Changes

==Background==

==Background==

 

She studied Russian history and literature at [[Harvard University]].  During 1988–89, she was an exchange student at the University of [[Kyiv]] in Ukraine, where she studied the  Ukrainian language.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Retson |first=Don |date=May 20, 1989 |title=Student 'glasnost' chilly |work=Edmonton Journal}}</ref> While there, she worked with journalist Bill Keller of ''[[The New York Times]]'' to document the Bykivnia graves, an unmarked mass grave site where the [[NKVD]] disposed of tens of thousands of dissidents.  The official Soviet story held that the graves were the result of Nazi atrocities. She translated the stories of locals who had witnessed covered trucks and "puddles of blood in the road" that predated the 1941 [[Operation Barbarossa|Nazi invasion]], adding evidence that the site was actually the result of Soviet communist repression.<ref>https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2015/11/29/how-chrystia-freeland-became-justin-trudeaus-first-star.html</ref>

She studied Russian history and literature at [[Harvard University]].  During 1988–89, she was an exchange student at the University of [[Kyiv]] in Ukraine, where she studied the  Ukrainian language.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Retson |first=Don |date=May 20, 1989 |title=Student 'glasnost' chilly |work=Edmonton Journal}}</ref> While there, she worked with journalist Bill Keller of ''[[The New York Times]]'' to document the Bykivnia graves, an unmarked mass grave site where the [[NKVD]] disposed of tens of thousands of dissidents.  The official Soviet story held that the graves were the result of Nazi atrocities. She translated the stories of locals who had witnessed covered trucks and "puddles of blood in the road" that predated the 1941 [[Operation Barbarossa|Nazi invasion]], adding evidence that the site was actually the result of Soviet communist repression.<ref>https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2015/11/29/how-chrystia-freeland-became-justin-trudeaus-first-star.html</ref>

===Nazi activities of maternal grandfather===

===Nazi activities of maternal grandfather===

Freeland's maternal grandfather, Michael Chomiak (Ukrainian: Mykhailo Khomiak), had been a journalist before World War II. During the war he was chief editor of the Ukrainian [[antisemitic]] daily newspaper ''Krakivs'ki visti'' (''News of Krakow'') for the Nazi regime.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20180609231023/http://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/paula-simons-school-of-hate-was-foreign-affairs-minister-chrystia-freelands-grandfather-a-nazi-collaborator</ref>  John-Paul Himka, a professor of history at the University of Alberta, who was Chomiak's son-in-law used Chomiak's records, including old issues of the newspaper, as the basis of several scholarly papers focused on the coverage of Soviet era mass-murders of Ukrainian civilians. These papers examined the use of these massacres as Nazi [[propaganda]] against [[Jews]].<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162206/http://www.timeandspace.lviv.ua/files/session/Himka%20Ethnicity%20and%20Reporting_210.doc ''Krakivs'ki visti'' published materials from German papers, especially the Nazi party organ ''Völkischer Beobachter'', which appeared frequently. Articles were also translated from ''Berliner Illustrierte Nachtausgabe'' and all most important Berlin papers."</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=D9wEXp_uyoYC&q=Krakivs%27ki+Visti+connection Ethnicity and the Reporting of Mass Murder |work=Shatterzone of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the German, Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands]</ref>  In 2017, when Chomiak's  Nazi collaboration appeared online, Freeland did not denounce the activity but rather called it "Russian [[disinformation]]" during her appointment as Canadian Foreign Minister.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141531/http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/chrystia-freelands-granddad-was-indeed-a-nazi-collaborator-so-much-for-russian-disinformation</ref><ref>https://www.webcitation.org/6xokirVEo?url=http://nationalpost.com/opinion/colby-cosh-of-course-its-news-that-freelands-grampa-was-a-nazi-collaborator-even-if-the-russians-are-spreading-it</ref><ref>http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/terry-glavin-enter-the-freeland-nazi-conspiracy-and-the-amping-up-of-russias-mischief-in-canada</ref>  Her office later denied Chomiak ever collaborated with [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>https://archive.today/20180406174940/http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/russian-diplomat-calls-expulsions-over-remarks-un-canadian</ref> However, reporting by ''The Globe and Mail'' showed that Freeland had known of her grandfather's Nazi ties since at least 1996, when she helped edit a scholarly article by Himka for the ''Journal of Ukrainian Studies''.

Freeland's maternal grandfather, Michael Chomiak (Ukrainian: Mykhailo Khomiak), had been a journalist before World War II. During the war he was chief editor of the Ukrainian [[antisemitic]] daily newspaper ''Krakivs'ki visti'' (''News of Krakow'') for the Nazi regime.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20180609231023/http://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/paula-simons-school-of-hate-was-foreign-affairs-minister-chrystia-freelands-grandfather-a-nazi-collaborator</ref>  John-Paul Himka, a professor of history at the University of Alberta, who was Chomiak's son-in-law used Chomiak's records, including old issues of the newspaper, as the basis of several scholarly papers focused on the coverage of Soviet era mass-murders of Ukrainian civilians. These papers examined the use of these massacres as Nazi [[propaganda]] against [[Jews]].<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162206/http://www.timeandspace.lviv.ua/files/session/Himka%20Ethnicity%20and%20Reporting_210.doc ''Krakivs'ki visti'' published materials from German papers, especially the Nazi party organ ''Völkischer Beobachter'', which appeared frequently. Articles were also translated from ''Berliner Illustrierte Nachtausgabe'' and all most important Berlin papers."</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=D9wEXp_uyoYC&q=Krakivs%27ki+Visti+connection Ethnicity and the Reporting of Mass Murder |work=Shatterzone of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the German, Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands]</ref>  In 2017, when Chomiak's  Nazi collaboration appeared online, Freeland did not denounce the activity but rather called it "Russian [[disinformation]]" during her appointment as Canadian Foreign Minister.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141531/http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/chrystia-freelands-granddad-was-indeed-a-nazi-collaborator-so-much-for-russian-disinformation</ref><ref>https://www.webcitation.org/6xokirVEo?url=http://nationalpost.com/opinion/colby-cosh-of-course-its-news-that-freelands-grampa-was-a-nazi-collaborator-even-if-the-russians-are-spreading-it</ref><ref>http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/terry-glavin-enter-the-freeland-nazi-conspiracy-and-the-amping-up-of-russias-mischief-in-canada</ref>  Her office later denied Chomiak ever collaborated with [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>https://archive.today/20180406174940/http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/russian-diplomat-calls-expulsions-over-remarks-un-canadian</ref> However, reporting by ''The Globe and Mail'' showed that Freeland had known of her grandfather's Nazi ties since at least 1996, when she helped edit a scholarly article by Himka for the ''Journal of Ukrainian Studies''.