IPN slams Yushchenko's comparison of AK and UPA
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
27.10.2017 10:05
Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) has slammed parallels drawn by former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko between Poland's WWII underground Home Army (AK) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
Home Army fighters in 1944. Photo: Centralne Archiwum Wojskowe/Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
The IPN, which is in charge of prosecuting crimes committed against the Polish nation by Nazi and communist powers, said the comparison was “scandalous” and “inappropriate and historically incorrect”.
In an interview with Polish private radio station RMF on Monday, Yushchenko said: “It would be unfair to say that the Home Army were angels and the UPA were devils”.
“Just as the Home Army is a hero for Poles, so too is UPA for Ukrainians,” Yushchenko told the radio station, adding that Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist who fought against the Polish underground army, drew inspiration from Polish leader Józef Piłsudski (1867-1935).
The IPN in a statement said: “The Home Army was part of Poland's military, subordinate to the legal … government-in-exile. It was part of the Allied forces fighting against the Third Reich”.
“Meanwhile the UPA was an armed wing of the extremist political Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, whose programme was formed under the influence of Nazi ideology. These groups are responsible for the genocide of more than 100,000 Poles … mainly helpless civilians: the elderly, women, and children,” the IPN added.
(vb/pk)