The region of Volhynia had been within Polish borders before the war. It was first occupied by the Soviets in 1939 and then by the Germans in 1941.
Some 100,000 ethnic Poles were slaughtered in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia from 1943 to 1945 by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).The UPA was a guerrilla force seeking Ukrainian independence and which cooperated with local Ukrainians in some of the very brutal killings.
Later reprisals by Poles claimed the lives of 10,000-12,000 Ukrainians, including 3,000-5,000 in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. [...]
In July, for example, the Polish parliament passed resolutions declaring the Wolyn massacres genocide, to which the Ukrainian government responded by accusing Poland of 'politicizing history,' with the deputy speaker of parliament promising 'retaliation.'
Kyiv city council also in July named a street in honor of Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera and in August a Ukrainian MP forwarded a resolution declaring that Poland had committed genocide against Ukrainians in the years 1919-51. [...]
But most reviews of the film have focused on its balance and lack of finger pointing. Poland's largest newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, for example, notes that the film does not just focus on events during the war, but places them in a longer-term context. "This reveals the entire chain of evil," including the pre-war Polish state's mistreatment of its Ukrainian citizens. "Poles in this film are not only victims, but also avengers," conducting violent reprisals against Ukrainians. As such, the newspaper notes, the film "does not judge" - nor does it, as many had feared, play into any group's "historical politics." It will not "disrupt fragile Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation, support Polish nationalism or the Russian point of view."
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