Tomczak: 10 comments on ukrainophylls

Grzegorz Braun, after listening to my recording on the channel "Breathing Censur" proposed to grant the Order of the White Eagle an unrepentant memory of Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski. It is amazing where the Polish state took place, which honored the UPA lover and forgot the tireless fighter about the memory of the Volyn massacre.

I must add here that there is no "increase in anti-Ukrainian sentiments in Poland", or alternatively an escalation of the disrespectful Polish memory and sensitivity of impudence in Ukraine – and the appropriate reaction of the nation, having a reasonably aberrative charity of the KO and PiS governments (the question: "What does Poland have in it?" evoke rage – most most likely due to its accuracy). "Antiukrainism", like many akin categories, assumes a prioritization, and the second is irrational. It boycotts causal relationships and real sources of human attitudes. It categorizes as "phobia" attitudes, which are a reaction to facts, sometimes undoubtedly adequate.

1. “Better educated” and “more rational” have been given a demented rage at the news of the taking of Volodymyr Zelensk Order of the White Eagle. The clarity of this decision did not make area for substantive arguments. Any logic would should be based on “the cost-effectiveness of dignity”. On the 1 hand, we have late had Zbigniew Parafianovich's book, the glorification of UPA by Ukrainians, supported by a bold comment that “no 1 will choose us heroes”, ostent boycotting Poland in global diplomatic talks, corruption on a immense scale in Ukraine, expansion of east criminal groups to Poland, immense problems for farmers competing with Ukrainian oligarchs supplying unchecked food – and many, many, many another problems, connected with certain harm to circumstantial people. On the another hand, we have emotional terror, based on the mention of "dead people" (recommended in fact to base specified an emotion on diplomatic relations), hysterical and at the same time manipulative warnings against "Russian attack", further tracking "Russian onuc" and slogans effective, due to the media monopoly of their colporteurs, so long that the second ceased to care for their verification. Liberal mainstream abandoned the fascination with the concept of Jerzy Giedroyc, leading to the imperative of helping Ukraine – he simply expresses Ukrainian interest.

2. Imagine what would happen to a hebrew who commended a German politician in Israel, who wanted to name 1 of the military units “the SS heroes”. Prison? Or just an anatomy? In Poland, the defenders of Włodymyr Zelenski's decision do not have any problem with reaching for increasingly curiosive rationalizations of their attitude.
3. Any reason to forget the Volyn massacre. Now this is explained by war – as if it had lasted for over 80 years. “Rhetorical concession for truth” makes the mainstream representatives say, “Of course, sacrifices must be remembered” and they besides throw out another empty slogan, while consistently doing everything so that the subject of slaughter has no rank and meaning.
4. Mainstream abruptly recalled the existence of a "national interest", proving the contradiction of taking the discrimination of Zelensk with that interest. It is interesting that mainstream, so critical of the Catholic Church and nationalisms, reached for a communicative referring to “forgive” and “national interest” erstwhile he was afraid that everything his representatives said about flagism and Polish-Ukrainian relations was brutally verified by reality. There is no “interest” if there is no nation. There is no nation if there is no dignity. There is no dignity if you honor those who glorify our executioners. Sometimes an accadem is besides hard.
5. British philosopher Roger Scruton wrote that various revolutionaries criticize Western civilization, but being incapable to propose any alternative, they halt at nihilism, manifested by destruction. Liberal mainstream showed specified nihilism after the removal of the Order of the Eagle of the White president of Ukraine: he called out “Russian” and “nationalists” (Polish, so bad ones) of president Karol Nawrocki – as daily, “the champagne bottles opened in the Kremlin.” At the same time, representatives of this mainstream frequently request that “no patriotism be taken over”, as if they wanted to propose their own model. Their "patriotism", it seems, stopped in the phase of deconstruction of everything Polish. By critically approaching the existence of nations as undetermined and abstract communities, mainstream representatives appear on behalf of “humanity” – incomparably more vague and abstract. Interestingly, even from the point of view of the “world without nations” (without historical memory, identity, heroes, executioners), that is, from the position of mainstream unconditional support Ukraine is harmful to ‘the people who live in this area’. It would have no defence, since it has given so much equipment to “the people who live in that area” (it is interesting that scaring “war with Russia” does not prevent mainstream from postulating unlimited disarming of Poland to aid Ukraine).

6. "UPA are their heroes" - explains Ukrainianphiles, It's as if any destiny has sent out to an ignorant nation of heroes whom this nation must worship, as if impersonal forces have sworn against the people and have them glorify the degenerates, the sadists suffering the chaotic delight of murdering. It was as if the “Russian propaganda” had invented people torn apart by horses, women raped in front of their husbands, children stuffed on forks. Let us stress here that these "their heroes" murdered much more Polish women and children than Soviets. As if these heroes were not so crucial to them, that risking losing all chances of joining global organizations they praise them with streets, monuments, names of military units. As if another nations had no problem with Nazi collaborators and did not account for the past (Shotfighters in Hungary, Iron Guards in Romania). It's as if UPA hatchers didn't do precisely what the Ukrainians now propose to their opponents – they acted against their neighbors erstwhile they were fighting a deadly threat. all fact, all concrete one, all analysis is so hard to deny that Ukrainianfiles must cover themselves with the insinuation of “Russian narrative”. As a consequence of believing in their own infallibility and stopping in time, they do not see the curiosity of this repeated with the zeal and thoughtlessness of the chat-bot slogan. Or they think others don't see. What if the Germans had built a monument to Adolf Hitler in the center of Berlin? After all, they besides “have their perspective” – possibly from the point of view of Poles or Jews he was a criminal, but from the German position he caused economical growth. Can we imagine having this kind of logic?

7. The Ukrainians have achieved ‘macdonalisation of forgiveness’, ‘macdonalisation of reconciliation’ – they reached out to crucial ideas to justify them completely unimportant intentions. This is worse than the infantilization of “fascism” or “stalinism” by the widespread usage of these concepts to describe contemporary matters. spiritual strength, the ability to emergence above the instinct of vengeance, the ability to bear their wrongs – all of this makes forgiveness difficult, yet beautiful process. The nobler an initiative is, the worse is the instrumentalization of the values behind it. "It is not in your power to forgive in the name of those who were betrayed at dawn," wrote Zbigniew Herbert in "The Message of Mr. Cogito." Ukrainophiles, who for many years did everything to silence the Volyn massacre, erstwhile it turned out that the nation could not be manipulated into utilizing a "substitutive form of silence," or in this case a cry for forgiveness and reconciliation. It is not only known who and who should forgive – Ukrainians? Those who did not want to hear about the slaughter, who supposedly had nothing to do with the flags (“it's just a story”)? The process of reconciliation would have the right to begin, for example, by the mentioned priest Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, who suffered as much harm as possible to the Polish nation from the Ukrainians (as Ali Agcy could forgive John Paul II) – it does not seem, however, that in the current relation of Ukrainians to UPA butchers the priest would show specified a desire.

8. “Poland will lose the Order of the White Eagle” to president Volodymyr Zelenski” – say Ukrainianphiles, with a unusual concern for Polish business. What does it mean that “Poland will lose it”? The thesis that “Ukrainians fight for us” is 1 of the most absolute beliefs of Ukrainians, the justification for all benefits to Ukrainians, the justification of highly asymmetric policy. And how do we realize the opinion (expressed by Norman Davies) that “Poland will lose it”? The Ukrainians will find that since we do not want to honor those who glorify our executioners, they will not stand up to Russia and “fight for us”? If we halt Ukraine helping it capitulates before the Russians, due to the fact that “it will not defend Poles”? What does the thesis of Ukrainians gotta translate into real Polish-Ukrainian relations (if it is not to have any, it is only emotional blackmail)? An alternate to standing up for our ancestors would be to accept the criminal anti-Polish flagism. If we accept specified a “all for nothing”, why not throw in Ukraine Przemyśl? In the name of good relations, I think we should do this... Dignity does not should be profitable and strange, that the memory of corrupted Poles means so small to Ukrainians that they are ready to trade it. For Ukrainians, they do not mean anything, due to the fact that in the name of their values they are ready to practice Ukrainian philanthropic messianism. Rather, they fear that "remembrance", "burdening in history" (such terminology they use, not recognizing the endurance and trauma of families of savagely murdered Poles) can origin "increase in nationalist sentiments", read – greater national awareness of Poles.

9. 1 of the most interchangeable manifestations of the Ukrainian side's attitude to "conciliation" is that Ukrainians agreed to large scale exhumations of Wehrmacht soldiers (more than 100 1000 bodies were moved to peculiar military cemeteries), and the exhumations of Poles are carried out in respective locations from respective thousand.
10. The communicative of reconciliation brings with it a false thought of the symmetry of the harm done to each another by both nations. Nobody said "Jews and Germans forgive each another for their harm". Polish nationalists are compared, whose alternatively utmost typical Jan Mosdorf of ONR helped Jews in Auschwitz and died there with mad genocides from UPA, in the “Decalogue of Ukrainian Nationalist” challenging to destruct enemies, perpetrators of massacres and pogroms on a massive scale It compares Nazi collaborators, serial killers from UPA with Non-violent Soldiers who fought and died with collaborators in the name of independent Poland.

Jacek Tomczak

Think Poland, No. 29-30 (19-26.07.2026)