(JTA) — Hundreds of people in the Ukrainian city of Lviv attended a nationalist march featuring Nazi symbols that commemorated a Waffen SS unit with many local volunteers.
Eduard Dolinsky, director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, condemned Saturday’s march honoring the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, or the 1st Galician, as “a scandalous event that should not be allowed to happen in Ukraine in which murderers of Jews and others are glorified.”
Andrew Srulevitch, the director of European affairs at the Anti-Defamation League, on Twitter wrote on Sunday that “Ukrainian leaders need to condemn such marches, where Ukrainian extremists celebrate Ukrainian Nazi SS divisions (1st Galician), giving Nazi salutes in uniform in the middle of a major Ukrainian city.”
The march was held on the 75th anniversary of the 1st Galician’s establishment under Nazi auspices. It was organized by an umbrella of nationalist organizations known as the National Corps of Lviv Region, the Zaxid news website reported. In addition to the Waffen SS symbols, dozens of participants at the march carried posters featuring the 1st Galician’s symbol.