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

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

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, 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 centre said all of the four names on the monument — Alfons Rebane, Harald Riipalu, Paul Maitla and Harald Nugiseks — were members of the Waffen-SS, a combat branch of the Nazis' paramilitary Schutzstaffel (SS) organization.

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

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 were recently 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 collaborators and 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 Canada as 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 remembering those 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."

Eva Plach, an associate professor of history at Wilfrid Laurier University, said that when 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," Plach said, explaining how Rebane and Riipalu could have once been celebrated within the Estonian community while also being a part of the Nazi military.