An anti-fascist scholar says Canadian institutions must reconcile their possible Nazi pasts after revelations about a former Winnipeg Art Gallery director.
New evidence published earlier this month about Ferdinand Eckhardt, who was at the helm of the WAG for 21 years, suggests he was a strong Nazi supporter.
Helmut-Harry Loewen, a scholar and former sociology instructor at the University of Winnipeg, says he was “blown away” by Conrad Sweatman’s Nov. 9 article in the Walrus.
“It became clear then that some of my initial suspicions were on the mark,” said Loewen, who called Eckhardt a respected leader in the Canadian arts community.
Loewen says evidence presented in the article proves Eckhardt was a Nazi supporter, such as his writings being published in well-known Nazi newspapers.
But the irrefutable evidence, according to Loewen, is the public vow of allegiance to Adolf Hitler signed by Eckhardt and 87 prolific German writers. Eckhardt’s name is next to writer Gottfried Benn, who Loewen says was a well-known Nazi sympathizer.
“This was a very interesting document to me,” said Loewen. “Not just anybody was able to sign that document, you had to have some standing.
“These are all indicators, and this is the crux of the matter. You can call Ferdinand Eckhardt a ‘fellow traveler’ or a ‘sympathizer’ with Hitler. There’s no question he was that. It goes deeper. He was an ideologically committed fascist who was a faithful servant to the genocidally racist Nazi regime.” (more...)
Nazi claims against former Winnipeg Art Gallery director lead to calls for recognizing Canada’s past
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