CZECH REPUBLIC

 

A cluster of groups, some with a clear neo-Nazi ideology, has been increasingly active in organizing xenophobic, racist and antisemitic activities, targeting chiefly the Roma. There has been a slow rise in antisemitic manifestations in recent years, mostly against Jewish property and sites The Czech Republic has become the last member state that has not implemented the EU Race Equality directive.

 

the jewish community

The Jewish community in the Czech Republic numbers some 4,000 (2006 figure) out of a total population of 10.2 million. The great majority are concentrated in Prague, with smaller communities in Brno, Plzen, and Olomouc. The Federation of Jewish Communities of the Czech Republic is the umbrella organization of ten individual communities in the republic. International Jewish organizations take an active part in the restoration of Jewish sites and property as well as in fostering educational activity at the Terezin concentration camp site.

            While in 1989 the average age of community members was sixty plus, over the years the average age has dropped since greater attention has been paid to the younger generation. The community has an active youth organization, which arranges events on the Jewish holidays, as well as a well-known annual seminar attended by Jewish youth from neighboring countries, too. A Jewish kindergarten, elementary school and high school have operated since the late 1990s.

            Jewish organizations and the community take part in the restoration of the numerous abandoned synagogues, monuments, and in the maintenance of cemeteries. Prague's historic Jewish town, considered the best preserved complex of Jewish monuments in Europe, together with the Jewish Museum, is a major international tourist attraction.

           

extremist parties and groups

In the past few years, and particularly since the 2006 general elections, there have been dramatic changes in the environment and activities of extremist groups and movements in the Czech Republic (see http://www.errc.org/db/04/10/m00000410.pdf).

 A cluster of groups, some of them with a clear neo-Nazi ideology, have been increasingly active in organizing xenophobic, racist and antisemitic activities, targeting chiefly the Roma. Several reasons can be proffered for growing extremism in the Czech Republic, which has dimmed somewhat the very positive image of the country since the Velvet Revolution, and the relatively smooth transition from communism to democracy and membership in NATO and the EU.

            One factor is the "explosion" of freedom of speech, and the weaknesses of the new legal system in coping, throughout the 1990s, with cases testing the limits of such freedom. Anti-fascist legislation has proven to be rather lax and often ineffective. In addition, the Czech Republic has become the last member state that has not implemented the EU Race Equality directive. Vetoed by Czech President Václav Klaus in 2008, it was to be discussed again by Parliament in 2009.

            Another factor is the growing populist, often Euro-skeptic, nationalist discourse, similar to that in some of the other former communist states. Against the background of the economic crisis and political instability, which in the past decade have clouded the Czech political scene, the "pessimistic classes" – an expression which might be applied to frustrated segments of society that feel that they "have been left behind" − appear to have adopted a more tolerant line toward the extremists.

According to some experts, the media, manipulated by extreme right groups, inflates the significance of the latter (see http://www.radio.cz/cz/clanek/116773).

            While these groups might change their names and blur their identities, the actual extremist spectrum does not seem to have broadened in recent years. Nevertheless, there appears to have been an increase in membership and in participation in extremist meetings and demonstrations, as well as in the number of political events, indicating a shift from notoriously racist rock concerts to a quest for legitimation and eventual involvement in the political process (see http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/eur/119075.htm;

http://www.errc.org/db/04/10/m00000410.pdf). Further, the extreme right Workers Party (Delnicka Strana – DS) and the National Party (Národní strana − NS) were intending to participate in the June 2009 EU elections. Crossing the one percent threshold would qualify them for state funds.

            In addition to those two extreme right parties, National Resistance (Narodni Odbor − NR) is the leading, largest neo-Nazi organization in the Czech Republic. Constructed of cells in various locations throughout the country, it organizes neo-Nazi concerts. Membership is estimated at 500, but together with other like-minded organizations, the number of neo-Nazi activists totals 2,000−3,000. In 2006 the NR organized a demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in Prague, during which they asked the Czech president to be allowed to join foreign forces in waging a war on Israel (see www.networkeurope.radio.cz , January 9, 2006). The propaganda of the organization is openly xenophobic, antisemitic and anti-Roma, and it cooperates closely with the Workers' Party. In early 2009 the two groups invited former US Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke to speak at Charles University in Prague but the university banned the meeting. It was relocated to a restaurant, which was raided by the police. Duke was arrested and questioned on suspicion of denying the Holocaust, an offense under Czech law, and he was ordered to leave the country forthwith.

            The Autonomous Nationalists (Autonomi Nacionaliste − AN) represents yet another extremist group with racist and antisemitic messages. The group, which has been active since 2002, began organizing annual marches in 2005, on St. Wenceslas Day − regarded as a rallying date for nationalist events − with the participation of 200-300 neo-Nazis. Neo-Nazi speakers from Germany, Poland and Sweden are also invited. Some 900 marchers joined forces, in November 2008, in the largest extremist rally since 1989 against the Roma at the Janov housing in Litvinov (see http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/articles/roma.pdf). The march was organized by the National Resistance, the Autonomous Nationalists and the Workers Party.

 

Racial and Antisemitic activity

Another reason for growing extremism is the continuing crisis between the Roma, the authorities and parts of the population, reflecting the difficult relationship between this minority and post-communist realities (see http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/articles/roma.pdf). While leading political figures and numerous NGOs have attempted to deal with the various aspects of the Roma problem − social, economic, cultural and political − there has been a spiraling trend of violence against the Roma population, sometimes in reaction to offenses committed by Roma criminals, and a growing sense among Roma activists that they can no longer trust the state to defend them. The strategy developed by the Roma is two-pronged: 1) appealing to the EU in order to open European eyes and ears to their plight, and emigrate, thus drawing more attention, and 2) relying more on their own communities to organize and defend themselves against what they perceive as a surrounding hostile environment. The tactic of "Roma self-reliance" may cause further alienation and increase the vigilante activities directed at them, mainly physical attacks, which, in turn, trigger bitter reactions from Roma youth, who not only try to defend their often ghetto-type shanty neighborhoods, but organize reprisal raids against non-Roma persons and property. Certainly, this state of affairs may bring about a vicious circle of violence in the country.

            There has been a slow rise in antisemitic manifestations in recent years, mostly against Jewish property and sites. In March 2008 during a neo-Nazi march in Plzen, anti-Jewish slogans were shouted in front of the local synagogue. The organizer was sentenced in 2009 to 300 hours of community work. At his trial he stated that the march was "against Zionism" and "for National Socialism." In April 2008, 824 plaques were removed from tombstones in the Terezin cemetery. In early January 2009 the Holocaust memorial in Teplice was vandalized. In 2009 it was reported that the small neo-Nazi group White Justice, which is linked to other extremist organizations, especially the Workers' Party, had planned terrorist attacks against highly-positioned Jews and Jewish targets, as well as against strategic installations in the country such as power plants.

            The Czech authorities continue their efforts to counter extremist activities. . While they issue assurances that such activities do not endanger Czech democracy, the news of the abovementioned planned attacks raised a general alert and generated a heated debate in the country during which some observers claimed that the authorities’ lax attitude toward the extremists in the past had enabled a seemingly small group dedicated to violence to conspire to commit terrorist acts.

            In light of growing violence against the Roma, it seems that the Czech authorities will have to toughen their legislative and legal action and increase surveillance and monitoring of extremist activities. Such measures were taken in the past but appear to have been inadequate.