Anti-Semitism commissioner criticizes Ukrainian ambassador Melnyk

Anti-Semitism commissioner criticizes Ukrainian ambassador Melnyk AFP - 5 hrs ago The federal government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, has criticized the statements by the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk about the former nationalist leader Stepan Bandera as "problematic". The statements "feed the Russian narrative" on the war of aggression against Ukraine and rather caused "division and incomprehension" among states friendly to Ukraine, Klein told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Monday editions). Anti-Semitism commissioner Felix Klein has called statements by the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk about the former nationalist leader Bandera "problematic". Melnyk denies Bandera's responsibility for massacres of Jews and Poles. Klein called Bandera a "hugely controversial figure". Melnyk, on the other hand, had described the nationalist leader as a "freedom fighter" in an interview and denied his responsibility for the massacre of Jews and Poles in World War II. "He gave no order to exterminate Jews," said Melnyk. There is no evidence that "Bandera troops murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews." The Foreign Ministry in Kyiv distanced itself from these remarks by its ambassador in Berlin. Melnyk's statements were "his own" and "not the position of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine," it said. Bandera is one of the most controversial figures in Ukrainian history. For many in Ukraine, he is still a national hero to this day. During World War II he fought against Soviet rule, but historians accuse him of collaborating with the Nazis. Bandera later spent several years in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp after turning against the Nazis and proclaiming an independent Ukrainian state. In 1959 Bandera was tracked down and murdered in Munich by agents of the Soviet secret service KGB. Anti-Semitism Commissioner Klein appealed to Ukraine to seek rapid admission to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). This intergovernmental organization is dedicated to research and commemoration of the Holocaust. The IHRA is "the appropriate forum in which the questions raised by Mr. Melnyk can be discussed in an international, differentiated manner," said Klein. He regretted that Kyiv had so far expressed its reluctance to join the IHRA.