The House of Anti-Communists, and the Nazi Monster it Spawned

 

It was a rare show of unity in Canada’s increasingly frayed parliament. 336 of 338 Members of Parliament, the Prime Minister, Senators and other guests of honour joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a standing ovation for “Canadian hero,” Yaroslav Hunka. The 98-year-old was heralded for fighting “for Ukrainian independence against the Russians in the Second World War.” 

The touching moment was, however, short-lived. Unfortunately, for Canadian statesmen and their Ukrainian patrons, astute netizens had the presence of mind to question that if Hunka was fighting “the Russians,” then who was he fighting alongside? 

The answer also wasn’t hard to find. 

Hunka fought in the 14th division of the Waffen SS, having voluntarily joined in 1943, by his own admission. Suddenly, the beautiful show of solidarity and unity took a very dark turn. By Sunday afternoon, House Speaker Anthony Rota, who supposedly was behind Hunka’s invitation, and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre were claiming that lawmakers had no about the ex-Nazi’s past. 

Rota and the Prime Minister’s Office are in charge of who gets to be in the Parliamentary gallery, and who gets recognition in Parliament. Interestingly, Liberal MP and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland, who would know full well what it meant to fight “for Ukrainian independence against the Russians in the Second World War,” was seen smiling and joyful during Hunka’s recognition.

On Poilievre’s claim, people must realize that the opposition force against the USSR even after Nazi Germany was forced out of Soviet Ukraine, were Nazis who wanted an independent fascist Ukraine. These Nazis were outnumbered by the near seven million Ukrainians who fought in the USSR’s Red Army. 

Claiming ignorance is farcical on their part as well, showcasing their anti-communism, which naturally leads to defence of fascists fighting socialist states such as the USSR. These same MPs support billions to Ukraine, support of the Azov battalion and the whitewashing of Nazis in Ukraine, and wouldn’t have condemned Hunka’s honouring if the Canadian people and international media didn’t catch onto what they did.

However, putting aside the Canadian regime’s dubious idiot defence, the episode sheds light on a larger issue. Hunka is hardly the first former Nazi with national name recognition (albeit the first to get a standing ovation in the House of Commons). For years Canada struggled to deport Helmut Oberlander, a former translator for the Einsatzkommando 10a unit, a Nazi death squad involved in numerous war crimes during WWII. In fact, Canada’s Nazi footprint goes right to the top, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s right-hand woman, Chrystia Freeland, being the granddaughter of a Nazi propagandist. 

All of which begs the question, how exactly did Hunka and others like him enter Canada after World War II? While many scholars admit that the importation of Ukrainian and other fascists was done to crush burgeoning leftist diasporas, this is where analysis of fascists and reactionaries being imported to Canada usually ends. 

Quite the opposite. The Nazi “underground railroad” was just the first salvo of the Canadian state’s 75-year drive to import fascists and anti-communists, in service of maintaining Canadian colonialism and bolstering support for Canadian imperialism. Hunka is just the everyday Nazi, one of many.  (more...)

The House of Anti-Communists, and the Nazi Monster it Spawned