After an antisemitism watchdog group contacted Seedrioru—a summer camp for Estonian children in Elora, Ontario—regarding a monument built to honor four Nazi Waffen-SS-associated Estonians, officials quietly removed references to the men from its website.
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) shared images on July 26 from the camp showing a sword-like monument featuring the names of Col. Alfons Rebane, Harald Riipalu, Paul Maitla and Harald Nugiseks, with the emblem of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as the 1st Estonian, engraved at the bottom.
“We are shocked and deeply disturbed to learn that for five decades, a summer camp right here in Ontario has been celebrating Nazi war criminals who were involved in the genocide against Estonia’s Jews as part of the Holocaust,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, FSWC senior director of policy and advocacy.
Kirzner-Roberts called it “sickening that for several generations, this camp has been indoctrinating children into worshipping Nazi Waffen-SS leaders, men who not only committed war crimes but also were among the enemies of Canada that our veterans fought so courageously, often sacrificing their lives, to defeat during the Second World War.”
Officials from the camp did not respond to FSWC; however, the four Estonians who received the Nazi Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross—the highest award given by Germany to military personnel at the time—were removed from the site. The group also noted that 15 people listed on the site as honorary members of the Canadian Estonian community who played “an integral part” in forming and sustaining Seedrioru have the same names as people with direct ties to the Waffen-SS.
“Our revelations about the deep Nazi roots of the Seedrioru camp just further underline the sad facts we already know—that after the Holocaust, too many of those who fought for fascism were admitted into Canada never to be brought to justice for their horrific actions as Nazis,” Kirzner-Roberts said.