Ukrainians and Poles, neighbours from Volhynia. Years ago, they used to live in friendship, or at least in mutual respect. By the Second World War, they only lived next to each other, and eventually fought against one another. However in 1943, not everyone stood in solidarity with the Ukrainian nationalists and reached for the arms in order to partake in an ethnic cleansing – and it is them that this book is about and for. It pays an homage to those who saved Poles, whether dear or strange to them, from death, risking their own lives, or to those who still cherish the memory about those events. Not many participants of the Volhynia massacre are still alive, which makes the testimonies collected by the author all the more precious.
When touching on such a sensitive issue, one could easily raise strong emotions by conjuring shocking images or celebrating suffering. However Szabłowski did not go down that path. There are indeed occasional drastic descriptions, characterised by a more rapid narrative pace: with elliptical sentences and exclamations intensifying the expression. They serve a reflection of a historical truth, they sting, but are not an indication of the entire story. It is the anticipation and fear of the victims, as well as the bravery of the people bringing help, that is poignant. The memories are still alive, even if brought up years later. Those excerpts keep the reader on the edge of the seat and suck him in.
Szabłowski is far from antagonising. Instead of provoking and casting blame, he looks at slightly brighter aspects of this painful story, at ordinary human instincts. He identifies them in small gestures and heroic deeds: hiding Poles in the attics, barns, dressing wounds, delivering food in secret, warning about threats, or even keeping silent. This is how thousands of people were saved. And how as many died because they ‘betrayed’ their fatherland. However not everyone wants to remember about that and revisit the difficult past. That is why in Righteous Traitors, traces suddenly break, and other leads turn out to be false. We may never find out who helped Kamila Hermaszewska, the mother of the first Polish cosmonaut, or who was Red Ivan, a Banderite convincing others that it is not worth firing the bullets to kill children.