Is it true that the Polish questionnaire for Ukrainian citizens contains questions about Bandera and the Volyn massacre?

A photograph of a questionnaire for Ukrainian citizens wishing to obtain a Polish national PESEL registration number has circulated on the Internet. In this questionnaire, Ukrainian applicants are allegedly asked about their attitude towards Stepan Bandera and the Volyn massacre. We have verified the authenticity of this document.

A photo of the PESEL profile appeared on social networks "VKontakte", Facebook, Telegram, as well as in several Russian Media. According to the photo, the last two points of the questionnaire for Ukrainian citizens look like this: “Do you consider Stepan Bandera a terrorist?” and “I recognize the responsibility of Ukrainian nationalists for the genocide of Poles during the Volyn massacre.” "Komsomolskaya Pravda" in its article adds that if you answer “no” to at least one of the questions, then the applicant will be denied social and medical assistance in Poland, and if you answer “yes,” then the PESEL holder will have problems in Ukraine.

PESEL (Polish: Powszechny Elektroniczny System Ewidencji Ludności) - identification number of a Polish citizen, which can be compared with the Russian SNILS. Having PESEL is mandatory for both Poles and temporarily residing citizens of other countries who have been in Poland for more than two months. PESEL is required, for example, to obtain insurance, social assistance, medical services, a driver's license, access to the education system and registration of private businesses in Poland.

From March 16, 2022, in connection with the hostilities in Ukraine, Ukrainian refugees in Poland were given the opportunity to apply for PESEL status. simplified diagram. For this purpose, the Polish government developed a separate questionnaire in Ukrainian. Internet users and the media claim that they are writing specifically about this profile. If you believe the attached photographs, when filling out the form you need to indicate personal data, date of entry into Poland and answer “yes/no” to questions about Bandera and the Volyn massacre.

Many users of social networks write that in this way the Polish government, tired of the impudence of Ukrainian refugees, allegedly decided to put them in their place: “Refugees from Ukraine shocked the Poles so much with their rudeness that they created a separate PESEL for them with the status of UKR,” “When the swinishness of representatives of the fraternal people got to the whole district. In Poland they continue to subtly hint to Ukrainians where their place is in this country,” “The Poles are trolling Svidomo. This is the form Ukrainian refugees need to fill out in order to receive PESEL. Just imagine how some people get bombs!”

According to some users, such “tricky” survey questions should put Ukrainians in a difficult position, forcing them to choose between Polish registration and adherence to nationalist views. “Komsomolskaya Pravda” writes: “And what will you order the Ukrainian refugees to do now? If in Ukraine they even sing in songs that “our father is Bandera”... If you answer that Bandera is our own father and a Ukrainian saint, the Poles will refuse asylum and benefits, and they may even expel you from the country. If you answer that you recognize him as a terrorist, they will remember him at home if they have to go there.” Thus, the question about Bandera confronts Ukrainians with a choice: “Father or not Father?”, argues the author of the article in KP.

The answer to the second question is “Do you recognize the guilt of Ukrainian nationalists in the genocide of Poles during the Volyn massacre?” - supposedly should become a dilemma for Ukrainian refugees who deny the genocide of Poles in Volyn during the Second World War. Then detachments of Ukrainian nationalists attacked a dozen Polish settlements in the west of modern Ukraine. By data Polish Institute of National Remembrance (INR), in 1943–1945, about 100,000 Poles died during the Volyn massacre. Based on the documents collected, the INP claims that this was anti-Polish ethnic cleansing, planned and carried out by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN(b), Bandera movement) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Polish and Ukrainian historians often diverge in the interpretation of the Volyn massacre and in estimates of the number of victims. Some Ukrainian researchers talk about patriotic motives for the activities of the UPA.

However, several details cast doubt on the authenticity of the Polish questionnaire with provocative questions published on social networks. Real questionnaire PESEL for Ukrainian citizens is easy to find on the Polish government website. There's also video instructions upon filing an application, where you can also see the forms. The questionnaire from social networks differs from the original one in several details. Firstly, a real questionnaire consists of two pages, while a fake one consists of one. Secondly, in this questionnaire, in addition to personal data, there are sections with questions about young children and contact information, a section for the applicant’s photograph and signature, and a field for the official’s comments. In the fake questionnaire, immediately after the personal data there are questions about Bandera and Volyn, and then a field for comments.

We were able to find the earliest photograph of a fake profile in publications group “Look at St. Petersburg!” for July 21. This post was shared by others Petersburg communities. But the groups’ publications received the largest number of views and comments "Polite people | Army | Russia", "Patriots of Russia", “I am for Putin / ZOV” And “Great Rus'! The Russians don't give up!". Telegram-fast by the presenter of the TV channel "Russia 1" Olga Skabeeva with an image of a fake Polish profile received more than 100,000 views.

Thus, the photo of the application form published by social network users has little in common with the real application form for PESEL. And questions about the attitude of Ukrainian applicants to Stepan Bandera and the Volyn massacre, apparently, were added using a graphic editor.

Cover image: "VKontakte"

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

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2. Is it true that Stepan Bandera was canonized in Ukraine?