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Canada's house speaker apologises after praising Ukrainian veteran who fought for Nazis
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Sep 25, 2023, 3:03:55 PM9/25/23
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/25/canadas-house-speaker-
apologises-after-praising-ukrainian-veteran-who-fought-for-nazis
Canada has become embroiled in an escalating political controversy after
members of its House of Commons were encouraged to join in a standing
ovation for an individual who fought in Ukraine with a Nazi military unit
accused of war crimes during the second world war.
The ovation took place shortly after Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr
Zelenskiy, delivered an address to the parliament on Friday, when the
assembly’s speaker, Anthony Rota, called lawmakers’ attention to 98-year-
old Yaroslav Hunka, whom he described as a “war hero” who fought for the
First Ukrainian Division.
Images from the Canadian parliament showed Zelenskiy and the Canadian
prime minister, Justin Trudeau, standing and applauding Hunka, in scenes
condemned by Jewish groups. As lawmakers cheered, Zelenskiy raised his
fist in acknowledgment as Hunka saluted from the gallery during two
separate standing ovations.
The Kremlin on Monday called the incident “outrageous” and pictures of
Zelenskiy were quickly seized on by pro-Kremlin social media accounts.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau said the episode was “clearly
unacceptable,” adding that it was “deeply embarrassing to the parliament
of Canada and by extension to all Canadians.”
Critics said the First Ukrainian Division was better known as the Waffen-
SS “Galicia” Division or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a volunteer unit
that was under the command of the Nazis.
The decision to allow about 600 members of the division to live in Canada
after the second world war has long been a source of controversy in
Canada, and was the subject of a government commission of inquiry in the
1980s into whether Canada had become a haven for war criminals.
Members of the division were accused of killing Polish and Jewish
civilians. The Nuremberg tribunals found the Waffen-SS guilty as an
organisation of war crimes but not the Galicia division.
At the weekend, Rota issued a statement apologising for what occurred. “In
my remarks following the address of the president of Ukraine, I recognised
an individual in the gallery. I have subsequently become aware of more
information which causes me to regret my decision to do so,” he said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Justin Trudeau on Parliament Hill in Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada, on 22 September.
Zelenskiy urges Canada to stay with Ukraine as he speaks to parliament
Read more
He added that his fellow parliament members and the Ukraine delegation
were not aware of his plan to recognise Hunka. Rota said Hunka was from
his district.
“I particularly want to extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities
in Canada and around the world. I accept full responsibility for my
action,” Rota said.
Hunka could not be immediately reached for comment. A social media post by
his daughter-in-law showed him “waiting in the reception hall for Trudeau
and Zelenskiy”, she said.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a Canadian Jewish group, said it
was “deeply troubled” that a veteran of a Nazi division that participated
in the genocide of Jews had been celebrated.
The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies issued a
statement on Sunday saying the division “was responsible for the mass
murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is
unimaginable”.
It added: “An apology is owed to every Holocaust survivor and veteran of
the second world war who fought the Nazis, and an explanation must be
provided as to how this individual entered the hallowed halls of Canadian
parliament and received recognition from the speaker of the house and a
standing ovation.”
Jewish groups have long campaigned against two memorials in Canada
connected to Ukrainians who fought on the German side.
Canada’s opposition Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, also called on
Trudeau to apologise.
Trudeau’s office said Rota had apologised and accepted full responsibility
for issuing the invitation to Hunka and for the recognition in parliament.
“This was the right thing to do,” it said. “No advance notice was provided
to the prime minister’s office, nor the Ukrainian delegation, about the
invitation or the recognition.”
Dominique Arel, the chair of Ukrainian studies at the University of
Ottawa, told Canada’s public broadcaster CBC that the division Hunka was
part of had attracted thousands of Ukrainian volunteers, many joining with
hopes they could achieve Ukrainian independence.
Only Germans from Germany were able to fight in the German army, Arel
said, so non-German volunteers who believed in Nazi aims or sought to use
Nazi power for their own ends were organised into SS divisions.
“We have the issue of symbolism here, the optics of serving in a military
unit whose logo is that of arguably the greatest criminal organisation in
the 20th century … so obviously the optics are not good.”
Zelenskiy was in Ottawa to bolster support from western allies for
Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion. Vladimir Putin has painted
his enemies in Ukraine as “neo-Nazis” even though Zelenskiy is Jewish and
lost relatives in the Holocaust.
The row also raises uncomfortable questions surrounding the memorialising
of prominent Ukrainian figures who fought alongside Nazi forces during the
war.
In his speech to Canadian lawmakers, Zelenskiy noted that the city of
Edmonton was the first to commemorate victims of the Holodomor, the mass
famine inflicted on Ukrainians that killed millions in the early 1930s.
The city erected a memorial in 1983 in recognition of the 50th anniversary
of the famine.
But within the city there are two other memorials, one partially funded by
taxpayers, that have come under greater scrutiny in recent years. Within
the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex, a bust depicts Roman Shukhevych, a
known Nazi collaborator linked to massacres of Polish civilians. A second
statue dedicated to the Waffen-SS Galicia division is in an Edmonton
cemetery.
In July 2020, the words “Nazi war monument” were spray-painted on a
cenotaph commemorating soldiers in the Galicia division in an Ontario
cemetery.
In 1985, Canada’s then prime minister, Brian Mulroney, established the
commission of inquiry on war criminals in Canada after an MP claimed the
Nazi doctor Josef Mengele may be in the country.
On the issue of the Galicia division, the commission’s head, Jules
Deschęnes, ruled that members “should not be indicted as a group”.
“The members of Galicia division were individually screened for security
purposes before admission to Canada. Charges of war crimes of Galicia
division have never been substantiated, either in 1950 when they were
first preferred, or in 1984 when they were renewed, or before this
commission.”
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
apologises-after-praising-ukrainian-veteran-who-fought-for-nazis
Canada has become embroiled in an escalating political controversy after
members of its House of Commons were encouraged to join in a standing
ovation for an individual who fought in Ukraine with a Nazi military unit
accused of war crimes during the second world war.
The ovation took place shortly after Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr
Zelenskiy, delivered an address to the parliament on Friday, when the
assembly’s speaker, Anthony Rota, called lawmakers’ attention to 98-year-
old Yaroslav Hunka, whom he described as a “war hero” who fought for the
First Ukrainian Division.
Images from the Canadian parliament showed Zelenskiy and the Canadian
prime minister, Justin Trudeau, standing and applauding Hunka, in scenes
condemned by Jewish groups. As lawmakers cheered, Zelenskiy raised his
fist in acknowledgment as Hunka saluted from the gallery during two
separate standing ovations.
The Kremlin on Monday called the incident “outrageous” and pictures of
Zelenskiy were quickly seized on by pro-Kremlin social media accounts.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau said the episode was “clearly
unacceptable,” adding that it was “deeply embarrassing to the parliament
of Canada and by extension to all Canadians.”
Critics said the First Ukrainian Division was better known as the Waffen-
SS “Galicia” Division or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a volunteer unit
that was under the command of the Nazis.
The decision to allow about 600 members of the division to live in Canada
after the second world war has long been a source of controversy in
Canada, and was the subject of a government commission of inquiry in the
1980s into whether Canada had become a haven for war criminals.
Members of the division were accused of killing Polish and Jewish
civilians. The Nuremberg tribunals found the Waffen-SS guilty as an
organisation of war crimes but not the Galicia division.
At the weekend, Rota issued a statement apologising for what occurred. “In
my remarks following the address of the president of Ukraine, I recognised
an individual in the gallery. I have subsequently become aware of more
information which causes me to regret my decision to do so,” he said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Justin Trudeau on Parliament Hill in Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada, on 22 September.
Zelenskiy urges Canada to stay with Ukraine as he speaks to parliament
Read more
He added that his fellow parliament members and the Ukraine delegation
were not aware of his plan to recognise Hunka. Rota said Hunka was from
his district.
“I particularly want to extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities
in Canada and around the world. I accept full responsibility for my
action,” Rota said.
Hunka could not be immediately reached for comment. A social media post by
his daughter-in-law showed him “waiting in the reception hall for Trudeau
and Zelenskiy”, she said.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a Canadian Jewish group, said it
was “deeply troubled” that a veteran of a Nazi division that participated
in the genocide of Jews had been celebrated.
The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies issued a
statement on Sunday saying the division “was responsible for the mass
murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is
unimaginable”.
It added: “An apology is owed to every Holocaust survivor and veteran of
the second world war who fought the Nazis, and an explanation must be
provided as to how this individual entered the hallowed halls of Canadian
parliament and received recognition from the speaker of the house and a
standing ovation.”
Jewish groups have long campaigned against two memorials in Canada
connected to Ukrainians who fought on the German side.
Canada’s opposition Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, also called on
Trudeau to apologise.
Trudeau’s office said Rota had apologised and accepted full responsibility
for issuing the invitation to Hunka and for the recognition in parliament.
“This was the right thing to do,” it said. “No advance notice was provided
to the prime minister’s office, nor the Ukrainian delegation, about the
invitation or the recognition.”
Dominique Arel, the chair of Ukrainian studies at the University of
Ottawa, told Canada’s public broadcaster CBC that the division Hunka was
part of had attracted thousands of Ukrainian volunteers, many joining with
hopes they could achieve Ukrainian independence.
Only Germans from Germany were able to fight in the German army, Arel
said, so non-German volunteers who believed in Nazi aims or sought to use
Nazi power for their own ends were organised into SS divisions.
“We have the issue of symbolism here, the optics of serving in a military
unit whose logo is that of arguably the greatest criminal organisation in
the 20th century … so obviously the optics are not good.”
Zelenskiy was in Ottawa to bolster support from western allies for
Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion. Vladimir Putin has painted
his enemies in Ukraine as “neo-Nazis” even though Zelenskiy is Jewish and
lost relatives in the Holocaust.
The row also raises uncomfortable questions surrounding the memorialising
of prominent Ukrainian figures who fought alongside Nazi forces during the
war.
In his speech to Canadian lawmakers, Zelenskiy noted that the city of
Edmonton was the first to commemorate victims of the Holodomor, the mass
famine inflicted on Ukrainians that killed millions in the early 1930s.
The city erected a memorial in 1983 in recognition of the 50th anniversary
of the famine.
But within the city there are two other memorials, one partially funded by
taxpayers, that have come under greater scrutiny in recent years. Within
the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex, a bust depicts Roman Shukhevych, a
known Nazi collaborator linked to massacres of Polish civilians. A second
statue dedicated to the Waffen-SS Galicia division is in an Edmonton
cemetery.
In July 2020, the words “Nazi war monument” were spray-painted on a
cenotaph commemorating soldiers in the Galicia division in an Ontario
cemetery.
In 1985, Canada’s then prime minister, Brian Mulroney, established the
commission of inquiry on war criminals in Canada after an MP claimed the
Nazi doctor Josef Mengele may be in the country.
On the issue of the Galicia division, the commission’s head, Jules
Deschęnes, ruled that members “should not be indicted as a group”.
“The members of Galicia division were individually screened for security
purposes before admission to Canada. Charges of war crimes of Galicia
division have never been substantiated, either in 1950 when they were
first preferred, or in 1984 when they were renewed, or before this
commission.”
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
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