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'
Author of the article
avid Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Published May 16, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 5 minute read
The Victims of Communism memorial opened to the public with no names inscribed.
The Victims of Communism memorial opened to the public with no names inscribed. Photo by JULIE OLIVER /POSTMEDIA
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.
The existence of the nameplate honouring Niedra was first reported by Ricochet Media, an investigative online news outlet.
Canadian Heritage spokesperson Caroline Czajkowski said in an email that Niedra’s name was removed from the memorial before its public inauguration. It was flagged in 2023 after a Canadian Heritage employee raised concerns about Niedra’s Nazi connections. The documents show the main concern in the department was that the public or news media might see the name engraved on the memorial.
The nameplate, along with other nameplates for the memorial, “are being stored at a National Capital Commission facility,” according to the department.
The Victims of Communism Memorial
The memorial opened in late 2024. Photo by JULIE OLIVER /POSTMEDIA
Czajkowski would not say exactly where the items were being stored. Canadian Heritage declined to say how many names were engraved on the panels that were supposed to eventually be installed on the Ottawa memorial.
Czajkowski did not comment on why Canadian Heritage previously claimed that no names had been engraved on the monument despite the government records clearly showing that was not the case. She would not comment on what will happen now with the nameplates.
It is unclear whether Canadian Heritage will eventually install Niedra’s name on the national monument or have the plate destroyed.
Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, a senior director at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, said the organization repeatedly warned Canadian Heritage that numerous individuals slated to be honoured on the memorial were not victims at all. Instead, they were Nazi collaborators responsible for the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity, she added.
“Over the years, we have submitted documentation detailing the atrocities committed by several individuals on the (memorial) list – including in 2021, when we provided comprehensive evidence of the war crimes committed by Janis Niedra against Latvia’s Jewish population,” said Kirzner-Roberts. “It is deeply disturbing that, despite our repeated warnings and the clear, documented evidence, the name of a Nazi involved in the murder of Jews during the Holocaust was ultimately engraved on the Memorial. This is simply unacceptable.”
The memorial, which is located near the corner of Wellington and Bay streets, is supposed to honour those who suffered under communism. But concerns have been raised over the years by Jewish organizations and historians that names of eastern Europeans who collaborated with the Nazis in the Holocaust have been put forward in an attempt to whitewash their past.
In 2021, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center revealed that Roman Shukhevych, a Ukrainian nationalist who collaborated with the Nazis and was linked to the massacres of Jews and Poles, was one of those being commemorated. Only after the group repeatedly raised the matter with the department was Shukhevych’s name removed.
The Memorial to the Victims of Communism
The memorial sits on the west side of the Garden of the Provinces and Territories in downtown Ottawa. Photo by JULIE OLIVER /POSTMEDIA
The monument has been the focus of multiple controversies over its exact purpose, location, size and cost over the last 15 years. The price tag for the project ballooned to an estimated $7.5 million — including $6 million in public funds — from an original budget of $1.5 million. The cost of the memorial was supposed to be funded entirely through private donations from Tribute to Liberty, the organization behind the monument. But those fundraising efforts fell far short and taxpayers had to foot most of the cost.
Ludwik Klimkowski, chairman of Tribute to Liberty, did not respond to a request for comment.
But in a Dec. 14, 2024 post on the social media platform X, Klimkowski responded to concerns the monument was honouring Nazi collaborators. “Let’s stop the nonsense of the Nazi commemoration nonsense perpetrated by Canadian Marxists and the agents of the Kremlin’s regime,” Klimkowski wrote.
Holocaust scholars and Jewish groups have continued to denounce claims their efforts to expose Nazi war criminals and collaborators are part of some Russian plot or disinformation scheme. The fact that some eastern Europeans played key roles in the Holocaust and supporting the Nazi regime is well documented, they add.
Federal officials in other departments have also continued to warn Canadian Heritage that the inclusion of Nazi collaborators on the memorial will cause international embarrassment. “It is important to note that many anti-communist and anti-Soviet advocates and fighters were also active Nazi collaborators, who committed documented massacres,” Global Affairs Canada officials warned their counterparts at Canadian Heritage in 2021. Those records were obtained by the Ottawa Citizen using the access law.
In addition, on Oct. 7, 2024 the Ottawa Citizen revealed that a report prepared for Canadian Heritage recommended more than half of the 550 names planned to go on the memorial should be removed. That was because of potential links to the Nazis, questions about affiliations with fascist groups or a lack of information about what the individuals did during the Second World War. As originally planned, there were to be 553 entries on the memorial’s Wall of Remembrance.
The department had already determined that 50 to 60 of the names or organizations were likely directly linked to the Nazis, according to the documents.
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Canadian Heritage engraved the nameplates before deciding who to commemorate
ricochet.media
Name of Latvian Nazi collaborator who executed women and children during Holocaust honoured on Victims of Communism monument in Canada.
torontosun.com
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