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Orléans Man Awarded Civilian Peacekeeping Medal
By Fred Sherwin - Orléans Online
When he was
awarded the post,
he was granted a
leave of absence
without pay. One
of his first tasks in
B o s n i a -
Herzegovina was
to help to get the
railways operating
again across the
country which
involved clearing
the of railway
tracks of
landmines.
"When I first
arrived, there was
only one railway
Karl Knechtel with his proud wife Mary
line that was
operational. When
I left there were
An Orléans man has joined a three. There were hundreds of
select group of individuals after mines along the tracks and at
receiving the Canadian the railway crossings, roads and
Peacekeeping Service Medal near airports. They were
during a ceremony at the everywhere."
Orléans Legion on Saturday. It was during one of the mine
Karl Knechtel served with the clearing operations that one of
Office of the High Knechtel's colleagues died. The
Representative (OHR) in Bosnia- other perished when a container
Herzegovina between October fell off a truck he was following
1999 and July 2001. During and crushed his car.
that period, the Industry While the posting was lonely at
Canada bureaucrat was times, Knechtel's wife visited
responsible for rebuilding the him every three or four months.
war torn country's
She eventually stayed
infrastructure
in Sarajevo and acted
including, bridges,
as an official observer
tunnels, roads, the
during the elections in
railway, power
April and November
generation stations,
2000.
the electrical grid and
Knechtel says the
water works.
most difficult aspect of
The hours were long
his job was getting the
and the work was
three competing
sometimes dangerous
political forces to agree
– two of Knechtel's
on virtually anything.
colleagues died during
"Just to get them to
his stay in the country
agree to meet and have
– but in the end Knechtel all of them show up was a major
played a key role in getting the accomplishment," says Knechtel.
country back on its economic "And even when they did show
feet.
up, there was always a risk one
On Saturday, Knechtel joined of the groups would just get up
an exclusive group of civilians and walk out at any time."
who have received the Despite the frustrating politics
Canadian Peacekeeping Service involved, Knechtel says his
Medal which is normally greatest accomplishment during
reserved for members of the his two years on the job was in
Armed Forces or police officers getting all three sides to
serving on UN missions. recognize their interdependence.
Knechtel was bestowed the
"I was able to get the message
medal by Ottawa-Orleans MPP
across to the local powers that
Marc Godbout as his wife and
they had to work together to get
friends looked on.
out of the nonsense they were in
and focus on the nuts and bolts
"This is a wonderful honour. of rebuilding the infrastructure,"
It's proof that we can all make says Knechtel.
a difference even if we have to To find out more about the
work Saturdays and Sundays Office of the High Representative
and get up at 4 o'clock in the in Bosnia-Herzegovina visit
morning," said Knechtel after www.ohr.int, while additional
receiving the medal.
information about the Canadian
The Office of the High Peacekeeping Service Medal can
Representative in Bosnia- b e f o u n d a t
Herzegovina was born out of http://www.peacekeeper.ca/cpsm.html.
the Dayton Peace Agreement
which ended a long and bloody
civil war in the former
Yugoslavia in 1995. The job of
the OHR is to assist in the
reintegration, rehabilitation and
recovery of Bosnia-Herzegovina
and getting it ready for joining
the European Union.
Prior to joining the Office of
the High Representative,
Knechtel was a senior
bureaucrat with Industry
Canada. He applied for the
mission out of sense of duty, a
personal interest in the
geopolitics of the region
(Knechtel traces his roots back
to Germany and Austria) and
the pure challenge of the task
at hand.
by Karl Knechtel
I was born during World War II
in Haida, a town located
between Dresden and Prague in
the Sudetenland, now the Czech
Republic (and till 1918 it had
belonged to Austria).
My father was a World War I
veteran, and was the owner and
manager of a successful local
international freight forwarding
and transportation company.
In 1946 my family (including
me as a toddler) was expelled,
with 3 million Germans, who had
been living in Bohemia since the
fourteen hundreds. This was
done by the Czechoslovak
government with the tacit
agreement of the three Allied
Powers USA, UK and Russia).
They were allowed 30 kg per
person and were transported by
train in freight cars to the Soviet
occupied zone of Germany, and
were settled south of Berlin in
the Province of Brandenburg.
More about Karl Knechtel‘s story in
the next issue.
12 - The Hofbräuhaus News, March - April 2005