In a fiery defense of Czech national interests, former President Miloš Zeman and MP Jindřich Rajchl are leading a stormy rally against the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft (Landsmannschaft) congress in Brno. The speakers discuss the betrayals of World War II, the Benes Decrees and contemporary revisionism, and warn against confiscating property and weakening sovereignty within the EU - while calling on the audience to witness the Czech Republic's courageous stand against historical revanchism.
A stormy debate in the crowded hall of the VTS House of Technology, organized by Iron Curtain Foundation, recorded it Jan Dolens z RaptorTV, where Czech dignitaries have gathered to protect the soul of their country from what they call a brazen encroachment on history. The event, called „Defence of Czech national interests“, which was addressed by former President Miloš Zeman, Member of Parliament Jindřich Rajchl, Senator Jana Zwyrtek Hamplová, Jiří Weigl and historian Tomas Jelinek, focused on the upcoming Congress Sudeten German Landsmannschaft This is not a dusty academic debate; it is a high-stakes battle in which patriots protest vehemently against the revival of Nazi-era ghosts, property restitution plots, and Czech „sycophancy“ that could unravel postwar arrangements such as the Benes Decrees.
The main thesis is quite clear: The Landsmannschaft meeting in Brno is not a reconciliation - it is a triumphant parade of collaborators associated with World War II, a political manoeuvre aimed at undermine Czech sovereignty, to seize property in the borderlands a drag the Czech Republic into the EU federal superstate.
„Don't try to make peace with evil,“ He told Miloš Zeman right from the start, his voice was husky and full of presidential gravitas. Citing Dutch historian Lou de Jong described the Sudeten Germans as Hitler's „fifth column“ and mentioned Konrad Henlein's role as the Führer's right-hand man and the 90% electoral support of his Nazi-oriented party in the last free elections in 1938. And what about Karl Hermann Frank, the Sudeten brutalist from Carlsbad who ruled the Protectorate and executed 160,000 Czechs?
Miloš Zeman did not mince his words: „This country has always been German, the Czech language has no place here,“ he quoted Heydrich's venomous statement.
Zeman's energy culminated in a satirical masterstroke when he suggested „an “alternative programme" for the Landsmannschaft: to grant them Řád of the White Lion, a tour of the execution sites at Pankrác Prison, a visit to the sites of the assassination of Heydrich, the Terezín camp and Lidice - where Frank řídil „landscaping“ (code namečfor the extermination of the village). Laughter mixed with indignation, reminiscent of Škvorecký's „The Laughing Beast“, carried through the crowd. Underneath the black humour, however, was a fury at Czech complicity: 250,000 people swearing allegiance to the Reich in 1942 on Wenceslas Square, post-war pleas for mercy in „shoeboxes“ and today's NGOs „Meeting Brno“ - funded by city and regional funds - inviting wolves.
Jiří Weigl, Director Václav Klaus Institute and co-author of a critical booklet, shifted his attention to the political chessboard. „This is not a Czech-German problem, but a Czech-Czech problem,“ he declared, revealing the opposition's links to the protests „Millions of Moments for Democracy“. The Sudeten question, which had been excluded from the Czech debate for 20 years, is now resurfacing, with the participation of Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, elevating it to the status of provocation at the state level. Drawing on Slovak parallels, where the opposition is reviving the Benes decrees against Fico and Orbán, Weigl warned: Czech „sycophancy“ risks the Munich Agreement 2.0.
Senator Jana Zwyrtek Hamplová, coming from the Sudeten border region, brought a personal passion to the debate. „Why now, why in the Czech Republic, why in Brno?“ She asked, tearing apart the facade of „reconciliation“. The event, financed by German circles and the budgets of South Moravia, sows „Czechs against Czechs“. From her youth, lived in the echoes of the exiles, she sharply criticized historical amnesia: German atrocities before World War II led to the Benes Decrees - not the other way around. „Does anyone think that Germany has ever been or will ever be our friend?“ she challenged, denouncing Europe's weakening - the US retreat, Russia's shadow, Germany's rise. Patriotism? Now a pejorative term, flags abused. Her climax: youth must take back history to fend off division.
Member of Parliament Jindřich Rajchl, vice-chairman of the SPD's defence committee, launched a nationalist tirade. „There is no Sudetenland - it is the Czech borderlands!“ he said, rejecting the term coined by the Nazis. Revisionism is pervasive: downplaying the Soviet Union's sacrifices in World War II (more than 150,000 dead compared to less than 40,000 on the US side), ignoring the occupations of 15 March and 29 September. And what about the congress? „Like a KKK (Ku Klux Klan) rally in the Bronx!“ - with hoods on their heads, but ready. The website of the Landsmannschaft (Landsmannschaft) screams irredentism: the Czech lands as „stolen property“, historically Germanic, longing for „Germania“. Siegfried Sogl, former chairman and Frank's deputy in the SS, who boasted of breaking up Czechoslovakia? Still their icon.
Rajchl's indignation peaked over threats to his property: Post-convention litigation would drive ordinary Czechs into bankruptcy and force them into distress sales of their homes in the borderlands. „No amount of wealth will compensate for the loss of sovereignty - it is a betrayal of Masaryk and Benes!“ Markčhe called pro-European federalists advocating a „United States of Europe“ „collaborators and traitors“. He suggested: Let us unite for the 2028 elections under the Czechoslovak flag and shout: „The Sudeten Germans did not come hereří!“
Historian Tomas Jelinek he's broken down the conflicting narratives. The Czechs see 1918 as a Slavic renewal; the Germans as a „Versailles dictate“, a theft from the Marbod era. Among those expelled from the Sudetenland were immigrants from the Reich, not just locals. Prof. Horst Telchik, an advisor to Merkel and a descendant of the expellees, even praised the expulsion as an escape from communism: „Thanks to it, I lived freely - without any claims on Bohemia.“
The debate was held in an urgent spirit: Miroslav Gregar, a 97-year-old witness of World War II, after the chanting of „Heim ins Reich“ by the Sudeten Germans turned against them, he said, „Admission of guilt, yes; forgiveness, never!“ Martin Říha, a representative of the South Moravian Region, called for protests: Take to the streets of Brno, drown out the revanchists. Zeman signed an open letter - „Don't come to Brno, you are not welcome“ - and insisted on the facts: the treachery of Henlein in Munich, the horrors in Lidice.
The Czech organizer of the congress event should rather demand German compensation - curb the arms hysteria, prove peace. While Europe is falling apart - the US is closing in on itself, Russia is emerging, Germany is rearming - Czech patriots promise not to give up. Zeman summed it up: beware the „retreat“ that leads to Munich's doom.
gnews.cz - GH
You can watch the whole debate (in Czech) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGbV_W7bB4s
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