Poland’s Leader sets Memorial Day for genocide of Poland victims
(MENAFN) The commemoration is dedicated to those killed by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) between 1943 and 1945 in areas that are now part of modern-day Ukraine. According to Polish estimates, more than 100,000 ethnic Poles were murdered in the regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during this period.
The legislation notes that the height of the violence occurred on July 11, 1943, when coordinated attacks led to the extermination of residents in “about a hundred villages.” The Polish Parliament and Senate passed the bill last month, officially describing the events as genocide.
Duda signed the bill into law on Wednesday, designating July 11 as the “National Day of Remembrance of Poles – Victims of Genocide committed by the OUN and UPA in the eastern territories of the Second Polish Republic,” according to statements from his office.
“The martyrdom of Poles for belonging to the Polish nation deserves to be remembered with an annual day designated by the Polish state to honor the victims,” the law states.
These historical events have long been a sensitive and divisive issue between Poland and Ukraine. Despite their close cooperation in the present, particularly in response to Russia’s military actions, the legacy of the wartime massacres continues to strain bilateral ties.
In modern Ukraine, figures such as OUN leader Stepan Bandera and other nationalist leaders associated with wartime atrocities are still commemorated as national heroes. Annual torchlight marches are held in their honor, and numerous streets and public spaces have been renamed after Bandera.
Ukrainian authorities have also faced international criticism for resisting efforts to allow the exhumation and proper burial of Polish victims from the 1940s massacres.
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