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The Gordian Knot: The Second Polish-Ukrainian War, 1942—1947 is the first book published by Horner Press in 2020. The book is the English translation of the second edition of Volodymyr Viatrovych’s «Друга польсько-українська війна, 1942—1947», originally published in 2012 in Ukraine by the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Press.

The book is an attempt to contribute new research into our understanding of modern Polish-Ukrainian history. According to Taras Kuzio, the book offers English readers an original view regarding Polish-Ukrainian conflict in the 1940s, which provides a broader perspective to the traditional narrow view of focusing exclusively on one region (Volhynia) and one year (1943). The author believes that the terrible conflict emerged from Ukrainian experiences in interwar Poland, where Ukrainians often felt disenfranchised, and their identity repressed. As Ted Gurr (2000) has stressed, the salience of ethnocultural identities and their capacity to mobilize ethnic groups are dependent upon the levels of grievances felt by them and the availability of opposing political parties. Grievances became acute from contestation over economic, identity, religious, and ethnic factors, which all existed in interwar Poland, where Ukrainians were the largest national minority.

Viatrovych’s book makes clear that crimes were committed by both Poles and Ukrainians in Kholm-Pidlashia, Volhynia, Galicia, and Zakerzonnia regions. He believes that historians should produce impartial work about this conflict. Finally, the tragic events and war in Volhynia should not be treated in isolation, as is often the case, but as part of a Polish-Ukrainian war, beginning with the first killings of Ukrainian civilians in the Kholm-Pidlashia regions in 1942 and culminating in the ethnic cleansing of Ukrainians in 1947. Both Ukrainian and Polish nationalists wanted to build national states, and the war was an important aspect of the reconfiguration of borders and states, and the development of nation-building in the 1940s in central-eastern Europe.

According to Alexander Motyl, “What Viatrovych also gets right is to argue that the conflicts between Poles and Ukrainians during and after the Second World War are best seen not as discrete occurrences, but as a unified whole. […] Viatrovych suggests the violence was the product of contradictory forces. The Germans were playing Poles off against Ukrainians. Soviet partisans were making forays into and destabilizing the region. Polish nationalists were hoping to gain control of Volhynia in anticipation of the expected Nazi withdrawal after the defeat at Stalingrad. So, too, were the Ukrainian nationalists. Given the depth of pre-existing Polish-Ukrainian animosity, it was no surprise that the violence erupted “spontaneously” as part peasant Jacquerie, part armed resistance, part political struggle, and part ethnic violence.”

About Us

Horner Press is a community-based publishing initiative spearheaded by researchers, scholars, and editors with a passion for Ukrainian history, culture, and literature.

Launched in Toronto in 2020, Horner Press was created with the aim of attracting works of non-fiction, written in English or Ukrainian, that demonstrate originality. We embrace books that generate scholarly discussion and inspire new research.

Since our nascent undertaking is still in its formative phase, we look forward to forging partnerships with like-minded Canadian and international academic institutions, scholars, research institutes, writers, and researchers who share an interest in Ukrainian or Ukraine-related topics.

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