The Czech Republic will donate to Rajniš's Czech Tower in Israel

Prague - The Czech government will provide almost two million crowns for the construction of a lookout tower designed by a Czech architect in Jerusalem and for the establishment of a monument to Czech victims of the gulags in Kazakhstan. The cabinet decided on this during its meeting on Monday. Part of the funds will also be used for the reconstruction of the grave of Colonel General Staff Vítězslav Rosík in Ethiopia.

According to the project by Martin Rajniš, the lookout tower will be located in close proximity to the walls of Jerusalem's Old City in the newly established residence of the Center for Young Art, Design, Technology, Architecture, and New Media. It is intended to symbolize the close relationship between the Czech Republic and Israel and to serve as a space for lectures, workshops, and cultural events. The cactus-shaped tower will be ceremoniously unveiled next year on October 28, the anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic will contribute 1.4 million crowns to the construction.

Almost half a million crowns from the approved monetary donations is earmarked for building a monument to honor the memory of Czechs who went through the gulags across the former USSR. According to estimates by the employees of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, this concerns around 25,000 citizens of Czechoslovakia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a document for the government that such a monument does not yet exist for Czech victims in any post-Soviet republic or in Russia. The diplomacy suggests building it at the site of the former labor camp Spassk in Kazakhstan, where similar memorials from 24 other countries, such as Finland, France, and Slovakia, already stand. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs perceives the construction of the monument as a political gesture aimed at showing that it does not forget the victims of one of the most brutal totalitarian regimes in history," the document states.