Yushchenko's post election hero worship of NAZI collaborator under fire

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Wiesenthal slams Ukraine award to nationalist

Today at 16:49 | Associated Press 
 
A prominent Jewish human rights organization has criticized the Ukrainian president's decision to give a posthumous award to a nationalist leader it describes as a Nazi collaborator.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement Friday that Stepan Bandera and his followers were linked to the deaths of thousands of Jews in World War II's early stages.

President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday bestowed the Hero of Ukraine award to Stepan Bandera for his role in fighting for an independent Ukraine. Wednesday was Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Mark Weitzman, the center's government affairs director, says it was a travesty to grant the honor as the world paused "to remember the victims of the Holocaust on Jan. 27."

A Yushchenko spokesman declined comment.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Yushchenko in his dying days as President of Ukraine, knowing that he had lost the election and would not serve a second term of office unilaterally awarded Stepan Bandera the official "status of Hero". Bandera and the UPA were NAZI collaborators during the second world war and many in Ukraine believe he should have been tried as a war criminal not awarded Hero status. The Ukrainian Jewish community in particular are outraged by Yushchenko's decision, and rightly so.
Fri Jan 29, 05:32:00 pm EET
Anonymous said…
It would be interesting if somebody could support UPA-nazi collaboration with a document.
Nobody did it so far.

http://englishrussia.com/?p=869

http://www.minelinks.com/war/vangance.html

http://www.sovietstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/nazi-and-soviet-officers.jpg

http://www.stockholmobserver.com/?p=192
Sat Jan 30, 09:17:00 pm EET
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