Renewed calls to take down Nazi-linked Ukraine monuments in Edmonton

The fallout continued over Parliament's recognition of a man who fought for the Nazis and there are now renewed calls to remove two monuments in Edmonton with ties to the regime.

The fallout continued over Parliament’s recognition last week of a man who fought for the Nazis — a move some have called the most embarrassing international debacle in Canadian history — and now there calls to remove two monuments in Edmonton with ties to the regime.

“We believe that both monuments in question are monuments to people who are complicit in the genocide of six million Jews and millions of other victims of the Nazi regime and their collaborators,” said Dan Panneton, director of allyship and community engagement with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC).

The Jewish human rights organization based in Toronto has been advocating for the removal of the monuments for decades and after what happened in Ottawa in last week, FSWC is renewing its calls.

On Friday, during an official visit by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota pointed to a guest in the gallery he identified as a war hero.

Parliamentarians and dignitaries who were present gave two standing ovations to a 98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian war veteran Yaroslav Hunka — without knowing or understanding that the unit he fought with was formed by Nazi Germany to fight against the Soviet Union.

University of Alberta professor John-Paul Himka pointed out that nobody seemed to immediately understand how Hunka’s military history implied he would have fought with the Germans.

That’s because of a great lack of understanding of history, even among elected MPs, he said.

One of the monuments in Edmonton pays tribute to the unit Hunka fought in. It’s in St. Michael’s Cemetery in north Edmonton, just off 137 Avenue and 82 Street.