Trapeze behind the children’s playground in Na Špici park in Pardubice. Someone painted the structure with a black marker. On the first column is the inscription Kill the Russians. On the other is the word Azovstal and the number combination 14/88. From the opposite side of the column are runes and distinct SS. The third one says Shakhtar 93rd OMB, which apparently refers to the Ukrainian 93rd Motorized Brigade, which is involved in the heaviest fighting near Kharkiv, Bakhmut, currently defending Chasiv Yar.
Neo-Nazi message
“The overall tone of the symbolism in its summary contains a neo-Nazi message, due to the use of the numerical symbolism 14/88 (14 words of the American neo-Nazi David Lane and 88 is the code for ‘Heil Hitler!’) and SS symbols,” Miroslav Mareš deciphers the inscriptions on the structure from the Department of Political Science and the International Institute of Political Science, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University.
“It also damages the effort to present the Ukrainian Azov unit as already freed from elements of neo-Nazism. In the given context, the call to kill Russians can also have criminal relevance. Therefore, if the said inscriptions and symbols were written to really express the opinion of the writer, and therefore it is not a provocation ‘under a false flag’ with the aim of harming Ukrainians, it is an act that is usually considered a violation of the criminal law from the point of view of the existing laws and their interpretation of the code,” believes a political scientist specializing in extremism.
Photo: Jan Novák, Seznam Správy
Nazi symbolism 14/88. 14 words by American neo-Nazi David Lane and 88 is code for “Heil Hitler!”.
According to him, who could be the writer and what did he mean by symbolism?
“Speculation is difficult here. It is possible that there is a Ukrainian teenager who views Azov and the Ukrainian struggle as an activity that furthers his neo-Nazi beliefs. But an attempt to harm Ukrainians so that they look like neo-Nazis cannot be ruled out either. It is interesting that the inscriptions are written in Latin. But I definitely do not dare to determine from which circles the writer comes,” says Miroslav Mareš.
It is very unusual
“I go there with a blower to clean up infested leaves so that the boys can practice well, but I didn’t notice this at all,” shrugs Na Špici playground manager Petr Vanický.
Here and there, sprayers paint children’s houses, signs, but these are rather various tags and “scribbles”. He does not remember neo-Nazi symbols appearing here.
Neo-Nazi numbers game
Marián Kotleba, the former mayor of Banská Bystrica, provoked the most prominently with the code “1488” (more often as 14/88), when he offered the socially weaker a triple payment of benefits worth 1,488 euros. The Supreme Court sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for one and a half years.
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“It surprises me quite a bit. I will take a picture of it to the head of the local circuit and we will definitely remove it,” he adds.
The list of reports alerted the Pardubice police to the inscriptions.
“This damage information with such a tone is new to me. As for racial matters, I don’t know that we would have any problems here,” wonders Jan Halada, director of the Pardubice city police.
“It’s very unusual. In other cities, there are a lot of scrawled public lighting lamps, bus or train stations and the like, whereas in Pardubice there is not much of it,” he adds.
Photo: Jan Novák, Seznam Správy
This symbol apparently refers to the Ukrainian 93rd Motorized Brigade, which is involved in the most severe fighting near Kharkiv, Bakhmut, currently defending Chasiv Yar.
“From my point of view, it fulfills the substance of two crimes. On the one hand, the establishment, support and promotion of a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms and the criminal act of spraying,” he enumerates.
Since this is a suspected felony, the case will be handled by the state police.
