Book presentation "From the Chemnitz City Archive"
Press invitation on 6 December, 12.30 pm at the city archive
On Friday 6 December at 12.30 pm, the 12th volume in the series "From the Chemnitz City Archive" will be presented in the Aue 16 building. The volume is entitled "The 'Fritz-Heckert' residential area. Building in new dimensions". The author is civil engineer and landscape architect Norbert Engst. In addition, Karl Joachim Beuchel, Karl-Marx-Stadt's long-serving city planning director and city architect, has written a technically competent and at the same time sensitive introduction for the volume. Both will be present at the book presentation on Friday. The volume comprises 256 pages, is illustrated throughout in colour and costs 41.70 euros.
Representatives of the media are cordially invited to the book presentation.
The occasion for the volume was the 45th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone for the city's largest residential area in October 1974. The volume spans an arc from the history of the communities of Markersdorf and Helbersdorf to the start of construction planning for today's Südring in 1919 and the development plans of the 1920s and 1930s to the construction of the residential area. It is dedicated to life in the "Heckert" and the underground infrastructure. He shows why the Fritz Heckert area ultimately remained unfinished. The problems that arose from demolition and deconstruction in the recent past become clear, as do the associated opportunities.
The author writes about his motives for the book: "The FHG is the residential area of my childhood, I grew up here and still live in the area today. I accompanied the urban redevelopment process from 2002 to 2009 and documented all the demolition work on each residential building with my camera, taking over 1500 photos.
During these years, I began to read all available books and collect documents and photos. This interest developed into a systematic search of all relevant archives, libraries and institutes throughout Germany. However, I also kept finding traces that pointed to its prehistory or to the time before the housing was built."