Problematyka sąsiedztwa polsko-ukraińskiego w myśli politycznej emigracyjnego Stronnictwa Narodowego

The problem of the Polish-Ukrainian neighbour-hood in political thought of Polish National Democratic Party

In the early years of emigration the politicians of the ”Polish London” initiated an idea of collaboration with the political representatives of the nations controlled by the USSR, including the representatives of Ukraine. However, the attempts of reaching the agreement met with many obstacles; in fact, there were, at least, two reasons why the Polish-Ukrainian agreement was impossible right after the second world war. Firstly, both the Polish and the Ukrainians demanded a compensation for what they had suffered from each other in the past. The Ukrainians remembered the hostility of the Polish government before the second world war towards them and its tendency to denationalization while the Polish still could not forget the murder of Polish people in Wołyń. Secondly. the Polish subjected the agreement with Ukraine to a condition of its relinquishing any claims to south-east territories called West Ukraine by the Ukrainians. ln such a difficult situation it was regarded as most important to start the collaboration irrespective of any differences in the estimation of the mutual relationships in the recent past.  The first to take steps in this direction was Klaudiusz Hrabyk - an editor of The Chronicle” - a magazine edited in Munich, the encouraged popular journalists and political activists representing the main ideological trends of the Ukrainian emigration to take part in the discussion. ln this way for the first time since the second world war ended people in emigration got informed about the general outline of the vision of neighbourly relationships within the central-east Europe freed from the Soviet control.  In the fifties in ”the Polish London” there were many suggestions towards a closer partnership with Ukraine. Let us mention The Board for the Research in Ukrainian Affairs, founded at a socialist leader, Adam Ciołkosz”s suggestion. The board was meant to explain any controvrsial issues concerning the Polish-Ukrainian relationships. The aim of this article is to present the views expressed in political centres of ”the Polish London”, in particular on the suggestion of Polish National Democratic Parry concerning the neighbourly relationships with the independent Ukraine.