Ewa Siemaszko

Ewa Siemaszko

Ewa Siemaszko, public lecture, 26 October 2010

Public lecture, 26 October 2010
Nationality Polish
Education Master's degree
Alma mater Warsaw University of Life Sciences
Genre Historiography
Subject World War II
Notable works Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939-1945 (Genocide committed by Ukrainian Nationalists in Volhynia 1939-1945)
Notable awards The 2002 Józef Mackiewicz Literary Prize and medal

Ewa Siemaszko is a Polish writer, publicist and lecturer; collector of oral accounts and historical data regarding the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia. An engineer by profession with Master's in technological studies from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Siemaszko worked in public health education and also as a school teacher following graduation. She is a daughter of writer Władysław Siemaszko with whom she collaborates and shares strong interest in Polish World War II history.[1][2]

From 1990 Ewa Siemaszko collected and prepared documents regarding the ethnic cleansing that took place in Volhynia during the Second World War. She is the co-author of an 1992 exhibition at the Warsaw Museum of Independence regarding the atrocities committed by the NKVD in and around the Polish Kresy region in 1941; and, an exhibit "Wolyn or our ancestors" organised in 2002 at the Dom Polonii in Warsaw. She also collaborates with the Society of Volyn and Polissia at the Polish Institute of National Remembrance.

For her contribution to the monograph Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939-1945 (Genocide committed by Ukrainian Nationalists in Volhynia 1939-1945)[3] written together with her father Władysław, she received the Józef Mackiewicz Literary Prize and medal in 2002.[4]

Selected publications

Responses

According to the Ukrainian historian,[5] Yaroslav Tsaruk,[6] who studied the World War II data collected by Siemaszkos, the number of ethnic Poles given by them, in some of the villages he is familiar with, does not correspond with his Ukrainian research.[6] According to Tsaruk, Siemaszkos included in the number of Polish casualties those who emigrated before the commencement of hostilities, and included population points which were never separate administrative units, thus enlarging the number of Polish inhabitants while minimizing the Ukrainian casualties.[6] Tsaruk claims that in the Volodymyr region initially there were attacks on Ukrainian villages by Polish-German police which were retaliated in self-defence. He writes that according to Siemaszkos 1,915 Poles died in the hands of Ukrainian Nationalists in that area, but according to him – only 430.[6] Siemaszkos in their monograph replied to this sort of criticism by saying that claims made by Tsaruk are based on statements made by Ukrainian villagers today, decades after the war ended, therefore the discrepancies in what is being said by the locals can be "explained by psychological defense mechanisms".[7]

Another Ukrainian historian, Ihor Ilyushin, echoed Tsaruk's observations and questioned whether Siemaszkos approach, based on testimony from one side, can be truly objective – wrote Canadian historian David R. Marples in Heroes and villains. Marples quoted Ilyushin as saying that because Władysław Siemaszko was a participant in the conflict he is not a credible witness. However, Marples also noted, that Ilyushin failed to reach a reasonable conclusion in his article and made no distinction between Ukrainian atrocities committed against officials and innocent civilians.[8]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Ewa Siemaszko - krótka biografia". Internet Archive. Kresy.pl. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  2. ↑ Ewa Siemaszko (July 10, 2008). "Od walk do ludobójstwa". Rzeczpospolita. Presspublica. pp. 5 of 5. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  3. ↑ Recenzja publikacji na stronach IPN
  4. ↑ Informacja o nagrodzie im. Józefa Mackiewicza dla Ewy Siemaszko. Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Poland. Retrieved May 04, 2012.
  5. ↑ Voladm.gov.ua.    "Not Found". By Internet Archive. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Google Books preview of Tsaruk publication (front cover). (Ukrainian) Царук Ярослав - Трагедія Волинських Сіл 1943-1944 - Національна Академія Нaук України, Інститут Українознавства ім. І. Крип'якевича, Львів, 2003. pp. 20–21 preview in Ukrainian.
  7. ↑ (Polish) Władysław Siemaszko with Józef Turowski; Zbrodnie nacjonalistów ukraińskich dokonane na ludności polskiej na Wołyniu, 1939–1945. Warsaw, Wydawnictwo von borowiecky Publishing, 2000. Second edition, foreword by Prof. dr Ryszard Szawłowski. ISBN 83-87689-34-3.
  8. ↑ David R. Marples. (2007) Heroes and villains: creating national history in contemporary Ukraine. Central European University Press, pp. 213–214.

References