The Polish-Ukrainian collective for solidarity with Ukraine is calling for reconciliation of the two nations in a petition on its site. The text of the petition is published in Polish and Ukrainian, and is open for signing for the public.
At present, there are nearly 900 signatures under the petition, including those of politicians and civic leaders from Poland and Ukraine.
Signatories from Poland include MEP Jerzy Buzek, Speaker of the Polish Sejm Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Deputy Speaker Elżbieta Radziszewska, Polish Minister of Defense Tomasz Siemoniak. Among Ukrainian signatories are Ukrainian Rada Speaker Volodymyr Groisman, Director of the Institute of National remembrance Volodymyr Viatrovych, and Ukrainian MP and RS head Dmytro Yarosh.
A translation of the petition to English is below:
“We, the undersigned, appeal to everybody with an appeal to resist any provocations, and to oppose attempts to incite hostility between our nations and societies. We condemn every possible form of desecration of monuments to Ukrainians and Poles.
We will not allow to embroil us in quarrels again. Many times in our history conflicts were fueled by external forces that were hostile to Poland and Ukraine. These conflicts ended dramatically for our nations and led to the deaths of many innocent people.
We therefore warmly welcome the decision of the Institutes of National Remembrance of our countries to establish a joint historical commission, as well as the decision of the Parliaments of the Republic of Poland and Ukraine to create a joint committee that will prepare a declaration on the reconciliation of the Polish and Ukrainian nations.
We strive for a frank discussion about our difficult past in order to find reconciliation in the truth, in the in the name of brotherly cooperation, taking European values into account: cooperation instead of fighting among nations; tolerance and understanding instead of chauvinism, so that without the burden of the past we could work together to influence the course of events in Europe.
History unites Poland and Ukraine, because in the past we both had suffered a loss of independence and statehood, had experienced difficult times of repression by foreign rule. Our cultures and languages are similar. We strive to build a future based on the principles of sovereignty of our countries, democracy, and the rule of law. It is to have this chance that Poles fought for in 1980, and and thus started to implement it in 1989. Ukrainians dreamed for the very same thing when they proclaimed independence in 1991, when they protested on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in 2004 and when they shed their blood on Maidan last year.
Both our nations and societies are simply destined to cooperate now and in the future, for the benefit and security of our countries and Europe. It is a necessity and a great challenge.
Glory To Ukraine! Long live Poland!”
As reported earlier, the Ukrainian and Polish Institute of National Remembrances had made a decision to establish a joint comission to promote dialogue about the most dramatic period in Polish-Ukrainian common history, 1939-1947. In particular, the comission will investigate the Volyn tragedy of 1943-1944.
