What the Poles accuse us of, namely the glorification of the UPA, is not actually glorification. Because no leader of the UPA has yet appeared on the banknotes and coins of the National Bank of Ukraine. Instead, there are two princes, two hetmans, a historian, three poets (a fourth is on the way), a philosopher, and a luminary of science.
Also, none of the UPA leaders have an official status as a hero of Ukraine. The status they hold is more recognition of their contributions to history, but by no means glorification or deification. Because Shukhevych, Bandera, and Melnyk are not only our history but also our present.
This is categorically incomprehensible to either the Poles or the Russians. Only Belarusians can understand this. Because if we didn’t have Shukhevych, Bandera, and Melnyk, we would be just like them today – an object of foreign manipulations under the heel of an empire.
To understand this, one needs to look beyond offense and resentment, and most importantly, try not to build their current national policy solely on these. And for this, one needs to bury Dmowski’s casket and unearth Pilsudski’s once again. So that we don’t have to, for instance, in 2027 or 2028, on the Vistula, remake the “miracle on the Irpin” of 2022.
