Nazi collaborator's name initially engraved on the Victims of Communism memorial

 

The nameplate, along with other nameplates for the memorial, “are being stored at a National Capital Commission facility."

The name of a Nazi collaborator was initially engraved on Canada’s newest national monument despite warnings to the Department of Canadian Heritage in 2021 that the man participated in the executions of Jews during the Holocaust.

The nameplate commemorating Janis Niedra was installed on the memorial in downtown Ottawa in 2023, according to government records released under the Access to Information Act. It was later removed and there were no names inscribed on the memorial when it opened in late 2024.

Canadian Heritage has not explained why it allowed the commemorative nameplate for Niedra to be installed on the monument despite warnings by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.

Research data was provided to the department in 2021 by the organization showing that Niedra led a group of 40 men to help the Nazis round up and execute around 350 Latvian Jews. Those killed were women, children and senior citizens.

Niedra, who would later go on to serve the Nazis in various positions in Latvia, came to Canada after the war. He died in 1969.  (more...)

Nazi collaborator's name initially engraved on the Victims of Communism memorial