On Sept 22, 2023, House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota invited an ovation to a veteran of the “1st Ukrainian Division,” who fought against the Russians in the Second World War.
In attendance was visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Canada’s deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, all of whom applauded enthusiastically.
It didn’t take long for the truth about who Jaroslav Hunka was to come out. He was a member of the Waffen-SS’s 14th Galacian Division, a part of the fighting arm of the Nazi party during the Second World War. Was this an innocent mistake by the Speaker, who has since resigned, or is this part of an ongoing mainstreaming and whitewashing of the collaborationist forces of the Nazi German Reich?
Collaboration with the Nazis happened in every nation occupied by Germany in the Second World War. However, in a few countries in Eastern Europe, it remains celebrated in some circles to this day.
According to Dr Ian Dowbiggin, professor of history at University of Prince Edward Island, collaboration was a complex issue, made more so by many Ukrainians being anti-Soviet after the horrendous famines and civil war during the first half of the Twentieth Century.
Nazi occupation was horrific, many who collaborated were soon turned off by the brutality they witnessed against civilians.
Others were not.
The magazine Krakivs'ki Visti, featured Nazi ideology, race hatred, and antisemitism. It was this magazine that published the recruiting advertisements for the Galicia Division, it is not clear if Hunka read this publication.
The fact is interesting, said Dowbiggin, because the editor was Michael Chomiak (1905-1984), the grandfather of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Two thousand former members of the Galicia Division emigrated to Canada after the war. They were screened by the Canadian government who knew who they were, according to Dowbiggin. Hunka was one of them.
“There is the complicity of the Canadian government that has to be addressed.”
“It’s a story that has popped it’s head up over the years… this isn’t the first-time people emigrating from Europe after Second World War, with dubious pasts, has come up,” said Dowbiggin, referring to Helmut Oberlander, the Ukrainian-German man who, in Second World War, acted as an interpreter for Nazi death squads.
To understand the introduction and applauding of Hunka, however, the context in which this occurred must be considered. The Russo-Ukrainian War, now in its twentieth month, has devastated Ukraine, and in-so-doing, has given today’s far-right a new life.
When David Pugliese wrote the article ‘Chrystia Freeland’s granddad was indeed a Nazi collaborator – so much for Russian disinformation,’ in 2017, he did so because the answer given to any such accusation was that of ‘Russian disinformation.’
But how can it be “disinformation” if it’s completely true?
“I never dreamed it would get this bad this quickly,” said Chaise, a Ukrainian-Canadian living in Alberta. “Even though I suspected the rehabilitation of Neo-Nazis and Nazi collaborators would have severe and lasting consequences.”
This issue is so divisive he asked that his last name be discluded for his safety. Several others who follow and report of the issues surrounding the Ukrainian far-right have been “doxxed,” their private information breached on the internet over their views.
“My concern is that this effort, as well as Russia's invasion, is successfully mainstreaming fascism, white supremacy and even Nazism within Ukrainian society. No left-wing opposition is permitted to speak out against the war or the privatization efforts that will gut the country and significantly harm Ukrainian workers. It concerns me how much influence these institutions have.”
He’s not alone. “Lingerence” (alias) is an anti-fascist researcher who has been tracking the Ukrainian far-right since before 2022.
Lingerence said that the far-right in Ukraine, while not close to being the majority, or even a large minority, has an oversized footprint within the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The most prominent organization is the Azov Brigade, now officially titled ‘3rd Assault Brigade (Azov).’ This organization is, according to Lingerence, explicitly Nazi, originating from a group of football hooligans to become the ‘National Corps.’ It also includes its own integral Special Forces; the Azov-Kraken.
There are others.
Right Sector, founded by Andriy Yarosh, takes its origins from the OUN, the far-right organization that Jaroslav Hunka was a part of before the Galaicia Division. This organization, like the Azov, is explicitly far-right.
Carpathian Sich, White Hammer, and other organizations adhere to far-right views, and, like the Azov and Right Sector formations, have been integrated into the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
According to his research, Lingerence said the opinion of regular population regarding the Waffen SS and other such collaborators is that they have a minimal support in the population. They do have a bit more support now than in 2014 largely because of the glorification of these fighters since then.
“The Ukrainian population is in majority against the far-right, same for the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, but the Ukrainian far-right is what has been glorified by our media since the start of the war.”
Chaise agreed.
“So long as we continue to arm these people and Ukraine continues to hold them up as war heroes, our media and public institutions will seek to justify and in turn, normalize Nazism as an acceptable ideology. We have official Ukrainian social media channels putting out videos calling Russians "orcs" and "ogres" yet no one with any power seems to mind.”
It is these concerns that are ringing alarm bells for Chaise. The roots of the Galicia Division remain in the community. Like in Ukraine itself, the Ukrainian diaspora is by no means majority far-right, but Chaise is concerned about the publicity and whitewashing occurring within it.
“Because the mainstream media is committed to denying that the West has any responsibility for creating the conditions that led to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and downplaying the obvious and significant political power the Ukrainian far-right wields, we now have well-meaning Canadians twisting themselves into pretzels to explain how someone with a swastika isn't really a Neo-Nazi and there's no need to worry about funnelling weapons to these people.”
It is this whitewashing, said Lingerence, that is causing Canada to look away from the dangers ahead. He has identified several Canadian volunteers who are explicitly far-right that have been getting combat experience.
“I didn’t find much about the First Canadian who died in Ukraine, Emile-Antoine Roy-Sirois, but we learned from Vice months later that he died fighting with Mike Dunn, the founder of the Boogaloo Bois [far-right accelerationist group]. Dunn was wounded in that attack.”
It is this steady process of normalization, said both Lingerance and Chaise, that allowed Hunka to be applauded in Parliament, and this wasn’t the first time an oversight such as this has occurred.
In 2022, Freeland was pictured holding the red and black banner of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a fascist organization responsible for the L’viv Pogrom in 1941, and the political inspiration for Right Sector.
“Chrystia Freeland is imbedded into the Ukrainian community. She is well aware of the history of Ukraine. If she didn’t know about his past, then she ought to have known, based on her background,” said Dowbiggin.
There remain many unanswered questions, including what Freeland and Zelensky knew, and when. It does not appear credible that these experts in Ukrainian history and current affairs didn’t know what the ‘1st Ukrainian Division’ was or what it’s role in the Holocaust was.
History is, and shall remain, the silent judge, but in the meantime, for Chaise, there is cause for hope.
“I'm cautiously optimistic that if we keep speaking out, the monuments to Roman Shukhevych and the 14th Waffen SS in Edmonton will eventually come down, as they should.
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