Partner cities vie for heroes

At the end of last week Lutsk and Volyn were openly shocked by Polish media reports (e.g., Dziennik Wschodni and Polish Radio’s Ukrainian Service) that Lublin’s authorities have decided to revoke the invitation for the Ukrainian band Tartak to take part in The Days of Student Culture. Tartak is accused of lauding the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and Stepan Bandera. It is further alleged that the students are afraid that Tartak’s appearance will cause conflicts in the city. Considering that the group’s leader, Sashko Polozhynsky, and all the members of the band of Tartak come from Lutsk, this turn of events looks offensive to the people of Volyn. In fact, misunderstandings between Lutsk and the partner cities began after the City Council of Zamosc denounced its Lutsk counterpart’s two-year-old (!) decision to posthumously confer honorary citizenship on Stepan Bandera and urged Lutsk to nullify it. Later, the City Council of Lublin voiced their discontent over the campaign lauding the UPA and OUN “heroes,” particularly in Lutsk (also in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk), saying it is unacceptable to the Polish side.

The City Council of Lutsk adopted a statement (at a second try), addressing their counterparts in Zamosc. It reads, in part, that there will never be a monument to Bandera in Poland, just as there will never be one to Pilsudski in Ukraine. But that the common history of both countries requires each side to understand and respect the stand taken by the other side. The events around Tartak outraged the Volynian public. The Day asked the members of the Lutsk City Council to comment on the council’s stand, considering that it reflects the views of most people in Volyn.

Hryhorii PUSTOVIT, secretary of the City Council of Lutsk, head of Lutsk’s city organization of the Ukrainian Officers’ Association:

“The statement by the City Council of Zamosc, our Polish partner, is totally unexpected and unacceptable. The one made by the City Council of Lublin only adds to our incomprehension of the logic of our colleagues in the Polish twin cities. That’s not the way for the partners to act. In a civilized world, to which our Polish friends belong, relationships are clarified not by a political brawl, by coming up with ultimatum-like statements, but by negotiations, an attempt to understand the partner’s position and motive, hear his reasoning, and try to convey that of the other side, then resolve the situation as befits partners.

“What was there to prevent our colleagues in Zamosc and Lublin from visiting Lutsk, meeting with members of the City Council and representatives of the public, and discuss any subject of interest to them? In fact, they have repeatedly made such visits after our council adopted a resolution conferring honorary citizen on Stepan Bandera at the end of 2010, let alone naming a street after him on August 13, 2008. None of our Polish partners had objected for quite a while. Also, the tone and contents of these statements came as an unpleasant surprise. These statements do not provide for understanding, only for capitulation or a similar response.

“Since the authors of these statements aren’t likely to have believed that we would capitulate, that is a challenge meant to see if we respond in kind. We sent no such response to Zamosc, although the temptation was strong enough (there are about as many Ukrainian patriots in Lutsk as there are Polish patriots in Zamosc and Lublin. Anyway, we held our emotions in check and our response came out balanced and tolerant, thus offering a dialog. We are waiting for our Polish friends and are prepared to discuss all the most unpleasant pages in our common history, including UPA, Armia Krajowa or the National Armed Forces, Stepan Bandera, Jozef Pilsudski, or anyone else.

“There are many examples. Fighting the past is a road that leads nowhere. When Poland enacted the law establishing the National Day of Cursed Soldiers, it was a tribute to the heroes of the struggle for Polish national independence. We understand that this is why our Polish brothers honor their memory, not because these soldiers killed Ukrainian peaceful civilians, although this is what comes to one’s mind at the mention of Armia Krajowa or the National Armed Forces. Likewise we honor the memory of our soldiers who fought for Ukrainian national independence, even if, unlike Poland, we don’t do so on a national level. Therefore, Poles have to figure out their history and we have to figure out ours, and keep moving forth, so that our fratricidal past is no obstacle for our unity and mutual confidence today and tomorrow. Lutsk recently held a children’s competition for the best Polish poetic recital and Volyn Television has launched lessons in Polish. I hope to God these tender sprouts of a strong friendship in the future survive this possible cooling of political relations.”

Sashko POLOZHYNSKY, front man of the band Tartak:

“We have a song dedicated to the UPA soldiers who fought and died for Ukraine. We were not banned to perform in Lublin, it’s just that invitation has been cancelled but we were promised that our band will be invited to another concert. The organizers explained to us that it happened for security reasons because some Polish right-radical organizations threatened provocations at our concert.

“We objectively look at the situation and realize that the organizers have every right to invite those artists they want to invite. The same is true for canceling the invitation if they consider it necessary. At the same time, we feel very sorry that our work in general and, particularly, the song ‘Not Saying to Anyone’ are viewed as anti-Polish, which it never was because it has always been just pro-Ukrainian. Besides, this sad fact shows that we are still far away from building modern good-neighborly relations between Poland and Ukraine.”

Andrzej SZEPTYCKI, analyst at the Institute of International Relations, University of Warsaw:

“It is really nice that bands from other countries, especially from neighboring ones perform at such festivals. On the other hand, one should also understand that different countries and peoples have different historical memory. For example, in Poland there are also some groups (perhaps, they are not even music bands or anything like that) who have a deeply negative attitude to traditions of Ukrainian Insurgent Army. I think that if, for example, in Poland there was an ensemble that would sing in their songs that they ‘know nothing about UPA’ or would approve of the Operation Vistula in Ukraine, and especially in Lutsk, it would be perceived just as negatively. This band would not be invited to Lutsk. However, Polish bands do not sing much about history. Perhaps, some other Ukrainian band should be invited to this festival which does not have any songs that could be controversial for Polish people. Historical subject is a complicated matter and we should be careful with it.

“People in Poland and Ukraine now have more serious problems than the participation of the Tartak band in a student festival. Our countries now have uneasy political relations taking into account the complicated situation in Ukraine. Today, Ukraine has been presented not too good in the EU, which also complicates the Polish-Ukrainian relations.

“However, I do not think that this situation will in any way influence the relations between our countries. At the same time, we cannot look at them through the prism of history because it often negatively affects the present.”