Czech police will start investigating the publishing in the Czech Republic of the Turner Diaries that experts consider the bible of world neo-Nazism, criminal police spokeswoman Pavla Kopecka told CTK today.
She said police experts on extremism had monitored the publication of the book. "We learnt that the book containing harmful information was published in the Czech Republic from the media," Kopecka said.
Police will investigate whether the publisher has committed a crime, she added.
The Turner Diaries, written in 1978 by William Luther Pierce, leader of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the United States government and, ultimately, to the extermination of all Jews and non-whites.
So far the book was legally published only in the United States and now in the Czech Republic.
However, the book has been banned in many countries, for instance in Germany, and even its possession is considered a crime. In Germany the book should not be even mentioned in the media.
Political observer Zdenek Zboril says the book is based on strong white racism and anti-Semitism and expresses great admiration of Nazism. It is also dangerous because it is directed against the system as a whole, Zbvoril said.
In the Czech Republic the book is being distributed by the Kosmas publishing house.
However, it was published by the Kontingent printing house that was probably established only for this purpose because the book is so far the only one it printed.
Book publisher Lukas Jirotka says he is fighting against neo-Nazism by publishing the book. He denied that he wanted to promote neo-Nazism and said that on the contrary, he wanted to point to the danger posed by radicals.
There is a big interest in the book in Czech bookshops and Kosmas also offers it on the Internet with the following note: "The content of the book reflects its author's racism and his extreme right conviction."
Kosmas says the book is one of the most popular among far right extremists around the world though it is not much readable.
"The text whose author had been a long-standing activist with the history of membership in many racist and neo-Nazi groups at the time of its first publication in 1978 already reflects the ideology and goals of these people and their movement," Kosmas said.
In the past, the Czech police also dealt with the publication of Hitler's Mein Kampf by Michal Zitko in 2000.
Zitko was charged but the court proceedings lasted five years and he was finally acquitted of the charges.
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