Colorado suburb area changes name from 'Swastika Acres'

The neighourhood is now called 'Cherry Hills Village.'

Thursday 18 April 2019 21:34 BST
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A suburb in Denver, Colorado called Swastika Acres has officially been renamed - decades after it was given its now-shocking name.

The 56-lot subdivision was named by the Denver Swastika Land Co. in 1908, decades before the Nazis reappropriated the ancient religious icon. The original name doesn’t appear anywhere in the area now, and realtors fail to mention it in listings.

The community will now be called Cherry Hills Village.

Residents say they’ve been calling the suburb “Cherry Hills Village” for years. Still, the community felt it was time for an official change.

“I think it’s important for our community to bring some closure to this issue,” Councilman Dan Sheldon, who led the effort to rename the suburb, told the Denver Post. “The community has cried out for this to be changed.”

Susan Cooper, a Cherry Hills Village resident whose family members survived the Holocaust, is one of the few residents who opposed the name change.

“I don’t think you should erase history,” Cooper told the Denver Post. “What would it be like if people denied the Holocaust? You have to get the facts of history.”

Still, the measure to officially change the name passed unanimously in city council meeting on Tuesday. The change appears to have gone into effect immediately.

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