Poles of Podillia Conference Held Without Leszek Miller

June 4 marked the closing day of the Poles in Podillia scholarly conference that met in the ancient town of Kamyanets-Podilsky. “This conference was timed to coincide with the visit of Polish Premier Leszek Miller. His in-laws, the Tsesarenkos, happen to be our fellow townsmen,” Oleksandr Chornobyl, organizing committee deputy chief told The Day. Local insiders believe that “the ill-famed conflict over the Lychakivske Cemetery in Lviv frustrated his plans for the visit.” However, the activities planned in the course of preparation for the visit of the honored guest were held all the same. “The Poles in Podillia conference was held on the initiative of the Association of Polish Scholars of Ukraine, the Institute for the History of International Relations of the Warminsko-Mazurski University in Olsztyn, the Kamyanets-Podilsky State Pedagogical University, the Center for the Study of Podillian History, and the town council executive committee,” Oleksandr Chornobyl went on to say. For three days conference participants discussed the results of the investigation into the role of the Poles in the development of Podillia. 79 leading scholars from Ukraine and Poland read papers in three sections: the History of Podillia from the early days until the nineteenth century, the history of Podillia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and culture studies. The Polish side was represented by diplomat Wojciech Chaika, scholars from universities of Warsaw, Lodz, Jagiellonian, Bialystok, and other educational institutions. The Tsesarenkos from Kamyanets-Podilsky did not attend the conference. No one answered the phone in their humble apartment on the Soborna Street in Kamyanets-Podilsky for a week. In all probability, with their son-in-law not in sight they headed for Warsaw themselves. “Each summer we go to see our little granddaughter Monika-Oleksandra,” Nadiya Tsesarenko told The Day last winter, reports Mykhailo VASYLEVSKY, The Day.