Wiesenthal Center Calls Upon Ternopil City Council to Reconsider Naming New Football Stadium for Nazi Collaborator Roman Shukhevych

Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center today sent a strong letter of protest to the city council of the Ukrainiancity of Ternopil, which just named its newly rebuilt football stadium after Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevych, whose forces were active participants in the mass murder of Jews andPoles in World War II.

In a letter sent today to Ternopil mayor Serhiy Nadal and the local city council, the Center's chief Nazi-hunter Holocaust historianDr. Efraim Zuroff emphasized Shukhevych's role in Holocaust and World War II crimes and urged that the stadium be renamed for Ukrainian Righteous Among the Nations.

According to Zuroff:

"It is fully understandable that your city seeks to honor those who fought against Soviet Communism, but the mass murder ofinnocent fellow citizens because of their religion or nationality should totally disqualify any such person from being turned into a national hero.

"We urge you to reconsider your unfortunate and totally outrageous decision and suggest that you instead honor UkrainianRighteous Among the Nations who have been honored by Yad Vashem for risking their lives to save innocent Jews from the likes of Shukheych and those under his command."

For additional information please contact the Israel Office of the Wiesenthal Center: Tel: 972-2-563-1274 or Tel: 972-50-721-4156,follow the Center on Facebook, or @simonwiesenthal and @EZuroff for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament(Parlatino).