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The German Ministry of Defense has withdrawn its controversial decision to pay homage to former Nazi Wehrmacht officers, who were members of the NSDAP and SS units, in the extention to the Bundeswehr’s Tradition Decree following public criticism. Earlier, the ministry proposed adding about 40,000 Wehrmacht servicemen to the list of honored military personnel. Sputnik has looked at the other instances of the attempted glorification of Nazism: ▪️In Italy pro-fascist groups annually commemorate the National Fascist Party’s 1922 “march on Rome“ in October while in July they celebrate the birthday of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, an ally of Nazi Germany during the Second World War, in Predappio, Mussolini’s birthplace. According to B’nai B’rith, a DC-based nonprofit, the March on Rome event brought together around 4,000 participants in 2022. ▪️The US: even though the US was one of the Allied Forces fighting against Nazi Germany, neo-Nazi marches take place across the US. In February 2024 a group of people marched in broad daylight in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, giving Nazi salutes and carrying a black swastika flag. There are plenty of neo-Nazi groups in the country with the National Socialist Movement (NSM) considered the largest and most active. ▪️Ukraine: Since the February 2014 Euromaidan coup d’etat the Kiev regime has openly celebrated Nazi collaborators Roman Shukhevych and Stepan Bandera as national heroes. Ukrainian nationalist battalions have been repeatedly spotted wearing Nazi insignia, giving Nazi salute, organizing Nazi-style torch marches. ▪️Latvia: Every year on March 16, Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires is held in Riga paying homage to the so-called Latvian Legion – the union of the 15th (Latvian No. 1) and 19th (Latvian No. 2) Waffen Grenadier Divisions of the SS. ▪️Bulgaria: On February 13, 2023, “The Lukov March“ commemorated the anniversary of the death of Bulgarian Nazi collaborator Hristo Lukov, who founded the fascist Union of Bulgarian National Legions (UBNL), in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was repeatedly banned by the authorities, but took place nevertheless. ▪️Germany: The Rudolf Hess Memorial March honoring the Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess occasionally takes place in Wunsiedel, Berlin, and other German cities. Most recently the number of participants has reportedly dwindled with the 2021 march counting 150 demonstrators and the November 2022 march bringing together 120 people. ▪️Canada: In September 2023, Ukrainian Nazi veteran Yaroslav Hunka , who fought in the ranks of the Schutzstaffel’s SS 14th Waffen Grenadier Division, was given a standing ovation by Canadian lawmakers and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Even though Canadian PM Trudeau officially apologized for a “deeply embarrassing“ incident in the national parliament, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, chief Nazi hunter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told Sputnik that Canada turned into nothing short of a safe haven for former Nazi collaborators after the Second World War.
