No to the Glorification of Nazism! Shame on the Canadian Parliament!
Amidst Ukrainian President Zelensky's visit to Canada, on September 22 the House of Commons and Zelensky himself honoured Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian Nazi who was a member of Hitler's SS during the Second World War, with a standing ovation. Particularly striking is the fact that not a single party leader or MP raised their voice against this shameful display. After the Speaker of the House Anthony Rota introduced him as a "Ukrainian hero" who "fought against Russian aggressors in the Second World War," every MP present rose to their feet and applauded. Most enthusiastic was Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is on record being proud of her Nazi grandfather.
According to Hunka's own blog posts written between 2010 and 2011, he volunteered to join the Waffen-SS in the Ternopil region of Ukraine in 1943 after obtaining training in Nazi Germany. Of note is the fact that Ternopil was a centre of Nazi extermination campaigns – prewar approximately 20,000 Jewish people lived in the city, and by the end of the Nazi occupation only a few hundred survived. Those days, Hunka recalls in his posts, were the best days of his life. This is clearly an individual who is guilty of crimes against humanity and has no regrets about his past.
Canada played a heinous postwar role by bringing in thousands of former SS members like Hunka, exempting them from being tried for their crimes against the peoples. At the time, this was part of a larger Anglo-American scheme to save as much as they could of the remnants of Nazi-fascism, to reorganize fascist elements into barriers against the triumph of a truly democratic order where peace could prevail and amity among nations could be established.
The most criminal aspect is that all this is presented as being in our name, as part of Canadians "always standing with Ukraine." In reality, this has nothing to do with the aspirations of the people of Canada or Quebec and everything to do with the interests of the rulers, who are part of the U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine. Their conceptions are so narrow that they no longer acknowledge politics as such, and do not oppose Nazi-fascist politics -- their only criteria for support is that you must be in favour of nation-wrecking in Ukraine and a vain attempt to destroy Russia. The message is that as long as you meet those conditions, even if you are an SS member, you will find support in Canada.
Tens
of millions of heroes across the globe died fighting in the
world anti-fascist war against the Hitlerites. More than a
million Canadians fought that scourge, and today there are many
millions of their direct descendants living in this country.
Their heroic sacrifice is not recognized by the Parliament. On
the contrary, on September 22, the Canadian government spat on
the graves of the fallen and dishonoured the living.
Canadians, Quebeckers and all progressive humanity reject with contempt the assertions that Nazis played a positive role historically as long as they "opposed Russia." In the world anti-fascist war, Canadians fought alongside Russians, Ukrainians and the other Soviet peoples represented in the heroic Red Army, in their common goal of a liberated humanity. SS members like Hunka do not represent either the Canadian or Ukrainian people. Those with a conscience have long declared Nazism to be the greatest enemy of the peoples, and any attempt to rehabilitate or glorify their actions finds the greatest reaction of disgust. The peoples honour those who defeated Nazi-fascism, not those who fought for it.
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 8 - September 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53082.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca