Memorial sites of the Ukrainian minority in the Podkarpacie Region vs. commemoration of the military conflict on the Poland-Ukraine borderland after World War II

Memorial sites are a material proof of the Poland-Ukraine military conflict in the Podkarpacie Region, which took place in the years 1944-50. It is here, on the Poland-Ukraine borderland that there is a permanent conflict of interests of the local community of different historical identity. In order to commemorate bloody incidents and numerous victims on both sides memorial sites are erected both in Poland and in Ukraine causing conflicts in the past and present. In the article I have shown the
significance of the dependence between the memory of the ethnical community and the specifics of the language of the group, which while aiming at the commemoration of events and memorial sites important for them, do not obey the regulations of Polish law. The analysis of the legal basis for erecting these commemorations shows that there is a need to update the law. The importance of the mental layer in context of the intangible value of the cultural heritage of individual ethnic groups, which is often underestimated, can lead to conflicts that reach beyond the border area becoming conflicts of nationwide or even international concern.