Poland: 30 Years of Supporting Ukrainian Culture

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I could fill an entire, thick book with messages from Poles who, right from day one of the war, wrote to offer me their homes as a refuge, who asked if I needed anything, and expressed their solidarity.

Some were insisting I send them my bank account number because they wanted to offer me financial support. Some asked me to write them texts for a fee, to help me survive the war. Some talked about their volunteer work in Poland, and sent photos from rallies and their own homes that they have opened up to our refugees.

These are from close friends, acquaintances, fellow writers, and cultural managers I have worked with, implemented projects with, and mingled with at various festivals. And it is especially gratifying to receive them from people I’ve never met, but who have read Polish translations of my books, attended my performances, or heard about me from recent Polish press interviews. In short, so many people that I could compile a huge book of Polish support out of all of their messages.

I lived in Poland for three years in total, and I know the country and its people rather well, so all this eager, emotional, instant assistance came as no surprise to me. I was sure that Poland and the Polish people would give Ukraine their full support, despite internal political divides. Poland has taken in the greatest number of refugees, Poland has opened up its borders and transport arteries for vital aid supplies to Ukraine. But many Ukrainians mistakenly believe that their country has only been receiving such tremendous support since 24 February 2022. I would like to adjust those impressions a little, placing the emphasis on culture.

The Giedroyc doctrine

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Jerzy Giedroyc, Maisons-Laffitte, France, 1996. Photo: Ireneusz Sobieszczuk / Forum

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Poland hasn’t only been supporting Ukraine since 24 February 2022, or 2014, or even 1991. In fact, the Polish state initiated support for the Ukrainian democratic movement directly after communism collapsed in Central Europe in 1989. But that is still not the definitive date, because support for Ukraine and its right to independence first arose in the influential Polish émigré community that emerged in Western Europe after the Second World War.

Миниатюра — Jerzy Giedroyc and Ukrainian Emigration. Letters 1950–1982 (ed. Bogumiła Berdychowska). Kyiv: Krytyka 2009

A key figure among them was the late Jerzy Giedroyc, the perennial head of the Parisian journal Kultura. Inside the Kultura community, led by Giedroyc, a concept matured to reconcile with Ukraine and support the idea of Ukrainian independence. I remind you: after the Second World War, Polish-Ukrainian relations were in terrible shape, and our nations saw one another as eternal enemies. It was Giedroyc who convinced the Poles to close the complex pages of history and accept Lviv as Ukrainian, and Vilnius as Lithuanian, since it was in the best interests of independent Poland. Few people believed in an independent Poland back then, and even fewer in an independent Ukraine or Lithuania. But Giedroyc did more than just believe – he acted.

Remember his name, because, metaphorically, it was Giedroyc who opened the doors of Polish homes to millions of Ukrainian refugees today; Giedroyc opened the Polish border to supply us with weapons and humanitarian aid; Giedroyc made Poland our staunchest ally. I’m proud that Kyiv recently named one of its streets after Giedroyc, but I’m sure that, after the war, he deserves to be honoured with a statue in the capital.

Incidentally, Giedroyc cared about Polish and Ukrainian culture equally. His journal commissioned Yuri Lavrinenko to compile a legendary anthology, The Executed Renaissance. Under Giedroyc’s wing, dozens of Ukrainian intellectuals acquired a publishing platform and some modest but dependable financial support in tough times. Then, in 1969, at the height of the searches and arrests of Ukrainian dissidents, Kultura Library published its second ‘Ukrainian’ anthology, this time in Polish: Ukraina 1956–1968. This collection of documents, edited by Ivan Koshelivets, allowed Polish-speaking readers to learn about the persecution of Ukrainian dissidents and the Russification processes underway in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Jerzy Giedroyc – portraits [gallery]

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Perennial, systemic support

Once Poland regained its independence, the ‘Giedroyc doctrine’ effectively became the basis for a policy regarding its eastern neighbours. Despite certain diverging views and tensions that occasionally flared up between our two countries, Poland systemically – or, rather, ‘strategically’ – supported Ukraine on all levels after 1989.

Thumbnail — The Executed Renaissance. Anthology 1917–1933 (ed. Yuri Lavrinenko). The Literary Institute 1959

The results in the cultural sphere have been particularly impressive. Thanks to systematic work, constant support, and pragmatic funding throughout Ukraine’s thirty years of independence, by means of soft power, Poland has managed to gain the sympathy of the Ukrainian intellectual and cultural elite. For instance, although it cannot be confirmed statistically, a large part (half? most?) of the Ukrainian intellectual and cultural elite speak Polish today. For Ukrainian intellectuals, Polish became a ‘window to Europe’ on a par with English, and Poland itself a bridgehead for career expansion into European intellectual circles.

This occurred first and foremost thanks to such a wide range of grants and creative internship programmes that it would be impossible to list, as nearly every Polish city or university offers them. The largest programmes include the Polish culture ministry’s Gaude Polonia scholarships (implemented by the National Centre for Culture) for young cultural activists and translators of Polish literature from Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Belarus and Ukraine. The programme aims to encourage mutual understanding and foster strong ties based on cultural cooperation between Poland and its closest neighbours. Gaude Polonia also aims to promote contemporary Polish culture and improve its scholars’ creative skills, mentored by leading artists and institutions from Poland’s largest major cultural centres. In 21 years, this six-month scholarship has been awarded to over 500 creative Ukrainians (literature, translation, music, visual arts, photography, film, restoration, dance, etc.), representing the best of the middle and younger generations. There are also the Kirkland Scholarships, Study Tours to Poland, East European Summer and Winter Schools, and dozens of university scholarships for Ukrainians, including the largest of all – under the auspices of the prime minister – from the University of Warsaw’s Centre for East European Studies.

For three decades, hundreds of millions of zlotys have been poured into programmes of this type, and all these funds have helped a whole contemporary independent intellectual elite generation develop in Ukraine. Poland did what Ukraine was unable to do or had not managed on its own. In the dark years under Kuchma and the Yanukovych regime, Poland supported much more relevant (non-Soviet) art in Ukraine than Ukraine’s own ministry of culture did.

To illustrate my theory, simply have a look through the biographies of contemporary Ukrainian artists, scholars and intellectuals – almost all of them have some connection to Poland. No other place on Earth has translated as many books from Ukrainian as Poland has, and Ukrainians have won the Angelus (one of Poland’s largest literary awards) four times. Most Ukrainian musicians have played concerts in Poland, and the band Haidamaky even received two gold discs for sales there. Nearly all Ukrainian artists and performers have organised exhibitions and projects in Poland. Hundreds of Ukrainian students, postgraduates and scholars have done internships in Poland, been published in Polish scientific journals, participated in conferences … and the list could go on and on.

But there’s no point in fooling ourselves: it wasn’t just charity, but targeted investment. In accordance with the ‘Giedroyc doctrine’ I mentioned at the start, a strong, independent Poland is impossible without a strong, independent Ukraine. That’s why Poland has been supporting Ukraine for thirty years, not just politically, but also by investing serious funds into developing the Ukrainian intellectual elite.

After all, it was the modern, European intellectual elite, free from the Russian imperial discourse, that was able to comprehend and create the project of a new Ukraine, cleanse it of Russian colonization and Soviet propaganda, and present it competitively in Europe and the world.

So, as we can see today, that investment has been entirely justified.

Originally written in Ukrainian, translated by Mark Bence, April 2022

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