Throughout history, Ukraine’s relationship with its neighbours has at times been difficult and often traumatic. For Ukrainians and Poles the chapters on Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Jozef Pilsudski, Volyn tragedy and Aktciya Visla convey differing emotions and memories on both sides of the divide. My Friend the Enemy film, directed and written by Wanda Koscia was shown at University College London, School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies on Thursday 19 March.

The documentary film told the story of Polish, Ukrainian survivors and witnesses of the Volyn tragedy in 1943. From a Ukrainian perspective the events that unfolded in the region of Volyn-Polissia are for most part termed a ‘tragedy’ while Polish historians, writers and politicians use the words ‘Volyn massacres’.

The two main characters of the film Janina Dobrzecka and Romuald Drohomirecki who were children in 1943 vividly recall their childhood memories and visit the Ukrainian families who saved them from certain death. Together with other survivors and witnesses they tell the story from a Polish and Ukrainian perspective. A human dimension of understanding in which the events that unfolded in the villages Pendyki, Diuskyn and Huta Stepanska are told graphically by survivors and locals.