Sharp Rise in Slovakian Neo-Nazi Activity

by Ed Holt

Just a few weeks before the Interior Ministry plans to release a report on the state of racially motivated crime and neo-Nazism in the country, human rights group People Against Racism (LPO) has said there are as many as 5,000 active neo-Nazis in Slovakia and that the number will grow.

"This is a big and growing problem and police must devote more resources to dealing with this, and the government has to speak out more about the issue.

"Not enough is being done. Recent raids on skinhead meeting places were a step in the right direction, but the work has to be constant, not just an action here and there," says Ladislav Durkovic, coordinator of the LPO.

Since the fall of communism in late 1989, former communist states have seen an explosion in neo-Nazi and fascist movements. Estimates by the LPO put as many as 12,000 people involved in skinhead and neo-Nazi gangs in countries like Hungary and the Czech Republic.

In the early 1990's neo-Nazi rock bands such as the Czech "Orlik" began attracting young people, while infant skinhead movements came into direct contact with right-wing extremists in Western Europe, and sometimes got financial support from them, particularly those in Germany.

That support continues and a network of extremist right-wing gangs stretching across central and eastern Europe are beginning to consolidate, including groups in Slovakia, say race relations experts.

"Czech extremists are a big influence on Slovak groups, being more sophisticated and providing them with help and information. There are also proven connections between neo-Nazi groups across central Europe. They have been given help and funding from groups primarily from Sweden and Germany," says Michal Vasecka of the Institute for Public Affairs in Bratislava.

Slovak police are fighting to battle against this growing tide and in September last year launched the country's first large-scale operation against skinheads in the country.

Raiding an annual international concert involving neo-Nazi rock bands from across Europe, including the likes of "Justicia," "Front 18," "Ancestors" and the U.S. bands "Intimidation One" and "Max Resist and Hooligans," officers arrested more than 89 people who had come to the north Slovak town of Popradno.

Among them were 18 Czechs, two Hungarians, two Germans and one Polish person.

Then on Jan. 12 this year police raided a suspected skinhead meetingplace in a countrywide operation.

The Interior Ministry has prohibited that police officers talk about the most recent raid, but Alex Kliment of the Police Presidium, a senior police force body, said the first operation had been a success.

"The operation was not meaningless. We are analyzing the results and gathering evidence to allow us to lay charges against specific people," he said.

However, the police and Interior Ministry have come under fire over action against fascist groups. Kliment confirmed that of more than 200 people taken in for questioning in the Popradno raid it is unlikely that more than one person will be charged.

"On the last search the police didn't even have home-search warrants," said Durkovic. "The real result of the raid was that the police caught a few skinheads dealing drugs. They didn't get any of the movement leaders," he claims.

Police admitted after the Popradno raid that bungled security had enabled many skinhead leaders from a number of European states, including Germany, Poland and Hungary, escape in the operation.

People Against Racism have also complained that woefully inadequate resources have been devoted to bringing neo-Nazis to justice.

Only 10 officers are assigned to monitoring extremist groups. The figure in the neighboring Czech Republic is 160.

"We need more men on the ground, officers who can get close to the extremists," admitted Kliment.

"The social situation is such that we have to count with the fact that the numbers of these groups will only grow and we have to prepare measures ahead so we can prevent this," he added.

Slovakia has a national unemployment rate of just under 20 percent, with joblessness in some areas reaching 36 percent.

But he added that some action they have tried to take, such as the banning of a Slovak neo-Nazi website has had little effect on fascist groups.

The site was banned in Slovakia last year after a complaint from LPO, but on January 8 this year it re-appeared under a new domain name with a foreign server.

The website had until recently carried a picture of Durkovic under the banner "Wanted Dead or Alive."

"Unfortunately the internet is such a medium that we can do little to fight against this sort of thing," said Kliment.

But LPO also claims the government has done little to stamp out racist ideology at all levels of society, and has not spoken out vociferously on racially-motivated killings.

"Ministers need to make more statements against racism and take more action on racial crime. The issue needs to be made more public. The government needs to analyze this problem and look at its roots. There needs to be education on this in schools," says Durkovic.

He adds that a notorious racially-motivated murder in August 2000 of a Roma woman, Anastazia Balazova, was largely ignored by ministers.

"None of them really said anything. They should have said a lot more," adds Durkovic.

There have been six racially motivated murders in Slovakia since the state became an independent republic in 1993.

However, legislation has been passed recently in direct response to fears of neo-Nazi groups spreading holocaust denial information.

On Nov. 8 last year, an amendment to the Penal Code made it a criminal offense for a person to make any denial or excuse of Nazi crimes, punishable by up to three years in prison.

Under Slovak law anyone who promotes fascist movements through media or the press can be sentenced to eight years in prison.

The IVO's Vasecka, however, has rejected claims that the government has done nothing to deal with growing fascist groups.

"At a time when the Czechs were starting to monitor the extremist scene in general in the early to middle of 1990s the Slovak authorities were doing nothing. In fact, in the Vladimir Meciar government (1994 to 1998) you had the Slovak Secret Service, who were supposed to be monitoring these groups, actually [became] involved in them.

"Therefore we saw monitoring only start in 1998. But the Interior Ministry has started to listen and the operation in Popradno was a very positive thing, the first of its kind in Slovakia. It would be wrong to say this government has failed on this issue because it has done something when the previous government did nothing," he said.

However, like the police and the LPO, Vasecka warned that neo-Nazi groups were becoming a much larger problem, especially for the country's estimated 500,000 Roma.

"In general in society skinheads are not liked. Recent polls say that about 70 per cent of the population doesn't like skinheads. But once you start looking at the Roma, then attitudes start to shift.

"The Roma are not liked and the danger is that these groups will start focusing just on the Roma. In fact, they already show signs of doing just that. They are becoming more sophisticated."