1. The European dimension
Lublin's Response
(quotes)
Selected, edited by Grzegorz Kondrasiuk
Translated by Małgorzata Stanek
Lublin 2010

2. “Europe is a mission – something to be made, created, built.”
“Geographical Europe never had fixed borders, and is unlikely ever to
acquire them as long as the 'essence' goes on being, as it has been
thus far 'free-floating' and only loosely, if at all, tied to any particular
plot in space.”
“Any line circumscribing Europe will remain a challenge for the rest of
the planet and a standing invitation to transgression.”
Zygmunt Bauman, Europe: an unfinished adventure,
2004
[ “The European dimension” of Lublin's application shows that Europe
has always been open-ended, that it is a project, a challenge and that
our response to this challenge is cooperation with eastern neighbours -
Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, possibly within the framework of the
Eastern Partnership (gk)]

3. 1. The Polish-Ukrainian Dialogue – A look into the past
[Several examples of “remembrance work”, of the difficult, controversial issues from the
Polish-Ukrainian history, finally liberated from the communist regime which stifled this
kind of discourse (gk)]
We forgive and ask for forgiveness.
Fr. Jan Zieja to Lithuanians, Belorussians and Ukrainians, 1972
The focus of Poland's eastern policy should be the acknowledgement of the right to self-
governance and autonomy for all oppressed nations. From the Polish perspective, this
concerns particularly Ukrainians, Belorussians and Lithuanians.
Julian Mieroszewski, Polska „Ostpolitik”, „Kultura”, 1973
There is no free Poland without free Ukraine.
Jacek Kuroń, 1976
Our future depends on us. This is why we hope that our open hearts and hands extended
in reconciliation will not be rejected.
An appeal to “Brothers Ukrainians”, “Encounters. An independent magazine of Young
Catholics, 1979.
[“Encounters” (“Spotkania”) is one out of several important magazines of
the so-called “second circulation”. It was published uncensored in Lublin between
1977-1989 [(gk)].

4. Kijów – Warszawa – wspólna sprawa!
Kiev - Warsaw – a common cause!
[from the Polish manifest during the “Orange Revolution”]

5. Against electoral frauds in Ukraine, „Gazeta
Wyborcza – Lublin”, 24 April, 2004
Shops in Lublin have run out of orange
ribbons. MCSU supports the protests
against breaking election laws in
Ukraine- just yesterday the University
Senate passed a special resolution.
Authorities of the College of Polish and
Ukrainian Universities congratulated
Victor Yuschenko on assuming office
of the President of Ukraine. On
Wednesday evening a bus carrying
Ukrainian students left Lublin for Kiev.
Against the background of an orange banner with the inscription “For your freedom and
ours” held by two students at the Maria Curie-Sklodowska monument, the resolution
was proclaimed by the MCSU's Rector, Professor Marian Harasimiuk, who was dressed
in the official crimson toga furred with ermine. The chairman of the ECPUU Convent,
Professor Jan Pomorski, with an orange ribbon pinned to his ermine collar, read out a
letter of congratulations addressed to Victor Yushchenko on the occasion of his
assumption of office as the President of Ukraine. The Rectors addressed the public at
the Marie Curie Skłodowska monument, next to the tents which Polish and Ukrainian
students pitched in the snow. The rectors also collected signatures to the open letter
supporting Ukrainian opposition and distributed leaflets appealing for solidarity to all
“people of good will”. At the same time, Young Democrats were distributing orange
ribbons to passers-by in the Lithuanian Square [Plac Litewski].
.

6. 2. Good practices
Orthodox celebrations took place in Chelm on the 70th Anniversary of the destruction
of orthodox churches in the Chelm and Southern Podlasie regions. His Excellence
Most Reverend Abel, Archbishop of Lublin-Chelm Diocese, assisted by other hierarchs
of the Orthodox Church, consecrated the obelisk commemorating the events of 70
years ago. Michał Kamiński from the President's Office read out the president's letter,
in which Lech Kaczyński expressed his regret over the faults of the past and assured
the willingness to build a Poland in which the equality of faiths would be not only
mandatory but also absolutely respected. The Prime Minister, in turn, wrote in his
letter that today's celebrations in Chelm are a sign of remembrance, which we should
observe in the belief that our common commitment is to bear witness to the historical
truth of these events and pass it on to future generations.
Radio Lublin Newsroom
October 2008
[after www.cerkiew1938.pl
The website was created with the blessings of His Excellence Most Reverend Abel,
Archbishop of Lublin- Chelm Orthodox Diocese on the 70th Anniversary of the
destruction of orthodox churches in the regions of Chelm and Southern Podlasie in
1938 r.
The website cerkiew1938.pl is owned by the Lublin- Chelm Orthodox Diocese.]

7. After the end of WWII a border and a barbed wire divided Korczmin into two. Through
the Transborder Polish-Ukrainian Days of Neighbourliness, a symbolic act of reconciliation
is effectuated on the border: the barbed wire is pushed back, Ukrainians and Poles cross
the border together. Today at 9 am a solemn procession will set out from the church in
Korczmin to carry the icon of Our Lady across the border. Later, on the Ukrainian side,
there will be a consecration of the spring and a procession to the orthodox church in
Korczmin.
pr, “Korczmin without the barbed wire, „Gazeta Wyborcza”
2006
We are planning to turn the renovated orthodox church in Korczmin into a place of
meetings for communities of the border zones- individuals of various nationalities,
churches and religions, particularly youth- in order to facilitate discussions, the exchange
of ideas as well as to enable cooperation on various projects.
Fr. Stefan Batruch
Project PL0242 entitled “The renovation of
historical orthodox churches in the Lublin-Chelm
Orthodox Diocese. Szczebrzeszyn. Dołhobyczów.
Stage II” - The project is financed under the
European Economic Area Financial Mechanism
(EEA FM) and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.
[Before WWII the Polish government would demolish orthodox churches. In the
Poland today-they are being rebuilt, with the aid of European funds. (gk)]

8. 3. Borders, problems, crises, frustrations...
No reasonable argument can account for the years of maintaining queues of
visa requests or the shocking procedures employed in this process.
Krzysztof Herbst, On the border with Ukraine the scandal continues,
“Gazeta Wyborcza” 2009
For years I've been involved with trying to save Polish and Jewish monuments
in western Belarus. I don't know whether in Brest I will be ever able to
simply receive a Polish visa.
Swietłana Romanowicz, Brest, Belarus, Visas on a whim, or what does not
serve Poland – a letter,
“Gazeta Wyborcza”, 2010
A scandal erupted in Ukraine several weeks ago, when a well-known
Ukrainian writer Taras Prochaśko was refused a Polish visa. [..] A consulate
clerk demanded documents to certify that Prochaśko is indeed a writer.
Marcin Wojciechowski, The Polish Consulate in Lviv does not like writers,
„Gazeta Wyborcza” 2008
[the border is a miniature image of the EU (gk)]

9. file:///home/pptfactory/temp/20120413130205/karykatury/229.jpg
Eastern Partnership and eastern
frustration.
I, a citizen of Ukraine, Oleksandr Boychenko,
-seeing that the European Parliament's Resolution RC-B7-0116/2010* is a –
typical for this institution- collection of demagogic clichés – will instantly vomit
on the keyboard
-upon hearing the phrase “European values” I will also vomit on the keyboard
because in recent years I've heard it pronounced mainly in the context of “big”
countries proposing that “small” countries use said values for heating, whilst
negotiating among themselves with regards to oil and gas.”
(...)
etc.
*European Parliament's resolution regarding the situation in Ukraine

10. Europe is everything outside Russia
Sokrat Janowicz

11. In Ukraine, the "Eastern Partnership" provoked criticism and disappointment, even
feelings of misunderstanding and offence, especially among people whose actions and
aspirations have been directed towards the West and who- not without reason-
consider themselves "not inferior to Europeans." One can understand them in view of
the EU's stance with regards to “Partnership”, which may be read thus: "In Europe, we
are deemed worse than Europeans, after all”.
“Partner” means “a co-participant in a game, a companion, an accomplice”.
Contemporary EU leaders are unable to regard any of the Ukrainian authorities as
equal partners. Much like an average European, who cannot envisage finding a partner
among mobs smuggling cigarettes and spirits across the border.
Wołodymyr Pawliw, Dialogue of cultures, 2009
A process of diplomatic isolation of Ukraine is being effectuated. Relations with Poland
are the main reasons for concern. One would have to be completely and utterly blind
not to notice the negative tendencies prevailing in Polish-Ukrainian relations.
Taras Woźniak, The Process of Ukraine's diplomatic isolation, in: Taras Woźniak's Blog
2009

13. Over the past ten years Poland has become closer - not only to me but to
many thousands, perhaps millions, of Ukrainians. It has become more
accessible and, in some respects, richer, more interesting and varied – albeit
for each of us in a different way. At the same time, in a different sense, Poland
has also become more distant and unattainable. It would seem that it has
once again turned into an elusive phantom caravel, a UFO, which vanishes
somewhere beyond the western horizon leaving us behind- all alone in the
Eurasian kingdom of dragons and troglodytes. Before our eyes...Poland is
becoming simply one of many countries of the unattainable West; it is
associated less with books, magazines, films or music and increasingly with the
opportunity of making a decent living, working, buying, selling, emigrating.
Mykola Riabchuk, From Little Russia to Ukraine, 2002

14. 4. Prognoses, questions, dreams...
Either Ukraine will be a strong, developed country, reckoned with both in
Eurasia and Europe or a weak Banana Republic, disregarded both here and
there. In the first case, the integration of Ukraine into the EU would be a
natural and obvious step to take; in the second- the role of a western
Ukrainian neocolony still seems a little more appealing than that of a
Russian neocolony.
Taras Kuzio, Henadij Hamalij, Politics as Rhetorics, “Krytyka” [Critique],
1997

15. I have a dream that after the parliamentary elections– to be held in
autumn in Poland and in spring [2005] in Ukraine- there will be a
more dynamic regional cooperation – in the areas stretching between
the Baltic and the Black Sea, maybe even branching off to the
Caspian Sea. Poland and Ukraine could stand at the heart of such
cooperation.
Bohdan Osadchuk, Obrachunek z historią, [Settling history], 2005

16. The act of Polish- Ukrainian reconciliation observed in recent decades can be
confidently identified as one of the landmarks in the post-communist history
of Central and Eastern Europe. Taking into account its historical significance,
it can be compared to the reconciliation between France and Germany
following the Second World War. Much like the Paris-Berlin axis became the
basis for the new Western Europe, so does the Warsaw-Kiev axis stand a
very good chance of becoming the main pillar of a new Eastern Europe and in
a broader sense- the guarantor of geopolitical stability in this part of the
world.
Jaroslaw Hrycak, What comes after Giedroyć?, 2006

17. Do Kiev and Warsaw still share a common cause?
What remains in us, Poles, of the sudden love for Ukrainians which
burst five years ago during the “Orange revolution?” What is left after
this “honeymoon”, as the infatuation has been termed by Myrosław
Marynowycz? After Poland's entrance into the Schengen Zone, do
Ukrainians, although separated by a new visa block wall- an obstacle
more difficult than any of us have ever anticipated- still see us as
allies, or perhaps only as a part of a distant and further withdrawing
Western Europe? Or perhaps we look at them with the same sense of
insufferable superiority, which we have often experienced ourselves in
relation to our western neighbours? Such questions have multiplied
over the last five years. The future of Ukrainian-Polish relations is no
longer certain, it is questionable. We seem to be increasingly more
inclined to pick out the differences that divide us.
Zbigniew Nosowski, introduction, „Więź” [Bond], issue „Kijów –
Warszawa: wspólna sprawa? [“Kiev-Warsaw: a common cause?”], 2009
[Polish-Ukrainian dialogue – open questions still remain (gk)]