Declaration of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Wisla Operation (“Akcja Wisla”)

April 24, 2007 -- April 28, 2007 marks the 60th anniversary of the infamous “Akcja Wisla,” which was the deportation by the Polish government of Ukrainians from their ancestral lands in what is now Eastern Poland. Ukrainians living in the Lemko, Boyko, Nadsiannia, Kholm and Podlasie regions were sent to the so-called “Recovered Territories” of the post-war Polish state in the north and west of the country. This operation completed the deportation of the entire -- almost one million -- Ukrainian ethnic population from “Zakerzonnia” and became one of the most tragic events in the modern history of the Ukrainian people.

This preplanned military operation to deport over 150,000 Ukrainians was the final act of the abolition of Ukrainian ethnic territory within the borders of Poland and was followed by the takeover of all Ukrainian property by the Polish state along with the intentional forced assimilation of the Ukrainian population through its dispersal among the Polish majority. The fostering the Ukrainian language, culture and faith was prohibited. Later this process was completed by erasing traces of Ukrainian culture in the “Zakerzonnia” region, including the destruction of churches, cemeteries, and the substitution of Ukrainian place names with Polish ones.

This unlawful and inhuman widescale military operation was an offence to the dignity of the Ukrainian population, while the forceful and humiliating imprisonment of over four thousand Ukrainians (including women and children) at the Jaworzno concentration camp was an abuse of human rights. The Wisla operation and the Central Labour Camp in Jaworzno led to dehumanization of each person incarcerated there and the entire Ukrainian community of “Zakerzonnia.”

This tragic history calls for a fair evaluation and for the redressing of wrongs. However, to date, the Polish Sejm (Parliament), the highest representative body of Poland, had not followed the example of the Polish Senate, and has failed to condemn the "Akcja Wisla." Such an action would exhibit a mature and honest attitude towards the past and at the same time would symbolize a radical break with past prejudices.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress appeals to the Polish Sejm and the Government of Poland to condemn the "Akcja Wisla" and to redress the injustices caused by it by compensating the victims and their descendants for their losses and suffering.

UCC appeals to Ukrainian institutions, organizations and churches in Canada to commemorate the 60th anniversary of "Akcja Wisla" with requiems, church services and other commemorative events to place the names of the victims of the ethnic cleansing of “Zakerzonnia” into Ukrainian history and the collective memory of our people.