Graffiti spray-painted on a monument to Nazi soldiers in a small Canadian city is being investigated by police as a hate crime – a move that has prompted disbelief among human rights advocates. Around 21 June, the words “Nazi war monument” were spray-painted on to a cenotaph commemorating soldiers in the 14th SS Division in an Ontario cemetery, the Ottawa Citizen reported. The cenotaph is located in Oakville’s St Volodymyr Ukrainian cemetery, roughly 40km (25 miles) from Toronto. Regional police have said they were treating the graffiti as a “hate-motivated” incident – but declined to release the wording of the message. The 14th division was made up of Ukrainian nationalists who joined the Nazis during the second world war. Members of the division are believed to have murdered Polish women and children, as well as Jewish people. Because of their role in Ukrainian nationalism, however, the soldiers have been commemorated by at least two diaspora communities in Canada. It is against the law in Canada to make a public statement which “incites hatred against any identifiable group”. According to police, the “incident occurred to a monument and the graffiti appeared to target an identifiable group”, Constable Steve Elms told the Ottawa Citizen. But a hate-crime investigation into Nazi sympathizers has confounded at least one prominent human rights expert. “I am frankly dumbfounded!” tweeted Bernie Farber, chair of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, who added that he would gladly offer a workshop to officers to educate them on the nature of hate crimes – and called for a retraction by police. “At no time did the Halton regional police service consider that the identifiable group targeted by the graffiti was Nazis,” the police said, instead suggesting it was the Ukrainian community that was targeted. “We regret any hurt caused by misinformation that suggests that the service in any way supports Nazism.”
via guardian: Canada police investigate vandalism of monument to Nazi troops as hate crime
siehe auch: Graffiti on monument commemorating Nazi SS division being investigated as a hate crime by police. An incident involving graffiti spray painted on a monument to those who fought in Adolf Hitler’s SS is being investigated as a hate crime by an Ontario police force. Someone painted “Nazi war monument” on a stone cenotaph commemorating those who served with the 14th SS Division. The monument is located in Oakville in the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery. The division, made up of Ukrainians who pledged allegiance to Hitler, was part of the Nazi’s Waffen SS organization. Some members of the division have been accused of killing Polish women and children as well as Jews during the Second World War. Halton Regional Police believe the graffiti was spray painted on the cenotaph sometime around June 21. Police said they were investigating the incident as a “hate-motivated” crime but they declined to release images of the graffiti so as to stop “further spreading” of the message. But researcher Moss Robeson, who has written articles on Ukrainians who collaborated with the Nazis, provided details about the graffiti and the monument on Twitter, prompting questions about why Halton Regional Police think members of the Nazi SS can be the subject of hate crimes.