Serhii Miniailo, Ukraine’s consul in Poznań, met with Poznań City Council chairman Grzegorz Ganowicz and councillor Dorota Bonk-Hammermeister on 24 September, with the meeting focusing on relations between Poland and Ukraine and the city’s response to violence, hate speech and anti-Ukrainian attitudes.
The meeting followed a statement adopted by Poznań City Council on 8 September. In it, councillors expressed their firm opposition to violence, discrimination, xenophobia and hate speech, with particular attention given to cases of aggression against people of Ukrainian origin.
The statement describes Poznań as a city where differences can be discussed openly, while making clear that violence and hatred have no place in public life.
“Poznań was, is and should remain an open city - a place where people can differ and discuss, but where there is no place for violence, contempt and hatred towards another human being.”
During the meeting, Ganowicz and Bonk-Hammermeister presented the adopted statement to Consul Miniailo.
“I am handing this important statement to the Consul, as a reflection of Poznań’s openness, hospitality and respect for other people,” said Grzegorz Ganowicz.
A reminder of Poznań's long history of welcoming newcomers
The meeting also included a distinctly Poznań gift. Ganowicz presented the Ukrainian consul with 300 Years Together: Poznań Bambers, an album published several years ago by Wydawnictwo Miejskie Posnania.
The choice of book was intended to recall one of the city's important chapters of migration history. In the 18th century, several hundred settlers from the area around Bamberg arrived in Poznań and the surrounding region. Over generations, the Bambers preserved elements of their distinctive culture and traditions while becoming an established part of the city's local community.
For the city council chairman, their history also offers a reminder of Poznań's tradition of welcoming people from elsewhere. Ukrainian citizens seeking safety from the war have experienced that hospitality in the city in recent years.
Consul Miniailo thanked the councillors for the statement and its message to Ukrainians living in Poznań and elsewhere in Poland.
“Thank you for these important words of support expressed in the statement and addressed to the Ukrainian community living in Poznań, and more broadly throughout the Republic of Poland. It is symbolic, but at the same time very significant, that Poland was the first state to recognise Ukraine’s independence,” said Serhii Miniailo.
Poznań's relationship with Ukraine
Poznań has publicly supported Ukraine since the first day of Russia's full-scale invasion, when blue and yellow flags were raised on the Poznań City Hall building in a visible expression of solidarity.
The city council had already adopted a statement supporting the Ukrainian people before the full-scale invasion. In June 2022, the city also unveiled a plaque naming the green space near Święty Roch Bridge, at the junction of Serafitek and Trasa Kórnicka, Skwer Obrońców Ukrainy 2022, or Defenders of Ukraine 2022 Square.
Ganowicz recalled the council's response to Russia's invasion:
“The Poznań City Council adopted the resolution without any disputes, in the shared conviction that the crimes committed by the Russian Federation against the Ukrainian people must be firmly and unequivocally condemned.”
Today, Ukrainians form the largest group among Poznań's foreign residents. The city estimates that around 80,000 foreign nationals live in Poznań, with approximately 70,000 of them being Ukrainian citizens.
The city's Ukrainian-language online portal has also been operating since October 2021. It is maintained and updated by the team at Biuro Poznań Kontakt, providing information for Ukrainian-speaking residents.
For a city that has seen a substantial Ukrainian community develop alongside long-established Polish-Ukrainian links, the September meeting brought together two strands of Poznań's identity: its present-day role as a place of refuge and its much longer history of communities arriving, settling and becoming part of local life.
See more: Free Leaf Collection Bags Available to Poznań Residents
Source and image credit: Poznań City Council
