One of several photos on a blog by an SS Galichina veterans’ group that shows Yaroslav Hunka, the Ukrainian immigrant honored by the Canadian Parliament during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Hunka is in the front row, middle. Courtesy of Combatant News

By Lev Golinkin September 25, 2023

Canada’s prime minister and House Speaker have both apologized for leading a standing ovation in Parliament to a 98-year-old Ukrainian veteran of World War II who turned out to have served in a Nazi military unit. The statements followed a Forward article detailing the man’s past that was picked up by news outlets around the world.

“This is something that is deeply embarrassing to the Parliament of Canada and by extension to all Canadians,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday in brief remarks to reporters. 

Trudeau’s remarks came amid calls for the resignation of Anthony Rota, speaker of Canada’s House of Commons, and the politician who had led the chamber in honoring the veteran, Yaroslav Hunka, during a Friday Parliamentary address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Rota  offered his “deepest apologies” on Sunday to Canada’s Jewish community.. 

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Canadian Jewish organizations including Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, B’nai Brith Canada, and The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs responded with outrage to the news that Hunka’s service was with a unit of the Waffen SS. They were joined by Poland’s ambassador to the country, who tweeted that his country demands an apology, and some of Rota’s fellow lawmakers.

“The reports of this individual’s history is very troubling,” Melissa Lantsman, a Conservative member of Parliament, wrote in a post on X sharing the Forward’s article on the ovation. “The Liberal Government should explain why he was invited and honoured.”

Rota is expected to meet with leaders of the government and opposition at noon Tuesday to discus the situation, Canada’s CBC News reported. 

As the Forward reported early Sunday morning, Hunka received a standing ovation after Zelenskyy addressed the House of Commons to thank Canada for its support since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 19 months ago.

Speaking after Zelenskyy, Rota praised Hunka as a “veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today even at his age of 98.” The assembly erupted in applause, with both Trudeau and Zelenskyy joining in as Hunka saluted the crowd. 

Hunka is a veteran of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as the First Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army and SS Galichina. 

Created in 1943, the unit was commanded by German officers and fought for the Third Reich. Along the way, division soldiers participated in atrocities such as the Huta Pieniacka massacre, burning 500 to 1,000 Polish villagers alive. 

Hunka’s past, including photos from his time in the unit, was first unearthed on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, by a University of Ottawa political scientist, Ivan Katchanovski. The Forward was the first news outlet to confirm and report the story. 

SS Galichina was an important unit meant to help Germany rebuff Soviet advances. The Third Reich held elaborate ceremonies to mark the unit’s creation, as shown in this footage from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum of a rally attended by Nazi brass, likely in summer 1943.

The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg declared the entire Waffen-SS to be a criminal organization responsible for mass atrocities throughout the war. 

After the war, Canada took in around 2,000 SS Galichina veterans. Two monuments honoring them, in the Toronto suburb of Oakville and in Edmonton, have been criticized by Canada’s Jewish community but remain standing.

The Forward reported in August that there are similar monuments to SS Galichina in the suburbs of Detroit and Philadelphia. The Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia has since temporarily covered the monument located in a cemetery in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, pending discussions with local Jewish leaders. 

Zelenskyy, who denounced a march in honor of SS Galichina in 2021, has not publicly commented on the Hunka ovation since the Forward report that he served in the unit. 

Gen. Wayne Eyre, the commander of Canada’s armed forces, who stood near Hunka and was photographed applauding him, declined to comment on the situation.

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