Polish MPs pass resolution denouncing WW II massacre as ‘genocide’
The lower house of Poland’s parliament on Friday adopted a resolution to honour the victims of a World War II massacre of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists.
The resolution establishes July 11 as a National Day of Remembrance of Victims of Genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists against Polish citizens in the 1940s.
"As a result of the genocide perpetrated in 1943-1945, more than 100,000 citizens of the Second Republic of Poland, chiefly peasants, were murdered," the resolution reads. "Their exact number is not known to this day, and many of them have yet to be given a decent burial and commemoration."
The resolution also says that "the victims of the crimes committed in the 1940s by Ukrainian nationalists," known as the Volhynia Massacre, "have not been commemorated in an appropriate way so far and the mass murders have not been denounced as genocide in keeping with the historical truth."
The resolution notes that, in addition to Polish citizens, Jews, Armenians, Czechs and representatives of other minorities were also among the victims as well as Ukrainians who stood up for the victims.
"The Polish Sejm wishes to express its respect and gratitude to the Ukrainians, who while saving their own lives rescued Poles, and appeals to the president to honour these people with state awards," the resolution reads.
In the resolution, the Polish parliamentarians also expressed their "solidarity with Ukraine as it struggles against external aggression to maintain territorial integrity."
The resolution passed with 432 votes in favour, with no one opposing and 10 abstentions. (PAP)
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