The Slovak phrase ''na stráž'' (meaning "on guard") is sometimes associated with

far-right politics Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. It has been described as "the Slovak version of ''

Heil Hitler The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

''". During the era of the

Slovak State Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arkan ...

, the phrase was used informally as a greeting by

Hlinka Guard The Hlinka Guard (; ; abbreviated as HG) was the militia maintained by the Slovak People's Party in the period from 1938 to 1945; it was named after Andrej Hlinka. The Hlinka Guard was preceded by the Rodobrana (Home Defense/Nation's Defen ...

members. The phrase was also used by Slovak Ústredie slovenských katolíckych skautov (Headquarters of Slovak Catholic Scouts) and

Czech Sokol movement The Sokol movement (, ) is an all-age gymnastics organization founded in Prague in the Czech lands of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of " a strong mind in a sound body". Sokol, ...

at the beginning of the 20th century. The Sokol badge from 1907 became the most widespread Sokol badge.

Marian Kotleba Marian Kotleba (; born 7 April 1977) is a Slovakia, Slovak politician and leader of the far-right, neo-Nazi political party Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia (). He served as the governor of Banská Bystrica Region from 2013 to 2017. He ...

habitually employed the phrase during his early political career. In 2014, his party tried to register the civic organization "Ľudová stráž", which was rejected due to its far right connotation. In January 2020, Kotleba Party candidate Anton Grňo was fined 5,000 euros for voicing the greeting at a 2018 demonstration in front of the Supreme Court of Slovakia, because the court considered this equivalent to voicing support for the Slovak State regime. He appealed.

References

{{Reflist Slovak words and phrases Czech words and phrases Far-right politics in Slovakia

See also

References