Ajax to rename street named for German WWII navy captain

Resident says man was a Nazi and shouldn’t be honoured

An Ajax street named after a German naval captain is getting a new name.

Ajax council voted 4-3 on Monday to rename Langsdorff Drive after hearing from several delegations, including a Holocaust survivor, from both sides of the issue.

The street, in the Bayly Street and Pickering Beach Road area, was named after Hans Langsdorff, the captain of the Graf Spee, the German ship involved in the Battle of the River Plate. The battle was in September 1939 and was the first Allied naval victory in the Second World War.

After exchanging fire with three Allied ships, the Graf Spee sought cover in Montevideo, Uruguay, a neutral country.

The Allies deceived the Germans into thinking a large naval force awaited the Graf Spee.

Langsdorff reviewed his options with commanders in Berlin, ultimately scuttling the ship in the River Plate estuary. Two days later he committed suicide in his Buenos Aires hotel room.

The German captain had the choice of going out to fight, be defeated and have hundreds of his men killed, former Ajax mayor Steve Parish said at the 2007 dedication ceremony to name the street after Langsdorff.

Rather, he “scuttled the ship and saved lives. When he did that, he knew he would suffer at the hands of Hitler,” Parish said 13 years ago.

The town took its name from the HMS Ajax, one of the three Allied ships involved in the Battle of the River Plate.

In August of this year, Ajax council voted to reject the name Graf Spee Lane for a new street.

Ajax resident Adam Wiseman said he was “quite surprised” when he learned the town had named a street for a German naval captain.

He said Langsdorff was a Nazi and he shouldn’t be honoured.

Wiseman said he understands people “wanting to find something good in something so evil. It’s not there in Hans Langsdorff. I’m not one who wants to hide history. River Plate Drive, that’s a great name.”

Wiseman said he’s received “a lot of support in Ajax, but also a lot of support internationally. It will only grow if this doesn’t go our way. You want to be on the right side of history on this.”

Langsdorff hasn’t been linked to any Nazi atrocities, Parish noted.