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Czech and German neo-Nazis to commemorate bombing of Dresden in Karlovy Vary this year

12 February 2014
2 minute read

Nationalists from both the Czech Republic and Germany are using the Internet to convene an assembly in the Czech town of Karlovy Vary on the anniversary of the Allied bombing of Dresden in 1945. The event, allegedly a memorial march called "Light for Dresden", will take place this Saturday. 

Today Jan Kopál, spokesperson for the municipality, reported that the assembly has been announced to local officials. News server bnr.de, which focuses on the German ultra-right scene, reports that German neo-Nazis have already promised to participate in the event and are to bring busloads of supporters from Bavaria to the West Bohemian town.   

Antifa.cz reports that the invitation to the march first turned up on the website of the German political party Der Dritte Weg ("The Third Way"). The party was founded at the end of last September by a former functionary from the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), Klaus Armstroff, whom Antifa.cz says is an advocate for a harshly pro-national direction in politics who always considered the current ideological direction of the NPD not radical enough. 

The invitation has also turned up on the websites of Czech extremists. Organizers of the event intend to commemorate the anniversary of the "American and British air forces attacking the defenseless German town of Dresden." 

"Neo-Nazis working all over Germany have promised to participate in this ‘illuminated silent march’, which intends to draw attention to ‘crimes committed worldwide by Allied terrorists’," reports bnr.de, which monitors German neo-Nazi events. The website says buses of demonstrators will travel to the neighboring country from the Bavarian towns of Augsburg and Munich and from the Bavarian region of Franconia.  

Participation in the event is being mobilized in Germany primarily by an ultra-right political party and by the Bavarian neo-Nazi network "Free Network of the South", reports bnr.de. Czech Police are preparing for the assembly.

Regional Police spokesperson Pavel Valenta has said police will ensure public order is maintained during the event. The German ultra-right has regularly exploited the anniversary of the Allied bombings on 13 and 14 February 1945, during which at least 20 000 people died, in order to promote their ideas and draw attention to the alleged "bombing Holocaust of the German nation". 

In recent years their marches in Dresden itself have been blocked by anti-Fascists. The neo-Nazis have evidently decided to move the annual event elsewhere because of this.

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