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Another chapter in the never-ending saga of anti-semitism and nazi cover-up has been deployed recently, as Ukrainian organizations complain about foreign intervention of intellectuals over the content of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. An advocacy group, the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, are accused of distorting historical account of the Holodomor, the genocide perpetrated by Soviet Russia in Ukraine in 1932-33. In a letter signed by a hundred scholars around the globe and published last week, the foreign intellectuals also claim that the UCCLA and the UCC refuse to acknowledge the role played by Ukrainian nationalist movements in the Holocaust. Also, the UCCLA and the UCC are having a different with the Museum on the issue of the place that the Holocaust should occupy in the physical space of the building. They argue that there shouldn’t be a separate room for the Holocaust, or that there should be a room for the Holodomor also, to avoid that such an approach « elevates » the suffering of a particular group to the detriment of other groups.
The first article of the Globe and Mail, that you find below, ends with this sentence: « Others are well known for making unfounded allegations concerning the nature and behaviour of the Ukrainian nationalist movement of the 20th century, assertions serious scholars have dismissed as prejudicial. » If I may try to bring more « foundation » for these accusations, here is an extract from a book authored by John Loftus and titled America’s Nazi Secret, which is the new edition of the original The Belarus Secret. Loftus is a former U.S. government prosecutor for many years. He is also a prolific author acclaimed by the critics. In the early ’80s, he was in charge of the Belarus file for the U.S. Justice Department. His job was to hunt down Belarus Nazis. He had the privilege to read the Top Secret Files and made some astonishing discoveries on a variety of topics, including the Ukrainian File. So, in America Nazi Secret we read, about Mykola Lebed:
« Anti-Nazi resistance leader, indeed. The CIA and Congress were thoroughly suckered in. Lebed had been the head of the SB, the Ukrainian version of the Gestapo. His men murdered tens of thousands of Polish, Jewish and Ukrainian citizens. I know this is true because I found the original files of Mykola Lebed in the Army Intelligence vaults at Suitland, Maryland, and showed them to my two superiors at the Justice Department: Ryan and Sullivan. It will be impossible for them to deny that they were briefed in detail before allowing this killer to enter the United States. » (p. 28)
and now about the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, headed by Stepan Bandera:
« The CIC (the Counter-Intelligence Corps, precision mine: C.H.) had an agent who photographed eleven volumes of Lebed’s secret internal files of OUN/Bandera. These files clearly show how most of its members worked for the Gestapo or SS as policemen, executioners, partisan hunters, and municipal officials. The OUN contribution to the German war effort was significant, including the raising of volunteers for several SS divisions. It was precisely because of its work with the Nazis that Wisner (the head of the Office of Policy Coordination, precision mine: C.H.) wanted to hire the OUN for his Special Forces. The Ukrainian letter succeeded in fooling the immigration officials, however, and OUN/Bandera was subsequently taken off the inimical list. » (p. 194)
Now you understand why these Ukrainian organizations, the UCCLA and the UCC, are not particularly enchanted by this letter published by the foreign scholars. You also have to know that nazi war criminals, including Ukrainians, have been smuggled everywhere around the world, in every country imaginable, and in Canada as well. So it is conceivable that descendants of these Ukrainian who have « immigrated » to Canada, and their families, might feel a little uncomfortable with being reminded of the past too much. Their efforts to mute and discredit these foreign scholars and to present a counter-propaganda explain themselves easily.
Happy Easter…