16

Peacekeeping mission

Gratitude for allowing the Bohemians to settle in Rixdorf was the reason why the president of the Czech Republic, Alexander Dubcek, a leading figure of the Prague spring uprising, unveiled a statue of Comenius in 1992 and donated it to the brethren. It is not without irony that it was the armies of both countries who took over the transport of the massive bronze sculpture of the deeply pacifist Czech scholar from the Czech Republic to it destination in the Comenius garden. The artist who created the image showed the hands of this philanthropist in a gesture suggestive of both giving and receiving.