1 / 4

Lord Mayor Olaf Raschke gifts Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi with a T-shirt from Meissen, Germany, Provo's sister city.

Courtesy Provo City

2 / 4

Provo and Meissen delegations take a high look over Provo during a late-October visit.

Courtesy Provo City

3 / 4

Provo and Meissen delegations meet at Provo's new City Hall.

Courtesy Provo City

4 / 4

Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi and Lord Mayor Olaf Raschke of Meissen, Germany, Provo's sister city.

Courtesy Provo City

❮ ❯

Much has changed since Brigham Young told Karl G. Maeser to go to Provo and found Brigham Young University (then Academy). But nearly 150 years later, one connection to the German transplant is seeing renewed attention.

By the 1990s, in Maeser’s honor, Provo had formed a sister city relationship with his hometown of Meissen, located 16 miles northwest of Dresden in eastern Germany.

From Oct. 23-25, Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi and Deputy Mayor Isaac Paxman hosted a nine-person delegation from Meissen, including three city councilors, the head of the Office for Urban Development and Planning and Olaf Raschke, who has been the mayor of Meissen since 2004.

Highlights of the visit included a tour of City Hall hosted by Kaufusi, being publicly recognized at a Tabernacle Choir concert during their Temple Square visit and a tour of the BYU campus, including lunch in the president’s dining room, a guided tour of the Museum of Art and meetings with students and faculty from various departments.

In addition, the delegation was introduced to two of Provo’s economic successes with a tour of Vanderhall, Utah’s only auto manufacturer, and an introduction to the area’s “robust startup culture” with a visit to Kiln, Martin said.

Of special significance was a tour of Provo’s Library at Academy Square hosted by Provo resident LeGrand “Buddy” Richards, a former faculty member at BYU and author of “Called to Teach: The Legacy of Karl G. Maeser.”

“Maintaining connections to your community roots is important. Our sister city relationship with Meissen reminds us we are part of a bigger world than we live in,” Richards said.

In the late 1990s, Provo Mayor Lewis Billings, along with descendants of Maeser, began discussions with civic leaders in Meissen to foster a sister city relationship. On July 14, 2001, the mayors of Meissen and Provo met in Meissen and, after signing a sister city agreement, headed to a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stake center to unveil a Karl G. Maeser statue gifted to Meissen.

President Thomas S. Monson of the church and President Merrill Bateman of BYU spoke at the ceremony, as did the mayor of Meissen at the time, Thomas Pohlack, according to Nicole Martin, Provo City spokeswoman.

“The main interest in building a relationship with Meissen was Provo’s connection to Karl G. Maeser as the founder of Brigham Young University, an institution that has probably defined Provo more than any other,” Paxman said. “Since that time, many touching relationships have been forged between residents of Provo and Meissen, including the highly successful student exchanges. What other level of government could accomplish this person-to-person, community-to-community connection the way cities can?”

Provo’s sister city relationship with Meissen was one of many developed after President Dwight Eisenhower introduced sister cities in 1956 in a formal effort to support and foster “citizen diplomacy.” He described the initiative as “the most worthwhile purpose that exists in the world today … to help build a road to an enduring peace (throughout the world),” adding that there is “no more important work.”

Last fall, Kaufusi, Paxman and others travelled to Meissen for an exchange, anticipating that a Meissen group would come this year.

“One of the greatest sister city successes has been the student exchange, with hundreds of high school students from Provo or Meissen having participated in multiweek exchanges, living in the homes, and with the families, of their sister city counterparts,” Paxman said. “These exchanges have been celebrated by Provo mayors and City Council members, including at the City Council meetings that the German exchange students have attended here each fall, until the onset of the pandemic.”

The students returned in early October. Stephen Van Orden, a German teacher at Timpview High School who founded and leads the exchange program, describes these live-in experiences as a “window into language and culture that no other travel experience or learning experience can duplicate,” according to a statement he gave to the city.

“In many instances, exchange students and their hosts come to consider each other as family,” Van Orden added.

With the exchange program faltering after the pandemic, Van Orden approached Kaufusi, encouraging her to support the reinstitution of the exchange program by accepting Meissen’s invitation to attend their annual city festival last year, as had previous Provo mayors.

“Mayor Kaufusi’s diplomacy not only reignited the student exchange program, but it prompted an overdue opportunity for Provo City to host a delegation from Meissen, including Lord Mayor Raschke and city staff members,” Paxman said.

“I’m so glad the exchange program has been renewed. It touches many lives for good,” Kaufusi said. “It was a delight to host the mayor and his delegation. They are good people, and there’s so much we learn from each other.”

Most of the German delegation had not been to America, which gave them a unique opportunity to compare their city to Provo in geography, business climate, government processes and local culture, according to Martin.

“Not surprisingly, they were unanimous in their praise for our beautiful landscape and the kindness of our community,” Martin said.

In responding to the delegation’s question of how Provo generates community respect, Provo Chief Administrative Officer Scott Henderson said: “We have been able to instill community pride in our parks, fitness center and other facilities by building a world-class facility that they then treasure. Our healthy lifestyle has created this unique cultural attitude of respecting our amenities including our outdoor recreation, parks and facilities.”

Newsletter