Krakow and Ottawa, 1940: “A Tale of Two Cities” ... and two UCCs: ttawa and Krakow were the (1) Germany’s Ukrainian Central Committee (UCC) capitals of two colonies: Brit- tory. In 1976, Kubijovych went ish Canada and Nazi-occupied O to Edmonton to sign a deal with Poland. In 1940, both governments cre- the University of Alberta to co- ated anticommunist Ukrainian groups publish his encyclopedia. Both to support their efforts. In Krakow, un- Chomiak and Freeland work- der Nazi Governor Hans Frank, Germa- ed on Kubijovych’s propagan- ny spawned the Ukrainian Central Ct- da effort. tee (UCC). Meanwhile, in Canada, Dur- Created in 1940, the UCC was Mackenzie King’s Liberal government ing WWII, a Nazi asset run by set up the Ukrainian Canadian Cttee. the Nazis Colonel Alfred Bisanz (UCC), now the Ukrainian Canadian controlled the UCC. It was housed in “a Congress. Describing it, Royal Military shared building” in Krakow, says Polish his- College historian Lubomyr Luciuk said: torian Pawel Markiewicz: “The

“few outside government circles real- RS were headquartered there as well as the Ger- ized the degree to which the Commit- UCC president Volodymyr Kubijovych (left) and man military intelligence or Abwehr.”3 tee could be labelled Made in Ottawa.”1 Nazi Governor Hans Frank (right), ‘the Butcher When Nazi Col. Alfred Bisanz was ar- of Poland,’ who was executed at Nuremberg. Frank and King rested at war’s end, he described the UCC’s ProNazi UCC newspapers, edited by Michael While the governments of King and utter subservience to its Abwehr masters: “Kubijovych’s UCC was created by the Ab- Frank were clearly very different, they Chomiak, recruited for the Waffen SS Gali- cia. After WWII, Kubijovych began The Ency- wehr in Krakow in 1940. From the first day did share some very extreme social pho- of its existence, it was directly supervised bias that were common among the clopedia of , which Chomiak and his by ... the Second Department of the Abwehr- white, power elites of European politi- granddaughter Chrystia Freeland worked on. stelle-Krakow .... As an assistant to the head of the Department, I was charged with di- cal, corporate, media and Chris- “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....” tian institutions. They were, for recting UCC activity. Without the Abwehr- example, all infected with viru- So began Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. stelle’s permission and my personal clear- Some might say the same of Nazi Poland in 1940. ance, Kubijovych had no right to include any lent strains of antisemitism, person in the Committee or take any ac- Russophobia and anticommunism. hile millions of , and com- tion.... [F]inancing the UCC was also car- The Nazis banned the Communist munists faced genocide, the Nazis ried out through me. Each month through- Party in 1933 and within a few months created a huge renaissance for out 1940, I personally handed Kubijovych W and UCC Sec.-General Hlibovitsky ... 50- had arrested “100,000 Communists, So- Ukrainian nationalists. Thousands of émigrés, 60 thousand zlotys.”4 (Emphasis added.) cial Democrats, union officials, and oth- who had fled Soviet Ukraine, happily received 2 The Abwehrstelle-Krakow was Abwehr er ‘radicals.’” Canada’s government out- homes, schools, businesses and other proper- HQ for occupied Poland. The UCC, being an lawed the Communist Party in 1940, as ties and possessions stolen by the Nazis from asset of Abwehr’s “Second Department,” was it had previously done in 1917. When the Polish Jews. The Ukrainians who profited from responsible for “sabotage,” particularly the “di- RCMP arrested hundreds of Red activ- this Aryanisation or dejewification of Poland in- rection of covert contacts” and “exploitation of ists and leaders in 1940, leftwing émigré cluded Michael Chomiak, the maternal grand- discontented minority groups in foreign coun- groups like the Association of United father of Canada’s current deputy prime minis- tries for intelligence purposes.”5 It also created Ukrainian Canadians were also outlawed. ter, Chrystia Freeland. His publishing office, two Nazi-trained, -armed and -led Ukrainian It had long been the dominant force in printing presses, two apartments and their fur- battalions (Roland and Nachtigall), which were Canada’s Ukrainian diaspora. The gov- nishings were all stolen from Polish Jews.1 set up by ’s faction of the OUN. ernment outlawed all of its publications, Uniting these émigrés was the Ukrain- The latter battalion’s Ukrainian commander, war literally burned many tons of its books, ian Central Committee (UCC). It represented the criminal Roman Shukhevych, is glorified as a and confiscated 108 of its Labour Tem- Melnyk faction of the fascist, antisemitic, anti- freedom-fighting hero by Bandera-revering émi- ples. These centres, which were hubs of Soviet Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists gré groups that still receive very generous fund- activity for other progressive activists as (OUN) which aided throughout ing from Canada’s government. well, were practically given away to the the war. When UCC president, Volodymyr Kubi- far-right Ukrainian groups and churches jovych, “the most senior Ukrainian collabora- 3 References that were loyal to Canada’s government. 2 tor with Nazi Germany,” urged Germany to cre- 1. Richard Sanders, “Aryanisation and the ‘Mighty References ate a Ukrainian army to fight the Soviets, the Wurlitzer,’” The Chomiak-Freeland Connection, 1. Lubomyr Luciuk, Searching for Place: Waffen SS Galicia was born. It recruited through Mar. 2017. bit.ly/FreeChom8 Ukrainian Displaced Persons, Canada, the Nazis, Ukrainian churches (Orthodox and 2. Tarik Cyril Amar and , “What and the Migration of Memory, 2000, p.48. Catholic) and UCC papers edited by Chomiak. Standards Should be Applied when Deciding to bit.ly/Luciuk-2000 Thanks to Nazi largesse, the UCC print- Accept Funds?” April 15, 2015. bit.ly/Kubijovych 2. Margot Stern Strom, Holocaust and Hu- ed millions of papers, magazines and books. 3. Personal email communication from Pawel man Behavior, 1994. bit.ly/MS_Strom Markiewicz with author, March 8, 2017. 3. Richard Sanders, “Left-Right Camps: A Working under Kubijovych, Chomiak was the 4. Klym Dmytruk, “Who are the ‘Diviziynyks,’” Their Century of Ukrainian Canadian Intern- UCC’s chief news editor and oversaw Nazi prop- True Face, Pt.4, 1979, pp.16-17. bit.ly/BisanzUCC ment,” Press for Conversion, Spring 2016, aganda. After WWII, Kubijovych began The En- (This would equal $3 to $3.6 million/year in 2020.) pp.43-7. bit.ly/CdnUkr-LeftRight cyclopedia of Ukraine to rewrite nationalist his- 5. Abwehr, The Crypto Museum bit.ly/AbwehrUCC 46 Press for Conversion! Issue # 70 Spring 2021 Canada’s UCC was formed in 1940 by (2) Canada’s Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) Mackenzie King’s virulently antisemitic, n 1940, King’s Liberal government cre- anticommunist Liberal government. ated the Ukrainian Canadian Commi- The UCC united groups loyal to Ittee (UCC). Although claiming to speak government, including those steeped for all Ukrainian émigrés, it is explicitly in fascist traditions and ideologies. anticommunist. The UCC helped the gov- ernment smash leftist groups that dominated Meanwhile, the government banned the diaspora. It has cheerled government antifascist Ukrainian groups, arrested support for US and NATO wars since WWII. their leaders, expropriated their meeting After WWII, 40,000 Russophobic/ centres and burned tons of their books. antiSoviet Ukrainian émigrés boosted the After WWII, Canada’s Cold War strategy was to give safe haven to UCC and its member groups. They brought Waffen SS the internal conflicts of the Organisation of Ukrainian Galicia 40,000 antiSoviet Ukrainians, including Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Formed in Insurgent Division thousands of veterans of fascist military Vienna in 1929 by fascist/terrorist groups, Army Ukrainian Catholic formations, like the Waffen SS Galicia Brotherhood the OUN assassinated Polish and Soviet of- and the . ficials. Although united by fascist eugenics, These émigrés soon dominated the Christian antisemitism and anticommunism, UCC, which still reveres them as heroes. the OUN split in early 1940. Canada’s UCC, formed in late 1940, united the two factions. Ukrainian Government funding National Renamed the Ukrainian Canadian League of Federation he Public Accounts of Canada show that far- Congress in 1989, it still unites businesses, Ukrainian right Ukrainian groups receive millions in Canadians Ukrainian Youth T credit unions, churches and groups for vet- Association government grants. For example, UCC-Toronto erans, women, youth, the arts and education. has received $10.2 million to run language pro- Ukrainian Catholic Brotherhood Bandera’s OUN(B) and LUC grams since 1995. In addition, UCC HQ got The longtime leader of this key UNF mem- League of Ukrainian Canadians $300,000 while local chapters and provincial ber was Father Wasyl Kushnir who promot- The strongest faction, led by Stepan Ban- councils (Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan) ed antisemitic beliefs in the 1930s. In 1940, dera (the OUN-B), worked with the Nazis got $145,000 since 2008. During that same pe- he became the first UCC president and filled until 1941 when they declared an “independ- riod, $983,000 was dispersed to ultranationalist that post for most of its next 30 years (1940- ent,” fascist Ukrainian state. Their support Ukrainian groups for mass public events in On- 53 and 1959-71). Soon after WWII, Kush- for the Nazis began again in 1943, when they tario, Alberta and Manitoba. The largest of these, nir led UCC efforts to aid the Liberal gov- formed what became the Anti-Bolshevik the UCC’s Toronto festival, which promoted far- ernment in bringing 40,000 largely antiSovi- Bloc of Nations. , led in Canada right groups, received $667,000. et Ukrainian émigrés to Canada, including by the League of Ukrainian Canadians Major UCC member groups also benefit. 2,000 vets of the Nazi’s Waffen SS Galicia. (LUC), have dominated UCC leadership for For example, UNF got $141,000 (2012-19) and decades. One LUC affiliate, the Ukrainian 14th Division Waffen SS Galicia the Ukrainian Women’s Assoc. of Canada (an Or- Youth Association (UYA), like scouting out- Formed in 1943, this division was created, thodox affiliate of the World Ukrainian Congress) fits across the former British empire, is struc- trained, armed, funded and led by the Na- got $58,000 (2015-19). Banderite fronts like tured along military lines. LUC’s Bandera zis. Its volunteers, who swore an oath to fight LUC’s Echo paper, and its women’s group, got youth wear army-style uniforms, march in to the death for Adolph Hitler, battled the $114,000 (2010-19) while its UYA got $141,000 formation with battle flags and venerate fas- USSR’s Red Army and fought partisans in (2015-19). Cultural centres of the LUC, UPA and cist leaders of the OUN(B) and its Ukraini- Ukraine, Slovakia, Yugoslavia and Austria. UYA got grants for repairs in Winnipeg ($47,000 in 2013) and Edmonton ($279,000 in 2015). an Insurgent Army (UPA) like Bandera, Recruitment was done by Nazi Germany, the In 2008, the UCC-created Shevchenko and Roman Shukhevych. Ukrainian churches (Catholic & Orthodox) and the Ukrainian Central Committee. Its Foundation (SF) received $10 million to memo- Melnyk’s OUN(M) and the UNF papers, edited by Chomiak, told Ukrainians rialize Canada’s internment of Ukrainians dur- Ukrainian National Federation it was their duty to enlist. Proud of these SS ing the WWI/Red-Scare era (1914-20). Claim- The OUN(M) faction, led by Andriy Mel- vets in Canada and those of Bandera’s UPA, ing this was based solely on ethnicity, SF ignores nyk, was associated with the Ukrainian Cen- their associations were listed as member the fact that Canada targeted single, young, laid- tral Committee. It led Ukrainian collabora- groups on the UCC website until mid-2016. off, urban, male Ukrainians whose protests were tion with the Nazis during WWII. Deputy feared might spark a leftwing revolution. (See PM Chrystia Freeland’s maternal grandfa- Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) Richard Sanders, “Rendered Captive by Barbed ther, Michael Chomiak, was the chief editor The group representing UPA vets in Cana- Wire and Maple Leaves.” bit.ly/CapCda) and office manager for this Committee’s pro- da was also deeply engaged in the UCC. In Provincial governments also give gener- Nazi newspapers. This OUN(M) heritage is 2010, when Ukraine’s proNATO president ously. For example, Saskatchewan’s Public Ac- represented in Canada by the Ukrainian Na- declared UPA vets as “Heroes of Ukraine,” counts record that its government gave $1.6 mil- tional Federation (UNF) of Canada which he was praised by UCC president Paul Grod. lion to the UCC (2007-16) plus $587,000 to was pivotal in creating the UCC. The UNF Grod, a former UYA leader, then called on UCC-Saskatchewan, $335,000 to UCC-Regina was founded, says its website, by OUN fig- Canada’s government to change the law so and $1 million to UCC-Saskatoon (2013-19). ures whose “influences and vision remain a that UPA vets who were still alive in Cana- Since 2008, the leftwing Assoc. of Unit- vital part of the organization to this day.” da could receive military benefits. ed Ukrainian Canadians received only $5,500. Spring 2021 Issue # 70 Press for Conversion! 47