Mass grave vandalism opens old wounds

By Benjamin Cunningham and Filip Šenk

The Second World War ended more than 70 years ago, but that isn't stopping some from trying to make political hay out of its abhorrent consequences well into the 21st century.

A mass grave in south Moravia discovered just last year became the site of a sensational attempt at vandalism by members of the Czech National Socialist Party (ČSNS) Oct. 28, a day that commemorated the 93rd anniversary of the founding of an independent Czechoslovakia.

Investigators discovered the remains of what were thought to be 13 ethnic Germans near the village of Dobronín in August 2010. In the months since, one local resident erected a cross to honor the victims. ČSNS members painted the cross pink Oct. 28, attaching a note that termed those found in the grave as "Nazis."

"We cannot agree with the argument that all dead deserve respect," said Michal Klusáček, deputy chairman of the ČSNS. "Essentially, [that cross] is a promotion of Nazism and this is a crime [in the Czech Republic]. Saying you are just showing respect to the dead is only looking for an excuse."

The ČSNS went on to place 64 smaller crosses in the same field, a number chosen to symbolize the 64 people killed in an May 1945 Nazi-led massacre in the town of Velké Meziříčí.

"I don't agree with any action breaking or violating the law," said Jiří Vlach, the mayor of Dobronín. "I understand it is an expression of someone's opposition, but it violated several norms and laws."

A spokeswoman for the Jihlava regional police confirmed the incident was under investigation for an "offense against civic co-existence," a crime punishable by a 20,000 Kč fine.

But more so than a criminal offense, the events are the latest in a string of attempts by political leaders from both sides of wartime atrocities to bolster their nationalist credentials.

Captain Michal Laška is leading the police murder investigation into the mass grave, and said, "It is really difficult to answer, after 65 years, whether these people supported the Nazis."

"I wouldn't dare say it the way members of ČSNS did," he said. "I would be very careful, and I doubt the ČSNS people have access to German archives."

The ČSNS has sought to revive its long-moribund political influence of late, including a lengthy and high-profile flirtation with former Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek, who considered joining the party before forming his own.

Indeed the ČSNS, which was tolerated as a soft opposition party during the communist era but has yet to make it into the Parliament of a democratic Czech Republic, has a history on this issue: Their onetime leader Edvard Beneš issued the eponymous decrees that saw millions of ethnic Germans and Hungarians deported from Czechoslovakia following World War II.

In the immediate aftermath of the war, general lawlessness and rampant anger saw citizens seek to extract revenge on former Nazi sympathizers, but also saw innocent people caught in the crossfire. The deportation of German and Hungarian speakers saw tens of thousands killed, likely including, according to investigators, those unearthed near Dobronín.

The initial state of the remains at the Dobronín site led some to conclude the victims had been beaten to death by shovels and pickaxes, although the investigation is still under way. The Institute of Criminology Prague (KÚP) was charged with analyzing the forensic evidence and has since cut initial estimates of 13 bodies to 10.

"Nineteen bones were picked [for analysis], mostly long bones - thighs and arms - to give 30 samples, and 150 analyses were made," said Petra Srnková of KÚP.

"Out of the selected bones, it was possible state nine different DNA profiles in total, which denotes nine different individuals of the male sex. One DNA profile wasn't able to be successfully determined."

The final results are expected in mid-November, Laška said.

The controversial Beneš Decrees remain in force to this day, a source of tension between the Czech Republic and neighboring countries. Emotions have been stoked in recent years by what some term an increased nationalism by a number of Czech leaders, but also combative rhetoric from the Sudeten German Homeland Association, a group largely comprising relatives of those expelled from Czechoslovakia.

A war of words erupted in June when a Sudeten leader Franz Pany demanded an apology for the postwar expulsions.

Czech President Václav Klaus responded to the demand by referring to the "extreme insensitivity" of the remarks, which occurred on the anniversary of the infamous Nazi massacre in the central Bohemian village of Lidice, where some 340 people were murdered in 1942.

Klaus was backed by a cavalcade of condemnations from Czech political leaders, including those on the left.

Social Democratic Party Deputy Chairman Michal Hašek called Pany's words "effrontery, idiocy" and "a provocation." Vojtěch Filip, chairman of the Communist Party, called the comments the "height of arrogance" and said they indicated a failure to grasp "who started the last world war and how the Germans who lived in Czechoslovakia took part."

Bernd Posselt, a member of the European Parliament and leader of the Sudeten German cause, responded that Klaus' comments reminded him of "the time before 1989." He did not respond to requests for comment on this latest incident by press time.

Those tensions came on the heels of a brief period of rapprochement when conservative Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer paid a two-day visit to the Czech Republic in late 2010. It was the first such visit by a Bavarian leader since World War II.

The ČSNS denies it is inciting tensions and instead places the blame on the man who erected the first memorial cross.

"Our action, on the contrary, lowers the tension," Klusáček said. "The twisting or withholding of history always causes anger."

Still, the latest incident in south Moravia seems likely to reopen tenuously healing, deep wounds.

"I get a lot of letters and notes from people all over the country saying what atrocities Germans committed here and what happened to local people not just during the war but also when Czechs were forced to leave the Sudetenland," Vlach, the Dobronín mayor, said.   

The writers can be reached at news@praguepost.com