Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Canadian Jewish human rights organization, slammed the Canadian parliament Sunday for giving a standing ovation to a Ukrainian Nazi during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit Friday.
Yaroslav Hunka, 98, was introduced by Speaker Anthony Rota of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party as a “Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians, and continues to support the troops today. … He’s a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service.”
Rota’s historical illiteracy, however, tripped him up: some nationalist movements in Eastern Europe who fought against the Soviets later aligned with the invading Nazi forces, including in Ukraine.
WATCH: Here’s how Speaker of the House introduced former member of the
14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS in the Canadian House of Commons.Whoever wrote that speech intentionally meant to mislead Canadians on the true credentials of Yaroslav Hunka.
“Formed in 1943, SS… pic.twitter.com/YhQlMMkAjd
— Anti-Taxxer (@colossusPhD) September 24, 2023
Rebel News, a conservative Canadian outlet, noted: “As many as 2,000 Waffen SS soldiers of Ukrainian heritage, including Yaroslav Hunka, changed their identities and masqueraded as ‘refugees’ before capture to seek refuge in Canada in the 1950s.” The unit had actually fought against Canadians in Italy during the war, Rebel News added.
The Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Canadian group supporting the Los Angeles-based, Nazi-hunting organization, noted in a statement:
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) is deeply disturbed over the Canadian Parliament’s recognition of a Ukrainian veteran who served in a Nazi military unit during the Second World War implicated in the mass murder of Jews and others. FSWC is further outraged that parliamentarians in the House of Commons gave a standing ovation to the former soldier on Friday.
Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old immigrant from Ukraine, was introduced by Anthony Rota, Speaker of the House of Commons, as “a Ukrainian Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians” and “a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero,” ignoring the horrific fact that Hunka served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a Nazi military unit whose crimes against humanity during the Holocaust are well-documented.
It added:
The fact that a veteran who served in a Nazi military unit was invited to and given a standing ovation in Parliament is shocking. At a time of rising antisemitism and Holocaust distortion, it is incredibly disturbing to see Canada’s Parliament rise to applaud an individual who was a member of a unit in the Waffen-SS, a Nazi military branch responsible for the murder of Jews and others and that was declared a criminal organization during the Nuremberg Trials. There should be no confusion that this unit was responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is unimaginable.
