There was some dispute as to whether the event had occurred through an oversight, but the German ambassador readily and shamelessly reassured all that he was on top of this matter and felt that it was appropriate. Interestingly enough the self-proclaimed pro-Ukrainian Ukrainian “Pravda” published the ambassador’s arrogant explanation but refused to publish any opposing view.
Unfortunately, this incident was not isolated. Ukrainians worldwide and, essentially anyone with a moral compass, were aghast when several years ago Germany decided to prosecute the recently deceased Ukrainian Ivan Demjanjuk on accessory allegations that no German or any other national had been prosecuted for in Germany.
In fact all Germans had received an amnesty from prosecution on such allegations way back in the 1960s. The irony here could not have been more extreme. By all accounts here was a German prisoner being tried by the very people who captured, confined and made him do whatever they were now accusing him of having done.
Following the recent clearly flawed presidential election in the Russian Federation neither the European Council nor the European Commission issued congratulatory statements on the election of Vladimir Putin.
However Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, broke rank and called Putin offering him a “strategic partnership with Germany. This Merkel-Putin friendship officially dates back to 2006 when Merkel visited Putin in the Siberian city of Tomsk, they dined on “pelmeny” and Russian bear meat and the German minister of finance and technology announced to Russian “Pravda” that Merkel and Putin “have become friends.” With both having a background from East Germany, perhaps this friendship is even more longstanding.
At a recent conference of Ukrainian civil society organizations held in Munich, Germany, an invited representative of the German Foreign Affairs Association openly and without hesitation expressed the opinion that Germany has little interest in Ukraine and simultaneously sympathizes with ex-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s daily ruminations “There isn’t a day that I don’t wake up and think about Ukraine.”
This statement was made despite the fact that for Ukraine, Germany is the second largest trade partner, Ukraine’ geostrategic location and the fact that gas from Russia to Germany passes through Ukrainian pipes.
The work of the German civil society in Ukraine (the Catholic church and other institutions) is significant, but that is not a credit to German government policies.
Ukrainians need to wake up. Germans historically have never been friends to Ukrainians. A glaring example from history would be Catherine II of Prussian ancestry, one of the most vicious rulers of the Russian Empire who brutalized Ukraine.
Hitler murdered not only Jews, but ravaged Ukraine and murdered many Ukrainians. The arrogance of the current German ambassador is a mild case on point as he extols the academic freedom of half-learned extremists, the likes of which Germany has spawned more than its fair share over the years to defame Ukraine’s heroes.
I cannot imagine anything more obscene than Bandera being labeled a fascist or Ivan Demjanjuk being charged as a war criminal by Germans who personify those terms. To foster better relations between Germany and Ukraine, Germany needs to make a change beginning with its ambassador in Kyiv.
Then the healing should begin with Germany offering substantive restitution to the many Ukrainians who were mistreated by the Germans during World War II as prisoners and slave laborers and could not avail themselves of reparations or pensions because they were on the other side of the Iron Curtain. German industry needs to come up big in this regard since many German companies benefited greatly from Ukrainian slave laborers.
In the meantime and until there is tangible proof of Germany’s remorse and desire for reconciliation, Ukrainians in Ukraine and abroad should send a message by boycotting German products, not traveling to Germany and shunning contact with German government personnel and their representatives.
Germany today is arguably the strongest economy in the European Union and can well survive this Ukrainian embargo, but it can be palpable, even to an arrogant and hostile Germany. After all there are 46 million in Ukraine and 20 million Ukrainians abroad.
Germany is today’s face of the European Union. The only means by which the EU can grow is through integration, opening up new markets of both consumers and less expensive labor. It seems to me that it’s in Germany’s best interest to exhibit a human side.
(Footnote: The restitution/compensation which Germany has accorded Ukrainian slave laborers and prisoners of the Nazis who resided in Ukraine after the war and were alive on Feb. 16, 1999 (the cutoff date) was token rather than substantive. Some eleven billion German ,arks were designated by Germany from the early 1990s to 2000 for the three countries, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
Ukraine received 1.724 German marks which translates to 881.47 million Euros. The number of Ukrainians eligible for compensation was between 500,000 and 1 million. Thus the average payment was a one-time payment of some 1,000 euros per survivor or his family. The rough average payment to such survivor previously on the other side of the Iron Curtain was the equivalent of 10 times that amount.
Askold S. Lozynskyj was executive vice president from 1990-1992 and president from 1992-2000 of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.
