Sky
11th March 2008, 03:26
http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=129111
The Czech prime minister has sparked a debate over his country's Communist past by decorating men who killed people when they fought the totalitarian regime and shot their way through to the West in 1950s.
Mirek Topolanek on Tuesday presented the honorary medal to Milan Paumer, 76, member of a group that killed six people in sabotage strikes against the Communist government and during their escape to West Berlin.
Anti-Communists said Topolanek's step was courageous and would give due credit to those who opposed oppressive government. Others, notably on the left, consider the Masin group too controversial.
"They chose the wrong means: violence," opposition Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek wrote on his blog. Communists, who remain a strong political force, see them as murderers.
The Masins, sons of an army general and resistance leader executed by the Nazis in 1942, killed two policemen and an armed clerk delivering wages in ambushes to secure money and guns for their struggle.
In 1953, they decided to join the U.S. army in neighbouring Germany for what they believed was imminent World War III.
Two group members were injured and caught by a manhunt that involved thousands of East German police. They were executed along with the Masins' uncle while Masins' mother was thrown to jail where she later died.
Paumer was shot in the belly but managed to reach the U.S. occupation zone in West Berlin, alongside the Masins. They moved to the United States and joined the U.S. army.
For the current Czech government to honor this unrepentent murderer and traitor is outrageous. In addition, Paumer was a traitor who betrayed his country in favor of a country that was intent on destroying Czechoslovakia. To honor Paumer would be analogous to honoring Czech quislings who occupied with a brutal foreign regime in murdering communists and enslaving Czechoslovakia.
The Czech prime minister has sparked a debate over his country's Communist past by decorating men who killed people when they fought the totalitarian regime and shot their way through to the West in 1950s.
Mirek Topolanek on Tuesday presented the honorary medal to Milan Paumer, 76, member of a group that killed six people in sabotage strikes against the Communist government and during their escape to West Berlin.
Anti-Communists said Topolanek's step was courageous and would give due credit to those who opposed oppressive government. Others, notably on the left, consider the Masin group too controversial.
"They chose the wrong means: violence," opposition Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek wrote on his blog. Communists, who remain a strong political force, see them as murderers.
The Masins, sons of an army general and resistance leader executed by the Nazis in 1942, killed two policemen and an armed clerk delivering wages in ambushes to secure money and guns for their struggle.
In 1953, they decided to join the U.S. army in neighbouring Germany for what they believed was imminent World War III.
Two group members were injured and caught by a manhunt that involved thousands of East German police. They were executed along with the Masins' uncle while Masins' mother was thrown to jail where she later died.
Paumer was shot in the belly but managed to reach the U.S. occupation zone in West Berlin, alongside the Masins. They moved to the United States and joined the U.S. army.
For the current Czech government to honor this unrepentent murderer and traitor is outrageous. In addition, Paumer was a traitor who betrayed his country in favor of a country that was intent on destroying Czechoslovakia. To honor Paumer would be analogous to honoring Czech quislings who occupied with a brutal foreign regime in murdering communists and enslaving Czechoslovakia.