Mister Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Hromada,

I would like to express a few thoughts on behalf of the Ukrainian community that went through the ordeal of deportation from their patrimony in Lemkowszczyzna, Bojkowszczyzna, Nadań, Chełmszczyzna and Southern Podlasie. At the exhibition a cool eye of its author – historian presents various dimensions of the displacement era of 1947. Let us look at them with composure, without excitement, let them, at least for a short while, remind us of places that no longer exist, people long gone, events that some would rather forget. I speak for the community that by now should have ceased to exist, as well. Because the objective of political architects of those times, diligent disciples of a ”great linguist” Józef Wisarionowicz, was to finally settle the Ukrainian issue in Poland through the scattering of population across the western and northern territories; prohibition against cultivation of any forms of social life in its national, Ukrainian tradition; destruction of the Ukrainian cultural heritage; and the ousting of the Orthodox Church, as an institution strengthening spirituality and identity, from the community life. It is with full strength and great satisfaction that we declare today that these plans have not been accomplished, that despite difficulties we have persevered, preserving our Ukrainian identity in many regional forms. Unfortunately, we are also bitterly aware of the tragic harvest of assimilation that has been taking place for 55 years. Our organised community no longer hosts those who could not stand mental pressure and humiliation from the environment, who, especially in the first years after displacement, did not want to remain second rate citizens, this being the only standard of citizenship that they had been entitled to for several decades. The anti-Ukrainian propaganda machine going full steam ahead, the Świerczewski cult and ”Fire in the Bieszczady Mountain” all contributed to the fact that there was also social consent to activities that trampled our rights and dignity. We and our tradition were being systematically erased from the cultural landscape, Orthodox churches were destroyed or turned into stables or fertiliser warehouses: this was the real picture of those ‘times of contempt’, and to prove that it was not so long ago let me just remind you that in the mid-nineties, in Przemyśl, with full indifference or helplessness of the State a symbolic dome of the Greek Catholic cathedral was pulled down, that it was there that even against the will and decision of the Pope it was not allowed for the temple to be handed over to the Ukrainian religious community. It was also there that our rights to freedom were disregarded by a prohibition against the organisation of Ukrainian Culture Festival.

At the Congress of Ukrainians in Poland in 1997, on the 50th anniversary of ”Wisła” operation we applied to the highest authorities of the Republic of Poland asking them to alleviate some of the consequences of ”Wisła” operation through, among other things, the following:

1. restitution of property to displaced persons
2. provision of State help to those who wish to return to their homeland
3. granting of benefits to the prisoners of the Central Labour Camp in Jaworzno that are vested in people victimised in the period of Stalinism
4. partial restitution of legal persons’ property to currently operating entities
5. right to commemorate victims of fratricidal war.

Unfortunately, in the 3rd Polish Republic our postulates turned out to be too far reaching. And yet the criminal nature of the operation and its lawlessness as perceived from the point of view of the state of law and basic values no longer raise any doubts. We would like to stress that the state’s interception of property in 1947 was made illegally, and sanctioned with decrees only afterwards, among others in 1949 and 1957. The symbol of ”respect” for our postulates is a hurried sale of large tracts of land (sometimes together with cemeteries), as effected by the Agricultural Property Agency of the State Treasury, e.g. in the Bieszczady Mountains to high-ranking figures of the economic life, or symbolic struggle of the Lemks to regain forests that had been taken away from them without paying any attention to so much as appearances of law and order. Unless I am mistaken, it is the third government now to struggle with the problem of victimised Jaworzno prisoners, so far however to no avail. Our efforts to have the symbolic building of the Ukrainian Community Centre in Przemyśl handed over to our community failed, too, whereas for using it we are facing a stayed execution by the court enforcement officer. Let no-one be surprised then that faith in justice, equal rights and subjectivity in the democratic state of law are put to hard test. In these matters one should show some good will and a little bit of generosity that may form a basis for positive solutions. Therefore we will continue to demand that our rights be recognised and effected by employing any possible means available in a democratic state which we respect in its lawfulness, but which should give us a sense of justice in return. We are pleased with freedom regained in 1989; we participate in public life through a multitude of non-governmental entities; we cultivate our identity by organising cultural and educational life. We support numerous Polish and Ukrainian initiatives promoting a broadly understood neighbourly co-operation. We were happy about freedom regained by Ukraine, and about every day in which it strengthened its independence. It is right before our eyes that foundations of Polish and Ukrainian reconciliation and partnership are being laid, constituting positive inspiration of our humble activities.

Mister Minister,

On behalf of the Association of Ukrainians in Poland and organisations that co-operate with it I wish to pay tribute to the President of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Aleksander Kwaśniewski, for his statesmanlike persistence in establishing neighbourly relations, and contributing to the reconciliation and strategic partnership between Poland and Ukraine. Please give our thanks to Mr. Kwaśniewski for noticing the complexity of our community’s lot, and for respecting its subjectivity. We will remember “joint declaration of co-operation and reconciliation by presidents of Poland and Ukraine,” co-participation, with the president of Ukraine, in the unveiling of a monument to victims of the Central Labour Camp in Jaworzno, or in the consecration of a monument to soldiers of the Ukrainian People’s Republic at the Orthodox cemetery in Warsaw Wola, honorary patronage over the 55th anniversary of “Wisła” operation, over Polish and Ukrainian programmes for co-operation, as well as cultural projects, and his interest in current problems of minority communities. It is with respect and gratitude that we acknowledge Mr. Kwaśniewski’s public declaration and his words of regret expressed on behalf of the Republic of Poland, as well as his univocal judgement on wicked deeds that we experienced as a result of decisions taken in those times by the state. We appreciate words of the Head of State all the more so because we know that they are contradictory to prevailing conventional ideas of the historical necessity of “W” operation. We are certain that President’s actions have as their imperative the timeless values of the democratic state. Let this extremely important declaration that distinguishes itself in the history of the 3rd Polish Republic become a beacon for other politicians whose thoughts only too often do not reach beyond the pragmatic present, or stiff officialdom.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On the 50th anniversary of “Wisła” operation at our Congress in Warsaw we paid homage to Poles that were killed or hurt by Ukrainians on the south-eastern outskirts of the 2nd Polish Republic, mainly in Wołyń. In June 2001 in Lviv cardinal Lubomyr Huzar, in the presence of John Paul II, apologised to Polish brothers for grave Ukrainian sins. Let us repeat today one more time: we ask for forgiveness, and we forgive. Let us lit a symbolic candle in remembrance of Polish and Ukrainian victims of those bloody events and pray that these should never ever happen again! Let this ‘age of contempt’ for values contained in the Decalogue vanish into non-existence. Today, on the other hand, opening this symbolic exhibition that documents a small part of the history of our community, the community of Ukrainians in Poland I wish to announce a project that we intend to carry out in order to Remember. Remember cultural treasures, documents and certificates of our spiritual life that is many hundred years old, pearls of sacral architecture, and other tangible certificates of out identity. We propose to establish an Ukrainian Centre of Memory and Reconciliation, Culture and Information in Przemyśl, on the basis of the Ukrainian Community Centre. Let it serve the purpose of strengthening our identity, and contribute to the cultural co-operation with Ukraine; let it add to the cause of reconciliation on the borderland.

Dear Friends and Partners from public and non-governmental institutions, please help us implement our plan. We count on you very much. Let it be another step towards neutralising negative consequences of deportation. Let it contribute to the multicultural education, and help subsequent generations to maintain bonds with their homeland that their ancestors had been forced to leave. Because we intend to keep returning there, to cultivate the memory of our native roots, sing songs, tend to graves, strengthen our scarce community that inhabits the area from Lemkowszczyzna to Podlasie. We will maintain bonds with our native land. Because it was, is, and we believe that it will remain for the centuries to come our small homeland in our country: the Republic of Poland.