a jewish group is denouncing a monument that honours nazi collaborators and was installed decades ago at a children’s summer camp in ontario.
the memorial at seedrioru, a camp for estonian-canadian children and teens in elora, near toronto, celebrates “estonian heroic freedom fighters.” it was engraved with the names of four men who served with the waffen ss and collaborated with adolf hitler’s genocidal regime.
as recently as july 8, photographs were posted on the organization’s webpage showing young campers and staff laying wreaths at the monument.
members of the jewish community contacted this newspaper to express disgust at such activities during a time when incidents of anti-semitism were on the rise.
officials with seedrioru as well as the friends of simon wiesenthal, a holocaust education organization, confirmed existence of the monument.
jaime kirzner-roberts of the friends of simon wiesenthal said the four individuals whose names were etched on the monument had roles in murdering jews during the holocaust. the four men also later served in an estonian waffen ss division, and all received nazi germany’s highest military award.
the memorial, known as the swords monument, was erected in the late 1970s.