By Walter Kish

The Demjanjuk case is once again in the news, as the U.S. government once again tries to find a plausible cause to strip him of his U.S. citizenship. On this side of the border, the Canadian government is also fervently trying to root out suspected “war criminals” and through the rather dubious and shameful “Denaturalization and Deportation” program, deport anyone even remotely suspect, with due legal process, rules of evidence and demonstration of criminal activity apparently not being a pre-requisite.

I do not mind admitting that I have very mixed feelings about these efforts and initiatives. On the one hand, I recognize the necessity and moral obligation of our government, as well as all governments, to bring to justice all those guilty of war crimes and genocidal acts. At the same time, I also strongly believe that all such redress must be done in accordance with the values, rights and legal principles that form the basis of our social and political structures. The end does not justify the means. If we are a civilized, moral and lawful society then we must act accordingly in all things, or we lose our right to consider ourselves so. Justice needs to be administered equally to all or it ceases to be justice.

The whole issue of collaboration with the Nazis continues to be an open wound in not only Ukrainian – Jewish relations, but also in terms of how Ukraine and Ukrainians are perceived by the rest of the world. We cannot deny that there were Ukrainians that assisted the Germans in the perpetration of the Holocaust. Estimates range from the tens to the hundreds of thousands. Many were pressured by threats and the simple desire to survive. Some undoubtedly were willing participants, as were elements of the populations of almost all the Nazi occupied countries of Europe. I don’t believe that Ukrainians in general were any more or less anti-Semitic than any other nationality in Eastern, or for that matter Western Europe.

Unfortunately, two circumstances caused Ukrainians to be especially singled out for special attention. One was the deliberate and prolonged effort of the Soviet authorities to brand all Ukrainian nationalists as Nazi supporters and war criminals. The Soviet propaganda machine worked overtime in distorting, falsifying and creating material aimed at painting all Ukrainian nationalist military, political and even religious groups as Nazi collaborators. Constant repetition on a massive scale over fifty years succeeded in considerably tarnishing the image and reputation of all Ukrainians.

The second circumstance is a little more problematic and difficult to accept, and that is the Ukrainian community’s own reluctance to deal with the true anti-Semites and collaborators in their midst. Germany has been able to put much of its shameful Nazi history behind and move on because it has confronted the evils done, admitted its guilt, brought to justice many of the perpetrators, and paid both symbolic and tangible reparations. Though Ukraine’s and Ukrainians’ guilt may not be of the same order as the Germans’, nonetheless, we have never really come to terms with what did transpire on Ukrainian lands during the war years. In post-war Ukraine, the Communist government had little interest in either remembering or exposing wartime atrocities against the Jews, except where it served their anti-Ukrainian propaganda purposes. Babyn Yar was purposely ignored until recent decades and even then, the Jewish nature of that tragedy was largely downplayed.

Here in the West, Ukrainian organizations largely kept quiet about the anti-Semitism and wartime Holocaust collaboration. Part of the reason was a defensive reaction against the vicious Communist propaganda that sought to brand them all as fascists and war criminals. Part of it as well was the natural inclination to sweep embarrassing events and individuals under the proverbial rug.

In any case, sooner or later, we must confront the reality that was. We must speak out against those acts and individuals that contributed to that tragedy and horror. We must examine our history in a frank and open manner. We must not only defend those unjustly accused of war crimes, but also actively speak out against and expose those that did. Until we confront and redress some of the darker events in our history, we will all be held collectively suspect by others. We must prove to the rest of the world that our nationalism is not narrow, inward and parochial, but encompasses the broader human principles of tolerance, accountability, morality and justice.