No Need for Orders or Political Theatre. There Are Books That Tell the Truth About Volhynia

Whenever the subject of Volhynia returns in Poland, instead of a serious conversation about books, documents, testimonies, exhumations and graves, we too often get a political spectacle. Some want to settle scores through state decorations. Others turn this tragedy into a tool for current political battles. Still others try to convince the public that the truth about Volhynia exists only when it is spoken by their own political camp.

But truth does not begin with a press conference. It does not begin with a state order. It does not begin with a media slogan. Truth begins with books, testimonies, names, villages and families who still have no grave where they can light a candle.

What is important is that the crimes of OUN-UPA, the cult of Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian nationalism and the massacres of Poles were not described only by Polish authors. They were also studied by foreign writers and scholars: historians, researchers of nationalism, Holocaust scholars, experts on Central and Eastern Europe and specialists in memory politics. This matters greatly, because it shows that Volhynia is not merely a “Polish obsession” or a topic locked inside Polish national memory. It is part of the European history of violence, nationalism, war and silence.

That is why, instead of reaching only for political gestures, we should reach for books. Books do not shout. They document, analyse, tell stories and force us to think.

Below is a subjective ranking of ten books and authors that help us understand OUN-UPA, Bandera, Volhynia and the memory of the crime. Most of the list consists of foreign authors, but it also includes three Polish works without which an honest discussion of Volhynia would be incomplete.

1. Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe — Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist

This is one of the most important foreign-language books on Stepan Bandera. The author presents not only Bandera’s biography, but also what happened to his legend after the war. It is a book about a man, an ideology, a cult, violence and the politics of memory.

Rossoliński-Liebe does not write a tribute. He presents Bandera as a figure entangled in radical nationalism, a cult of violence and an ideology whose consequences were tragic for many communities of Eastern Europe, including Poles and Jews.

Pros: very strong documentation, excellent analysis of the Bandera myth, an important book for Western readers.
Cons: academic style, difficult in places, less emotional than books based on testimonies.
Rating: 9.5/10

2. Timothy Snyder — The Reconstruction of Nations

Timothy Snyder did not write a book solely about Volhynia, but his work is very important because it provides the wider context: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, borders, nationalisms, ethnic cleansing and later attempts at reconciliation.

This is a book for readers who want to understand why the history of the Eastern Borderlands cannot be reduced to simple slogans. Snyder shows that national violence does not appear out of nowhere. It is born out of ideology, the collapse of states, war, fear, propaganda and the conviction that another group of people stands in the way of building a “pure” future.

Pros: broad context, excellent for foreign readers, explains the mechanisms of conflict.
Cons: not a book exclusively about UPA and not a detailed catalogue of crimes.
Rating: 9/10

3. Władysław Siemaszko and Ewa Siemaszko — Genocide Committed by Ukrainian Nationalists Against the Polish Population of Volhynia 1939–1945

This is a fundamental work. Without the Siemaszkos, it is difficult to speak seriously about the documentation of the Volhynia crime. This is not light reading. It is an enormous body of work: villages, names, testimonies, dates, descriptions of attacks, family accounts and an attempt to preserve the memory of those who were meant to be erased.

This is not a book to read “for pleasure.” It is a book of memory. Heavy, painful and necessary. Its importance lies in the fact that it restores concreteness to the victims: a place, a time, a name, a family and the circumstances of death.

Pros: the documentary foundation of the subject, an enormous source-based effort, essential for researchers and families of victims.
Cons: emotionally and physically difficult to read, more a document than a narrative account.
Rating: 10/10 as documentation, 8/10 as reading for a broad audience.

4. Grzegorz Motyka — From the Volhynian Massacre to Operation “Vistula”

Motyka gives us what is often missing in public debate: order. He presents Volhynia, Eastern Galicia, the Polish-Ukrainian conflict, UPA actions, Polish self-defence, post-war tensions and Operation “Vistula” as part of a broader historical process.

This book is important because it does not turn history into a slogan. The author shows the responsibility of OUN-UPA for crimes against Poles, while also guiding the reader through the wider context of war, revenge, displacement and communist policy.

Pros: excellent synthesis, strong context, good for readers who want to understand the entire process.
Cons: readers looking only for victims’ testimonies may find it too analytical.
Rating: 9/10

5. John-Paul Himka — Ukrainian Nationalists and the Holocaust

Himka is one of the important Western scholars of Ukrainian nationalism, OUN, UPA and historical memory. His book focuses mainly on the relationship between Ukrainian nationalists, the Holocaust and Jews, but it is also very important for understanding the ideological climate of violence.

This is not a book directly about the massacres of Poles, but it helps explain how radical nationalism could create categories of people seen as “unwanted,” “hostile” or “obstacles” to a national project.

Pros: important analysis of ideology and violence, strong background for understanding OUN-UPA.
Cons: less about Polish victims of Volhynia, more about the Holocaust and Jews.
Rating: 8.7/10

6. Per Anders Rudling — works on OUN, UPA and the cult of Bandera

Rudling is especially important when it comes to the politics of memory. His texts help us understand how figures and organisations burdened by violence can later be presented as flawless national heroes.

This is crucial in any discussion of Bandera. The problem is not only what happened in the 1940s. The problem is also what is later done with memory: what is silenced, what is whitewashed, what is turned into myth and what is pushed into a footnote.

Pros: excellent for analysing myths, propaganda and memory politics.
Cons: more often academic articles than one popular book for general readers.
Rating: 8.5/10

7. John A. Armstrong — Ukrainian Nationalism

This is a classic, older work on Ukrainian nationalism. It does not replace newer research, but it remains important because for many years it was one of the basic studies available to English-language readers.

Armstrong helps us understand the roots of Ukrainian nationalism, its structure, language and political ambitions. For the subject of Volhynia, it is a contextual work: it does not present the full horror of the massacres of Poles, but it helps us understand the ideological world from which nationalist movements emerged.

Pros: a classic of the subject, useful for understanding ideological roots.
Cons: an older work that needs to be supplemented with newer books.
Rating: 8/10

8. David R. Marples — Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine

Marples writes about how contemporary Ukraine creates national memory, chooses heroes and villains, and how history becomes part of state identity. This is very important in the context of Bandera and UPA.

The book shows that the dispute over Volhynia is not only about the past. It is also about who becomes a hero today, who is placed on monuments, whose name is given to streets and how the state tells its citizens about difficult history.

Pros: excellent for understanding contemporary memory politics.
Cons: not a documentation of the Volhynia crime itself.
Rating: 7.8/10

9. Tadeusz Piotrowski — Poland’s Holocaust

Although Tadeusz Piotrowski was of Polish origin, he wrote in English for an international audience, which gives his book importance in the foreign debate. Poland’s Holocaust presents the tragedy of the citizens of the Second Polish Republic during the war: ethnic relations, occupations, collaboration, resistance and violence.

This is a broad book, not only about Volhynia. Its value lies in helping foreign readers see Polish suffering in the wider context of World War II, not only through the best-known Western narratives.

Pros: broad context, English-language accessibility, important for Western readers.
Cons: not devoted exclusively to UPA and Volhynia.
Rating: 8/10

10. Arkadiusz Podlewski — Where Innocence Ends

At the end of the list comes a novel — a different kind of truth. Where Innocence Ends is not an academic study or an archival document. It is literature meant to show Volhynia through people, love, family, memory and conversations that cannot be closed with a simple slogan.

The novel begins with Romek visiting Danuta, a friend of his parents. During afternoon tea, Danuta tells him that her mother survived only because she was hidden under a cellar. This moment takes the reader into the world of Volhynia: breakfasts, prayers, orchards, childhood friendships and growing terror.

Later come Ewa, Danuta’s daughter, love, university years, the film Volhynia, and in 2022, conversations with Ukrainian women working at Aunt Bronia’s house. And here the novel touches the most painful question: how do we talk to people who today are victims of Russia’s war, but who at the same time carry within them a memory of Bandera as a hero?

The strength of this book may lie precisely in that tension. The Ukrainian women are not shown as criminals. They are rather like angels whose wings have been cut by war. But their story about UPA wounds Romek and Ewa, because the murder of civilians cannot be justified by the struggle for independence.

Pros: emotional power, romantic thread, family atmosphere, ability to reach readers who would not pick up academic works.
Cons: as fiction, it does not replace the documentation of the Siemaszkos or the analysis of Motyka.
Rating: 8.5/10 as literature of memory, 7/10 as a historical source.

Why This Ranking Matters

Because it shows one thing: Volhynia does not need to be discussed only through political quarrels, orders, gestures and short-term power games. There are books. There are foreign scholars. There are Polish documentarians. There are authors who show that this crime exists in European history, not only in Polish family memory.

This is the best answer to those who try to reduce Volhynia to a party slogan. The truth about Volhynia does not need political theatre. It needs honest work, exhumations, graves, names, education and courage.

It must be said clearly: OUN-UPA structures bear responsibility for mass murders of Polish civilians. It must be said clearly that an ideology existed which allowed a neighbour to be seen as an obstacle to be removed. We must speak about women, children, the elderly, burned villages and families who never received a burial.

But something else must be said just as clearly: the truth about the crime must not be used to accuse all Ukrainians today.

When Ukrainians are presented today as a nation of murderers, that is not memory. That is collective accusation. It is the same dangerous mechanism that has poisoned other historical debates, when a real crime was turned into a weapon against entire communities. Jedwabne showed how easily a true tragedy can be transformed into a tribal war of accusations, in which the real meaning is lost: prayer for the victims, honest investigation of truth and responsibility of concrete perpetrators.

PiS and Confederation may hope that Volhynia will become a political lever that carries them back to power. They may play on the pain of families, anger and a sense of injustice. But this is not what the families of the Volhynia victims want.

The families of the victims do not need revenge against the innocent.
They do not need hatred toward Ukrainian women who fled Russian bombs.
They do not need politicians who remember Volhynia only when it can be used to strike an opponent.

They need truth.
They need exhumations.
They need graves.
They need education.
They need memory without lies and without hatred.

And that is why books are worth reading. Because good books do not allow us to forget the victims, but they also do not allow memory to be turned into blind revenge.

The truth about Volhynia hurts.
But if it is to be truly truth, it must be honest to the end.