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Comment by kuhewa | Hacker News Reader

> But in Russia, you say "Nazi" and the first thing most people think of is the Nazi mass murder of Russians–that's what the Russian school curriculum focuses on. In the West, "Nazi=homicidal anti-semitism"; in Russia, "Nazi=homicidal Russophobia".

In Canada there is a monument to a Nazi SS division [1], because it was made up of Ukrainian volunteers fighting the Soviets, post-Holodomor that was seen as the lesser of two evils.

So with that small bit of trivia in mind, your explanation really does make sense and I'm surprised I haven't seen it put or thought of it that way. I reckon that context is probably also relevant to the "nazi-ism" of Ukrainian paramilitary (and now formal military) units like Azov Brigade? (although being close to totally ignorant on the subject, for all I know said groups are equally antisemitic).

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorials_in_Canada_to_Nazis...

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Similarly, here in Australia there have been some news stories in recent weeks concerning pro-fascist sentiments among Croatian Australians: https://www.smh.com.au/national/healing-wounds-the-jewish-an...

Whether we are talking about Ukrainian nationalists, or Croatian nationalists, or Finns, or whoever else – if the Nazis are the only people willing to be your allies, what do you do?

And in India: Subhas Chandra Bose, one of the leaders of the Indian independence movement, chose to ally himself with Hitler and Imperial Japan. Many Indians today still view him as a hero, and do not think his willingness to fight with the Axis condemns him. At the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Japan, where Japan's war criminals are deified, there is a statute honouring the Indian judge Radhabinod Pal, who was the only judge at the Tokyo War Crimes Trial to acquit all the defendants. Through the memories of Bose and Pal, the governments of India and Japan have found something to bond over–their shared sympathy for the losing side in the Second World War.

"if the Nazis are the only people willing to be your allies"

Hmm, I wonder why. Maybe because of this [0]:

"An UVO brochure from 1929 stated: "Terror will be not only a means of self-defense, but also a form of agitation, which will affect friend and foe alike, regardless of whether they desire it or not."

The UVO organized a number of assassination attempts on some of the most renowned Polish and Ukrainian politicians, some of which were successful."

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Military_Organizatio...

"Ukrainian volunteers fighting the Soviets"

That's not the only thing they were doing. [0]

"like Azov Brigade"

I'd recommend a book by a Canadian journalist collaborating with Bellingcat on the subject of Azov and other Ukrainian nationalists. [1]

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Waffen_Grenadier_Divisi...

[1] http://cup.columbia.edu/book/from-the-fires-of-war/978383821...

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