The Order of the White Eagle is not revoked posthumously, so the award remains with Benito Mussolini and Catherine II, and the actions of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder do not constitute grounds for revoking the award. Agnieszka Jędrzak, Minister of the Chancellery of the President of Poland, has stated this.
“The first two have long been deceased, and Poland does not revoke the Order posthumously,” said Jędrzak.
Commenting on the status of the former German chancellor, she noted that his activities in support of russia are harmful but do not constitute grounds for revoking the award.
“The former German chancellor, meanwhile, has never insulted the Polish nation as openly as the Ukrainian president has, though his activities in support of Putin's Russia must be condemned as harmful to Poland and Europe. Under Schröder's government in Germany, no monuments to Hitler or Himmler were erected. No Bundeswehr unit was named after "SS heroes"," the post reads.
Jędrzak also stated that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, "who now points out that Mussolini, Catherine II, and Schröder were not stripped of the Order, did not complain about them having it when he himself received the honor three years ago." The office viewed the return of the award by mail as a move that “adds another insult.”
“The heart of the matter is, after all, the deliberate insult by the Ukrainian leader toward a nation that, over the past four years, has proven to be Ukraine's best friend. One does not honor the murderers of the ancestors of those who helped you when it was a matter of life or death,” the minister emphasized.
She added that Karol Nawrocki “revoked the Order, not the hand.”
“We support Ukraine, but we will not allow ourselves to be insulted,” concluded Jędrzak.
As a reminder, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned the Order of the White Eagle to Poland, arranging for it to be sent via Nova Poshta to the office of the Polish president. In his post, he quoted Karol Nawrocki’s statement about the symbolic significance of the order and noted that the award had historically also been held by figures with controversial reputations, including Catherine II and Benito Mussolini.
Meanwhile, the second president, Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s third president, Viktor Yushchenko, and fifth president, Petro Poroshenko, announced their refusal of the Polish Order of the White Eagle after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the award.
What is known about the Polish government’s decision regarding Zelenskyy?
On June 19, Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced that Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been stripped of the Order of the White Eagle—Poland’s highest state honor, which the Ukrainian President had received from Andrzej Duda.
As reported, this decision was preceded by a decree from Volodymyr Zelenskyy conferring an honorary name in honor of the Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army on the “North” Separate Special Operations Center of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Following Warsaw’s decision, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Head of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov, and Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar also decided to renounce their Polish awards.
On June 20, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he was returning the Order of the White Eagle to Warsaw, noting that he had received this award in 2023 on behalf of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian army.
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