Storìnki Istorìï (Dec 2017)
CULTURAL AND HUMANITARIAN COOPERATION BETWEEN UKRAINE AND POLAND AS AN INSTRUMENT OF ESTABLISHING INTERSTATE DIALOGUE
Abstract
The study provides a retrospective analysis of the problem of establishing the interstate dialogue between Ukraine and Poland based on cultural and humanitarian cooperation since the beginning of the 1990s. The author proves that cooperation between Ukraine and Poland in the field of science, education and art has been dynamic. Poland actively involves Ukrainian students, academics, scholars in its educational process. It shares experience in introducing innovations and reforming the field of education. The key projects of cooperation in the field of science are analyzed. Cultural and artistic cooperation involves festivals, exhibitions of works of Ukrainian artists in Poland and vice versa, tours of amateur and professional groups. The historical memory still is a very substantial element of bilateral relations, and it is explained very differently by historiography in those two countries. From time to time it leads to deterioration in relations between Ukraine and Poland. The scientific approach to the historical experience of the two states is analyzed retrospectively. The important aspects of assessing the past events (in particular, the Volyn tragedy and the «Visla» operation), guardianship of Ukrainian and Polish burials, protection of rights of the Ukrainians in Poland and the Poles in Ukraine are studied. Despite the successful steps of both states towards historical reconciliation, the future development of this process was and remains ambiguous. However, due to political will and consistency of decisions, Ukraine and Poland have the opportunity to overcome the existing contradictions and strengthen cooperation in various spheres of interstate cooperation.
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