State failure to suppress totalitarian ideologies

Legal Analysis of the Systemic Tolerance of Nazism and Banderism by Poland and Its Contemporary Consequences

(Submission for United Nations Human Rights and Rule of Law Mechanisms)

I. Executive Summary

This submission demonstrates that the failure of successive state entities — the Second Polish Republic, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Third Polish Republic — to fully suppress, legally prohibit, and ideologically dismantle Nazi-aligned and Banderite movements originating in Western Ukraine constitutes a long-term violation of international legal obligations related to:

• prevention of genocide,

• prohibition of totalitarian ideologies,

• protection of victims’ dignity,

• safeguarding freedom of expression from abusive litigation,

• and the duty of states to ensure historical truth as a component of non-recurrence.

The core finding is unambiguous: Nazism and Banderism were not eradicated — they were administratively displaced, politically frozen, and later re-legitimized through state tolerance and legal inaction.

II. Applicable International Legal Framework

1. Prohibition of Totalitarian Ideologies

Relevant norms include:

• UN General Assembly Resolution 96(I) (1946) — genocide as an international crime,

• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948),

• ICCPR Articles 19 and 20,

• European Convention on Human Rights (Articles 10, 17),

• OSCE commitments on combating extremism,

• UN Basic Principles on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation.

Article 20(2) ICCPR explicitly requires states to prohibit advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.

III. Historical Record: State Tolerance as Enabling Conduct

A. The Second Polish Republic (1918–1939)

The Second Polish Republic failed to legally qualify the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) as a totalitarian and terrorist organization, despite overwhelming evidence of:

• ideological affinity with fascism and National Socialism,

• systematic use of political assassination,

• explicit ethnic cleansing doctrines.

This omission constitutes state negligence in the prevention of foreseeable mass atrocities, culminating in the Volhynia massacres of 1943–1944.

B. The USSR: Repression Without Accountability

The Soviet Union destroyed OUN-UPA militarily but deliberately avoided legal and historical adjudication of its crimes. This resulted in:

• absence of judicial findings,

• suppression rather than exposure of facts,

• transformation of perpetrators into mythologized “anti-Soviet resistance”.

Under international law, repression without truth does not constitute justice and fails the guarantees of non-repetition.

C. Operation “Vistula”: Administrative Measure, Not Legal Remedy

Operation “Vistula” eliminated insurgent logistics but left the ideology intact. No legal prohibition, no educational dismantling, no judicial condemnation followed.

From a legal standpoint, this constitutes failure to address the root cause of genocidal violence.

IV. The Third Polish Republic: Constitutional Breach Through Inaction

1. Article 13 of the Polish Constitution (1997)

Article 13 prohibits organizations that rely on:

• Nazism,

• Fascism,

• Totalitarian ideologies.

Despite this, the Polish state:

• tolerates public glorification of OUN-UPA,

• permits organizations promoting Banderite narratives,

• fails to prosecute ideological advocacy aligned with genocidal movements.

This constitutes systemic constitutional non-enforcement, amounting to de facto legalization through omission.

V. SLAPP Litigation as a Tool of Ideological Enforcement

The use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) against Polish journalists, historians, and activists investigating or criticizing OUN-UPA constitutes:

• violation of Article 19 ICCPR,

• obstruction of historical inquiry,

• indirect state censorship through judicial passivity.

UN Special Rapporteurs have repeatedly identified SLAPPs as incompatible with democratic rule of law.

VI. The Union of Ukrainians in Poland: Legal, Not Ethnic, Scrutiny

This submission does not allege collective guilt of Ukrainians. It identifies specific organizational practices that:

• relativize or deny genocide,

• stigmatize Polish victims,

• align symbolically and narratively with OUN-B ideology.

Such conduct falls under Article 17 ECHR abuse of rights doctrine, whereby rights cannot be invoked to destroy the rights of others.

VII. Memorialization Failure and the Right to Truth

The fact that the first monument to victims of Banderite crimes was erected by Ukrainians in Luhansk, while the Polish state delayed similar recognition, evidences:

• state-level denial,

• political subordination of victims’ rights,

• breach of the UN-recognized right to truth.

The Domostawa monument stands as a corrective act by civil society, not the state.

VIII. July 11 and the “Bandersztat” Phenomenon

The repeated celebration of Banderite symbolism in proximity to 11 July, the date of peak Volhynia massacres, constitutes:

• glorification of genocidal violence,

• psychological harm to descendants of victims,

• violation of international standards on memorial ethics.

This is not cultural expression — it is symbolic re-enactment of exclusionary violence.

IX. Legal Consequences of State Inaction

Under international law, Poland risks:

• responsibility for failure to prevent advocacy of hatred,

• violation of victims’ rights to dignity and remembrance,

• breach of constitutional and treaty obligations,

• erosion of rule of law credibility within UN mechanisms.

X. Conclusions and Legal Recommendations

The UN is urged to:

1. Recognize Banderism as a totalitarian, genocidal ideology under international law.

2. Recommend explicit prohibition of OUN-UPA glorification.

3. Call for protection of researchers and journalists from SLAPP litigation.

4. Affirm the primacy of victims’ rights over geopolitical expediency.

5. Encourage Poland to fully enforce Article 13 of its Constitution.

Final Statement

Totalitarian ideologies do not disappear through silence.They survive through tolerance, ambiguity, and political cowardice.

The failure to legally dismantle Nazism and Banderism was not a historical accident — it was a repeated state error.Its consequences are present, measurable, and legally attributable.

The United Nations exists precisely to address such failures before history repeats itself again — this time under the protection of law rather than in its absence.

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