Berezhna called the funerals “a deep gesture of respect,” saying that despite differing views of historical events, both sides can unite to honor memory.
“It is not only a symbol, but a concrete proof of dialogue that must continue,” she said.
Her ministry said on its website that Berezhna plans to join the ceremony in Puzhnyky, a settlement in today’s Ternopil region where Ukrainian nationalists killed, according to various sources, 50–120 Poles on the night of February 12–13, 1945.
Exhumations conducted in late April and early May uncovered the remains of 42 people.
The ministry said Berezhna confirmed her plans during a meeting in Kyiv with Paweł Kowal, head of the Polish Sejm’s Foreign Affairs Committee and chair of the Council for Cooperation with Ukraine. Kowal wrote on X that they discussed cultural heritage, museums and cooperation in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The Puzhnyky works were the first since Ukraine lifted in November 2024 its ban on searches and exhumations of Polish war and conflict victims on Ukrainian territory.
A second exhumation site is Zboiska, now within Lviv, where Polish troops under Col. Stanisław Maczek fought the Wehrmacht in September 1939.
Work there began August 4 and is nearing completion. Deputy Culture Minister Andriy Nadzhos said the exhumations will conclude in the coming days, with remains to be buried in Mościska.
On Monday, Ukraine’s culture ministry said Poland has requested search-and-exhumation work at 13 locations in Ukraine, while Ukraine plans similar work at four sites in Poland.
(jh)
Source: PAP