Canada’s House Speaker resigns over celebration of 98-year-old who fought in Nazi unit
Polish minister takes steps to extradite the man as Forward article on his past continues to reverberate
One of several photos on a blog by an SS Galichina veterans’ group that shows Yaroslav Hunka, the Ukrainian immigrant honored by the Canadian Parliament during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Hunka is in the front row, middle. Courtesy of Combatant News
By Lev Golinkin September 26, 2023
The speaker of Canada’s House of Commons resigned on Tuesday amid a spiraling scandal over his having led Parliament in a standing ovation Friday for a 98-year-old Ukrainian immigrant who turns out to have fought in a Nazi unit during World War II.
Since the Forward reported Sunday morning on the background of the 98-year-old veteran, Yaroslav Hunka, Jewish groups and Canadian lawmakers have condemned the ovation, and the Polish minister of education said he had “taken steps” toward an extradition of Hunka for any potential atrocities committed against Poles and Jews during the war.
House Speaker Anthony Rota had already apologized for inviting Hunka to Parliament and honoring him after an address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — as did Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — but he nonetheless stepped down after a meeting Tuesday with leaders of the government and opposition.
“It is with a heavy heart that I rise to inform members of my resignation,” Rota, who has been speaker since 2019 and a member of Parliament since 2015, told the body. “The work of this House is above any of us,” he added. “I reiterate my profound regret.”
Hunka’s “public recognition has caused pain to individuals and communities, including the Jewish communities in Canada and around the world, and survivors of Nazi atrocities in Poland, among other nations,” Rota continued. “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
Hunka was a soldier in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as SS Galichina, or SS Galizien. Created by the Third Reich in 1943, the unit was composed of soldiers from the Galicia region who were trained and armed by Germany and under command of SS officers.
It is believed responsible for war crimes including the Huta Pieniacka massacre in 1944, in which 500 to 1,000 Polish villagers were burned alive.
Rota’s resignation came after Poland’s minister of education, Przemysław Czarnek, joined his country’s ambassador to Canada as well as numerous Jewish organizations and Canadian lawmakers in condemning Friday’s ovation.
“In view of the scandalous events in the Canadian Parliament, which involved honouring, in the presence of President Zelenskyy, a member of the criminal Nazi SS Galizien formation,” the minister tweeted on Tuesday, “I have taken steps towards the possible extradition of this man to Poland.”
The post included a screenshot of a letter on the minister’s stationery addressed to the head of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance asking that its researchers “urgently examine documents” that could show Hunka’s involvement in “crimes against Poles or Poles of Jewish origin.” It adds: “Any evidence of such is a basis for getting in touch with Canada to ask for his extradition.”
Canada’s CBC news agency first reported on the extradition possibility. The CBC said that Canada’s attorney general declined to comment because no formal extradition request or outreach has come from the Polish government.
Zelenskyy has not commented on the situation. Canadian Jewish organizations have criticized the decision to celebrate Hunka.
“While we appreciate the apologies of the Canadian government, this should have never happened in the first place,” a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League said on Tuesday.
“We cannot stand by and allow the whitewashing of history,” they added. “We echo our partners in Canada: the public and Jewish community is owed a detailed explanation as to how this could possibly have taken place and what steps are being taken to ensure it never happens again.”
The Polish minister’s call for extradition reflects broader tension between Kyiv and Warsaw over what happened in World War II. Ukrainian paramilitaries in addition to SS Galichina carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Poles, with the worst atrocities happening during the Volyn massacres of 1943, when between 70,000 and 100,000 Polish civilians were murdered.
In recent years, Ukraine has sometimes celebrated the units and individuals that perpetrated the slaughter, whitewashing the history as a kind of Ukrainian nationalism.
Poland is one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in its ongoing war against Russia. But earlier this year, Warsaw denounced the Ukrainian parliament for tweeting out a quote by the Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, whose men were responsible for carrying out the Volyn massacres. The tweet was subsequently taken down.
Hunka’s past with the Waffen-SS was initially reported on Twitter by historian Ivan Katchanovski. The Forward was the first news outlet to report on it.
A spokesperson for the Royal Canadian Legion — the country’s main veterans’ organization — said Tuesday that the group agreed with Trudeau that the Hunka ovation “is a profoundly embarrassing situation,” adding, “this was preventable, and we expect to see new measures such that a shocking scenario like this does not occur again.”
Trudeau’s office referred inquiries to Canada’s Ministry of Heritage, who said in a statement, “Hate has no place in our communities.”
“We stand with all those who face violence, loss of dignity, and repression from authoritarian and totalitarian regimes,” the office said in a statement. “We will honour victims as well as survivors of the Holocaust and their descendants by continuing to fight hate and intolerance, protect the most vulnerable, and work to make Canada and the world a safer and more secure place for everyone.”
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