2023-09-25 22:21:51
The Canadian Parliament was the scene of a scandal due to the vindication of a genocide. During the visit there by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, the legislators paid tribute to a veteran of the Second World War, who had actually fought in the ranks of the Nazi army.
The event unleashed public complaints from human rights organizations and the Jewish community, and escalated to such a point that the government and the organizer of that event, the head of the House of Representatives, came out to ask for forgiveness.
“I express my sincere apologies to the Jewish communities in Canada and around the world,” said Anthony Rota, president of the Chamber of Deputies.
Applause to a Nazi
The tribute took place last Friday during Zelensky’s presence in Parliament, promoted by several legislators who thus wanted to make their rejection of the Russian invasion of Ukraine stronger.
Former military man Yaroslav Hunka was invited to that session, as a “Ukrainian and Canadian hero” of the Second War. The 98-year-old man, sitting in the stands of the legislative palace, was thanked “for all his services.” Zelensky himself greeted him with his fist raised. The problem was that, apparently, no one there knew about his past.
It turns out that he had been a combatant in the 14th Waffen SS Grenadier Division, a unit known as Galitzia that was part of the Schutzstaffel and whose objective was to fight against the Soviet Union: it was made up mostly of Ukrainian volunteers and they murdered thousands of Polish civilians at the same time. who recruited Slavs for the ranks of the Third Reich.
The revelation was made by the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC), who in a statement expressed themselves “deeply disturbed by the fact that the Canadian Parliament has recognized a Ukrainian veteran who served in a Nazi military unit during the Second World War.” World War”.
The human rights defense association denounced that the honoree had committed “crimes against humanity during the Holocaust, which are well documented.” “He was responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians with an unimaginable level of brutality and malice,” they said. while demanding Ottawa’s apology.
The position of the Canadian government
Hours later, Anthony Rota, president of the Chamber of Deputies, acknowledged that he was unaware of Hunka’s past and asked for forgiveness. “I want to make it clear that no one, including my parliamentary colleagues and the Ukrainian delegation, knew my intention or my comments before I uttered them,” he said, backtracking on his tribute.
The government of President Justin Trudeau immediately came out to distance itself. “Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the Ukrainian delegation had been informed in advance of the invitation or recognition,” their spokespersons said in a statement.
Later, the human rights organization B’nai Brith Canada described the event as “more than outrageous” and reported that the body to which the honored Nazi belonged had been created by Ukrainian “ultranationalist ideologues” who “dreamed of an ethnically Ukrainian State.” homogeneous and supported Nazi ethnic cleansing.
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which represents the Jewish federations of Canada, maintained that the Jewish community of that country “strongly supports Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression,” but made clear that “we cannot remain silent when the crimes committed by Ukrainians during the Holocaust are whitewashed.”
Hunka was not only invited by Rota to attend the speech that the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, gave on Friday in the Canadian Parliament, but he also publicly paid tribute to the Nazi fighter.
“We have in the chamber a Ukrainian Canadian, a veteran of World War II, who fought for the independence of Ukraine against the Russians and continues to support the troops even at 98 years of age,” Rota declared on Friday.
Everyone present, including Zelensky, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and all Canadian deputies and senators applauded Hunka as he waved from the public area.
The Russian complaint
Meanwhile, the Russian authorities criticized this Monday the “scandalous” presence in the Canadian Parliament of a Ukrainian who fought with the Nazis in the Second World War. Russia has justified its invasion of Ukraine to “denazify” the country.
Following Rota’s apology, one of the opposition groups, the social democratic New Democratic Party (NPD), requested his resignation as president of the Lower House.
The spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, qualified This Monday “outrageous” the “careless attitude towards the memory” of Nazi crimes in Canada. “These crimes have no expiration date or prescription. This type of neglect of memory is outrageous,” declared Peskov.
According to the Russian spokesperson, in the West it has grown a generation that has forgotten the lessons of the Second World War, which is why there is a risk that fascism will reappear in the world. “They don’t know anything about the threat of fascism. This can cause fascism to appear here or there. And now we are practically seeing it trying to get its footing in the center of Europe, in Ukraine. This is what we are fighting against,” he said .
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