RE: Statues, Monuments, and Monsters, OH MY... I introduce the "Nose of history".
I just wanna mention the cultural revolution of China, because it sounds very reminiscent to that.
I would guess that it is even something described by Machiavelli and such that you have to kill and burn everything that worships the old system that you want to replace.
Is it bad that Germany destroyed everything that reminded us of the Nazis? Yeah, I do actually think that by burying the Nazi-History a lot of people don't learn what really happened back then.
Can I understand that people wanted to destroy everything that reminded them of the Nazis? Yes, and I don't judge.
You know statues are not really history. Statues have always been a symbol for worship. It is hard to argue against someone who has a giant statue in Washington or his giant face shown in a mountain. The historical value of these statues is not comparable to that of temples or even the pyramids.
They are mental triggers to go and research a thing. They actually only have something to do with worship if your religion is centered around them. Otherwise they are much like visual cues for people, places, or events that were likely pivotal in some topic. Their mere presence is a mental inspiration to go see "What is this?"... that doesn't mean you suddenly become religious, racist, confederate. It means you have a clue that leads to learning something about history by finding cues. Without them it becomes blind luck that you find things for most things.
You know, the thing about preserving knowledge is that people have to decide if it is actually valuable enough to be preserved. It is like with your memory, you will remember important days like your marriage or birth of your childs, but you won't remember what your breakfirst was 20 years ago, I mean some people frame even that on facebook, but I think it's rather silly ;)
I strive to be known or mentioned thousands years from now, but I know that I have to do something special for that to be the case. History won't reward me for sitting at home and playing video games all day.