President Monson Dedicates Maeser Statue in Germany

President Thomas S. Monson, First Counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated a statue honoring Karl G. Maeser at the Dresden stake center in Germany on July 14.

“One country, one continent, could not hold the talents of Karl G. Maeser,” said President Monson, honoring the man who was the first convert to the Church in Saxony, Germany, and later the second principal of the Brigham Young Academy, known today as Brigham Young University. The bronze statue is a replica of an original which stands on the BYU campus.

Brother Maeser and his wife, Anna, immigrated to the Salt Lake Valley in 1860. In 1876 President Brigham Young selected him to develop in Provo, Utah, an institution where students could learn through the Spirit of the Lord. Brother Maeser went on to influence the development of Brigham Young University and education in western America through the introduction of new educational methodologies, the implementation of a model honor code, and the training of early leaders of the Utah territory and the Church.

“We are assembled here in the city of Dresden, where Karl G. Maeser was baptized,” said President Monson in his dedicatory prayer. “We are grateful to the land of Germany and the state of Saxony from whence he came, where he, like the Savior, grew in stature and in wisdom and in favor with God and man.”

More than 350 people attended the dedication, including Church members and local civic leaders. “I am glad I can be here for the dedication and unveiling of the statue of our son, Karl G. Maeser,” said Dr. Thomas Pollock, mayor of Meissen, the community in which the Dresden stake center stands.

President Monson was accompanied by Elder D. Lee Tobler of the Seventy, President of the Europe Central Area, and by Elder Merrill J. Bateman of the Seventy, president of Brigham Young University. Speaking at the ceremony, Elder Bateman said that the fundamental honor code developed by Brother Maeser is still in use at BYU today. “I’m proud to be a successor to Karl G. Maeser,” he said.

Joining President Thomas S. Monson (center) at the dedication were President Byron P. Hughes of the Germany Leipzig Mission (left); President Frank Jentzsch of the Dresden stake; Hans Schult, a former Berlin district president; and Elders D. Lee Tobler and Merrill J. Bateman of the Seventy. (Photo by Ross Ezra Kendell.)