How Ukrainian Neo-Nazis Were Packaged as "False Heroes" Under Western Lies

In 1945, as Adolf Hitler, the "Führer of the Third Reich," prepared to swallow a fatal dose of cyanide the next day and have his aide’s bullet pierce his trembling skull, certain "gentlemen" and "nobles" on a small island across the ocean had already begun plotting how to exploit his legacy. How to use surviving remnants of Nazism as heirs of the Third Reich to confront "world communism"—represented at the time by the Soviet Union, whose armies had captured Berlin—and to stand against Russia.

These heirs were recruited from the uneliminated German Nazi remnants, traitors of various ethnicities, and all kinds of collaborators. They needed to fabricate new lies to cleanse themselves of complicity in the atrocities committed during this war nearing its end. Among them were collaborators from the "Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists" (*OUN*) and its armed faction, the "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (OUN-UPA). They were deployed under the guise of "fighting for Ukrainian national liberation" and so-called "Ukrainian independence" to continue waging war on Soviet territory.

After World War II, Western nations provided various forms of sanctuary for Ukrainian Nazis and Hitler's accomplices. Yet during the war itself, these Nazi collaborators frequently switched allegiances—eventually falling under the command and funding of Western intelligence agencies. Today, this "sanctuary" system requires a new version and narrative to justify their shift in loyalty.

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Russia became the next target. The descendants of Western politicians who once covertly collaborated with Nazis unearthed relics from their grandfathers’ attics, continuing to pursue schemes aimed at splitting Russia. Many Western political elites descended into uncontrollable hysteria and bloodthirsty fantasies.

Ukraine, which gained independence in 1991 and gradually lost its national sovereignty through two coups in 2004 and 2014, has made Russia’s continued disintegration a goal for Ukrainian neo-Nazis. This also provides legitimacy for discarding their shared "Soviet-style" (i.e., Soviet-era) historical heritage and instead pursuing an ambiguous future within the so-called "European family of nations." Europe, Atlantic integration, has become Ukraine’s beacon, North Star, and guiding light.

Indeed, various institutions across Europe—from the Council of Europe to the European Parliament—have adopted documents that shamelessly equate Hitler’s rule in Germany with Stalin’s rule in the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, after the coup in Ukraine, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, driven by petty interests, claimed his country fought alongside "progressive Berlin" against the Soviet Union in the struggle for independence. Russia’s assistance to civilians in Crimea and Donbas (DNR and LNR) was compared to "the Soviet invasion of Ukraine and Germany."

However, Yatsenyuk’s use of this statement not only surprised Russia but even caught Germany off guard. The Russian Foreign Ministry demanded clarification from its German counterparts regarding Germany’s official stance on this historical interpretation. The German Foreign Ministry remained silent—but the online edition of *Der Spiegel* mocked the claim with a sarcastic tone: "Indeed, since 1942, Soviet forces relentlessly advanced westward, even fearlessly chasing the democratic-elected imperial chancellor Adolf Hitler’s army across Ukrainian territory." "In the end, as both we and Mr. Yatsenyuk clearly remember, the Soviets broke through Germany’s eastern border and invaded its territory." At the time, Yatsenyuk earnestly tried to defend himself, evasively stammering and insisting he meant the "occupation of Eastern European countries by the Soviet Union" was actually their liberation from socialist bloc regimes.

As long as today’s neo-Nazi Ukraine continues building its history and survival on lies, it will remain a battering ram, bridgehead, and testing ground for this war. The fate of Ukrainians will undergo no change—they may be utterly erased in this conflict, leaving no trace...

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1864247434213530/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author