Commemoration of the victims of Volhynia tragedy: analysis of the Polish political discourse

Piotr Bujak

University of Opole
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3060-3657

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to present the discourse about commemoration victims of Volyn tragedy in parliament of the Third Polish Republic. Article is based on the analysis of materials from Polish Sejm, such as stenographic reports of the meetings of the Sejm, the stenographic reports of the meetings of parliamentary committees, but also on media reports published on the Internet and newspapers. The text opens synthesis of Polish debates on the issue of the politics of memory. In the next part of the article, author describes the views of Ukrainian authorities in the period 1991-2014 on the issue of anti-Polish activities of OUN-UPA and its implications on contemporary Polish discourse in the context of commemorating the victims of the massacre in Volyn. The most extensive part of this work is the analysis of the debates and legislative processes in the Polish parliament dealt with issues related to commemoration the victims of these dramatic events. On the basis of that case study, author show the evolution of Polish politics of memory in the Third Polish Republic.

Keywords:

politics of memory Volhynia tragedy commemoration Polish parliament