Yaroslav Hunka

Yaroslav Hunka (Ярослав Гунька)
SS Galizien during World War II. The Forward identified the man in the front centre as Hunka, although per Hunka himself he is the man standing in the middle.
Born	1925 (age 97–98) Urmań, Poland (now Urman, Ukraine)
Allegiance	Flag of Germany (1935–1945).svg Germany
Service/branch	Waffen-SS
Years of service	1943–1945
Unit	SS Division Galicia
Known for	Receiving a standing ovation from the House of Commons of Canada in 2023
War	World War II

Yaroslav Hunka (Ukrainian: Ярослав Гунька; born c. 1925) is a Ukrainian-Canadian World War II veteran who served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), a predominantly-Ukrainian military formation of Nazi Germany. Born in Urman, then part of the Second Polish Republic, Hunka volunteered for SS Galizien in 1943. He immigrated to Canada as a displaced person after the war ended, is currently retired, and lives in North Bay, Ontario.

Former members of his unit bombed children at Toronto's largest Ukrainian community center on Canadian Thanksgiving back in 1949.

Hunak's Waffen SS unit bombed children at Toronto's largest Ukrainian community center on Canadian Thanksgiving back in 1949.

In 2023, Hunka made international headlines after he was invited to the House of Commons of Canada by speaker Anthony Rota to be recognised, and he received two standing ovations from all house members, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Later, Hunka's identity as a former Waffen-SS member was revealed by the media, causing Rota to resign five days later and Canadian government officials to apologise to the worldwide Jewish community.

Biography

Yaroslav Hunka was born in Urman, Poland (now Ukraine) c. 1925. In 1943, Hunka volunteered to join the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS at 18 years old. He says his reason for enlisting was following the call of the Ukrainian National Committee to fight for Ukrainian independence. During his time in the SS Galizien, he was photographed training in Munich and Neuhammer (present-day Świętoszów). In 1944, Hunka was deployed into combat against Red Army forces on the Eastern Front. Dominique Arel, the chair of Ukrainian studies at the University of Ottawa, told CBC News that thousands of Ukrainian volunteers had been drawn to the division, and that many aspired doing so could help attain Ukrainian independence from the Soviets. According to him, it was "difficult to determine" whether specific groups of the division took part in atrocities, but he said that by the time Hunka's unit reached the front, German operations relating to the Holocaust would have come to an end in that area. He said, however, that the SS Galizien had been found to be implicated in the killing of Polish civilians.

Following the conclusion of World War II in Europe, Hunka settled in the United Kingdom and joined the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain. In 1951, he married Margaret Ann Edgerton (1931–2018), and the couple emigrated to Canada three years later, settling in Toronto, where they raised their two sons, Martin and Peter, and became active in the Ukrainian-Canadian community. After graduating from a technical college, Hunka worked in the aircraft industry, eventually becoming an inspector for De Havilland. In retirement, Hunka was heavily involved in the Ukrainian community and his sons, Martin and Peter, established the Yaroslav and Margaret Hunka Ukrainian Research Endowment Fund at the University of Alberta to advance academic research in the underground Ukrainian Catholic Church. After the 2023 controversy surrounding Hunka, the interim provost of the University of Alberta announced it would close the endowment and return the approximately CA$30,000 to Hunka's sons, saying that the university "recognizes and regrets the unintended harm caused."

On August 20, 2004, Hunka was named an Honorary Citizen of the City of Berezhany by the Berezhany city council, in Ukraine.

In Canada, Hunka remained active in SS Galizien veterans circles and contributed to a blog on the Internet in 2010 and 2011. In 2011, he compared the Ukrainian diaspora to the Israelites, arguing that both stateless groups were "exiled by God" from their homeland to return at a later time. As of 2022, Hunka lived in North Bay, Ontario, and travelled to Greater Sudbury to protest against the Russian special military operation in Ukraine that year. Describing the situation in Ukraine, Hunka told CTV News that the "Destruction is just unbelievable but it will take years and years to rebuild it, ... But Ukrainian [sic] will win and God Bless Ukraine and I pray for it."

House of Commons of Canada visit

In September 2023, Anthony Rota, the speaker of the House of Commons, invited Hunka to visit the Parliament of Canada, where Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered remarks. On September 22, 2023, Rota recognized Hunka's presence in the chamber, characterizing him as "a Ukrainian-Canadian 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." Rota praised Hunka, asserting that "He is a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service." After Rota's praise, the chamber gave a standing ovation to Hunka, which Zelenskyy and his wife also joined.

Reactions to the celebration of Hunka were negative and generated international headlines. The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies condemned SS Galizien as "responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is unimaginable," referencing events such as the 1944 Huta Pieniacka massacre of Polish civilians. In a statement released on September 24, Rota accepted responsibility for inviting Hunka to the ceremony, and stated that "I particularly want to extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world. I accept full responsibility for my action." Ann-Clara Vaillancourt, a spokeswoman for Trudeau, called Rota's apology "the right thing to do" and emphasized Rota's responsibility for inviting Hunka to the ceremony. On September 26, Rota announced his resignation over the controversy. President Zelenskyy did not comment on the incident.

Possible Polish extradition request

On September 26, Polish education minister Przemysław Czarnek stated that his government may seek to extradite Hunka as a war criminal. In a post made on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Czarnek said:

In view of the scandalous events in the Canadian Parliament, which involved honoring a member of the criminal Nazi SS Galizien formation in the presence of President Zelensky, I have taken steps towards the possible extradition of this man to Poland. #NOForFalsifyingHistory!

References

External links

• Video: Canadian parliament's standing ovation for former Nazi soldier, Sky News (September 2023)