The German hometown of Karl Marx has voted to accept a controversial statue of the revolutionary philosopher from China – to the consternation of some of its citizens. Read and see more photos below...
Following months of debate, a 21-foot bronze statue of the
socialist thinker will be erected in the southwestern town of Trier
after its council voted on Monday in favour of accepting the gift from
China.
Deliberations over the
present began last year after China announced that it wished to present
Marx’s hometown with a bronze statue of him to mark the 200th
anniversary of his birth, which will be held in 2018.
Trier
has had a trial run of the gift by installing a wooden model of the
planned statue, with the bronze monument designed by the artist Wu
Weishan.
But the statue lead to immediate negative reactions from
some citizens, with one person writing in the local newspaper: "Setting
up a statue of a man who played a major role in the development of
Communism is a shame and not an honor for Trier.”
Green Party politician Reiner Marz urged the council to
reject the gift, saying: “Whoever accepts the present honours the gift
giver. China’s Communist party doesn’t deserve any honour.”
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
But Trier mayor Wolfram Leibe said: "This has nothing to do with glorification. Those times are over."
The head of Trier’s town planning department Andreas Ludwig
also said he saw the statue as a honour, telling German broadcaster
Südwestrundfunk:
“That the largest country on Earth has thought about
the small town of Trier is great. 150,000 Chinese tourists come every
year to Trier – and that could rise even more.”
Marx
was born on May 5, 1818, and spent the first 17 years of his life in
Trier before studying in Bonn and then Berlin. The location of the
bronze statue and its installation costs are still to be decided after
further negotiations with China.
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