Issuess of Historical Memory within Ukrainian-Polish Relations

Abstract

Historicalmemoryisanintegralpartofthenationalidentificationandiscableofinfluencing internationalrelationssignificantly. Ithappensveryoftenwhenitishistoricalmemoryofthenationthat national mentality depends on as well as relations with neighboring peoples.

In recent years many conflicts arise between Ukraine and Republic of Poland. They are resulting from the historical memory and issues of interpretation of the common history. ParticularlyacuteitisrelatingtheproblemofadversarialUkrainianandPolishpositionsonthesituation in Volyn during the years of the 2^ndWorld Was. Non-agreement of the positions of the countries leads to aggravation of the international conflict among ordinary Poles and Ukrainians regarding the so called «war on the graves» and as a consequence to frosting of the interstate relations.

Key words: Ukraine,Republic of Poland, historical memory, Volyn tradegy, war on the graves, international relations, interstate relations, politics