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Krakow and Ottawa, 1940: “A Tale of Two Cities”

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Krakow and Ottawa, 1940: “A Tale of Two Cities” 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 Abwehr 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 Ukrainians “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 Ukraine, 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 Jews, Poles 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 Stepan Bandera’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 Nazi Germany 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 Per Anders Rudling, “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 Ukrainian Insurgent Army. 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. Banderites, 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.
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