Astonishing - from the Edmonton Sun:
During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Ottawa on Friday, MPs honoured 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka in the House of Commons.
Hunka was invited by Speaker Anthony Rota, who introduced him as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division.
“I am very proud to say that he is from North Bay and from my riding of Nipissing_Timiskaming,” the Ontario MP said as an introduction.c“He is a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service.”
MPs cheered and Zelenskyy raised his fist in acknowledgement as Hunka saluted from the gallery during two separate standing ovations.
The First Ukrainian Division was also known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a voluntary unit that was under the command of the Nazis.
The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies issued a statement Sunday saying the division “was responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is unimaginable.”
“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,” the statement said.
Quite apart from the sheer bone-crunching stupidity, it's a gift for Putin propagandists.
I can't understand why Zelensky cheered. Shouldn't he have realized immedidately who this guy is?
Hunka was was fighting for Ukrainian independence during WW2. So he wasn't fighting in the Soviet army. Then which army was he in?
Hunka said that he was in the Ukrainian underground? Was there an anti-German, anti-Soviet guerrilla movement? If so, he wasn't in it. And no one has even raised that as a possibility.
Posted by: Recruiting Animal | September 27, 2023 at 07:44 PM
I assume Zelensky believed his Canadian hosts had done their homework, and this guy was on the right side. He was certainly fighting the Soviets, but for the Germans - the Nazis - as I understand it. Complicated, but still an embarrassing blunder
Posted by: Mick H | September 27, 2023 at 11:11 PM