Prague, Dec 17 (CTK) – The plan by the Jablonec nad Nisou town, north Bohemia, to reinstall a statue of a German knight in a local square has aroused passions, with critics saying the knight from the Niebelungen legend symbolises German patriotism and should have no place in Jablonec, Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote on Thursday.
In the past, Jablonec was one of the centres of the Sudeten land, or Czechoslovakia´s border areas with a dense German population. The three-metre-tall bronze statue of Knight Ruediger used to decorate the square in Jablonec until May 1945.
The town council wants to install its replica within the planned reconstruction of the square that is to acquire its former historical shape.
The plan has met with opposition, however.
“By installing the statue we would return to the times where a majority of Germans and a minority of Czechs lived here. This may arouse controversies among local people. It is a statue of a German knight and warrior, a symbol of German patriotism. That is why the plan should be subject to an extensive public debate,” the paper quotes Jablonec town assemblyman Milos Zahradnik (Social Democrats, CSSD) as saying.
His colleague Vaclav Vostrak (Civic Democrats, ODS), a connoisseur of local history, is planning to organise a petition against the statue together with its other opponents.
“The statue has no place in the square. It has nothing to do with Jablonec. It was designed to stand in Vienna. Since Vienna did not have money, the statue was bought by Jablonec, which was a rich town then,” Vostrak said.
Jablonec Mayor Petr Breitl (ODS), however, is of a different view.
“The knight is clearly a positive figure. In addition, the statue was installed at the time of Jablonec´s culminating economic development. True, Knight Ruediger later became the thorn in the flesh of the post-war relations between the Germans and the Czechs. However, I personally can see no other context that should be offensive to the Jablonec inhabitants,” Breitl said.
Installed in the then prevailingly German-speaking Jablonec in 1930, the statue stood in the square for 15 years before being pulled down at the end of World War Two, MfD writes.
