Ukrainian Refugees in Poland: War Narratives, Historical Memory, and Compassion Fatigue

• In Event: Taking Stock of Refugee Experiences: Ukrainians Abroad after the Russian Invasion

Abstract

Refugees are often welcomed with open arms in the initial days of a conflict or natural disaster. Yet what happens when refugees become residents as time goes by and the reasons for their immigration have not attenuated? This paper utilizes a novel set of survey experiments in Poland to study the topic of compassion fatigue among host societies. Assessed are the degrees to which narratives about Russia's war in Ukraine have changed over time in Polish society, as well as the degree to which Poland['s contentious 20th century history with Ukraine might affect the onset of compassion fatigues, which I define as a lessening willingness to express sympathy for the plight of refugees and to help them materially. Specifically studied is whether the legacy of past Polish-Ukrainian conflicts, such as the Volhynia massacres, have greater salience today in regions directly affected by these historical events when it comes to refugees and compassion fatigue, which not only tests for the intergenerational transmission of memory in refugee-receiving countries, but also its connection to present-day assessments of refugee deservingness.

Author

• George Soroka, Harvard U