City honour award presented to AG Chemnitzer Friedenstag
Today, the honorary prize of the City of Chemnitz was awarded to the Chemnitz Peace Day working group by Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig at City Hall. The working group, which currently has ten members, prepares the Chemnitz Peace Day on 5 March every year, among other things.
Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig: "The City Council has made a wise decision in awarding the City of Chemnitz's honour award to the Peace Day working group. This is the first time that an initiative has been honoured. An initiative that comes from the centre of the city and tries to keep the city together. It gives the city a face, deals with its history and discusses questions for the future. It is a successful attempt to give 5 March, the day of the bombing of our city, a new symbolism as Chemnitz Peace Day."
The Saxon State Minister of Justice and for Democracy, Europe and Equality, Katja Meier, said at the ceremony: "We want peace in Europe for everyone. I would like to thank all citizens who are committed to these values and especially the AG Friedenstag here in Chemnitz."
Heidemarie Lüth, former Mayor for Education, Social Affairs, Youth, Culture and Sport, said in her speech: "The Peace Day Working Group repeatedly puts future issues on the agenda. It has developed a culture of peace that is unrivalled in any other city in Germany. And it is the Peace Day working group that involves civil society and brings together different nationalities and generations for the Chemnitz Peace Day. It has become our way of winning more and more people over to the fight for peace."
The current members of the Chemnitz Peace Day working group are Hartwig Albiro, Stephan Brenner, Nancy Gibson, Etelka Kobuß, Sabine Kühnrich, Christoph Magirius, Dr Thomas Schuler, Heike Steege, Jürgen Tautz and Anja Wartenberg.
The AG Chemnitzer Friedenstag organises a variety of events and formats on a voluntary basis: Concerts, readings and lectures, church services, exhibitions, film screenings, the peace banners designed by Chemnitz schoolchildren, the peace cross and peace trails. The first Chemnitz Peace Day took place on 5 March 2002 with the event "Chemnitz Peace Impulses" in the Kreuzkirche, which not only commemorated the victims of the bomb attacks, but also set an example for peace and social coexistence.
The AG Chemnitzer Friedenstag is the sixth recipient of the City of Chemnitz's honour award. Previous winners are: Figure skating coach Jutta Müller in 1998, discus thrower Lars Riedel in 2001, cyclist Jens Fiedler in 2005, doorman Stefan Weber in 2012 and figure skating couple Alyona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy in 2014.