“Divide and Rule”: Historical Memory Between Ukraine and Poland in the Shadow of the Kremlin
Today, we have the strength to say:We do not seek reasons why we are divided. We seek ways to stay united.
In 2022, the world witnessed what two neighboring nations can achieve when they stop competing for dominance in history textbooks and start defending their future together. Ukraine and Poland became symbols of unity at a time of unprecedented threat. Yet, in this very moment, the Kremlin has once again drawn one of its sharpest blades — historical division. This time, it’s the tragedy of Volhynia in 1943.
But before any side starts demanding apologies, it is worth looking in the mirror. Ukrainians — as a nation — have every historical reason to accuse Poland of genocide. And yet, we consciously choose not to, understanding all too well whose mill this water would turn.
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Colonial Brotherhood
Forced union and cultural suppression
Following the Union of Lublin in 1569, most Ukrainian lands became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A deliberate policy of colonization ensued:
Ukrainian noble lands were confiscated and granted to Polish magnates;
Local courts, education, and administration were polonized;
Catholicism and Uniatism were imposed upon Orthodox communities (Berestia Union, 1596);
Ukrainian language, culture, and peasantry were marginalized or criminalized.
📌 According to historian Yaroslav Dashkevych, “The ethnocultural policy of the Commonwealth aimed at the complete displacement of the Ukrainian element from all spheres of power.”
Repression, Executions, and Pacification Campaigns
Suppressing national movements in interwar Poland
After the Polish occupation of Western Ukraine in 1919, the Warsaw government launched a brutal pacification campaign against Ukrainian identity:
In the 1920s–1930s, entire Ukrainian villages were burned, schools closed, and cultural institutions dissolved;
In 1930 alone, over 500 Ukrainian buildings were destroyed;
More than 300 Ukrainian schools were shut down across Galicia and Volhynia.
Mass arrests and concentration camps
In 1934, Poland opened the Bereza Kartuska concentration camp, where Ukrainian students, clergy, teachers, and activists were imprisoned without trial;
Between 1934 and 1939, over 120,000 Ukrainians were detained by Polish authorities.
Targeting the Ukrainian Church
In 1938, over 127 Orthodox churches were destroyed in Chełm and Podlachia alone;
Priests were deported or forced to convert to Catholicism.
These repressive policies — coordinated by the state — sought to erase Ukrainian identity.
Post-War Ethnic Cleansing: Operation Vistula
In 1947, Poland carried out Operation Vistula, forcibly deporting over 140,000 Ukrainians from their historical lands in Lemkivshchyna, Chełm, Podlachia, and Nadsiannia.
Families were broken apart and transported in cattle cars to northern Poland;
The goal was to “disperse the Ukrainian element”, according to Polish Minister Stanisław Radkiewicz;
Thousands were imprisoned in Jaworzno concentration camp, including women and children — regardless of affiliation with the UPA.
📌 According to the 2005 UN classification, Operation Vistula qualifies as ethnic cleansing.
Why Ukraine Does Not Demand Apologies
Given this tragic record, why doesn’t Ukraine demand official apologies, reparations, or a tribunal for acts that clearly fall under the modern legal definition of genocide?
The answer is simple:
Because we refuse to play the Kremlin’s game.
We are a mature nation that knows its history. But we also know that:
The Kremlin wants to divide Kyiv and Warsaw;
The Kremlin wants to shift our gaze from the future to the past;
The Kremlin seeks to destroy the unity between the EU’s eastern flank and Ukraine’s defense.
That is why we do not issue ultimatums.
That is why we do not weaponize memory.
Memory or Weapon? What We Choose Defines Us
Historical memory is sacred — when it serves truth and reconciliation.
It becomes dangerous when it’s turned into a political whip.
Ukraine lost over 10 million people in the 20th century. We were murdered, repressed, and deported by Poles, Russians, Nazis, Soviets. But we never built our identity on victimhood.
Today, we have the strength to say:
We do not seek reasons why we are divided. We seek ways to stay united.
Because mature nations do not measure suffering — they prevent its repetition.
And when the Kremlin resurrects the ghosts of Volhynia, we see through the smoke.
We know this is not about truth.
It’s about sabotage.
Sources
Dashkevych, Y. Ukraine in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Lviv: Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 1996.
Hrytsak, Y. An Outline of the History of Ukraine. Kyiv: Geneza, 1998.
Motyka, G. Ukraińska partyzantka 1942–1960. Warsaw: ISP PAN, 2006.
Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN): Archives on Pacification Campaigns
Shapoval, Y. Repressions Against Ukrainians in Poland (1919–1947), Kyiv, 2017.
UN Report on Operation Vistula (2005)
Atlantic Council. Russia’s Disinformation in Central Europe. 2024.
Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service: White Book of Destabilization Campaigns, Kyiv, 2023.