Note 18 — I HAVE THE BOHEMIANS A PLACE IN THE SUN? (continued 2)

Francis L. Rieger (1818-1903), a lawyer, writer, economist, and statesman, was, despite his German name, an uncompromising patriot who had spent his whole life in the service of his nation. Modern Bohemia without Rieger is unthinkable. His name is written large on every page of his country’s history. As a leader of the Old Bohemian party he naturally played a prominent rôle in the fight for the historical rehabilitation of the Bohemian Kingdom. Having married the daughter of Francis Palacký, the “Father of the Nation,” he was nicknamed by his political adversaries, “Son-in-law of the Nation.”