Lecture: The long history of Polish Ostpolitik and Russia's current war against Ukraine

Date: July 16, 2025, 6:30 p.m.

Location: Dr.- Johann-Meier-Strasse 5, 93049 Regensburg 

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Martin Aust (University of Bonn)

Organizer: Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie Regensburg, City of Regensburg, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, University of Regensburg, “Denkraum Ukraine” / “Think Space Ukraine”, funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) with funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA)

Registration

Language: German

Prof. Dr. Martin Aust begins by reviewing the long Polish-Ukrainian history and then outlines the current situation against the backdrop of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

The history of Poland and Ukraine has been closely linked for many centuries. The union between Lithuania and Poland in 1569 led to Ukrainian lands coming under Polish rule. In 1648, the Ukrainian Cossacks rose up in an uprising against the rule of the Polish nobility. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Polish and Ukrainian nations competed for dominance in Galicia. In 1943, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army killed thousands of Polish civilians in Volhynia to create the conditions for a Ukrainian nation state between the fronts of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. After 1945, Poland and Ukraine were under Soviet rule and hegemony. During this period, the Polish exile magazine Kultura drafted a new Polish Ostpolitik aimed at reconciliation with Ukraine. It became the program of Polish foreign policy after 1989/91. Since Russia's Full Scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has been one of Ukraine's supporters. However, the ambivalent historical relationship between the two neighbors still has the potential to disrupt relations.

Photo: Barbara Frommann