Polish Minister Has 'Taken Steps' To Extradite Ukrainian Nazi Veteran Honored By Trudeau Govt

A high ranking Polish government official is pressing for Warsaw to begin an extradition request for Yaroslav Hunka, the 98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian who served the Nazi SS Galizien formation in WWII. Hunka was hailed as a "Ukrainian hero" and a "Canadian hero" by Justin Trudea's government days ago, receiving a standing ovation in the House of Commons also as Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky looked on and cheered.

Polish Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek announced on Tuesday he has "taken steps" to initiate the extradition of Hunka to Poland for possible war crimes.

"In view of the scandalous events in the Canadian Parliament, which involved honoring, in the presence of President Zelenskyy, a member of the criminal Nazi SS Galizien formation, I have taken steps towards the possible extradition of this man to Poland," Czarnek said in a Tuesday social media post.

Canadian public broadcaster CBC has confirmed the Polish minister's announcement, saying it adds pressure to growing calls for Speaker Anthony Rota to step down, after he took responsibility for inviting and failing to properly vet the Nazi war veteran: 

Opposition parties said it's not enough for Rota to apologize for inviting Hunka to the day's festivities. NDP MP Peter Julian, the party's House leader, said "regretfully and sadly" Rota cannot continue in his role after this incident.

"The Speaker has to be above reproach," Julian said. "This is an unforgivable error that puts the entire House in disrepute. Unfortunately, I believe a sacred trust has been broken."

Polish Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek's announcement saying legal extradition is being pursued:

The letter says, according to a tranlation: "In view of the scandalous events in the Canadian parliament, which involved honoring, in the presence of President Zelensky, a member of the criminal Nazi SS Galizien formation, I have taken steps towards the possible extradition of this man to Poland."

Czarnek has submitted the letter to the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) – which is a government historical body possessing prosecutorial powers – demanding an investigation, to "urgently [establish] whether Yaroslav Hunka is wanted for crimes against the Polish nation or Poles of Jewish origin."

"Such crimes constitute grounds for applying to Canada for his extradition," the letter emphasizes. The issue is particularly sensitive for Poles given the WWII history of massacres of Poles by Ukrainian nationalist groups, many of them Nazis. All of this also comes as Ukraine-Poland relations are deeply strained for the first time since the Russian invasion over a grain import ban. Warsaw also said it is done arming Ukraine, and will invest in its own defense preparedness.

According to regional news source Notes From Poland, there were hundreds of Ukrainian SS veterans who were allowed to settle in Canada: 

Hunka himself was among around 600 members of the division who were allowed to settle in Canada after the war. He is now a dual Ukrainian-Canadian citizen.

In the 1980s, a Canadian commission of inquiry found that “charges of war crimes” against the Ukrainian SS division had “never” been substantiated

In 2017, Polish IPN prosecutors requested the extradition from the United States of another member of the Ukrainian SS division, Michael Karkoc, who had settled in Minnesota after the war. However, he passed away in 2019 aged 100 before the process could be completed.

Needless to say this adds yet more levels of embarrassment for Trudeau and Canadian officials. Not only has the story gone viral and gained international attention and condemnation from leading Jewish groups - but notably the ADL has remained completely silent. 

Trudea has meanwhile tried to refocus this as a warning against "Russian disinformation" in a transparent attempt to deflect controversy which even mainstream media has seen through. At the same time, some Left politicians in Canadian parliament are seeking to get the whole incident expunged from official records, as we detailed earlier.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald questioned, "How -- after a lifetime of appearing in black face -- does Justin Trudeau get caught applauding an SS soldier who fought with the Nazis, and then instantly starts babbling about "Russian disinformation"?"