Prague, Nov 9 (IANS) A scandal hit the Czech Army Monday after its two commanders were found wearing Nazi symbols on their helmets during their mission in Afghanistan, media reports said.
Lieutenant Jan Cermak wore the SS Dirlewanger brigade symbol and sergeant Hynek Matonoha wore the symbol of the 9th SS panzer division Hohenstaufen.

The SS units were the cruellest of German dictator Adolf Hitler’s armed forces, which actively exterminated civil populations of occupied countries during the Second World War.

Czech Defence Minister Martin Bartak said: “Such a case cannot be tolerated.”

The government has decided to sack the officers, the MF Dnes newspaper reported.

Even today, it is a crime to boast their emblems in the Czech Republic as well as in most European countries, Bartak said.

He has ordered chief-of-staff Vlastimil Picek to investigate the case.

When their (Cermak and Matonoha’s) commander found about it, he ordered them to burn the covering, but did not punish them. Now, he will also face investigation, the newspaper said.

Both men, having served in Afghanistan’s Logar province, were decorated for bravery Friday after they returned home from the mission, Xinhua reported.

Bartak said the incident has tarnished the reputation of the Czech Army.