I imagine that Wente and many of those agreeing with her here are ready to join an international movement to replace all the downed statues of Communist and Nazi leaders in present-day Russia and Germany. How dare they "erase" their pasts?

In truth, the toppling of statues of Lenin and Hitler doesn't seem to have affected our remembrance and understanding of those histories in the slightest. It seems that the toppling of those symbols is part of those histories not something separate from them.

These symbols are catalysts for public debate and, if a consensus is reached as to their desirability they will be retained or removed. That is history.