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Vladimir Katriuk (born 1921) is a Ukrainian immigrant in Canada accused of being an active participant in the Khatyn massacre during the Second World War. In 2012, Katriuk was ranked number four on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's most wanted list of former Nazi's. Katriuk has denied any involvement in war crimes.

Background

In 1951, Vladimir Katriuk emigrated from Ukraine to Canada. Since 1959, Katriuk has been a beekeeper in Quebec. Currently, Katriuk owns a beekeeping farm in Ormstown, Quebec and resides in a small house on the property with his wife.

Canadian citizenship

In 1999, a Federal Court of Canada decision concluded that Katriuk immigrated to Canada in 1951 under a pseudonym and obtained his Canadian citizenship by providing false information. The court concluded the Katriuk had been a member of the Schutzmannschaft Batallion 118, which was implicated in alleged numerous atrocities in Belarus, including the deaths of thousands of Jews in Belarus between 1941 and 1944. The court stated there was no evidence that Kartiuk had participated in war crimes. In 2007, the Cabinet of Canada decided not to revoke Kartriuk's citizenship.

Schutzmannschaft Batallion 118

Katriuk's Nazi ties were known at the time of the Federal Court of Canada decision, but more details did not emerge until KGB interrogation reports from Soviet Union era war crimes trials were released in 2008. The new KGB documents reflect that Katriuk was directly involved in the Khatyn massacre. In an article written by the Lund University historian Per Ander Rudling wrote that “One witness stated that Volodymyr Katriuk was a particularly active participant in the atrocity: he reportedly lay behind the stationary machine gun, firing rounds on anyone attempting to escape the flames,” Another war crimes trial in 1973 heard that Katriuk and two others killed a group of Belarusian loggers earlier on that fateful day, suspecting they were part of a popular uprising. "I saw how Ivankiv was firing with a machine-gun upon the people who were running for cover in the forest, and how Katriuk and Meleshko were shooting the people lying on the road," the witness said. Katriuk was a member of Schutzmannschaft Batallion 118 that helped the Nazi's to create "dead zones." The dead zone policy involved exterminating entire Belarusian villages to root out "partisans" who had launched ambushes against occupying Nazi forces.

Later on Katriuk defected from the unit and even participated in the fight against Nazi Germany.

War criminals in Canada

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre faults the Government of Canada efforts to investigate and prosecute Nazi war criminals. The Simon Wiesenthal Center has estimated that approximately 2,000 Nazi war criminals obtained Canadian citizenship by providing false information.

In 1985, the Deschênes Commission was created as a Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada. The Deschênes Commission recommended changes to the law of Canada to allow for the prosecution or deportation of suspected war criminals. However, only a small number of cases have been pursued.

In 2000, the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act passed as a statute of the Parliament of Canada, which implements Canada's obligations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

See also

• Helmut Oberlander
• Imre Finta
• List of Axis personnel indicted for war crimes
• Nazi hunter
• Ukrainian collaborationism with the Axis powers
• Ukrainische Hilfspolizei

References

1. ^ Accused Nazi living as Quebec beekeeper
2. ^ Ottawa to re-examine former Nazi’s past after evidence emerges linking him to 1943 massacre
3. ^ From Nazi to beekeeper? Accused war criminal living quiet life in Quebec
4. Federal Court of Canada decision Docket: T-2409-96 The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration v. Vladimir Katriuk
5. Petrouchkevitch, Natalia. (1999). Victims and Criminals: Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118. Wilfrid Laurier University. ISBN 0612448231
6. Alleged Nazi living as Quebec beekeeper
7. ^ New information links Montrealer to WWII massacre
8. Holocaust Genocide Studies (Spring 2012) 26(1): 29-58 The Khatyn Massacre in Belorussia: A Historical Controversy Revisited
9. ^ Ottawa agrees to revisit case of suspected Nazi war criminal Vladimir Katriuk
10. Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, S.C. 2000, c. 24.
11. Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, gc.ca.

External links

• Globe and Mail: Video interview with Vladimir Katriuk

v t e Canada and war crimes
Main	Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act
Canadian-born individuals convicted of war crimes	Omar Khadr Kanao Inouye Nicholas Ribic
Canadian immigrants charged with war crimes	László Csatáry Imre Finta Vladimir Katriuk Jacob Luitjens Désiré Munyaneza Léon Mugesera Helmut Rauca
Foreigners charged with war crimes by Canada	Kurt Meyer

Template:Persondata

• 1921 births
• Beekeepers
• Living people
• Nazi war crimes in Belarus
• People from Quebec
• Ukrainian emigrants to Canada
• Ukrainian Nazi collaborators