How was veteran Yaroslav Hunka's military unit linked to the Nazis?
CTV
During the height of the Second World War, Nazi Germany formed a division of Ukrainian volunteers to fight against Soviet Russia. One of its members was controversially honoured with a standing ovation in Canada's Parliament this week.
During the height of the Second World War, Nazi Germany formed a division of Ukrainian volunteers to fight against the Soviet Union.
Known as the First Ukrainian Division – and also referred to as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division and the SS 14th Waffen Division – the military formation has been linked to atrocities and violence in Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia and the former Yugoslavia.
"Members of this division were involved in mass murder of Jews, Poles and Ukrainians during (the Second World War), and many of them did this before they joined this division," University of Ottawa political science professor Ivan Katchanovski told CTVNews.ca. "They're considered to be Nazi collaborators, and they are not regarded even as heroes in Ukraine by the Ukrainian government."
Nearly 80 years after being disbanded in 1945, the Nazi-led division is fuelling new outrage after 98-year-old former member Yaroslav Hunka was honoured with a two standing ovations in Canada's House of Commons on Friday during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Ottawa.
Now a Canadian citizen and North Bay, Ont. resident, Hunka was invited by local MP and former House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota, who resigned from his prestigious post on Tuesday amid the controversy.
The military division was initially formed by the Nazis in 1943 with volunteers from Western Ukraine's Galicia region, with Ukrainian nationalists ostensibly joining to help liberate their country from Soviet occupation.
Katchanovski, who researches conflicts in Ukraine, says evidence links the Nazi-led "puppet unit" to approximately a thousand civilian deaths in Poland and Ukraine.
