Neo-Nazis and white nationalists have gone on a pilgrimage to an Ontario memorial to the Waffen SS Galicia division, the Ukrainian Nazi-led unit, after one of its veterans received a standing ovation in Parliament last month, prompting renewed calls for the monument to be torn down. White nationalists have posted photographs of themselves on social media at the memorial, alongside tributes to Yaroslav Hunka, whom they call “a hero.” One man, whose face is obscured, is wearing a T-shirt featuring the black sun – a neo-Nazi symbol based on a mosaic at the German castle used by Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS. The move has been condemned by Jewish groups who renewed calls for the monument at an Oakville cemetery – and another one in Edmonton – to be taken down. “It’s unsurprising that neo-Nazis have made a pilgrimage to a monument commemorating a Waffen-SS unit, but it is outrageous that this could happen on Canadian soil,” said Michael Levitt, president and chief executive officer of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center. “Hopefully the attention of neo-Nazis demonstrates once and for all to St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery why having monuments to Nazi collaborators is inappropriate, and they do the right thing by taking the monument to the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS down.”
via the globe and mail: Neo-Nazis, white nationalists go on pilgrimage to Galicia Waffen-SS memorial