Thread by @ReassessHistory

Across the UK are a number of nondescript, coded memorials placed by various associations commemorating their war dead.

A number are Waffen-SS memorials to those who propagated Nazi atrocities.

In Britain.

In 2020. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History

This memorial at Cannock Chase is a great case in point.

Who are the Ukrainian soldiers being commemorated here?

What was the Association of Ukrainian Former Combatants in Great Britain?

How do they link back to the Waffen-SS?

Hang on, this is going to be a rough ride. /2

The AUFCGB was founded in 1949 by former members of 14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS, popularly known as 14th Galcian SS-Division.

This was a veterans' association for former Waffen-SS personnel who'd served in 14th SS, comprising of thousands of Ukrainian volunteers. /3

To really drum this home, the AUFCGB was for Waffen-SS veterans who had served in 14th SS.

It was not a catch all Ukrainian veterans' association. /4

So how did they get here? It appears a good number claimed pre-war Polish nationality to dodge repatriation to the Soviet Union where they’d undoubtedly face reprisal or death, touched on in Dr Michelle Winslow’s PhD. /4

Others ended up on the protected Rimini list and made their way to Britain after the war.

This makes them hard to track, as they’d slip in as Polish nationals.

Messy. /5

Their war record has deeply unpleasant undertones.

Not only did 14th SS Division's draw cohorts from groups who'd been committing atrocities but the formation faces repeated allegations of war crimes, proving difficult to tie down and confirm, but continued to circulate. /5

For myriad reasons this is unsurprising & it's extremely unlikely that this organisational culture and modus operandi did not carry over into 14th SS.

Dr Stephen Ankier pushed this story to some prominence in 2016. /6
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

Despite repeated investigations into surviving personnel, nothing ever came of this. As it is damned hard to tie specific personnel to exact atrocities.

Mychailo Fostun died in a car crash in 2004. He'd lived in Wimbledon for most of his life. /7
huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/01/26/naz…

Councillor Noel Spencer stumbled across the scandal in 2005, "Many of the SS soldiers living in Bolton will have passed away but it is possible that some are still alive… Around ten told me they had come from Rimini and I believe that dozens came and settled here.” /8

Christopher Hales' 'Hitler's Foreign Executioners' (p. 296) throws additional damning light on Fostun, and by extension many others who served in 14th SS. /9

By the 1950s former members of 14th SS openly wore SS uniforms in Britain for annual reunions and celebrations, with extremely vocal hard right groups openly voicing dissent against the Soviet Union - alarming the Foreign Office. (See Stephen Dorril’s MI6, p.442-3). /10

There were also repeated attempts by Ukrainian Nazis living in Britain to take over other groups, in the interests of achieving Ukraine's independence.

Given the Cold War many turned a blind eye, although MI5 and MI6 maintained vigil over them etc. /11

A keen sense of pride remained and there have been claims that wreaths were laid on British war memorials to honour Ukrainian dead at the battle of Brody, seemingly into the 2000s. /12

In this engagement 14th SS lost around 7,400 men of 11,000 strength. Yes this town is in Ukraine, but due to the scale of losses it could only have been marking the sacrifice of SS personnel that warranted such theatre. /13

Over time, it appears the AUFCGB pushed to launder their legacy and tone down overt Nazi ties by presenting themselves as commemorating ‘the Souls of Ukraine’s Fallen Heroes’. I mean it’s a 'nice' sentiment and it helped no one asked on whose side these heroes fought. /14

In the quest for discreet rehabilitation they tone down their overt Nazi ties to external eyes, so in 1986 they place a plaque in Cannock Chase to the members of 14th SS buried there. /15

I actually find this hard to quip about: an association dedicated to 14th SS-Division openly erected it’s own memorial, in Britain, to their fellow Nazis ‘everlasting memory’.

This is unequivocal. /16

As we progress into the 2000s, more allegations against 14th SS are building and various people are discovering that their neighbours were... Nazis.

And have been members of Nazi associations. All relatively openly, but y'know.

*I can't believe I am even writing this. /17

As we move into 2014 such moves had certainly paid off as they now presented By themselves as commemorating ‘the Souls of Ukraine’s Fallen Heroes’ with a bloody brazen march in conjunction with a ton of other Ukrainian associations in 2014. /18

All of this represents a comprehensive plan to rehabilitate the narrative of former Waffen-SS members, who lets remember committed ample atrocities, as ‘heroes’.

So they march.

To commemorate 14th SS, under the guise of 'fallen Ukranian soldiers of all wars.' /19

2014 is a turbulent time for Russian-Ukrainian relations , and I actually suspect many marchers would not have been aware that AUFCGB was a damned Waffen-SS association who were backing all this.

This also makes this a political football. /20

So this damn brazen march to rehabiliate 'heroes', who lets remember are accused of ample atrocities, as ‘heroes’.
goes ahead.

There are a fair number of people about and some communists oppose it.

It should not have gone ahead. /21

Seeing an oppo for some easy political point scoring, RT sends a team down to capitalise so we even have some footage of this event. /22

Commemoration of victims of ‘all wars’ has long been hard-right apologist code to launder reputations of war criminals as unwilling participants and sacrificed like anyone else, thus worthy of respect.

This wreath to Nazi war dead is laid on the Cenotaph. /23

You know the Cenotaph right? Where thousands of wreaths have been laid to commemorate those who died in the war against Nazi Germany… this is sickening to say the least. /24

Ultimately this is only the start of a wider series of deeply troubling questions circling around the AUFCGB.

So what happened to the members?

A number were investigated for war crimes but most died before anything came of it, although the noose had begun to tighten. /25

Many of AUFCGB's members are ghosts, especially branch leaders.

Look at Michael Muzyka.

How did a wholesome FARMER end up as a senior figure for a Waffen-SS veterans association? /26

There are many, many more questions to be asked about the activities and membership AUFCGB, an even bigger story.

The story of 14th SS even slides over to Canada. Again it is unequivocal, these men served in the Waffen-SS.

It was a Nazi formation. /27

nationalpost.com/news/canada/uk…

14th SS’ toxic legacy is also evident today in Eastern Europe with attempts to reclaim SS-imagery for volunteer units. Other attempts have been made to dismiss such exposure ‘fake news’ and claim that the Russian state is attempting to weaponise mythstory against them. /25

They also remain prominent in Ukrainian culture, wherein is a huge tinderbox of problems. /26

timesofisrael.com/ukraine-divide…

14th SS veterans laying wreaths with friends. /27

We need a serious conversation about attempts to rehabilitate 14th SS reputation.

That we have open memorials erected by unrepentant SS veterans to celebrate former comrades & launder 14th SS' war record is unacceptable and disturbing.

This is 2020.

This is wrong. /thread