A Nazi tattoo is discovered on a security guard at the World Athletics Championships. The company in question reacted immediately and fired the man. When asked, she explains that the symbol was not visible when she was hired.
Two T-shirt colors are omnipresent for anyone who has traveled to Budapest for the World Athletics Championships: orange and blue. The numerous volunteers wear orange. For example, they show the way from tram and bus stops to the stadium on the banks of the Danube, help to find the right entrance or answer the obvious question of where the nearest water dispenser is in the oppressive heat. Security staff wear blue. They check bags at the entrance and make sure only authorized people come into the various areas of the stadium – and one of those security guards has now come under public scrutiny.
Photos on social media show the back view of a man who apparently occupies a post inside the stadium: “Security” is written in capital letters on his T-shirt, along with the Valton Security company logo. A tattoo showing the SS rune is clearly visible on his neck.
The symbol of the Schutzstaffel, which Adolf Hitler founded in 1925 as his personal “body and beating guards” and represented one of the most important terrorist and suppression organs in the Nazi state. Under the direction of Heinrich Himmler, the SS organized the operation of labor, concentration and extermination camps. She was thus involved in countless war crimes, most notably the Holocaust, the industrial mass murder of Jews and Sinti and Roma.
The Hungarian news site atv.hu reports that the photo was taken on the opening day of the World Championships in Athletics, last Saturday. An inquiry to Valton Security revealed that the employee in question was fired after the tattoo became known. He is said to have worn a hood when he was hired, which is why the right-wing extremist symbol on the neck was not discovered. No information is given on identity.
In Germany, the SS rune is registered as an anti-constitutional symbol, making public display prohibited and also punishable. Along with the swastika, it is considered one of the central symbols of the National Socialists, which is why neo-Nazis consciously use it to this day as an expression of their right-wing extremist sentiment. In German criminal law, the use and dissemination of such symbols (“signs of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations”) is punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to three years.