At a press conference the IPN President Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D., addressed the issue of the Volhynian exhumations. The conference followed yesterday’s Ukrainian promise of green light for the search for the remains of Polish victims of the 1943-1945 ethnic cleansing. Since 2017 the Institute of National Remembrance has been applying for permits to send teams to Volhynia, where over 100,000 Polish nationals were slain by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Ukrainian peasants during the Second World War.
The IPN intends to locate and open mass graves, identify as many victims as possible, and give them the burial they deserve. So far, the applications to that effect have been turned down or ignored.
Our Office of Search and Identification is ready to begin the actual search in Volhynia within twenty-four hours, so we’re waiting for a formal confirmation of yesterday’s news, truly hoping that this public declaration has not been made to appease the public, but will translate into search and identification efforts and bring long-overdue decent burial, said the IPN President
Statement by the Institute of National Remembrance
Referring to the statements of the director of the Ukrainian IPN, Anton Drobovych, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance declares that Mr Drobovych's words are manipulative and misinform the public opinion. They harm Polish-Ukrainian cooperation in commemorating the victims of the Volhynian Massacre.
We would like to remind you that within the framework of correspondence with the Ukrainian side so far, including with the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, 9 main applications and several dozen detailed ones have been submitted for permission to undertake search and exhumation works of, among others, the Victims of the Volhynian Crime. Each of the applications indicated the exact locations, selected by specialists from the Polish IPN, where work was planned to be undertaken.
At yesterday's press conference at the Institute's headquarters, Karol Nawrocki confirmed that IPN specialists are ready to travel to Ukraine within 24 hours to carry out search and exhumation work. We interpret the words of Anton Drobovych as an attempt to block the search process agreed between the Polish and Ukrainian authorities for the victims of the Volhynian Crime. The Polish side is acting in accordance with the laws in force in Ukraine, always fulfilling all formal conditions, as was clearly emphasised yesterday by the President of the IPN, Karol Nawrocki, PHD.
Unfortunately, Mr. Drobowycz omits these important issues in his statement. It is noteworthy that the Ukrainian IPN is not a party to the proceedings for consent to undertake search and exhumation work.
Due to the importance of the case and our determination to give a dignified burial to Poles murdered by Ukrainian nationalists, the Institute of National Remembrance is preparing a response, which will soon be sent to the Ukrainian Institute. This does not change the fact that we consider the proposals made so far to be valid and binding on the Ukrainian side.
The remains of approx. 120,000 murdered Poles await exhumation in the death pits of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
The Institute of National Remembrance presented its position on the search and exhumation work in Ukraine on 18 September in a statement, which is available on our website:
Read more about the Volhynian Massacre: http://volhyniamassacre.eu
Download our online exhibition "Neighbors' Blood - Genocide in Volhynia and Galicia 1943 – 1945"
Read our downloadable booklet "1943 Volhynian Massacres. Truth and Remembrance"