Verification within Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program
A video is being spread online with the logo of United24, a global initiative supporting Ukraine. The video claims that in classes where Polish and Ukrainian children study together, the history lessons will not cover the Volyn tragedy. The video quotes Poland’s Minister of Education, Barbara Nowacka, allegedly saying that this topic negatively affects the atmosphere in mixed classes. According to the video, she was supposedly thanked by the acting chargé d’affaires of Ukraine in Poland, Roman Shepeliak, for this stance.
However, this is fake. United24 confirmed that the video is fabricated, and no changes to the education curriculum have been made in Poland. The statements attributed to the Polish Minister of Education and the quote from Roman Shepeliak are also fabricated.
Screenshot of the post
According to the Polish government’s decision, starting from September 1, 2024, children of Ukrainian refugees must integrate into the Polish education system. Therefore, preschool and school education must take place in Polish schools. Only those students in their final year of Ukrainian school in 2024/2025 will be allowed to study remotely. If parents refuse, starting from June 2025, they will stop receiving payments of over 800 PLN, which the government introduced earlier to help refugees.
This video was not published on United24’s official website or on its Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts. Additionally, it seems odd that a Ukrainian initiative would use the term “Volyn massacre” in the video, as this phrasing is used in Poland and Russia, while Ukrainian historians use the term “Volyn tragedy.”
From 1943 to 1944, mutual ethnic cleansings of Poles and Ukrainians took place in the western part of the former Volyn governorate (now Volyn, Rivne, and part of Ternopil regions). Polish and Ukrainian historians have yet to reach a consensus on how to interpret these events.
Later, on the United24 page on the social network X appeared a statement that the circulating video is a fake created by Russian propagandists. “These videos were not made by our team and include fabricated claims, such as the Volyn massacre being removed from history lessons for classes with Polish and Ukrainian children,” the post reads.
A search for statements by Poland’s Minister of Education, Barbara Nowacka, regarding the removal of the Volyn tragedy from the curriculum did not yield results. There is also no relevant information on the Ministry of Education’s website.
The video also includes a fabricated quote from the acting chargé d’affaires of Ukraine in Poland, Roman Shepeliak, thanking Poland for the changes: “This is a great step towards building a Ukrainian-Polish future. A successful future is only open to those who are ready to turn the dark pages. Poland has proven that it is ready for the future.” However, searches in English, Polish, and Ukrainian for these words turned up no results. No reputable Polish or foreign media outlets reported on any changes to the school curriculum.
Previously, we debunked another fake, which falsely claimed that the United24 initiative had published a video alleging that employees of the Ukrainian consulate in Poland were legalizing fake refugee passports.
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