The Gist The picture sparked a scandal when Canada’s House of Commons unanimously praised Jaroslaw Hunka, who was portrayed as a “Ukrainian hero” and a figure in Nazi Germany’s Waffen SS. Who is this man with a checkered past who is embarrassing Justin Trudeau’s government?
98 years old, white hair, hearing aid and velvet jacket: Jaroslaw Hunka takes part in the homage that his adopted home of Canada honors his country of origin, Ukraine, on the occasion of the arrival of President Volodymyr Zelensky. A guest who could have blended into the crowd if he had not been welcomed by House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota to pay tribute to a “Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero” whom the country thanks for “his services.”
HUGE outrage after the Canadian Parliament gave a standing ovation during Zelensky’s joint address on Friday to Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi collaborator who served in a Nazi military unit during World War II and was involved in the mass murder of Jews and others was involved… pic.twitter.com/PFWQNEoM76
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) September 24, 2023
An unbearable tribute to Canadian Jewish associations who recognize in this applauded old man a former soldier of Nazi Germany. Jaroslaw Hunka is in fact a former member of the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS founded in 1939 by Adolf Hitler on the recommendation of Commander-in-Chief Heinrich Himmler. More specifically, he was part of the 14th Grenadier Division, known as the Galicia Division, a unit made up of so-called “ethnic” Ukrainians that was under Nazi command.
The unit was renamed the First Ukrainian Division before surrendering to the Western Allies in 1945. She was never convicted of her war crimes, but was allegedly responsible for the execution of Polish and Jewish civilians.
Canada, country of refuge for former Nazis?
The BBC reports that Brian Mulroney, then Prime Minister of Canada, set up the War Crimes Commission of Inquiry in 1985 after an MP claimed that Nazi doctor Josef Mengele might be in the country.
Around 600 former German soldiers then tried to return to the country. These included members of the Galicia Division, who were subject to individual checks for security reasons. “The war crimes allegations of the Galicia Division have never been substantiated, neither in 1950, when they were first raised, nor in 1984, when they were renewed, nor before this commission,” said Jules Deschênes, chairman of the investigative commission.
However, after this controversial honor – and according to the Speaker of the House of Commons, who said it was involuntary given “the new information” brought to his attention – the Friends of the Center for Holocaust Studies Simon Wiesenthal reiterated that the Division “was responsible for the massacre of innocent civilians with an unimaginable level of brutality and viciousness.”