Thousands of Ukrainian nationalists paraded on New Year day in honor of the birthday of Stepan Bandera, a Nazi collaborator whose troops killed thousands of Jews. Bandera, was a leader of Ukraine’s nationalist movement in the 1930s and ’40s. He led an army which fought alongside Nazi soldiers during part of World War II.
Bandera is being celebrated across Ukraine as a national hero. Despite Jewish community protests, in July a street in Kiev was named after him. Ukraine has lately glorified other nationalistic figures that did anti-Semitic acts during WWII. That also explains why they have no problem having a parade in Bandera's honor though he was anti-semitic.
A video published by the Federal News Agency showed people holding up Bandera’s portrait at the parade with another man shouting “Jews out” in German on a loudspeaker, arousing many participants to join him in this shameful chant.
Ukrainian Jewish lawmaker and President of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, Oleksandr Feldman, called on authorities to investigate the march and prosecute those responsible for the hateful slogans. Feldman also accused the Svoboda party of being responsible for the provocation during the march. The Svoboda party is a far-right movement whose leaders and followers often have engaged in anti-Semitic hate speech.
