Ukrainian Nazis Look Well Organized, People Forget History Lessons - US WWII Veteran

Ukrainian nationalists look well organized, they do not learn from history, as Nazi supporters around the world, US veteran of World War II and Holocaust survivor Frank Kohn told Sputnik on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th April, 2021) Ukrainian nationalists look well organized, they do not learn from history, as Nazi supporters around the world, US veteran of World War II and Holocaust survivor Frank Kohn told Sputnik on Friday.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian nationalists held the first march in the center of Kiev to commemorate the anniversary of the foundation of the SS Galicia Division during World War II. Previously, such parades were held in the city of Lviv.

"Unfortunately there are Nazi type groups in all of our democracies, we have them here in the United States. It seems that the Ukrainian Nazis seem to be larger in size and better organized," the veteran said.

Cohn, who was born to a Jewish family in Germany in 1925 and had to flee to the US in 1938, called this situation "frightening," adding that "so many people in this world are forgetting history lessons."

He called for vigilance, saying such groups jump into action when they find opportunities to overthrow governments.

"If they gain power, like they might in the Ukraine, do you think that the other nations will get themselves involved beyond some ineffective sanctions? No way! Then we can only hope they don't have another Hitler who wants to capture the world," said veteran, who participated in the meeting between US and Soviet troops at the Elbe River in Germany in April 1945 and the liberation of the Soviet labor camp in Wiesbaden.

Cohn, now 95, expressed confidence that such tragic prospects will not recur in his lifetime.

"It is up to the younger generations to figure out what to do about it. My generation finally went to war, but it was like pulling teeth," he said.

The SS Division Galicia a military unit that included more than 80,000 volunteers from the Ukrainian region of Galicia was established on April 28, 1943, to oppose the Soviet Union, which had begun to make major advances against Nazi Germany and its allies in the Great Patriotic War (the 1941-1945 segment of World War 2). The division's ranks committed numerous atrocities in the territory of the Soviet Union and Poland.

The division existed until mid-1944, when it suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Brody during a major Red Army offensive aimed at expelling the Nazi forces from Ukraine and eastern Poland.