Nazi collaborator monuments in Argentina

The country notorious for being a safe haven for Nazis and fascists has a monument to Nazi collaborators near Buenos Aires

Monument “to the glory of those who gave their lives so that Ukraine could live forever,” with busts of Stepan Bandera, far left, and Roman Shukhevych, second from left, Camp Veselka, Canning. Image by Facebook

By Lev Golinkin January 26, 2023

This list is part of an ongoing investigative project the Forward first published in January 2021 documenting hundreds of monuments around the world to people involved in the Holocaust. We are continuing to update each country’s list; if you know of any not included here, or of statues that have been removed or streets renamed, please email [email protected], subject line: Nazi monument project.

Left: Monument “to the glory of those who gave their lives so that Ukraine could live forever,” with busts of Stepan Bandera (far left) and Roman Shukhevych (second from left), Camp Veselka, Canning. Right: Bandera (Wikimedia Commons). Image by Lev Golinkin

Canning – The Veselka youth camp in this town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires has a monument dedicated “To the glory of those who gave their lives so that Ukraine could live forever,” featuring busts of Nazi collaborators Stepan Bandera (1909–1959) and Roman Shukhevych (1907–1950).

Bandera led a faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B), a fascist group that had allied itself with the Nazis and participated in the Holocaust, killing thousands of Jews. Shukhevych was a commanding officer in Nachtigall, an auxiliary battalion in the Third Reich armed forces; the battalion’s men participated in the deadly L’viv pogrom in 1941. In 1942, Nachtigall was reorganized into the 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion, a Nazi auxiliary formation which carried out brutal attacks on partisans in Belarus. Beginning in 1943, Shukhevych led the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the OUN-B’s paramilitary branch that liquidated thousands of Jews and 70,000–100,000 Poles.

Attempts to honor Bandera and Shukhevych have been denounced numerous times by organizations such as the World Jewish Congress (and here), the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the government of Israel.

As a side note, the Canning monument also has a bust of Symon Petliura (1879–1926), a WWI-era nationalist whose troops massacred tens of thousands of Jews across Ukraine, albeit before the Holocaust.

Below left is a close-up of the Bandera and Shukhevych busts; below right, the 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion training, with Shukhevych in the front row, closest to the camera.

See the U.S. section for two very similar youth camp monuments and the Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Ukraine and U.K. sections for more honors to Ukrainian Nazi collaborators.

Left: Stepan Bandera (left) and Roman Shukhevych busts, Camp Veselka, Canning (Facebook). Right: Shukhevych (front row, closest to camera) with the 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion, 1942. Image by Lev Golinkin

Lev Golinkin is a regular contributor to the Forward whose work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC, The Boston Globe, Politico Europe, and Time.com. His memoir, A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, chronicles his immigration from Ukraine.

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