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Czech President: Behind the slogan "Bohemia for the Czechs" I hear the Nazi cry of "Juden raus"!

15 June 2013
3 minute read

Czech President Miloš Zeman warned against Nazism at today’s ceremony marking the 71st anniversary of the annihilation of Lidice by Nazi soldiers. In his view, Nazi ideology exists in society today, although it is still in embryonic form.

Zeman said that behind the innocent-sounding slogan "Bohemia for the Czechs" (Čechy Čechům) he hears the Nazi cry of "Juden raus". "On the streets of some towns, bands of skinheads flock together expounding slogans that are strikingly similar to Nazi ones. Yes, this is just an embryo, but German Nazism began this exact same way," he said.

By all indications the president was referring to demonstrations which recently have taken place in the north of the country in particular. "The false prophets of national exceptionalism insist we should be proud of having been born in a particular place, but where we are born is not up to us. What we should be proud of is the work of our entire lives, both our own and that of our fellow citizens," the president emphasized. In his view, false pride based solely on one’s birth leads, along with other things, to ideas of national exceptionalism and hatred toward foreigners.

The Nazis burned Lidice to the ground on 1 June 1942. The reason given was a putative connection between a resident of Lidice and the assassination of acting Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich.

A total of 173 men were shot in the village. The women were interned in a concentration camp and the children, with the exception of several selected to be raised as Germans and infants less than one year old, were murdered by the Nazis in the gas chambers of an extermination camp.

A total of 340 residents of Lidice were murdered. After the war ended, 143 women and 17 children who had been deported from Lidice returned to their homeland. 

Speech by the President of the Czech Republic at the commemorative ceremony in Lidice

Dear women and children of Lidice, dear citizens,

We are gathered here in Lidice to honor the memory of the completely innocent men of Lidice who were murdered and to remember the suffering of the women and children of Lidice – but not only for this reason. We must ask ourselves whether the danger that culminated back then in the extraordinary tragedy of Lidice is not still present among us, albeit in embryonic form.

On the streets of some towns, bands of skinheads flock together expounding slogans that are strikingly similar to Nazi ones. Yes, this is just an embryo, but German Nazism began this exact same way.

There is one slogan I would like to consider today, the apparently innocent-sounding slogan "Bohemia for the Czechs" (Čechy Čechům). I hear the Nazi shout of "Juden raus!" behind that slogan.

The false prophets of national exceptionalism insist we should be proud of having been born in a particular place, but where we are born is not up to us. What we should be proud of is the work of our entire lives, both our own and that of our fellow citizens, but this false pride based solely on one’s birth leads, along with other things, to ideas of national exceptionalism and hatred toward foreigners, to the ideas of the herrenvolk, the master race, and to hatred of difference. That is why I would like to draw attention to the real reasons for individual and national pride. 

Ladies and gentlemen, the most beautiful, and also the saddest, memorial I have ever seen in my entire life is the memorial to the children of Lidice. That is why I have decided to award Madam Marie Uchytilová, who passed away on 16 November 1989, state honors for her life’s work on the occasion of the state holiday this 28 October.

Thank you for your attention.

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