Release secret list of alleged Nazi war criminals in Canada, say Polish and Ukrainian groups

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Canadian Polish and Ukrainian groups have joined calls for the federal government to release the full list of 900 alleged Nazi war criminals who came to this country after the war.

The list is among documents created by a 1986 federal government war-crimes commission led by Justice Jules Deschenes. For almost 40 years the federal government has refused to release the material to the public.

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Library and Archives Canada is deciding whether it will release the records requested under Canada’s access to information law.

Holocaust survivors and some Jewish groups have called for a full release of the 900 names of alleged Nazi war criminals. The list is believed to contain names of Nazi collaborators from eastern European as well as Waffen SS veterans such as those from a Ukrainian division known as SS Galicia.

The Canadian Polish Congress as well as the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians have now joined calls for the identities of the alleged war criminals to be revealed.

“Many members of our community are descendants of victims and survivors of Nazi atrocities, including those perpetrated by SS Galizien,” John Tomczak, president of the Canadian Polish Congress, wrote in a letter to Leslie Weir, Librarian and Archivist of Canada. “The Canadian Polish Congress believes that the greater risk lies in secrecy and omission. The Polish-Canadian community feels that any reluctance to release these names may only deepen existing wounds.”

Tomczak wrote that by only fully confronting the truth of Canada’s history regarding Nazi war criminals can “we can hope to bring a sense of justice and closure to the many families and communities who continue to grapple with the horrors of that period.”

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The Association of United Ukrainian Canadians also released a statement calling for the secrecy surrounding the list to end.

“The Association of United Ukrainian Canadians was not consulted by Library and Archives Canada – had it been, it would have unequivocally supported the release of the names,” the organization noted in a news release. “The Association of United Ukrainian Canadians has consistently fought for this history to be brought to light.”

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) in Ottawa consulted in June and July with what it called a “discrete group of individuals or organizations” about whether the list should be made public, according to documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen.

Those consulted included some members of Canada’s Ukrainian community.

But LAC did not include Holocaust survivors nor Holocaust scholars who had advocated for a full release of the list of alleged Nazi war criminals, Jewish groups and Holocaust academics say.

The Polish Canadian Congress confirmed Wednesday it was not consulted by LAC even though its officials testified in front of a House of Commons committee about alleged war criminals.

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LAC spokesman Richard Provencher did not provide details on which groups and individuals the organization consulted.

But some of the individuals and organizations advised LAC against releasing any of the information, warning it could be embarrassing or lead to prosecutions of the alleged war criminals. Other stakeholders who LAC consulted with were worried the list would embarrass Canada’s Ukrainian community or be used by Russians for propaganda purposes, the records show.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, President Vladimir Putin tried to justify the incursion as a “denazification” of the Ukrainian government.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which was invited by LAC to the stakeholder meetings, says it plans to go to court to stop the federal government from making public the names of alleged war criminals.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, or UCC, is now circulating a letter asking for donations to finance the proposed legal challenge in federal court.

The organization wants to raise $150,000, according to a copy of the Aug. 28 letter obtained by the Ottawa Citizen.

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Much of the renewed debate around Nazi collaborators in Canada was prompted by a September 2023 event in which MPs of all parties gave two standing ovations to Yaroslav Hunka, a resident of North Bay, Ont. Hunka was described by then House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota as a hero and he was thanked for his military service.

But news quickly emerged that Hunka had served in a Ukrainian Waffen SS unit which fought for the Nazis. Large numbers of soldiers from a Ukrainian Waffen SS division came to Canada after the war.

The incident became an international embarrassment for Canada as Holocaust historians, Jewish groups and the Polish government pointed out that Hunka’s unit had been involved in war crimes, including massacres of women and children. The division was also used by the Nazis to crush a national uprising in Slovakia, again prompting allegations of war crimes.

There is no evidence Hunka, now 99, was directly involved in those incidents.

But the sight of MPs cheering on a Waffen SS veteran caused intense anger among Canadians, according to documents obtained in June by the Ottawa Citizen using Canada’s access to information law.

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In addition, more than 70 academics have signed a petition from the Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism “calling for the release of all documentation on Nazi war criminals in Canada.”

David Pugliese is an award-winning journalist covering Canadian Forces and military issues in Canada. To support his work, subscribe: ottawacitizen.com/subscribe

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