Zelensky’s visit to Canada: Tribute to SS veteran sparks outrage Are Americans too stupid for democracy?

The Russian propaganda apparatus knows for sure: Ukraine is ruled by neo-Nazis. Part of Russia’s story about why the attack on its neighbor, which violates international law, is okay — even necessary. Moscow wants to ‘denazify’ Ukraine. That is of course nonsense. Especially when you consider that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself is of Jewish descent.

However, the Ukrainian head of state’s trip to Canada is now likely to be grist to the mill of the Russian propaganda machine. And the outrage is also loud on social media. The accusation: trivializing Nazi war crimes.

After the SS scandal: Parliament Speaker Rota must row back

As head of state of Ukraine, Zelensky repeatedly visits the capitals of the world, speaks in parliaments, asks for support and calls for arms. This is also the case in Ottawa, Canada. And this day in the Canadian Parliament isn’t just causing a stir in North America. Because after the Ukrainian president’s speech, a Ukrainian immigrant was honored for his fight against the Russians.

This was 98-year-old Jaroslaw Hunka – a “Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran,” as Canadian Speaker of Parliament Anthony Rota put it. Hunka defended Ukraine’s independence from Russia during World War II. The honoree would have been rewarded with thunderous applause from the parliamentarians present.

What Rota probably did not mention when receiving the prize: Hunka is said to have been a member of the Waffen-SS. Hitler’s military elite. A fact that the organization Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) immediately noticed. FSWC denounced that Rota had honored a member of the 14th Waffen-Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as Waffen-SS-Division Galizien.

Classified as a criminal organization after the end of the war at the Nuremberg Trials, the SS had national associations involved in war crimes in many occupied countries. An accusation that Canadian Parliament Speaker Rota probably takes seriously. After violent protests, he apologized for honoring the SS veteran. According to Canadian media reports, he stated:

Historian classifies the importance of honoring the SS veteran

He takes full responsibility for his actions. But the outrage surrounding the scandal is also immense on X, formerly Twitter. One user speculates that Canada will soon posthumously name Hitler a ‘Canadian hero’.

Another sees the honor as evidence that the West chooses its allies for purely pragmatic reasons – a “careful examination” is no longer necessary, the user speculates.

The historian Franziska Davies also analyzes the impact of this honor in a thread. It is “an insult to the victims of the Holocaust and a great disservice to the Ukrainians fighting a genocidal Russian regime,” Davies writes, adding:

There is good academic work on the extremist wing of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, which emigrated in 1945. This wing managed to acquire key positions in diaspora institutions, says Davies. This is how an anti-communist and nationalist memory culture emerged. But none of this changes the fact that Ukraine is currently defending its own independence against Russia’s claim to power, she makes clear.

What she also thinks is important to mention: Ukrainian SS members cannot be compared to German members, because it could also have been a survival strategy. Davis writes:

(With material from dpa)