Canada has several monuments and memorials that to varying degrees commemorate people and groups accused of collaboration with Nazi forces.
Monuments and memorials include or have included a statue of Draža Mihailović in Ontario, two monuments in Ontario and Alberta connected with the Waffen-SS, a statue of Roman Shukhevych, streets and parks named after Alexis Carrel and Philipp Lenard, a mountain named after Philippe Pétain, and two streets named after a commander of Nazi German forces and his ship. There are two monuments to members of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), which have caused controversy.
A memorial in Ottawa to victims of communism, while not directly linked to Nazis and their collaborators, came under fire prior to its unveiling when the Department of Canadian Heritage was told that more than half of the 550 names on the memorial should be removed because of potential links to the Nazis or questions about affiliations with fascist groups. [1] The memorial was unveiled in December 2024.
There is a statue in Hamilton, Ontario of Draža Mihailović, a Yugoslav Serb general during World War II. He was the leader of the Chetniks, a royalist and Serbian nationalist movement and guerrilla force, who collaborated with the Nazis following the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941. [2]
Monuments in Canada to members of the Ukrainian Waffen-SS have been vandalized by activists at differing times as "Nazi monuments", as have monuments to members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Leaders of the Canadian Ukrainian community said the Ukrainian monuments are not related to Nazism. [3]
The bronze bust [4] of Ukrainian nationalist leader Roman Shukhevych, who collaborated with the Nazis from February 1941 to December 1942 as commanding officer of the Nachtigall Battalion in early 1941, [5] and as a Hauptmann of the German Schutzmannschaft 201 auxiliary police battalion in late 1941 and 1942, [6] units which were complicit in the Galicia-Volhynia massacres of ethnic Poles and in the Lviv pogroms (1941) against Jews. The bust was built in 1972 by Ukrainian World War II veterans on private land near the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in Edmonton, Alberta. [7] [8] [9] [10] The statue was vandalised in 2019 when someone added the words "Nazi scum". [11] It was vandalised again in 2021 when someone added the words "Actual Nazi" in red paint. [8]
A memorial reading For those who fought for Ukraine’s Freedom was constructed in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Edmonton in 1976 by former members of the Ukrainian Waffen-SS division: 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician). [12]
The International Military Tribunal's verdict at the Nuremberg Trials declared the entire Waffen-SS a "criminal organization" guilty of war crimes [13] but the Canadian Deschênes Commission of October 1986 concluded this Ukrainian division should not be indicted as a group. [14]
In 2021 the memorial was vandalized by painting "Nazi monument to 14th Waffen SS". [15] A spokesperson for the Canadian Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center said “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." [16] Jewish organizations requested the removal of the damaged memorial. [15] However, the Ukrainian Catholic Church called the vandalism "part of the decades-long Russian disinformation campaign against Ukraine and Ukrainians to create a false Nazi image of Ukrainian freedom fighters." [16] The St. Michael’s monument is dedicated to "Fighters for the Freedom of Ukraine". One of its plaques is an abbreviation for the First Division Division of the Ukrainian National Army. [17] [18] On April 25, 1945, the Waffen-SS Galizien was officially reorganized as the First Division of the Ukrainian National Army, and swore a new oath of loyalty to the Ukrainian people. [19] Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress wrote that "removing this monument will require the Ukrainian-Canadian community to take a hard look at its own history." [20] University of Alberta historian Jars Balan told CBC News that the history of the monument and the Shukhevych statue were "complicated", saying that some people had fought in German uniforms in order to achieve Ukrainian independence. [15]
A granite memorial entitled Pamiatnyk Slavy UPA (English: Monument to the Glory of the UPA) celebrating the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a Ukrainian nationalist force that allied with the Nazis in 1942-43 before fighting against them in 1943-44, was inaugurated on May 26, 1988, in the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery in Oakville, Ontario. [21] A cenotaph to veterans of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) was added shortly afterwards, with the SS division's insignia. [21]
The SS cenotaph was vandalised in mid-June 2020 when someone added the words "Nazi war monument". [22] [23] Canadian police apologized for originally stating that the vandalism was motivated by hate. [24] [25]
Both monuments were the subject of complaints from the Russian Embassy to Canada in 2017. [26] Ihor Michalchyshyn, the CEO of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress accused Russia of obfuscation. [27]
Jewish B’nai Brith organization and the Canadian Polish Congress called for the SS monument's removal in a joint statement, saying that the presence of monuments that whitewash the Holocaust and Nazi ideology is unacceptable in Canada. [28] [29] Oakville Mayor Rob Burton stated that he would remove the SS monument but he can’t, because municipalities have no right to regulate private cemeteries. [30]
In 2015 CTV News reported that in Quebec a street in Gatineau was named after Alexis Carrel, as well a street and park named after him in 1972 and 1988 respectively in Montreal community Rivière des Prairies, and a park and streets named after him in Boisbriand and Châteauguay. [31] Carrel won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1912, and was a supporter of eugenics and the Nazis, advocating for the elimination of "undesirables", and was involved in the Vichy government of France. [32] [33] [34] In 2015 the street in Gatineau was renamed after Marie Curie. [34] In 2017 it was announced that the street and the park in Rivière des Prairies, Montreal would be renamed. This followed a campaign from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs of Quebec, who said that they hoped Boisbriand and Châteauguay would follow the lead of Montreal and Gatineau. [35]
A mountain on the border of British Columbia and Alberta was named for Nazi Collaborator Philippe Pétain until British Columbia removed its name in 2022 following Alberta's decision to remove the mountain's name in 2019. It was named for Pétain in 1919, at which point he was considered a hero for leading forces to victory in the 1916 Battle of Verdun in World War I. Later, during World War II, Pétain led the collaborationist Government of Vichy France. [36]
The town of Ajax, Ontario is named for HMS Ajax, which fought in the Battle of the River Plate in the Second World War. [37] In the municipality, one of the streets was named Langsdorff Drive in honour of Hans Langsdorff, a battleship captain who commanded German forces in the battle. [38] The naming was supported by the River Plate Veterans Association. The street received a naming ceremony, with Langsdorff's daughter and son-in-law in attendance. [39]
This name was changed in 2021 in response to public opposition. [40] In 2020 Ajax [ clarification needed ] tried to honour Langsdorff and his ship the Admiral Graf Spee by naming a street Graf Spee Crescent. This was also changed after the public became aware and brought it the attention of Ajax Mayor Shaun Collier. Collier put forward a motion to change this name, stating, "We did Langsdorff, which I did support ... This, I think, has crossed the line a little bit." [41] Many of Ajax's streets are named after people involved in the Battle of the River Plate. [42]
A street in Gatineau, Quebec, used to be named after Philipp Lenard, who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1905. He was also a strong supporter of the Nazis and acted as an advisor to Hitler. [43] In 2015 the street was renamed after Albert Einstein following a campaign from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs of Quebec. [31] [34]
The Waffen-SS was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary Schutzstaffel (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both German-occupied Europe and unoccupied lands. With the start of World War II, tactical control was exercised by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, with some units being subordinated to the Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS directly under Himmler's control. It was disbanded in May 1945.
Babi Yar or Babyn Yar is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. The first and best documented of the massacres took place on 29–30 September 1941, in which some 33,771 Jews were murdered. Other victims of massacres at the site included Soviet prisoners of war, communists and Romani people. It is estimated that a total of between 100,000 and 150,000 people were murdered at Babi Yar during the German occupation.
Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret. Administratively, it serves as the administrative centre of Ternopil Oblast. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. It is served by Ternopil Airport. The population of Ternopil was estimated at 225,004.
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical militant wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN-B.
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and partisan formation founded by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists on 14 October 1942. During World War II, it was engaged in Nazi collaborationism. However, the UPA later launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and both the Polish Underground State and Polish Communists. It conducted the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, which are recognized by Poland as a genocide.
Roman-Taras Yosypovych Shukhevych was a Ukrainian nationalist and a military leader of the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which during the Second World War fought against the Soviet Union and to a lesser extent against the Nazi Germany for Ukrainian independence. He collaborated with the Nazis from February 1941 to December 1942 as commanding officer of the Nachtigall Battalion in early 1941, and as a Hauptmann of the German Schutzmannschaft 201 auxiliary police battalion in late 1941 and 1942.
The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS , commonly referred to as the Galicia Division, was a World War II infantry division of the Waffen-SS, the military wing of the German Nazi Party, made up predominantly of volunteers with a Ukrainian ethnic background from the area of Galicia, later also with some Slovaks.
Volodymyr Kubijovyč was an anthropological geographer in prewar Poland, a wartime Ukrainian nationalist politician, a Nazi collaborator and a post-war émigré intellectual of mixed Ukrainian-Polish background.
Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi Germany took place during the occupation of Poland and the Ukrainian SSR, USSR, by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires, often known simply as the Legionnaire Day or 16 March in Latvia, is a day when soldiers of the Latvian Legion, part of the Waffen-SS, are commemorated. From 1998 until 2000, it was officially recognized as a "Remembrance Day for Latvian soldiers" by the Saeima.
The Huta Pieniacka massacre was a mass murder of the Polish inhabitants of the village Huta Pieniacka, located in modern-day Ukraine, which took place on February 28, 1944. Estimates of the number of victims range from 500 to 600-800 to 1,200.
Per Anders Rudling is a Swedish-American historian and an associate professor in the Department of History at Lund University (Sweden). He specializes in the areas of nationalism and memory and trauma in Eastern Europe.
Peter Savaryn was a Ukrainian-born Canadian lawyer. During World War II, he belonged to the Waffen-SS Galician Division, part of the SS military wing of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS, a branch of the Nazi elite corps SS under Heinrich Himmler, systematically took part in crimes against humanity in Eastern Europe in the wake of Operation Barbarossa, the Yugoslav campaign (1941—1945) and the extermination (concentration) camps, which were guarded by SS personnel. Savaryn was among the approximately 2,000 Waffen-SS Galicia fighters allowed to immigrate to Canada, who would have done so under false testimony.
The Memorial to the Victims of Communism – Canada, a Land of Refuge is a monument in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was officially unveiled on December 12, 2024.
SS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager was a World War II SS military complex and Nazi concentration camp in Pustków and Pustków Osiedle, Occupied Poland. The Nazi facility was built to train collaborationist military units, including the Ukrainian 14th Waffen SS Division "Galician", and units from Estonia. This training included killing operations inside the concentration camps – most notably at the nearby Pustków and Szebnie camps – and Jewish ghettos in the vicinity of the 'Heidelager'. The military area was situated in the triangle of the Wisła and San rivers, dominated by large forest areas. The centre of the Heidelager was at Blizna, the location of the secret Nazi V-2 missile launch site, which was built and staffed by prisoners from the concentration camp at Pustków.
The Krakivs'ki Visti, was a Ukrainian newspaper based in Vienna, published from 1940 to 1945. Historian John-Paul Himka described it as "vehemently antisemitic." Himka described it as a Nazi propaganda daily, published during World War II in the Ukrainian language with the German financial aid, and with exposure orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels himself.
St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery, marketed as West Oak Memorial Gardens, is a cemetery in Oakville, Ontario, established in 1984. According to the cemetery's website, it is operated by St. Volodymyr Cathedral. The cemetery offers both in ground burial and burial vaults in perpetuity, and is open to all those of Christian faith.
The bust of Roman Shukhevych in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is a Wehrmacht sculpture located near the Ukrainian Youth Association narodny dim of the Ukrainian nationalist and Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevych, a military leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and one of the perpetrators of the Galicia-Volhynia massacres of approximately 100,000 Poles.
The United States has monuments to people who collaborated with the Nazis, that are located in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Alabama, Georgia, and Michigan.
On 22 September 2023, Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian Canadian who fought in the SS Division Galicia of the military wing of the Nazi Party, the Waffen-SS, was invited to the House of Commons of Canada to be recognized by Speaker Anthony Rota, the Member of Parliament for Hunka's district. Hunka received two standing ovations from all house members, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, other party leaders, and visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
...on the German side and Roman Shukhevych ('Tur', 'Taras Chuprynka') as head of the Ukrainian staff, wore the uniform of the Wehrmacht.
The complex is named in honour of Roman Shukhevych, a leading banderite and leader of the UPA in the years 1943–1950. Shukhevych was more directly responsible for OUN-UPA's crimes against humanity such as the ethnic cleansing of Poles in Volhynia and Galicia and massacres of Jews. In 1972, a bust of Roman Shukhevych was placed in front of the entrance to the building, resulting in all celebrants passing by it on their way to the place of celebration.