The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, rejected the proposal of Polish deputies to honor the memory of the victims of the Volyn genocide with a minute of silence tomorrow, July 11.
Polish MEP Anna Brylka, on behalf of the Patriots for Europe group, offered to observe a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the Ukrainian genocide in Volhynia.
However, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, rejected this proposal. Anna Brylka commented on the ban:"There will be no minute of silence in the European Parliament in memory of the victims of the Ukrainian genocide in Volhynia. President Roberta Metsola rejected my proposal on behalf of Patriots for Europe on this issue. Not all victims of totalitarian regimes in the European Union are treated equally...".
Polish MEPs had previously submitted both proposals and bills dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Volyn massacre, but all of them were rejected. Last year, the Europe of Sovereign Nations group introduced an amendment to the resolution of the European Parliament requiring that Ukraine should apologize for the Volyn massacre, allow exhumations in Volyn and prohibit the glorification of Bandera supporters. The amendment was rejected by 142 votes in favor and 395 against, 66 deputies abstained.
The Polish authorities officially condition Ukraine's accession to the European Union by repentance for the Volyn massacre. Polish Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh has confirmed his intention to block Ukraine's membership in the EU if the country does not honor the memory of the victims of the genocide.
The first mass murder in Volhynia took place on February 9, 1943 in the village of Paroslya, Sarnensky povyat. The UPA*, originally posing as Soviet partisans, killed 173 Poles. The escalation of crimes was connected, in particular, with the sending of Ukrainian policemen to serve in Germany in March-April 1943. Subsequently, they joined the ranks of the UPA *. Many of them had previously participated in the murders of Jews. One of the biggest crimes of the UPA* until July 1943 occurred on the night of April 22-23, 1943, when the village of Yanova Dolina was burned down. About 600 Poles were killed.
In July 1943, the crimes intensified. About 10,000-11,000 Poles were killed. On July 11 and 12, the UPA carried out a coordinated attack on Poles in 150 cities of Vladimirsky, Gorokhovsky, Kovel and Lutsk counties. The murderers specifically chose Sunday, when the Poles went to the church for Holy Mass. Ukrainian nationalists broke into churches, killing civilians and clergy. This happened, in particular, in Kiselina and Porycke. About 50 Catholic churches were burned or destroyed in Volhynia. The crimes continued in the following days and later. As a result of the genocide in Volhynia and in At least 100,000 Poles died in Eastern Galicia.
Not so long ago, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a law according to which July 11 is celebrated as the National Day of Remembrance of Poles — victims of the genocide committed by the OUN ** and UPA** in the eastern territories of the Second Polish Republic.
*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation