The Federal Ministry of Finance and Deutsche Post are honouring the city of Chemnitz with a stamp from the "Zeitreise Deutschland" series. The special postage stamp draws attention to one aspect of the city's chequered history. It shows the reception building of the former Chemnitz Airport, which opened in 1926 and was closed and reopened several times until its final closure in 1969. The stamp is the fourth issue in this series. It was designed by Chayenn Gutowski and Thomas Steinacker from Bonn. The stamp has a value of 95 cents and is suitable for sending postcards and standard letters within Germany.
On the first day of issue, Thursday 3 April at 9.30 a.m., Lord Mayor Sven Schulze will cancel the first stamp with this motif on site at the Old Airport, Stollberger Straße 100.
Representatives of the media are invited to the photo session.
A public event will be held at the Old Airportfrom 10 am.
After a welcoming address by Lord Mayor Sven Schulze, Bernd Meyer, Vice President Franking at DHL Group, and Steffen Hemme, Branch Manager at the DHL Group's Chemnitz site, will present the stamp. Andrea Pier, Managing Director of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH, will give a closing address.
A special mobile post office will also be open on site from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm. There, interested parties can purchase the stamp, the first day sheet for the "Zeitreise Chemnitz" stamp and other philatelic products, such as all stamp issues from the last 24 months. Two special postmarks will also be available.
There will also be an activity stand that invites visitors to experience, join in and find out more.
Visitors can have their picture taken free of charge in a photo postcard campaign and receive the picture as a photo postcard. Current delivery vehicles - from e-bikes to e-transporters - will also be on display.
The eventful history of Chemnitz Airport
The history of Chemnitz Airport began with great public interest. On 14 September 1924, an airfield promotion day attracted tens of thousands of guests. The official opening of the reception building at Stollberger Straße 100 followed on 2 May 1926, with the first scheduled aircraft landing the following day. The airport quickly became an important transport hub and economic factor in the region. The visit of the world's largest passenger aircraft at the time, the Junkers G 38, and the stopover of the legendary airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" on 16 November 1930 were major spectator magnets, with more than 100,000 Chemnitz residents and their guests cheering the arrival of the large airship.
Air traffic was discontinued in 1937 as the growing number of aeroplanes overstretched the infrastructure. The airport remained undamaged during the Second World War, but the aircraft hangar was taken to the Soviet Union as reparations. In 1958, the "Deutsche Lufthansa der DDR" resumed scheduled flights, but these were cancelled again in 1962 due to the limited runway capacity.
After lengthy discussions between supporters of the airfield and representatives of housing construction, the GDR Council of Ministers decided to close the airport for good in 1969. The last major event was the GDR skydiving championship in 1974, while construction work for the Fritz Heckert residential area was already underway.
Collector's coin also puts Chemnitz in the spotlight
In addition to the stamp, a 20-euro collector's coin will be issued on 15 May 2025. More information on this here: www.chemnitz.de/pm_muenze