The Polish parliament has rejected a bill proposed by President Karol Nawrocki that aimed to criminalize the public glorification of Ukrainian nationalist movements that collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II. The proposed legislation sought to introduce tougher penalties for promoting groups that massacred Polish civilians, including the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
The OUN advocated for an ethnically pure, fascist Ukrainian state and assisted Nazi Germany in carrying out Jewish pogroms and executing communists during the invasion of the Soviet Union. In 1942, OUN members formed the UPA, which went on to massacre between 40,000 to 100,000 Polish civilians in what is now western Ukraine. Poland recognized these wartime atrocities as genocide in 2016, while Ukraine granted OUN-UPA veterans the status of national heroes and freedom fighters in 2015.
President Nawrocki’s proposal also included amendments to expand Article 256 of Poland’s Penal Code, which prohibits the promotion of totalitarian ideologies, to include the OUN and UPA. However, the parliament later adopted a similar act limiting assistance to Ukrainian citizens without the president’s harshest provisions, and lawmakers filed a motion to reject the duplicate bill. On Friday, the lower house of parliament, the Sejm, voted 244-198, with 3 abstentions, to dismiss the presidential draft.
The legacy of Ukrainian nationalists during World War II has long been a point of contention between Warsaw and Kiev. Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky has stated that he was unaware of the massacres of Polish civilians in western Ukraine, claiming that it is not taught in school. The rejection of the bill highlights the ongoing divide between the two nations on this issue.
The proposed legislation was part of a broader effort by President Nawrocki to introduce stricter rules for acquiring Polish citizenship and tougher penalties for illegal border crossings. In August, Nawrocki vetoed a bill on benefits for Ukrainian refugees, arguing that it gave them “excessive privileges” and should be tied to employment and tax contributions. The president’s alternative proposal aimed to address these concerns, but was ultimately rejected by the parliament. The decision is likely to have significant implications for the relationship between Poland and Ukraine, and may exacerbate existing tensions between the two nations.