Rhino’s Ramblings - The Most Reviled Nazi
By Robert Thomas Opinion/Commentary
Last Friday’s speech and appearance by Ukraine’s president Volodimir Zelenskyy should have been a milestone, a victory lap in the history books in Canada and Ukraine relations.
A final turning point in the present conflict and hopefully the end of the ointless slaughter of thousands of people on both sides.
Instead it turned into one of the greatest embarrassments for Canada’s elected elite.
Those assembled gave two standing ovations for 98 year old unrepentant Nazi and former member of the SS Galician Division Yaroslav Hunka.
MPs I am told included our own Fraser Tolmie Moose Jaw - Lake Centre - Lanigan MP although I’ve yet to confirm that.
An email for comment on the incident was not returned.
Obstensibly Hunka, who now lives in North Bay, Ontario, was invited by his local MP and House of Commons speaker Anthony Rota where he was described by Rota as a “Ukrainian hero” and a “Canadian hero” neither of which he is.
What Hunka truly is is a traitor who voluntarily joined a military unit which fought against one of Canada’s allies in the Second World War.
No not the Soviet Union but rather our other ally Poland or if you like the exact title the Second Polish Republic.
You know the country that was attacked by Hitler which drew Great Britain and then Canada a week later into World War II.
Hunka, who arrived in a wheelchair, is no feeble old man.
He has personally listed some of his his wartime exploits on a blog describing his activities as a freedom fighter for Ukraine.
A country that at the time did not exist.
The problem with Hunka’s accounts and continued unrepentant stance is he is a traitor who actively fought against his Polish homeland is what’s missing from them.
The only problem with Hunka’s accounts is what the 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia" was not a freedom fighting unit but rather fought under Nazi Germany command.
Certainly the unit fought and was initially obliterated by the Red Army but it re-grouped after battle losses and desertions. A doorway Hunka never took.
Hunka’s claims he fought for Ukrainian independence are diminished - if not completely obliterated - due to the unit’s involvement against Polish civilians - both those of Polish Christian ancestry as well as Polish Jewish ancestry.
Units in the 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia" would go on to fight against the Polish village of Huta Pienacka which in the spring of 1944 was organized as a Polish self defence outpost protecting Polish and Jewish refugees.
Hunka - who has never condemned the atrocities - is unapologetic of any of the activities carried out by his fellow SS comrades in arms.
Through the years he has justified them to media and by a personal blog ostensibly for his fellow SS compatriots. He never truly walked away from his SS past.
As noted his unit saw action in Brody, Poland (part of today’s Ukraine) in 1944 where it was largely obliterated after the majority was surrounded by the Soviet Red Army.
A number of the surviving 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia" would leave the unit but Hunka continued the fight.
The 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia" would go on to serve their Nazi overlords and help put down the Czech National Uprising where Czechoslovakian partisans would fight the Nazi forces to overthrow the administration and retake their homeland.
At the end of the war the cowardly Hunka would surrender to the Western allies where he would use his Polish citizenship to enter Great Britain as a Polish refugee.
This despite Hunka’s unit being associated with atrocities against fellow Polish civilians and the home guard.
From there Hunka would further immigrate to Canada who accepted members of the 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia" in an era of the Cold War and changing alliances to thwart the Soviet threat.
Defenders of Hunka point out - incorrectly - that the SS veteran, or at least his family, suffered as a result of the Holodomor “hunger famine” and he should be shown compassion because of it.
The truth of the matter is Hunka was born in what was then Poland where Stalin’s famine did not exist.
The only pain Poland suffered at the hands of Stalin came as part of a repression from 1939 until the arrival of the German army in 1941.
And yes, during this time Stalin was ruthless in rooting out nationalist sentiments. Many were sent to Siberia.
Initially seen as liberators by many of the inhabitants of the Polish controlled areas of today’s Ukraine by the time Hunka voluntarily joined the 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia" in 1943 well after the romanticized ideal of a Nazi saviour died with the reality of the occupation.
The Soviets were undoubtedly brutal in their methodology in what is today western Ukraine.
But at the same time the recruiting ads put out by the Nazis of the era were aimed at recruiting those who hated Jews and associated them with the Soviet authorities.
It’s an ideology which had thousands eagerly volunteering.
But at the same time the majority of ethnic Ukrainians were not driven voluntarily to the ranks of the SS.
It’s something Speaker of the House Anthony Rota should have looked at before praising the Polish traitor Hunka.
Rota didn’t look and because of this needs to go.
He needs to resign - not just as Speaker - but his seat as well.
Now what to do about the unrepentant Hunka?
It’s unlikely he can ever be punished for his actions in World War II by a Canadian court.
But there is hope for justice in all of this.
Hunka used his Polish citizenship to flee justice and get to Great Britain and from there to Canada.
He lived a good life in Canada many back home in what was then his native Poland did not.
And now there is word the Polish government wants him back.
Part of it is political for sure with the Polish government courting right wing support in what is going to be a close election race.
But the other part is justice for what happened to Poland in the bloody war years.
And yes there is new evidence discovered and documented by Polish historians about Hunka and his associates. Evidence that may make Hunka extraditable and punishable in a Polish court.
If Hunka is just an innocent participant in a war long ago the 98 year old can spend his last days in court fighting extradition and hopefully a Polish court proving it.
In many ways the past week has seen Hunka going from Canadian hero status to that as Canada’s most reviled Nazi.
Justice can be slow and thankfully it looks like in Hunka’s case his own arrogance is about to make it a reality.