A month of de-Nazification, years of articles on the prevalence of #Nazism and fascism in #Ukraine & still there is so much confusion about the symbols and slogans at the heart of the issue. I compiled this 🧵 to serve as an educational tool and clarify some of the misconceptions
1. The Blood and Soil battle flag. A Nazi-era concept, which was adopted by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and Stepan Bandera’s more extremist version of the OUN – the OUN-B.
A more thorough explanation of the "Blood and Soil" origins from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
2. Slava Ukraini! Heroyam Slava! (Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!) Another OUN and UPA era relic that has been revived in the post-2014 coup/maidan years.
Text source: Georgetown Security Studies Review.
3. Slava Naz’ii! (Glory to the nation!) A common misconception is that this phrase exalts Nazism, which is not accurate because naziya (нация) means nation in Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages. Although anytime we get into ‘glory to…” it’s a slippery slope.
4. The logo of the now-infamous #AzovBattalion, which began as a group of football (soccer) ultras but evolved into a full-fledged terror squad during the 2014 civil conflict and was eventually deputized into #Ukraine’s national guard.
The #AzovBattalion back when they were "Sect 82" - a group of ultras who backed FC Kharkov Metallist - at the Kharkov-Dnepropetrovsk derby on May 19, 2013.
5. The logo of the #Donbas battalion, which has largely been wiped out during the #RussiaUkraineConflict. The battalion was founded by former petty criminal from Crimea Semen Semenchenko to counter pro-Russian protesters and separatists in 2014.
6. The flag of the Right Sector. The Right Sector also began as a conglomerate of nationalist football ultras, who merged with the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) – a group former soldiers that opposed the GKChP.
7. The shield of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as the Galicia Division, a division comprised almost exclusively of ethnic Ukrainians that was part of Hitler’s Schutzstaffel terror squad.
Some may find this hard to believe, but there is a monument honoring the Galicia Division at a #Ukrainian cemetery in Oakville, #Canada.
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