Two elite Czech soldiers wore SS shields on their helmets in Afghanistan

Two Czech commanders from the elite Fourth Brigade of the Rapid Reaction Forces who have just returned from Afghanistan have been wearing the shield designs of Nazi SS brigades and divisions on their helmets for almost their entire tour of duty in Logar. The story was broken today by Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD).

MfD reports that these same commanders were decorated last Friday in Žatec for their model fulfillment of the Afghan mission by Czech Defense Minister Martin Barták and Chief of General Staff Vlastimil Picek. However, MfD reports that for the time being there is no evidence that Barták and Picek were aware of the two elite soldiers’ Nazi sympathies. The helmets of company lieutenant Jan Čermák and warrant officer Hynek Matonoha were “decorated” with the shields of the SS Hohenstaufen and SS Dirlewanger brigades.

“You cannot be serious!” was Joint Forces Commander Hynek Blaško’s response to the information. “I am too disturbed by this to be able to tell you what I am going to do about it at the moment, but such people have no place in the Army.” The daily reports that Picek was also surprised by the news and ordered military police to intervene before leaving the country on state business.

The daily reports that police officers serving in Afghanistan had already 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 writes. Photographic evidence of the symbols was said to have also been destroyed by Procházka’s order, with only a few images preserved.

Soldiers of the elite brigade warned of the Nazi symbols in a letter to their superiors before turning to MfD, but do not want their names published. They believe the Army command is intentionally keeping silent about the issue and erasing all record of it.

“I really did have an SS shield on my helmet. It was childish of me and I am terribly sorry. Today I know these shields are SS symbols. My name is Honza, so I put the H with a sword on my helmet … as my initial,” Lieutenant Jan [Honza] Čermák said. He was unable to explain why Matonoha wore two crossed shells, the sign of the SS Dirlewanger brigade.

Michal Mazel, a leading expert on neo-Nazism, does not buy the excuse that this was a youthful indiscretion. “These are college-educated, elite soldiers, not adolescents. The SS shields on their helmets testify to a world view that is the complete opposite of that which should be held by the elite soldiers of a NATO army,” Mazel said.

The MfD report comes just days after the daily reported that career military services member Lukáš Sedláček co-founded the neo-Nazi extremist organization White Justice, which was preparing terrorist attacks on power stations and planning the kidnappings of police officers and “highly placed Jews”. Defense Minister Barták subsequently ordered Sedláček be discharged.