Cheb, in the Sudetenland
The Sudetenland is near the German border, and the area has been in the middle of conflict for centuries - its location is the best entry to Bohemia from the northwest. www.britannica.com/eb/article-9022726/ChebSee also the blog on Places of Petr Ginz for more photographs and information posts on Cheb.

The town is known in German as Eger. Here are the German Merchant Houses that date from medieval times - the foundation and ground floor to first floor are reinforced to bear the weight of the floors below, but there are additional tilts visible also. See the square at www.mestocheb.cz/html/e_kamera.htm
The area's identity goes back to 870AD, and the name to 906AD. The territory was annexed by Hitler in the 1938. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheb. Then was made part of the Czech area again, and feelings run fierce, see people.bu.edu/crr/ICWA%20for%20Web/Awakening.htm.

Roland:
Roland here may be the same Roland as the son of Charlemagne (see timeline). In fountains in city squares in Europe, he is often representing free market privileges, when those were granted to the town. But why the wild man? We understand that a figure signifies that the town had official market privileges. Seewww.mestocheb.cz/html/e_pamatky.htm. And we saw another in Bratislava, Slovakia; and understand there is also one at Bremen, Germany. But there is another Roland statue here in Cheb -- with Roland the Knight, very dignified, with his unbreakable sword, at the well-fountain. What is the connection of the Savage Man, also connected at the sites with Roland, and the Knight.

Since Roland is also the nephew of Charlemagne, or some sites merely say he fought for Charlemagne, we looked up dates and how the market Roland fits with the fighter. As Charlemagne's nephew (or officer) he fought and died -- killed by rebellious Basques at Roncesvalles near the Pyrenees when he went to fight against the Moors, when they were taking over Spain. Charlemagne was emperor of Germany in 800 AD, and Germany was little more than wilderness at the time. Perhaps this savage man is closer to the reality than the later knight. If he were Roland, however, he would have his unbreakable sword, not this club. Is that so?
This site lays out a timeline: many of these statues went up in the 1300's or 1400's as a symbol of freedom and market rights, see the Bremen source at ://www.google.com/search?q=Roland+medieval+history&hl=en&sa=G&tbs=tl:1,tll:1404,tlh:1404&prmd=b&ei=s4cnTLX6BYX6lwfl8e3kDw&ved=0CD0QzQEwAw
Roland became a "pop icon" - a symbol of cities becoming independent of the nobility, see the general site at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland/.