Polish ambassador's lecture focuses on relations with Ukraine

by Roman Zakaluzny

OTTAWA - Ukraine and Poland are disputing gravestone texts in Lviv, but their diplomatic representatives in Canada were on their best behavior at an event in Ottawa on May 16.

Poland's Ambassador to Canada Pawel Dobrowolski discussed Polish-Ukrainian relations at the third Ambassador Series lecture organized by the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa. Joining a crowd of about 50 were Ukraine's Ambassador Dr. Yuri Shcherbak and Lithuania's Ambassador Rimantas Sidlauskas.

Mr. Dobrowolski, ambassador to Canada since 1997, titled his speech "Do We Let History Die? Ukraine, Poland and Europe in the 21st Century."

"An ambassador is an honest man, sent abroad by his country in order to lie," he began. But he wanted to make it clear that this evening, at least, he was being honest. A former history professor, Ambassador Dobrowolski turned to the past to help understand the mistrust today between Poles and Ukrainians.

"It has never been easy for Poles to recognize co-habitation [with Ukrainians]," said Ambassador Dobrowolski, referring to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to make his point. In the 16th century, he said, a little-known proposal was discussed to grant the Kozak nobility an equal footing with the Poles and Lithuanians in the kingdom. The proposal was rejected. He hinted that it might have been a good strategy had it passed, granting all three nations the strength needed against their neighbors. Instead, all three were conquered by outsiders.

Ambassador Dobrowolski said that misconceptions exist on both sides. He said that Poland's Ukrainian minority feels insecure and inferior still today, despite attempts by Polish President Alexsander Kwasniewski to reach out to them by expressing regret over Akcja Wisla. After a recent trip to Ukraine, he also saw first-hand the images many Ukrainians still had of their western neighbors as either scheming Jesuits who wanted to capture the souls of the Orthodox faithful, or wealthy, indifferent landowners, out to line their own pockets.

Ambassador Dobrowolski's point was that, throughout history, Ukrainians and Poles have fought each other to their mutual disadvantage, and he drove it home the entire evening. This mistrust, aggravated by Communists or other occupiers, didn't help either group. Not until December 1991, when Poland was the first country to recognize independent Ukraine ("a few hours before Canada," Ambassador Dobrowolski remarked with pride) - did Poland admit that its own survival depended on the survival of Ukraine. And, commented Ambassador Scherbak at the end, Ukraine's survival depended on Poland's existence as well.

A few years ago, while strolling in downtown Kyiv, Mr. Dobrowolski said he noticed the stark contrasts among the people of the Ukrainian capital. Old, young, Soviet, Western - Ukraine was a hodgepodge of different peoples and ideas.

"As I walked along Khreschatyk three years ago, I felt an incredible feeling like I was at the crossroads of East and West," he said. "While once at the center of civilization, Kyiv is now at the crossroads of civilization."

Ambassador Dobrowolski said he wants to see Ukraine, like Poland, look to Europe in the future, and promised that Poland was there to help. Even with Poland's accension to the European Union by 2004 (as Ambassador Dobrowolski hopes), Poland will not lose touch with its eastern neighbor. Some members of the audience expressed fear that a new Berlin Wall would divide the two countries, as visas will be needed to travel from one to the other.

"We wish the border to be friendly, but secure," said the ambassador. "Ukraine, as a gesture of goodwill, will be the last [country] affected by [the new visa] policy."

Ambassador Dobrowolski made certain the audience understood Ukraine's place in Poland's future. "Despite the rivers of blood in history, Poland will remain Ukraine's loyal neighbor," he stated.

"Long live Ukraine!" he ended, in Ukrainian.

The Ukrainian Studies Chair's Ambassador Lecture series is planning to present a lecture by German Ambassador Christian Pauls in the fall.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 23, 2002, No. 25, Vol. LXX

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