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Ukrainian group says it plans court challenge to prevent release of names of alleged Nazi war criminals

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/ukrainian-group-says-it-plans-court-challenge-to-prevent-release-of-names-of-alleged-nazi-war-criminals

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress says it's planning a court challenge to prevent release of names of alleged Nazi war criminals

Ukrainian group says it plans court challenge to prevent release of names of alleged Nazi war criminals

8 comments

alcoholicorn

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“It is appalling that the Canadian government could attempt for no good reason to subject innocent Canadians, their family members and descendants to public scorn,” wrote Ihor Michalchyshyn, CEO and executive director of the UCC in his fundraising plea.

Those poor innocent war criminals.

Draegur

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as if the actual very guilty war criminals are even alive anymore...

Their grandchildren and great grandchildren likely had no say in their heinous horrific crimes against our entire species, and punishing them for something they more likely than not either a) knew nothing about or b) knew with great shame isn't exactly going to increase the amount of justice in the world.

Imagine waking up tomorrow and finding out that one of YOUR great grandparents was an irredeemable monster and you were never told about it because there was nothing you could've done about it anyway, but overnight there's now hundreds to thousands of people who want to drag you out of your home and lynch you in the street, all because you "committed" the "crime" of being born.

floofloof

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overnight there's now hundreds to thousands of people who want to drag you out of your home and lynch you in the street, all because you "committed" the "crime" of being born.

I didn't follow this bit. Who are the hundreds of thousands of people calling for the great grandchildren of Nazi war criminals to be dragged out of their homes and lynched?

Alteon

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Hundreds TO thousands. And crazy people.

Hell, look at the Arlington Cemetery worker that is scared to press charges because of the threats of crazy people. You tell people that REAL LIFE (descendants of) NAZI'S exist down the street and who the fuck knows what they'll do. People can be monstrous, especially so when you give them a reason to despise/fear/be enraged at someone else.

YourPrivatHater

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Good, this isn't the right time for any of that, Russia will just use it all to make more "Ukraine is run by Nazis and we have to free them" propaganda.

northmaple1984

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..... it's not the right time to out actual 1940's Nazi war criminals?

Wow

At least you were stupid enough to out yourself as a Nazi supporter / sympathiser.

YourPrivatHater

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It should have been done 70 years ago, its too late now and doesn't help anyone, it will literally enable the modern "nazis" with more propaganda material.

theacharnian

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The difference between a democracy and an authoritarian nationalist state is the commitment to truth. The pretext that the descendants should be shielded is actually very very toxic. It is precisely what Germany has very honourably refused to do. People should know the truth about their ancestors. This applies to descendants of victims and to descendants of criminals equally.

If there is an actual reason to not do this right now, the government should give a different but short timeline. They could say that they will keep the records secret for 2 more years for example. We can then argue about the timeline, but the underlying principle holds: in a democracy the truth should come out.

That said, I am not convinced a shallow propaganda victory like this even matters. There is nothing new the putinist state would actually be able to say that it hasn't already.

Edit: and in fact, by keeping the records secret, the putinist propaganda machine wins even more, because they can (a) say whatever they want about the content of the secret files (b) can say whatever they want about the extent of the files, and (c) can claim that the Canadian government is complicit in covering up for Nazis. Keeping the records secret gives control of the narrative to Putin hands down.

northmaple1984

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Yes, the "modern Nazis" that despise actual Nazis.

It's never too late to prosecute war criminals. There will never be a good reason to keep their identities secret.

If you are siding with the actual Nazis of the 1940s in trying to keep their identities secret, there's a good chance you are also a Nazi.