“I am a citizen of the Russian Federation, a Russian Jew, who’s been living in Ukraine for five years. I have never had a problem with the fact that I’m a Russian speaker, or with my Jewish music. Not in Lvov, or Kiev, or the Maidan. I’ve never seen any “Banderite-fascists,” Nazis and anti-Semites–it’s a myth. Putin, with broad support from the people of Russia, sent troops into Ukraine: this is not, in any way, protection against extremists. It’s a war against a peaceful, independent country. Shame on Russia. It is a terrible misfortune.”

~Mitya Gerasimov

See the beginning of my tour of the Lychakivski Cemetary for a brief discussion of the Galician SS Division.

For a broader engagement of the subject, I recommend Timothy Snyder’s book, Bloodlands. He details the plight of people trapped between Stalin and Hitler.