Edmonton
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Canada’s Friends Of Simon Wiesenthal Center For Holocaust Studies (FSWC) is again urging that two Edmonton, Alberta monuments that honor Nazi collaborators be taken down.

The longstanding memorials were vandalized last week causing FSWC to reiterate previous calls for both statues to be removed due to their connections to Nazi atrocities, reported the Alberta Jewish News.

One of the monuments, of wartime Ukrainian military leader Roman Shukhevych, was vandalized with the phrase “actual Nazi.” While he is celebrated in some Ukrainian circles as a former war hero, many people disagree, pointing out that he collaborated with the Nazis and that his troops committed massacres of Jews and Poles between 1941 and 1944. He is also accused of participating in the July 1, 1941pogrom in Lvov, Ukraine in which 4,000 Jews were murdered.

The second monument is a statue in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Edmonton depicting the “freedom fighters” of World War II. It has been there since 1973.

FSWC and other groups have stated that the depicted soldiers were not “freedom fighters” but part of the 14th Waffen SS Division that committed massacres. The monument was vandalized with the words “Nazi Monument 14th Waffen SS.”

For decades, FSWC has called for both monuments to be taken down. With the vandalism of both statues highlighting the problematic nature of the memorials, the issue has taken on renewed significance.

“It is beyond shameful to have monuments here in Canada honoring Nazi collaborators and war criminals,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, FSWC director of policy, in a statement. “These monuments are nothing less than a glorification and celebration of those who actively participated in Holocaust crimes, as well the mass murder of Polish civilians. They represent an intolerable affront not just to the Jewish community but to all victims of Nazi horrors, to our veterans who fought and died to defeat the Nazi regime, and to the core Canadian values of tolerance and respect for human rights.”