Dismay as Yushchenko honours Nazi collaborator

The recent decision by outgoing Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to confer his country’s highest award on a controversial Second World War figure has been criticised by Jewish organisations.

by Tribune Web Editor
Thursday, February 4th, 2010

by Marcus Papadopoulos

The recent decision by outgoing Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to confer his country’s highest award on a controversial Second World War figure has been criticised by Jewish organisations.

Stepan Bandera, the leader of the wartime Organisation for Ukrainian Nationalists, which collaborated with the Nazis following the German invasion of the Soviet Union and which took part in the massacre of Soviet Jews, was made a “Hero of Ukraine” last month by President Yushchenko.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre and the Federation of Russia’s Jewish Communities both condemned President Yushchenko’s decision.

During his tenure in office, the Ukrainian leader has openly praised Ukrainians who fought against the Red Army in the war, and this has incurred the wrath of the Russian government.

Stepan Bandera infamously once said: “The Jews are the most faithful prop of the Bolshevik regime and the vanguard of Muscovite imperialism in Ukraine. The OUN is engaged with a struggle with the Jews”.

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  • odell

    let us not forget that besides Jews, the Banderites brutally murdered tens of thosands of Polish civilians, including numerous women and children. they carried out a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing and did not spare a single Pole they encountered. in Polish eyes, they were worse than the Nazis.

  • odell

    let us not forget that besides Jews, the Banderites brutally murdered tens of thosands of Polish civilians, including numerous women and children. they carried out a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing and did not spare a single Pole they encountered. in Polish eyes, they were worse than the Nazis.