Radio: Some shops selling models offer figures of Nazis

Prague, Sept 27 (CTK) - Some Czech shops selling things for modellers offer figures of Nazi leaders, including Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, Radiozurnal station of public Czech Radio (CRo) reported Monday.

The shop owners say they sell the figures as part of a collection of World War Two leading figures and that this is not meant as propagation of Nazism.

The co-owner of one such shop, Matej Pecka, has decided to withdraw the figure of World War Two Bohemia and Moravia Reichsprotektor Heydrich in reaction to CRo's notice.

Heydrich is probably one of the most unsuitable figures for the Czech Republic, the owner conceded.

Hundreds of Czech citizens were executed during Heydrich's reign in the Czech Lands in late 1941 and in 1942. He died of injuries sustained in an attack that members of the Czechoslovak military in Britain carried out on him in Prague in May 1942.

Radiozurnal said shops for modellers offer the figures of representatives of other armed forces from the time of World War Two and that the sales do not contravene Czech legislation.

It would only be a criminal offence if the figures were sold with aim to propagate or encourage Nazism.

Pecka's shop sells the figures of Heydrich on a scale of 1-6 and with two types of uniform for more than 2000 crowns.

The shop also offered figures of Hitler, but they have already been sold out, and of SS commander Himmler.

Pecka's firm also imports models of Japanese and Soviet officers as well as of British wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.

Every package is complete with a brief biography, including information about what the person did and also a notice saying that the producer dissociates himself from it and that the figures are only destined for collecting purposes.

Political scientist Miroslav Mares, who focuses on extremism, told Radiozurnal that he thinks this form of sale is in order.

"I think almost 70 years have passed since the end of the war and that this cannot practically be removed from history. A model figure for a war history collection does not seem to me to be any tragic infringement on morals," Mares said.

Tomas Kraus, secretary of the Czech Federation of Jewish Communities, said he does not see a solution in banning the sales, but rather in focus on education in the field.

"It depends on how it is presented. If it is presented in historical connections and if it is not abused for making these persons into heroes, it cannot be objected to. If a young person has proper knowledge of World War Two history and if he/she knows what these people represent, the risk of abuse is smaller," Kraus said.