We will not rest until we honour victims of Volyn massacre – Polish Defence Minister
Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz reiterated the importance of making the truth about the Volyn tragedy "universally recognised and understandable in Europe and the world" [The Volyn tragedy was a series of events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish and Ukrainian populations in 1943 during World War II. It was part of a long-standing rivalry between Ukrainians and Poles in what is now Ukraine's west. Poland considers the Volyn tragedy a genocide of Poles – ed.].
As reported by PAP, the Minister took part in the ceremony on the occasion of the 84th anniversary of the creation of the Peasant Battalions, held in front of the monument to the Peasants' Battalions and Peasant Association of Women in Warsaw.
Kosiniak-Kamysz emphasised that he always remembers history and heroes, "whether he is a co-government official or in opposition". "I would like to make a promise to all of us here, a promise to Poland, a promise to my compatriots: we will not rest until we honour the memory of the victims of the genocide in Volyn," he told reporters.
He insisted that the truth be "universally recognised and understood in Europe and the world."
Kosiniak-Kamysz continued: "among the first victims of those events were soldiers of the Peasant battalions, these were mainly Polish peasants." The Minister said that he does not mention Volyn "in order to reopen the wound, because it is impossible to reopen wounds that have not healed."
He went on to say that this is how everyone should communicate with their friends: clearly and directly.
Peasant battalions (formerly called the Peasant Guard) were founded in August 1940. The organisation consisted of the People's Party's military forces, as well as members of the Republic's Union of Rural Youth. During its peak, the organisation had approximately 170,000 members, all of whom lived in rural areas; it did not function in cities.
Among the organisation's most well-known achievements is the provision of intelligence materials on the testing of German V-1 and V-2 missiles, though in everyday life, the detachments were primarily engaged in the destruction of railway traction and communications, the liberation of prisoners from Gestapo arrests, and the protection of villagers from pacifications. Politically, the organisation was closest to the Home Army, with an anti-communist and anti-nationalist stance.
Peasant battalions resisted German efforts to transfer and exterminate the Polish population in Zamość County, as part of the Ost criminal master plan. Peasant battalions launched an armed campaign against the Germans, which evolved into the Zamość Uprising.
Following the war, troops from the Peasant Battalions co-founded the Polish Peasant Party, led by Kosiniak-Kamysz.
Earlier, Kosiniak-Kamysz stated that he would block Ukraine's accession to the European Union until the issues of exhumation and the memory of the victims of the Volyn tragedy are resolved.
Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stated earlier this summer that resolving historical disputes regarding the Volyn tragedy is a condition for Ukraine's EU membership.
On 1 October, amid talks between Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in Poland, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory announced plans to include work on searching for and exhuming the remains of Poles in Rivne Oblast (Ukraine's northwest) in 2025.
The Polish Foreign Ministry welcomed the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory's readiness to resume work on the search and exhumation of victims of the Volyn tragedy.