While international media is busy in crying wolf against Russia, Ukrainian neo-Nazis were busy in celebrating birthday of Adolf Hitler. On April 20 every year, neo-Nazis around the world mark the anniversary of the birth of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. In the 1970s and 1980s, neo-Nazi groups in Europe, South America, and the United States held in-person events to celebrate Hitler and his legacy, but in recent years, the primary site for commemorating Hitler’s birthday has become the online space, in particular the social media platforms frequented by neo-Nazis.
In 2022, on the 133rd anniversary of his birth, neo-Nazis from around the world shared memes, videos, images, and excerpts of Mein Kampf in celebration of Hitler and his actions.
Others shared their real-world celebrations of the event, with some neo-Nazis baking cakes with swastikas and other Nazi imagery in honor of Hitler. Some also used the occasion to share their own radicalization story, lauding Hitler as a significant influence in their lives and calling him “Uncle Adolf” or “the greatest man who ever lived”.
On Telegram, a neo-Nazi channel posted a screenshot of the Wikipedia page for Adolf Hitler with his date of birth underlined. The channel wrote: “Don’t forget to take a moment out of your day to think about the greatest man next to Jesus that has ever walked this earth. Happy Birthday Uncle A!”
A satanist neo-Nazi Telegram channel posted a meme showing Hitler surrounded by Nazi officers, saying, “Get me some cake!” and “CAKE, CAKE, CAKE, CAKE!” One of the officers replies: “Adolf, grow up. You’re 53.”
A neo-Nazi Telegram channel posted a photo of Hitler and a message in honor of his birthday. The post calls Hitler the “greatest man who ever lived in Human history” and says that his memory “should motivate us to continue the fight he started and live the life of selflessness and the spirit he manifested.”
On Telegram, a European neo-Nazi group shared a photo featuring a cake with a kolovrat and pastries spelling out “HEIL HITLER.”
In a neo-Nazi group on Gab, a member posted a photo of a birthday cake for Hitler with a Nazi flag design and Nazi flags stuck into it. The text on the cake reads: “04/20/22 Florida.”
It may be mentioned here that, amongst those who celebrated Hitler’s birthday in Ukraine was Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). One of the prominent members of this extremist organization, Ulas Samchuk described the murder of the Jews of Kiev, which included thousands of children, as “a great day”.
This includes the centenary of the birth of Nazi collaborator and war criminal Vasyl Levkovych, who, as head of the Ukrainian auxiliary police in Dubno, organized anti-Jewish pogroms and the murder of 5,000 Jews and thousands of Poles.
Ukrainian fascists have been emboldened by the European Parliament’s resolution passed in 2019 equating communism with Nazism. It called for the erasure of all memorials of “totalitarianism” across Europe, including those dedicated to the Soviet Union’s Red Army, which liberated much of eastern Europe from Hitler’s troops.
It has led to proscriptions on the Communist Party of Ukraine and the banning of the party newspaper, Rabochaya Gazeta, after it published articles quoting Karl Marx.
No such action has been taken against the far right, which has sought to use the legislation to attack communists and progressives while promoting its own hatred, including making it a criminal offense to criticize Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.
