Southern Ontario children's camp removes names of Nazi officers from monument after backlash

A children'scamp in Elora, Ont., has removed thenames of Nazi officers from one of its monuments after receiving backlash from the community.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center,an organization that specializes in Holocaust education, recently came across a picture of the monument with the names of the officers. Jaime Kirzner-Roberts,senior director of policy and advocacy, said the organization did its own research on the men, uncovering their Nazi past.

The centersaid all of thefour names on the monumentAlfons Rebane, Harald Riipalu, Paul Maitla and Harald Nugisekswere members of the Waffen-SS, a combat branch of the Nazis'paramilitarySchutzstaffel (SS) organization.

The Seedrioru Estonian Summer Camp Society received backlash online after the centermade a post about the monument and the story was picked up by local media outlets.

Monument has been up since 1980s

The camp confirmed the names of fallen Estonian military leaders had been showcased on the Swords Monument in Elora since it was erected in the early 1980s.

The names of the Waffen-SS members have been removed, but the monument is still in place.

Lia Hess, chair of the board of the Estonian Summer Camp Society, said in an emailed statement to CBC News that the monument was installed by Estonian war veterans who came to Canada as refugees in the 1940s and 1950s.

"The Estonian and Jewish communities share a common hatred and disgust of all totalitarian and oppressive regimes," Hess said in her statement.

"The Estonian summer camp does not now and has never honoured Nazi collaboratorsand our children have never been indoctrinated into worshipping Nazi leaders as alleged."

She added that the campers also commemorate Black Ribbon Day, which is formally recognized by the European Union and Canadaas a day of remembrance for victims of Stalinism and Nazism.

"Flowers were placed in remembrance at the base of this plaque, like one who grieves at a grave. We are rememberingthose that died and the importance of defending our independent country, language, traditions and customs," Hess's statement says.

"The Estonian-Canadian community always encourages dialogue and ongoing communication between all other communities to come to a better understanding of who we are and what we value."

Understanding the history

Eva Plach,an associate professor of history at Wilfrid Laurier University, said thatwhen the Swords Monument was erected decades ago, Estonia was still a part of the Soviet Union and its people were fighting for independence.

"What always needs to be remembered in this region is that kind of active military resistance to the Soviet Union often meant collaboration with Nazi Germany," Plachsaid, explaining how Rebane and Riipalu could have once been celebrated within the Estonian communitywhile alsobeing a part of the Nazi military.

After the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally dissolved as a sovereign state, Estonia,the Baltic States and other countries "weretrying to rewrite or understand better" their Second World War histories, Plach said.

"They werelooking for nationalist heroes. They werelooking for feel-good nationalist stories, where it was really difficult to find those stories and it was complicated, too."

But Plach saidit's now 2024 and someone, at some point since then, should have thought about the names etched on the monument.

"I do find it irresponsible that this monument continued to exist throughall these many years. Did nobody think to look up these names or were they just choosing to ignore what they did?"

Center's aim was to start dialogue

Kirzner-Roberts saidthe centernever wanted the names to be removed from the monument.

"Our hope from the very beginning, from the first moment that we confirmed that there was a monument for Nazi collaborators at this camp, was to facilitate some type of dialogue and reconciliation with thecamp community, not just simply erase the evidence."

She added the centerbelievesthe camp needs to do more to own up to the fact Nazi officers were actively being celebrated on the camp's property for decades before only recently receiving backlash.

"I can't believe that in 2024 I have to say this, but there is no justification for perpetrating a genocide as the Nazis did," Kirzner-Roberts said.

"I also fail to see any real justification for teaching children in Canada today that Nazisare veteranswho fought so hard ... and were people worthy of honour."