Manitoba authorities and art gallery revoke accolades linked to an individual accused of supporting the Nazi regime.

The Manitoba government and a renowned art gallery are rescinding accolades bestowed upon Ferdinand Eckhardt due to apprehensions about his alleged support for the Nazi regime in the 1930s, prior to his relocation to Winnipeg.

“This is a person who, to speak very frankly, pledged an oath of allegiance to (Adolf) Hitler, and he has no place being honoured in the public sphere here in Manitoba,” Premier Wab Kinew said Wednesday.

Kinew marked through Eckhardt’s name in a book documenting recipients of the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, an award created in 1957 to acknowledge individuals for their community service or leadership. Kinew explained that instead of outright erasing Eckhardt’s name, he chose to draw a line through it and include a note indicating the revocation of the honor.

“We have to let the stain remain,” Kinew told reporters.

“It’s my hope that future generations of Manitobans will know that … yes, there was a time where this person was allowed to come to Canada and was celebrated in the past, and then there was a time where a reckoning took place and that injustice was corrected.”

The Order of the Buffalo Hunt persists in its tradition of conferring awards, with recent recipients including the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. However, its prominence diminished, taking on a more informal nature, following the establishment of the Order of Manitoba by the province in 1999.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery, where Eckhardt held the position of director from 1953 to 1974, has announced the removal of Eckhardt’s name from both its main entrance hall and all gallery materials.

Eckhardt passed away in 1995, and details about his history came to light last November through The Walrus magazine.

According to The Walrus, Eckhardt, originally from Vienna, openly supported Nazism and authored multiple statements in far-right publications during the early 1930s before relocating to Canada and assuming the role of director at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

The magazine revealed that in 1933, Eckhardt, along with other writers, pledged allegiance to Hitler, worked for a conglomerate utilizing forced labor, and was later conscripted into the German army during the 1940s.

In 1976, Eckhardt received the Order of Canada in recognition of his ‘tireless efforts in enhancing the (Winnipeg Art) Gallery’s collection and fostering public interest in art,’ as documented on the governor general’s website. It is important to note that membership in the Order of Canada concludes upon the individual’s death.