The site of a monument to the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, which was removed on March 7th, is pictured at West Oak Memorial Gardens in Oakville, Ont. on March 12.Laura Proctor/The Globe and Mail
A monument to Ukrainians who fought in a German SS unit, which became a destination last year for neo-Nazis, has been removed from a cemetery in Oakville, Ont., but it remains unclear what will happen to it.
The 1st Galician Division, also known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, was formed as Germany sought allies in its fight against the Soviet Union, following the Nazi defeat at Stalingrad.
The existence of these fighters became widely known to Canadians in September after Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian Waffen-SS veteran, attended a speech in Parliament by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr. Hunka was given two ovations after then-Speaker Anthony Rota pointed him out in the visitors’ gallery, saying he was a Canadian and Ukrainian hero. Mr. Rota, who had invited Mr. Hunka to the speech, later resigned over the incident, which also prompted an apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Monuments to these soldiers remained, including two in Edmonton and the one in Oakville.
Only weeks after the controversy over Mr. Hunka’s invitation to the House of Commons, neo-Nazis made a pilgrimage to the Oakville site.
The monument had stood for decades at the West Oak Memorial Gardens before being taken down on Thursday. St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery, which owns and operates West Oak, issued a statement to some media saying the monument was being repaired, without clarifying whether it would be returned.
The cemetery did not return requests for comment Tuesday from The Globe and Mail, nor did its associated cathedral, St. Volodymyr’s, in Toronto.
Rabbi Stephen Wise of the Shaarei-Beth El Congregation, a synagogue in Oakville, confirmed that the monument was gone and said he hopes it would not return.
“I can’t see anyone who’s going to want to put up a Nazi monument anywhere in this country,” he said.
Mr. Wise characterized the monument’s removal as the product of collaborative talks between the cemetery and members of the Ukrainian community, the church and his synagogue.
“We are very happy it’s been brought down but we’re also happy with the process,” he said. “We brought the leaders of the community together and discussed how we could handle such a difficult issue, and then we did.”
The Hunka controversy in September and the subsequent neo-Nazi visit to the site in October prompted renewed calls for the monument to be removed. Although it took until last week for it to come down, Mr. Wise said discussions in the community about its future had already long been underway and were accelerated by events last fall.
In a statement, Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center official Dan Panneton criticized the monument for commemorating a unit complicit in war crimes.
“This memorial honoured and glorified individuals who served in a Nazi military unit,” he said. “After actively advocating for the removal of this monument for many years, we greatly welcome its elimination, albeit overdue.”
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress did not return requests for comment.
Oliver Moore