The protest of 2 border organizations entered the Ministry of Culture led by Marta Cienkowska on 20 September. It was signed by “Community and Memory”. The second signatory is the Memorial Society of Victims of Ukrainian Nationalities Crimes. The reason is the August message of POLIN manager Prof. Dariusz Stoli, who compiled UPA with NSZ and ONR. Organisations anticipate a consequence to a comparison that obscures the fundamental differences between these formations.
Protest to the Minister of Culture
Two organizations dealing with the memory of Poles murdered by Ukrainian nationalists addressed the Minister of Culture Marty Cienkowska on the statements of Prof. Dariusz Stola. According to Kresy.pl, the letter was sent on 20 September, on the 84th anniversary of the creation of the National Armed Forces.
The Association “Community and Memory” reported that despite the passing of respective weeks the manager of the Museum of past of Polish Jews POLIN did not endure service consequences. The organization recalled his words from the August Polsat News program "The Most crucial Questions". Stola, talking about the Ukrainians' attitude to the UPA heritage, pointed to NSZ and ONR as Polish counterparts of akin environments.
That's another reaction to that statement. Before The Union of National Armed Forces Soldiers besides addressed the Minister of Culture, requesting a position on the words of the manager of the State Cultural Institution.
Words that require clear criteria
Prof. Stola estimated in the tv program that expecting the Ukrainians to have a serious settlement with the legacy of UPA during the ongoing war is “unrealistic”. Then he said: “We had akin people. Here it was called National Armed Forces and ONR". He justified a comparison of the critical attitude of these communities to democracy and national minorities.
First wave of dispute after this statement it was about the scope of the analogy. Historian can compare programs, ideas and practices of different movements. However, it should specify precisely the criteria and limits of specified a combination. Otherwise, the recipient gets a shortcut that covers the difference between the Polish formation of the independency underground and the organization liable for the genocide action against the Polish civilian population.
The Polish State has already assessed NSZ
Resolution of the Sejm of September 15, 2017 recalls that the NSZ had between 80 and 100 1000 soldiers, were the second military formation of the Polish underground after the Home Army, and in 1944 they mostly merged with the AK. The Sejm indicated their fight against the German and russian occupier, their participation in the action “Burza” and the Warsaw Uprising. In the same resolution, he felt that the formation deserved the Homeland well.
Discussion of the dark cards of individual branches and the work of circumstantial people remains necessary. However, a sound communicative cannot replace collective analysis with a label. History of the National Armed Forces show a formation about their own genesis, structure and political-military objectives.
Another burden is the OUN-B and UPA activity towards Poles in Volyn and east Małopolska. The National Memorial Institute describes it as genocide, whose goal became the Polish civilian population. The omission of this fundamental difference leads to false symmetry, even if the author of the comparison wants to talk only about selected elements of ideology.
Liability of the public institution
The POLIN Museum is an crucial institution of Polish memory, and its manager is present in a public debate with the authority of a position financed by public funds. Official information of the museum confirms that Dariusz Stola assumed a five-year word of manager in 2026. Therefore, the Ministry of Culture should not treat the protest as another online brawl.
The standard of Polish memory policy is at stake. The state can support Ukraine against Russian aggression and at the same time request the fact about CNS-UPA crimes. There's no contradiction here. The contradiction arises when, in the name of current convenience, the work of the perpetrators is obscured or a sign of equality between formations of a different history.
Minister Marta Cienkowska should respond to the letter of the organisation and clearly find whether specified comparisons fall within the standard of moving the state memorial institution. Poles have the right to anticipate from the ministry the defence of facts, proportions and dignity of their own history.
Source: == sync, corrected by elderman ==, Institute of National Memory, Polish Parliament, POLIN Museum
