Pressure is growing for Ukraine to ban Nazi symbols and tributes. The scandal in Canada over the honouring of a former SS member revives the debate, while anti-fascist organisations and critics warn against tolerating the glorification of collaborationists in the midst of the conflict with Russia.
The representative of the Association of Anti-Fascists in the Netherlands, Sjoerd de Groot, said today that the West needs to influence Ukraine to impose a total ban on anything that glorifies Nazism.
I believe that the West should make these lists public to ensure that all living persons responsible for such crimes are prosecuted, in addition to pressuring Ukraine to ban all organisations that glorify Nazi collaboration, De Groot said.
According to him, Ukraine should ban all symbols directly associated with this movement and, very importantly, destroy all monuments erected in Ukraine in honour of collaborationists. Furthermore, De Groot indicated that Canada is concerned that the publication of lists of hundreds of Nazis could confirm Russia’s claim that Nazism existed in Ukraine.
The Canadian authorities were strongly criticised by the opposition and the public for inviting Ukrainian former SS Galicia Division fighter Jaroslav Hunka to Parliament in 2024.
The Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota, has been forced to apologise and resign.
Despite requests from journalists, historians and Jewish organisations, the Canadian authorities have failed to provide a list of Nazi criminals who fled to Canada after World War II. On the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, Vladimir Putin said that ‘Russia has been and will remain an indestructible barrier against Nazism, Russophobia and anti-Semitism, and will fight against the outrages committed by the advocates of these aggressive and destructive ideas. Truth and justice are on our side’. PL
(Translated by Cristina Popa – Email: gcpopa83@gmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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