[Translation] SS tattoo as passport – Susann Witt-Stahl, Junge Welt

The investigation over Canada as a historical haven for Ukrainian Nazi collaborators continues to be blocked

In Oakville Ukrainian cemetery, gravestones are bearing the lion emblem of the Waffen-SS Division « Galizien » (Susann Witt-Stahl)

A secret list of more than 700 suspected Nazi perpetrators who found refuge in Canada after World War II will remain sealed. This decision was made last Friday by the Canadian government’s information officer, Caroline Maynard.

Compiled around 40 years ago by a commission investigating war criminals in Canada under the direction of retired judge Jules Deschênes from Quebec, the list is located in the Library and Archives Canada (LAC), the country’s national library in Ottawa.

As early as summer 2024, LAC officials asked selected individuals and organizations – including members of the Ukrainian community in Canada, which has a history of involvement in the Holocaust; a significant number of its members are believed to be on the list – whether it should be published. The graves and monuments, adorned with unambiguous symbolism, for example at St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery in Oakville, Ontario, are suggesting that these are primarily former members of the Waffen-SS Division « Galizien », but also other fascists who had joined the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and collaborated with Nazi Germany in the Holocaust. Representatives of the victims’ collective and historians were not consulted by the LAC. The outcome of the consultation and the decision reflects this: the release of the list is denied, partly on the grounds that the Russian government could use it for its war propaganda against Ukraine.

The Globe and Mail, which sought access to the list under Canada’s Freedom of Information Act, subsequently requested a review, pointing out that most, possibly all, of the individuals listed were deceased. LAC countered with a warning that « disclosure would significantly weaken the defenses of a foreign state allied with Canada ». Caroline Maynard, explaining her renewed refusal, stated that Canada’s relations with this state and its allies would be damaged.

« It is high time the facts come to light about the perpetrators of Nazi genocide and war crimes who escaped justice and were allowed to lead comfortable, protected lives in our country », commented Jaime Kirzner Roberts, of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, who had previously described the Canadian government’s behavior as « shameful ». Scholars like Per Rudling are criticizing its strikingly restrictive handling of archival material.

That can likely be explained by Canada’s complicity, which at the behest of Great Britain, offered Nazis a « nearly blissful refuge » in the post-war period, as stated in a 1997 article by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Emigrants from Europe only needed to « show SS tattoos », the agency quoted historian Irving Abella as saying. « That proved you were an anti-communist ».

Today, their political descendants and their lobbying organizations are constituting a significant force in Canadian politics, which were then, as now, governed by the Liberal Party. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), considered the official representative of the world’s largest Ukrainian diaspora, numbering around 1.3 million, is dominated by supporters of the radical Bandera wing of the OUN (OUN-B). The enormous influence of the UCC likely played a significant role in the construction of projects like the « Roman Shukhevych Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex » in Edmonton – named after the commander of the Wehrmacht’s « Nachtigall » battalion and the OUN-B’s Ukrainian Insurgent Army – which received public funding. Ukrainian cultural centers and other institutions are celebrating openly venerated figures of genocidal antisemitism like Yaroslav Stetsko, Bandera’s former right-hand man and successor [end]

The original article

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