The “Kyiv Independent” carried the story about the recent internment in Ukraine of the remains of Colonel Andriy Melnyk. The story was strictly factual. Yet in conclusion the editors decided to add the following: “The groups associated with Bandera, the OUN, and its military wing, the UPA, have a somewhat controversial legacy. In the spring and summer of 1943, UPA members massacred thousands of Poles throughout Volhynia in Nazi-occupied Poland, an area that is now part of western Ukraine. Afterwards, thousands of Ukrainians were also killed by Poles in retaliation. Plokhy estimates that the number of Ukrainians killed may vary between 15,000 and 30,000, while the estimates for the Polish victims vary between 60,000 and 90,000.”
Serhii Plokhy, a Ukrainian historian, residing and working in the United States, wrote in his seminal history on Ukraine, “The Gates of Europe:” “The influx into Volhynia, soon after the Soviet victory at Stalingrad in February 1943, of Soviet partisan units led by Sydir Kovpak triggered the Ukrainian-Polish conflict. They received support from some Polish settlers in Volhynia, who viewed the Soviets as potential allies against the Ukrainians. Ukrainian and Polish historians still argue over whether the OUN leadership sanctioned Ukrainian attacks on Polish villages and, if so, on what level.
The Germans, while not actively involved in the Ukrainian-Polish conflict, incited both sides to continue it, sometimes supplying weapons to the combatants. If they could not control the countryside, they could at least keep their enemies divided. They also benefited from UPA operations against the advancing Red Army.”
Plokhy introduces at least two additional elements in this history: the role of the Nazis and the Soviet partisans. He could have mentioned the role of the Polish Home Army and the civilian Polish population which consisted almost entirely of political colonizers. Thus, including the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) we have at least five actors in Volhynia in 1943 all involved in many conflicts, none of which except the UPA, benefited Ukraine.
To add to the ambiguity, particularly as to numbers, the historian Timothy Snyder wrote that many Polish civilians were recruited or willingly joined the Nazis or the Soviet partisans. Snyder estimated that as many as seven thousand Poles joined the Soviet partisans in Volhynia in 1943. Many more had joined prior to 1943. Snyder wrote: “The Soviet partisans offered Poles the opportunity to pacify Ukrainian villages deemed to shelter nationalists. This made the UPA’s task in Volhynia harder, but also simpler: harder since the UPA had brought about the Soviet-Polish cooperation it had intended to preempt; simpler because the cleansing of Poles now had both operational and propaganda significance in the UPA’s more important struggle with the Soviets.”
The last Polish census which included Volhynia was conducted in 1931 after more than a decade of Polish rule there. The basis was the language spoken without regard to mixed marriages. Most Ukrainians had to speak Polish to attend school. The next census occurred well after the War and did not include Volhynia. No scientific or demographic calculation of the 1943 losses in Volhynia has ever been made. Inasmuch as many Poles refer to the events of 1943 in Volhynia as a massacre, the numbers put forth are more than likely exaggerated in favor of the Poles.
Historiography without scientific documentation is the product of learned yet biased human beings. In this case historians first establish their position based on their personal bias and then look for facts to support that position. This is known as the teleological approach to historiography. That is just wrong.
There is yet another very important factor. Volhynnia was and is historically Ukrainian land. Ukrainian Polish history is three quarters of a millennium long and quite unpleasant at least as far as the Ukrainian side is concerned. The Poles invaded Ukraine at least three times. Ukrainians have never invaded Poland.
Currently, Ukrainian Polish relations are at their best. Both sides need each other. Many Ukrainian migrants have found refuge and work in Poland. At the same time they have enhanced the Polish economy and pay Polish taxes. Ukrainians are protecting Poland from the Russians. Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski have proven to be most valuable allies. On the other hand, Polish President Karol Nawrocki remains a belligerent Polish chauvinist. That’s why he gets along well with President Donald Trump.
Aside from the three invasions, Polish rule on Ukrainian territory including that of the Polish Catholic Church was brutal. Poles were also responsible for an attempted genocide of Ukrainians who lived on Ukrainian territory which was allocated to Poland following World War 2. The number of victims killed or forcibly uprooted “to solve the Ukrainian problem” in Poland totaled one hundred and fifty thousand.
Events in Volhynia in 1943 must be examined in context. All the actors were responsible for the killing. Was there brutality? Yes, on all sides! The Polish civilian colonizers actively participated in the brutality assisting the Polish Home Army, the Nazis and the Soviet partisans. They were killed in large numbers by the Soviet partisans, the Nazis and the UPA. Ukrainians were killed by the Soviets, the Nazis, the Polish Home Army and the Polish civilian colonizers. Probably, more Poles died because they were not innocent bystanders but active participants.
However, the phrase “ethnic cleansing” is not appropriate under these circumstances. In the case of the UPA, its mission was to defend Ukrainian territory from invaders. The Nazis, the Soviet Russians and the Poles—whether colonizers or Polish Home Army—were invaders.
Ethnic cleansing was the Polish mantra on newly acquired Polish territory dealing with the Ukrainian indigenous population following World War 2. Ethnic cleansing in contemporary circumstances should be applied to what the Russians are doing in Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russians: Crimea, Donbas, Kherson, Zaporizhzhya which includes kidnapping Ukrainian children and reeducating them as Russians.
I travel to Ukraine three times a year. Because of the war I fly to Poland and then make my way to Ukraine. Invariably I travel to Przemysl where a pedestrian crossing is located. This is the most expeditious crossing. In the back of my mind I am aware that Przemysl or Peremyshl is Ukrainian land, but I go along with today’s reality and for the sake of Ukrainian-Polish good neighborly relations. However, the “Kyiv Independent’s” accusation against Bandera, OUN and UPA is the product of ignorance and malice. Why malice? Because the offensive article was about the coming home of Colonel Andriy Melnyk which has nothing to do with Volhynia 1943. Ignorance and malice are not historiography.
May 29, 2026 Askold S. Lozynskyj