FIFA urged to take action after stadium renamed for Nazi collaborator
It is “fully understandable” that Ternopil seeks to “honor those who fought against Soviet Communism,” wrote Zuroff, but not those behind “the mass murder of innocent fellow citizens.”
By ZACHARY KEYSERFIFA President Gianni Infantino waits for the start of a signing ceremony at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) headquarters in Vienna, Austria September 14, 2020. (photo credit: LEONHARD FOEGER / REUTERS)
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) penned a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino in response to the naming of a stadium Ternopil after Roman Shukhevych, who was a Nazi-allied militia leader.In the letter send to Infantino, the center noted the efforts of Eastern Europe Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Efraim Zuroff's efforts to persuade the city of Ternopil to reconsider the "renaming of its stadium in honor of Nazi collaborator, Hauptmann of the SS Schutzmannschaft 201, Roman Shukhevych, an active participant in the mass murder of Jews and Poles in World War II, many in the same city of Ternopil."It is “fully understandable” that Ternopil seeks to “honor those who fought against Soviet Communism,” wrote Zuroff, but not those behind “the mass murder of innocent fellow citizens.”Zuroff suggested the stadium should be named after the "Ukrainian Righteous" who harbored, and protected Jewish fugitives, from the man for which the stadium was named for, at the expense of their own safety.A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleg Nikolenko, on Twitter defended the country “preserving the national memory,” following a protest by Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine, Joel Lion, on Twitter. Nikolenko added this “remains one of the priorities of Ukraine’s state policy.”The letter also noted the correspondence FIFA and the SWC had surrounding the outrage at the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) glorification of terrorism in naming tournaments, teams and stadia after murderers."Infantino responded at the time, invoking FIFA Statute art. 4: "...to take a clear stance against discrimination of any kind.”The Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations Dr. Shimon Samuels urged the FIFA president “to agenda the Ternopil outrage at the 71st FIFA Congress on 21 May, via Zoom from Tokyo,” continuing, “We expect you to insist that the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) refuse that matches be held in the stadium until it is renamed in the spirit of FIFA’s statutes.”“FIFA must not be associated with abuse of football in the service of hate. Naming the Ternopil stadium for a Nazi collaborator in mass murder sullies the ‘Beautiful Game’ worldwide,” Samuels concluded in his note.Canaan Lipshiz contributed to this report.
