Wednesday night, Ilia Sucholutsky and his roommate were walking in Waterloo’s university district when they were startled by something they saw in the window of a building.
A Nazi flag was prominently displayed in an upper-floor window at the 271 Lester Street apartment building.
“It was quite shocking to see that here in Waterloo,” Sucholutsky said in an interview.
It’s not clear how long the flag had been there.
Sucholutsky says that once his roommate pulled out his phone to photograph the flag, it didn’t last much longer.
“Twenty or 30 seconds later, and the flag was already gone,” he said.
“We think whoever lives there noticed them taking the photos, and took the flag down.”
The photos soon spread across social media.
Mitchell Consky is a student at Wilfrid Laurier University who detailed his experiences with anti-Semitism in the campus newspaper last month.
He says those experiences included the word ‘Jew’ being keyed on a door, and swastikas drawn on a sheet in an elevator in his building – all since September.
“This is my third year living in Waterloo, and this is the first year where I’ve experienced any sort of anti-Semitic vandalism,” he said.
Officials at the University of Waterloo say they received multiple calls complaining about the flag, but couldn’t do much about it as it wasn’t displayed on university property.
“The university’s really disappointed that this symbol would be displayed in our community,” school spokesperson Nick Manning told CTV News.
“We don’t think it’s a symbol that’s appropriate around here, or anywhere.”
Waterloo Regional Police were also notified, but ended their investigation when they learned that the flag had been taken down.”
