Nazi pilot won't be honoured at Quebec event celebrating women in aviation

There will be no mention ofthe first woman to fly a helicopter, Hanna Reitsch, at a celebration of women in aviation in Quebecthis weekend, after the mayor ofLachuteannounced Thursday his town wouldn'tallow the event to proceed if it glorified someone with a Nazi past.

• Women's aviation organization defends decision to honour Nazi pilot

As many as 800 women and girls are expected to gather at a municipal airfield in Lachute, 80 kilometres northwest of Montreal, on Saturday for the Women of Aviation Worldwide (WOAW) eventjust one of many events taking place across four continents.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of Reitsch'sfirst helicopter flight, and as CBC first reported Wednesday, organizers planned to celebrate that accomplishment with videos of Reitsch in action and posters about her.

Reitsch, who died in 1979, is remembered not only as a pioneering female pilot, but as a star of Nazi party propaganda.

"Notoriously, she is remembered for very close connections to Adolf Hitler," said Jean Allman, a professor of history at Washington University in St. Louis, who has written about Reitsch.

Allman and other historians have described Reitsch as an "unrepentant" Nazi.

In an interview on CBC's Daybreak,LachuteMayor Carl Ploquin said when the town heard about the event, they contacted the promoter and made it very clear they wanted no part in it.

"We told them that we wouldn'tbe accepting or tolerating any kind of events in relation with Nazism or any other kind of extremist movement," he said.

Saturday's event is to take place at a municipal airport on municipal land.Ploquin said the city receiveda letter from the organizers guaranteeing there won't be any mention or tribute to anyone linked to theNazis.

Marguerite Varin, the event organizer,wouldn't comment on what discussions took place between herself and the city.

She said simply that anyone who had questions about it were invited to attend and find out for themselves.

'I take my hat off to the city ofLachute'

Informed by the CBC earlier this week about the planned celebration of Reitsch's role in aviation history, the national director of the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada, Amanda Hohmann, called it "very troubling."

B'nai Brith's national legal counsel, StevenSlimovitch, said Thursday honouring Reitsch shows "a complete misunderstanding on how the fight against racism needs to be approached."

"I take my hat off to the city of Lachute, to have come forward and taken a principled stance," Slimovitchsaid.

Reitsch's bio still up on website

It's not clear if Reitsch will be honoured at other events in Canada and elsewhere in the world organized by the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide.

The Luftwaffe test pilot's photograph and a brief biography remain up on thewebsite, linked to another websitewith a longer biography that describes Reitsch as a "star of Nazi party propaganda."