On the last day of November, I went to Żywiecnia to watch the first of 3 parts of the documentary directed by Jack Międlar "Neighbours". I was accompanied by colleagues Darek Kamiński and Dariusz Piechaczek. The first part of the meat trilogy is entitled “Prelude”. This paper is devoted to Ukrainian genocide carried out in Poles and another nations between 1939 and 1947, and to the modern-born flagism.
A fewer hours before the meeting, I received a message that the show organizers had been forced to change the venue. I wasn't even a small surprised. Actually, I'm utilized to it. I was more amazed by the completed illegal blockade of the “Polish Thought” website. This is what freedom of speech looks like in the 3rd Polish Republic.
The gathering took place, of course, thanks to the determination of the organizers at the head of Mr Stanisława Tomczyk. We went to Kalna, where we met in the basement of the Church of Saint Anthony. This was possible for the case of the courageous priest and Polish patriot priest Kazimierz Hanzlik. The gathering was attended by prof. Witold Osadczy and Jacek Międlar. The area was full of spectators. After the meeting, there was an interesting conversation, many questions. Speakers talked about the dangers arising from the thought of beatification of the Greek Catholic Archbishop of Szeptycki, the request to halt complaining about an apology from the Ukrainian state or the principles on which the extermination of Poles murdered by Ukrainians should take place.
The movie impressed me a lot. The movie is simply a high-level documentary. It is well constructed chronologically. It's a poignant paper showing historical sources of flagism. It is spoken by experts (prof. Witold Osadcza, prof. Czesław Partacz, Dr. Lucyna Kulińska) and the last surviving witnesses of the massacre by Ukrainians. In the movie we see, among another things, the deceased, and the colonel of Stanisław Jastrzębski, who was personally known to me (1929-2024).
This movie project, as well as the two-volume book Neighbours, is an crucial component in building Polish narrative. They've been filling the fact with a white stain in our past for decades. This movie hurts and exposes the brutal fact about the fact that the elites in Poland – both state and spiritual – in the vast majority forgot about the cruelly murdered of our countrymen.
Documentary artist Claude Lanzmann directed a heavy promoted in the 1980s several-shoe series. On the method side, the paper was perfectly crafted, while it was not historically honest. It was anti-Polish. The sympathetic environments with Lanzmann and his imagination of past were able to spread this paper throughout the globe. The tragedy of the Lanzmann nation has become widely known. Jacek Międlar directed “Neighbours” talking about hurting our nation. Unlike Lanzmann's work, it is simply a document, not only well made from the method side, but it is besides historically honest. It shows the forgotten sources of Ukrainian chauvinism and presents a false past of flagism. He's talking about our tragedy and our harm. This series should be Polish export goods. Therefore, it is pleased that it appears in six languages: Polish, Russian, English, Hungarian, Czech, Chinese and what is crucial besides in Ukrainian.
I urge to everyone a two-volume book by Jack Międlar "Neighbours – last witnesses of Ukrainian genocide on Poles", as well as the movie itself. All available on his website.
Łukasz Jastrzębski
