Poles positive about Ukraine despite Volhynia massacre anniversary

graphic: PR

July saw the 70th anniversary of the Volhynia massacres: up to 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian partisans during WWII in territory occupied by Nazi Germany.

A poll by the CBOS pollsters has found that there was barely any change in public opinion on Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation as a result of the anniversary.

A month before the anniversary, CBOS found that 63 percent of respondents were felt positive about Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation, while at the height of media coverage a month later, the figure remained similar at 64 percent.

In the July poll, 17 percent said that it is “hard to say” whether such a reconciliation is possible, while 17 percent said that it is “rather not possible,” and two percent said it was “completely impossible.”

As far as current Polish-Ukrainian relations are concerned, in both June and July, 21 percent of respondents said that they were good.

In June, 46 percent said relations were “neither good nor bad” (39 percent in July), while 15 percent said they were bad ( 16 percent in July). Some 18 percent said it was “difficult to say” (24 percent in July).

The major fluctuation in the statistics chimed in with the Orange Revolution of 2004-2005. At the height of the revolution, in December 2004, 81 percent of Polish respondents were positive about reconciliation.

Three years earlier, in 2001, some 64 percent had been positive about reconciliation, mirroring the result of the July 2013 poll. (nh/pg)