The Freiberg Temple: an Unexpected Legacy of a Communist State and a Faithful People
The Freiberg Temple: An Unexpected Legacy of a Communist State and a Faithful People Raymond M. Kuehne ON APRIL 23, 1983, a groundbreaking ceremony for the only temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built behind the Iron Curtain was held in the city of Freiberg, in the German Democratic Republic (GDR)—then East Germany. Henry J. Burkhardt, president of the Dresden Germany Mission and a key figure in that surprising event, provided this enduring image of the ceremony: We had invited a long list of government representatives, Communists who did not believe in God, who did not pray. President Monson told them that before we have the ground breaking ceremony, we will dedicate the land. We will bow our heads, fold our hands, and pray to our Heavenly Father. Well, I sat there across from these people and thought, I must work with them. How will they react? I prayed with only one eye, and with the other I looked upon that miracle. All the Communists sat there with RAYMOND M. KUEHNE was born of German immigrant parents and served an LDS mission in Germany. He majored in history at the University of Utah and stud- ied on a Fulbright Fellowship at Marburg University, Germany, for a year. After a year at tke University of Virginia, he opted out of an academic career path and went to work at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland1. Presently retired in St. George, Utah, he writes a monthly column for the local newspaper. A mission call to the Freiberg Temple for him and his wife, Genie, provided a new opportunity to pursue history.
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