I can understand an honest mistake, but given the known history of WWII, and
the public pronouncement by Vladimir Putin about Nazis in the Ukraine
(spoiler, there are a f%$# tonne of Nazis every country in Europe).
That the
Speaker of the House in the Canadian Parliament called for, and got, a
standing ovation for a former SS member for their service in WWII is no
accident.
When he called for this there is no way that he could not have known that this
man,Yaroslav Hunka (×™ִמַּ×— שְׁמו), was collaborating with the Nazis,
particularly given the reporting in Canada about Deputy Prime Minister and
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland lying about her grandfather's collaboration
from the Nazis is absurd.
Someone with more authority than the speaker, his role is largely bureaucratic
and procedural, had to have made this decision consciously, for reasons that
are unclear.
It could have been someone pandering to Canada's Ukrainian community, they
constitute about 4% of the population, it could have been someone trying to
sabotage Zelensky's visit, or it could have been someone trying to send some
sort of other message.
In any case, this should require a more thorough investigation.
The
statement by Speaker Anthony Rota
which is basically ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. He said that he did not know and he's
very sorry. Bullsh%$.
The Canadian Parliament gave a standing ovation on Friday to a 98-year-old
immigrant from Ukraine who fought in a Third Reich military formation
accused of war crimes.
The elderly veteran, Yaroslav Hunka was
honored during a session in which President Volodomyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine
addressed the lawmakers
to thank them for their support since Russia invaded his country, saying
Canada has always been on “the bright side of history.” The Speaker of the
House of Commons, Anthony Rota — who had compared Zelenskyy to Winston
Churchill —
recognized
a “veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence
against the Russians and continues to support the troops today even at his
age of 98.”
If you fought "the Russians" (actually fought the USSR) in the 2
nd
world war, you were fighting for the Nazis. This is inescapable historical
fact.
Rota knew. The only question is who told him to do this.
………
Formed in 1943, SS Galichina was composed of recruits from
the Galicia region in western Ukraine. The unit was armed and trained by the
Nazis and commanded by German officers. In 1944, the division was visited by
SS head Heinrich Himmler, who spoke of the soldiers’ willingness to
slaughter Poles.”
Three months earlier, SS Galichina subunits
perpetrated what is known as the Huta Pieniacka massacre, burning 500 to
1,000 Polish villagers alive.
………
A blog by an
association of its veterans, called “Combatant News” in Ukrainian, includes
an autobiographical
entry
by a Yaroslav Hunka that says he volunteered to join the division in 1943
and several
photographs
of him during the war. The
captions
say the pictures show Hunka during SS artillery training in Munich in
December 1943 and in Neuhammer (now Świętoszów), Poland, the site of
Himmler’s visit.
In posts to the blog dated 2011 and 2010, Hunka
describes 1941 to 1943 as the happiest years of his life and compares the
veterans of his unit, who were scattered across the world, to Jews.
(Emphasis mine)
Nazi SS members like the Jews?
Unf%$#ing believable.
Canada
has two monuments to the unit, one in a Wayville, which is outside Toronto,
the other in Edmonton. Canadian Jewish organizations have called for their
removal.
It is unclear whether Zelenskyy knew that Hunka fought
with the unit. In 2021, the Ukrainian president joined the governments of
Israel
and
Germany
in denouncing a march honoring SS Galichina in Kyiv.
I'd really like to see someone to get to the bottom of this.
I don't think that anyone will, but I would really like them to do so.