On Friday, October 27, visitors had their last chance to view an exhibition at the Museum of Knife-Making Traditions in Mikulášovice dedicated to the fates of soldiers from the Czech UN mission at the Tango 23 observation post - Repetitor, which came to a tragic end on August 5, 1995, during the Croatian Operation Oluja.
During its run, the exhibition was viewed by 2,300 visitors, who showed great interest in it, and entire school classes also came to see it. An event that for many elementary school students belongs to a distant, hazy past was thus brought to life for them thanks to a joint effort by Mikov and former members of the UNPROFOR unit.
Mikov also produced a documentary film about the story of the veterans from Tango 23 Repetitor, which has been viewed by over 2,500 viewers on YouTube to date. You can watch the film here.
One of the exhibition’s goals was to draw attention to the auction of two Repetitormilitary knives , which Mikov specially produced with the names of the two fallen soldiers, Luděk Zeman and Petr Valeš, and with shrapnel from the mortar shell that caused the tragedy embedded in the blades. In an open auction on the Aukro portal, the knives were sold for a total of 95,700 CZK, which will be donated to support war veterans.
It came as a big surprise to everyone to learn that both knives were purchased by one of the former mission participants, who wished to remain anonymous. It is therefore likely that both knives will be on display at similar exhibitions in the future.
Mikov, a company that manufactures a complete range of cutlery, office and fastening equipment—and whose group also includes the hand tool manufacturer Narex Bystřice—considers it an honor to collaborate with the leadership of the Czech Army to assist Czech war veterans. This is expressed most notably through the long-term “War Veteran Project,” which has already raised over 300,000 crowns for the Military Solidarity Fund.