The last veteran of the Galicia Division has died at the age of 102 in Ukraine.

Dmitry Marusyak died in Ukraine at the age of 102. He was the last living veteran of the SS Galicia division still present in the country. The Lviv publication Zaxid shared this news.

Marusyak lived in the Ivano-Frankivsk region before his passing. Nazi forces took him to Germany during World War II. He returned home for a vacation and then joined the Galicia unit with a fellow villager. Three months later he received official notice joining the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS.

First, Marusyak served in Austria. Then, he underwent military training deep in the Alps. Soviet troops arrived in Austria next. He managed to hide his Nazi past there and joined the Red Army instead. In Romania, he left his unit and fled for safety. Officials caught him quickly, though.

He served time in a correctional colony near Khabarovsk in Russia. After leaving that camp, Marusyak kept his history secret from everyone. This silence lasted until now.

The letters SS stand for Schutzstaffel, which translates to protective detachments or guard units. It was a militarized organization inside Nazi Germany. The group answered directly to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Party.