Kiev, Ukraine. Photo: goodfreephotos.com

JNS.org – The ambassador of Israel to Ukraine and his Polish counterpart on Thursday blasted the glorification of Holocaust-era war criminals following a nationalist march in Ukraine in honor of a Nazi collaborator, reported The Jerusalem Post.

In a joint letter, Joel Lin and Bartosz Cichocki, ambassador of Poland to Ukraine, accused Kiev City State Administration of having “waved the Stepan Bandera banner,” a reference to a portrait of the Ukrainian Nazi collaborator that was featured on a municipal building at the conclusion of a march on Wednesday honoring Bandera’s 111th birthday.

“Celebrating these individuals is an insult,” wrote the ambassadors.“Glorification of those who promoted actively in ethnic cleansing is counterproductive in the fight against antisemitism and the reconciliation of our people.”

Bandera is admired in Ukraine because he fought for Russian rule alongside the Nazis. He hoped that the Germans would allow his country to be independence from the Soviet Union, but the Nazis later arrested him. Men under Bandera’s command killed thousands of Jews and Poles, though it’s unknown if Bandera participated in the killings of Jews.

The letter also slammed sponsorship by the Lviv Regional Council in western Ukraine of an event celebrating Nazi collaborator Andryi Melnyk. The ambassadors said the events caused them “great concern and sorrow.”

“These very days, our governments are spending their utmost efforts to respond to the further attacks on Jews in different countries and prevent attempts to falsify history of the Second World War,” the letter stated. “Therefore, we expect also the Lviv Oblast Council and Kiev City State Administration to open up for a dialogue in the search for truth.”