Nacionalni stroj
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Nacionalni stroj (National Alignment) is the name of an obscure neo-nazi organisation that was formed in Serbia and that that caught a lot of attention by orchestrating several incidents in 2005. Eighteen of its leading members were arrested and face lengthy prison terms [1], [2], [3]. Its members are mostly teenagers.
During the night of March 21-22, 2005, anti-Semitic graffiti appeared, targeting the Jewish cemetery in Belgrade, buildings owned and used by Western-leaning TV/Radio B-92, and two human rights NGOs. In addition, anti-Semitic posters targeting B-92 appeared in several highly visible downtown areas. The posters were signed Nacionalni Stroj (National Formation). The Government quickly painted over the graffiti at the cemetery and arrested three people caught putting up the posters. There was widespread condemnation of the incidents by government and democratic political parties. On March 31, 2005, police arrested another person caught writing graffiti on the wall of the Jewish cemetery in Belgrade. On the tenth anneversary of the massacre in Srebrenica, a group claiming to belong to National Formation stuck posters in Negotin and Sremska Mitrovica with the following slogans: "Nož, žica, Srebrenica" (eng. "Knife, tie wire, Srebrenica") and "Mladiću, hvala ti za srpsku Srebrenicu" (eng. "Mladić, thank you for Serbian Srebrenica"). National Formation was made the media and was mentioned by BBC in 2005, about the disruption of round table at a faculty in Novi Sad organized by Anti-Fascist Action Novi Sad [4]. The group was also accused of attacking Albanians, Roma people, as well as spreading anti-semitic propaganda and preaching hate. In late 2005, the charges were pressed against 18 of the leading members in Novi Sad [5], each of them facing up to 8 years in prison.
The anti-semitic incidents caused an outrage in Serbian public and were strongly condemned[6]. President of Serbia, leaders of political parties, non-government organizations and public were quick and very vocal in condemning these incidents and stressed that such things will not be tolerated in Serbia, and that Serbs, who had similar fate to Jews in WWII as victims of Holocaust by the Ustase, view themself as friends of the Jewish people. It was also pointed out that members of the group have probably never seen a Jew, who are a tiny minority in Serbia numbering around 3000 people, and that their anti-semitism is imported and artificial. Aca Singer, president of the Jewish association in Serbia, has said that the whole incident is more damaging for Serbs than for Jews in Serbia, and various conspiricy theories about the plot to damage reputation of Serbia have circulated. [7] The members of the group were arrested [8] and face lengthy prison terms, up to eight years in jail [9],[10].
Other incidents of neo-Nazism in Serbia, which included Hungarian neo-Nazi "honvedi" group, celebrating WWII Hungarian occupying army that committed crimes against ethnic Serbs (including over 3000 Serbs who were thrown in Danube river), were also condemned, but no arrests were made. Such incidents provoke inter-ethnic conflict in traditionally peaceful Vojvodina region, that despite mixed ethnic composition has traditionally good inter-ethnic relations [11],.[12]Nacionalni stroj is also based in Vojvodina.
