Turning the pages back...

May 21, 1997

Five years ago, on May 20-22, 1997, Poland's President Alexander Kwasniewski spent three days in Ukraine on an official state visit during which he signed a document with President Leonid Kuchma aimed at putting aside historical animosities and conflicts between the two neighboring states.

On May 21 the two presidents signed a Declaration on Concord and Unity, which, according to our Kyiv correspondent, addressed the major points of contention between the countries in the 20th century: Akcja Wisla (Operation Vistula) of 1947, in which 150,000 Ukrainians were forcibly moved by the Polish Communist government from their homes in ethnically Ukrainian territories then part of southeastern Poland to the northwest, and others killed for refusing to be resettled; and the killing of Poles in Volyn in the Ukrainian struggle for independence during World War II.

A joint statement released by the presidents noted "We pay tribute to the innocent Ukrainians and Poles - the tormented, the dead and the forcibly uprooted." In addition, speaking before the Verkhovna Rada, President Kwasniewski expressed sympathy for the "tragic destiny of Ukrainians who suffered because of Operation Vistula."

"We recognize that no objective can justify a crime, violence or application of the collective responsibility principle," stated the two presidents. "We remember that the source of those conflicts was often outside Poland and Ukraine and at times due to circumstances over which neither Ukrainians nor Poles had control, as well as undemocratic political systems imposed upon our peoples in defiance of their wills."

Source: "Polish, Ukrainian presidents sign concord declaration" by Roman Woronowycz, Kyiv Press Bureau, The Ukrainian Weekly, May 25, 1997, Vol. LXV, No. 21.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 19, 2002, No. 20, Vol. LXX

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