committed between 1943 and 1945, as well as acts of terror against Polish citizens. Additionally, the Penal Code will be amended to include the ideology of OUN-B and UPA alongside Nazism and Communism as prohibited, punishable ideologies.