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Experts: Number of neo-Nazis in the Czech Army impossible to estimate

22 October 2012
4 minute read

Experts on right-wing extremism contacted by ČTK say that while it is impossible to estimate how many neo-Nazis or extreme-right adherents there are in the Czech Army, their numbers are most probably not large. Experts also agree that neo-Nazis in the military do not present a serious security threat, but the transfer of experience or munitions from the military to civilian right-wing extremists could be a problem.

“Examples of neo-Nazism in the Czech military are sporadic and are similar to those in other armies,” political scientist Zdeněk Zbořil told ČTK. “I believe there are larger numbers of real neo-Nazis among the less intelligent football fans than there are among police officers or soldiers.”

According to Martin Bastl, a political scientist and expert on extremism at Masaryk University, there are probably only a few individual soldiers who are active neo-Nazis. “There are some people there who directly work in smaller neo-Nazi groups, but the number of those who are just sympathizers could be higher,” he said. He also believes there might be people in the Czech Army who are attracted to only certain aspects of Nazi Germany. “They might be fascinated by the Wehrmacht itself, be impressed by its military technology and military successes, but not necessarily sympathize with the ideology,” Bastl said.

Ondřej Cakl of Tolerance and Civil Society (Tolerance a občanská společnost), a long-time observer of the ultra-right scene, told ČTK the Czech Defense Ministry has investigated several people in the past in relation to right-wing extremism. He recalled the case of Martin Hrach, originally a soldier with the artillery division in Pardubice, who had been under investigation since 2007 due to his support for right-wing movements. Hrach allegedly did not definitively leave the army until this past March. Cakl says Hrach participated in last year’s unrest at the Janov housing estate in Litvínov.

Czech Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb said at the end of April that there are about 90 sympathizers of extremist movements among soldiers in the Czech Army. The Czech Defense Ministry later issued a disclaimer.

Bastl says he believes the security threat posed by such people is not high. “The greatest danger is that they will transfer their experience and skills to others who are not members of the security forces,” the political scientist says. Cakl says transfer of weapons is also a possibility: “Military-issue explosives were found at Janov.”

Czech Defense Minister Martin Barták has announced that Lukáš Sedláček, said to have co-founded and trained the neo-Nazi organization White Justice, has been discharged from the Army. Police originally suspected some of the members of the group of preparing terrorist attacks on living and inanimate targets, such as power stations, but in the end the members were charged with supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) has reported the organization was preparing terrorist attacks and planning the kidnappings of police officers and “highly placed Jews.”

Barták also announced today that Jan Čermák and Hynek Matonoha, the Czech soldiers who wore SS unit symbols on their helmets in Afghanistan, have been temporarily removed from duty. MfD reported the symbols as being those of the SS Dirlewanger brigade and the SS Hohenstaufen division. “I would call that the ignorance and stupidity of those particular soldiers,” Zbořil commented. According to Cakl, however, there may be more such cases.

Both Bastl and Zbořil say the soldiers probably selected the SS unit symbols randomly. “If they chose them for their reputation…those were real thugs. Those two units were renowned for their brutality, especially the Dirlewanger brigade,” Zbořil said.

Bastl believes the choice of symbols had more to do with image than with the soldiers espousing Nazi ideology. “Machismo, the cult of the soldier, is connected with this symbolism,” he said. “As far as I am aware, this is not a one-off incident. This kind of stylizing happens in other circles too, both in the Czech Army and in other NATO armies,” Bastl says.

“What is more alarming is that they were commanding officers and that someone tried to sweep this under the carpet,” Zbořil said. MfD reports that police officers serving in Afghanistan had previously informed their superiors of Čermák and Matonoha’s behavior. “Nothing was done about it. To be more precise, the commander of the contingent in Logar, Petr Procházka, merely ordered the incineration of the helmet covers with the SS unit symbols,” MfD reports.

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