grey boy 2
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2009
- Messages
- 6,484
- Reaction score
- -2
- Country
- Location
Two Czech army men found wearing Nazi symbols at Afghan mission21:40, November 09, 2009
A scandal hit the Czech army on Monday when two commanders of Czech elite troops wore Nazi symbols on their helmets during their mission in Afghanistan, Czech daily MF Dnes reported.
"Such a case cannot be tolerated," Czech Defense Minister Martin Bartak said, having decided to kick them out of service and severely punish them.
Lieutenant Jan Cermak wore the SS Dirlewanger brigade, and sergeant Hynek Matonoha wore the symbol of the 9th SS panzer division Hohenstaufen.
The SS units were the cruelest of German dictator Adolf Hitler's armed forces, which actively exterminated civil population of occupied countries during the Second World War.
Even today, it is a crime to boast their emblems in the Czech Republic as well as in most European countries, Bartak said.
He has ordered chief-of-staff Vlastimil Picek to investigate the case.
When their (Cermak and Matonoha's) commander found it out, he ordered them to burn the covering, but did not punish them. He will face investigation himself, too, the newspaper said.
Both men, having served in Afghan's Logar province, were decorated for bravery on Friday after they returned home from the mission.
But Bartak stressed that no extremist tendencies can be tolerated, saying the case was bad for the reputation of the Czech army in foreign missions.
Source: Xinhua
Two Czech army men found wearing Nazi symbols at Afghan mission - People's Daily Online
A scandal hit the Czech army on Monday when two commanders of Czech elite troops wore Nazi symbols on their helmets during their mission in Afghanistan, Czech daily MF Dnes reported.
"Such a case cannot be tolerated," Czech Defense Minister Martin Bartak said, having decided to kick them out of service and severely punish them.
Lieutenant Jan Cermak wore the SS Dirlewanger brigade, and sergeant Hynek Matonoha wore the symbol of the 9th SS panzer division Hohenstaufen.
The SS units were the cruelest of German dictator Adolf Hitler's armed forces, which actively exterminated civil population of occupied countries during the Second World War.
Even today, it is a crime to boast their emblems in the Czech Republic as well as in most European countries, Bartak said.
He has ordered chief-of-staff Vlastimil Picek to investigate the case.
When their (Cermak and Matonoha's) commander found it out, he ordered them to burn the covering, but did not punish them. He will face investigation himself, too, the newspaper said.
Both men, having served in Afghan's Logar province, were decorated for bravery on Friday after they returned home from the mission.
But Bartak stressed that no extremist tendencies can be tolerated, saying the case was bad for the reputation of the Czech army in foreign missions.
Source: Xinhua
Two Czech army men found wearing Nazi symbols at Afghan mission - People's Daily Online
