Event to discuss the Waffen SS cancelled after U of A professors complain about Nazi whitewashing

 

The University of Alberta has held several online discussions since Yaroslav Hunka was given two standing ovations in the House of Commons.

A panel to discuss the Waffen SS was quietly cancelled at the University of Alberta after professors there complained that the institution continues to engage in whitewashing Nazi crimes.

The university has held a number of online discussions since it was revealed that Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian-Canadian veteran who served in the Waffen SS, was given two standing ovations as he was honoured in the House of Commons on Sept. 22. Speakers at those events have claimed that Hunka’s unit, the 14th Waffen SS Galicia, wasn’t involved in any war crimes and that such claims are Russian disinformation.

But when another online discussion was planned for the Jewish Sabbath on Oct. 14, once again organized by the university’s Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, it was too much for some professors. They filed complaints to the university’s administration alleging the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies or CIUS was engaged in whitewashing Nazi collaborators and war crimes.

“I don’t understand this upside-down universe where people here admire the Waffen SS and somehow that’s okay,” said Karyn Ball, a University of Alberta professor and Holocaust scholar. “It doesn’t embarrass the people at my university very much that they have a (group) that has been laundering Waffen SS reputations and funds for years now.”

The event organized by the CIUS, which had received a $30,000 endowment from Hunka’s family, was eventually cancelled.  (more...)

Event to discuss the Waffen SS cancelled after U of A professors complain about Nazi whitewashing