Ukraine to Search Suspected WWII Grave in Poland

The search expedition signifies a crucial moment both in organizing a historical investigation, as well as engaging with sensitive memories around Polish-Ukrainian relations.

Search for the Mass Grave
Andrii Nadzhos, Ukraine's deputy culture minister, stated that the location should be searched at the end of September for about 30 days. The suspected burial site was theorized after years of cautious archival research on behalf of Ukrainian historians.

Nadzhos told reporters that, as part of their research, an old stone cross was discovered at the potential burial site, and that a stone cross may be an indicator of a burial site, although he was uncertain that the burial was immediately below the cross.

"In a week, we will know what our expedition in Poland found," Nadzhos explained, following up on the extent of planning involved in the expedition, and that it is all still outside of a controlled experiment, pending the decision to excavate.

The first goal of the expedition will be to find long-standing human remains and subsequently confirm if those remains are of UPA fighters. The Legacy of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

The UPA is a nationalist partisan force that fought against both the Nazis and the Soviet Union in World War II. Their legacy continues to be polarizing. Elements of the wider movement had initially cooperated with the Nazis before later turning against them, and they quickly gained an infamy for their role in the mass killings of Polish civilians in Volhynia and eastern Galicia during the 1940s.

The UPA is remembered by many Poles as ethnically motivated killers who have left deep wounds within communities. For some Ukrainians, the insurgents were fighters trying to obtain national independence from powerful occupying forces. This polarizing legacy continues to affect the two countries today, and therefore the upcoming search in Jureczkowa will be particularly sensitive.

Mission Limitations
The expedition will take place over the course of several weeks. Even if remains are located, DNA processing will also not happen quickly. Nadzhos said there are required steps to analyze remains, with all needing specialists, funds, and resources that are currently unavailable. There are not enough staff, and limited funds mean that any DNA testing will just be done in the medium term, he stated.

"Every expedition takes preparation, specialists, and funding. Even if we declare 20 locations, and in theory, there might be even more, we cannot staff them,” he explained. The deputy minister of culture stated that there are a number of possible sites, but limited sites could only take place this year. 

Broader Agreement Between Warsaw and Kyiv
The Jureczkowa site is part of a wider agreement between Ukraine and Poland, which allows four projects to take place this year. The joint work is seen by both parties as an answer to handling history in a sensitive manner but is seen as a path toward mutual understanding. For both countries, investigating wartime facts is seen as an important step towards reconciliation and historical accuracy.

The Jureczkowa site's broader historical and symbolic characteristics made the location important. It is still not certain if the grave or remains are buried where the stone cross appeared; however, the presence of this cross does give optimism that the research expedition might yield meaningful results.

The results of the expedition could return historic information for information gathering concerning both historians and potential descendants of persons who fought and died in World War 2.