Commemoration of the pogrom night 75 years ago
Mayor asks Chemnitz residents to take part in memorial service Wreath-laying ceremony on 8 November at the stele on Stephanplatz in Chemnitz A stumbling block for Hermann Fürstenheim is laid in front of the TIETZ building
The commemorative event of the City of Chemnitz in memory of the Jewish citizens of Chemnitz who were victims of the fascist pogrom night on 9 November 1938 or who were murdered in the following years during the fascist tyranny will take place this year on Friday, 8 November 2013 at the stele on Stephanplatz.(Note: In agreement with the Jewish Community of Chemnitz, the memorial event will take place on Friday, 8 November 2013, as 9 November falls on a Saturday and therefore on the Sabbath, which is a day of rest according to the Jewish religion).
Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig asks the citizens to take part in the event as a committed sign of active remembrance and at the same time to set an example against terror and violence today.
The commemoration will open at 10 a.m. at the stele on Stephanplatz with a wreath-laying ceremony and a commemorative speech by Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig. The choir of the Jewish Community of Chemnitz will accompany the commemorative event. Dr Ruth Röcher, Chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Chemnitz, will then address words of remembrance to the participants of the event. At the end of the commemoration, the Israeli cantor Yakow Shmidow will sing, followed by the Kaddish, the traditional prayer for the dead.
Background: The famous Chemnitz synagogue stood on Stephanplatz, the traditional site of the annual commemoration event organised by the City of Chemnitz together with the Jewish Community of Chemnitz, until it was destroyed in the pogrom night of 1938. The new house of worship of the Jewish community of Chemnitz was consecrated on 24 May 2002 on the Kapellenberg at Stollberger Straße 28. In 2010, the Jewish community of Chemnitz celebrated its 125th anniversary. Before the persecution and murder by the National Socialists, around 3,500 people of Jewish faith lived in Chemnitz in 1933. There are currently 610 members of the Chemnitz Jewish community.
Laying of a stumbling stone for Hermann Fürstenheim
Directly after the commemorative event, another Stumbling Stone will be laid at 11 a.m. in front of Chemnitz's TIETZ building (Reitbahnstraße entrance). It commemorates the Jewish merchant Hermann Fürstenheim, who was murdered in the November pogrom of 1938. Hermann Fürstenheim (born 1877), who managed the Chemnitz branch of the Tietz department stores' from 1904, fell victim to an assassination attempt in his villa on the morning of 10 November 1938. The sponsor of the stumbling stone is Bernd Ruscher, manager of today's cultural institution DasTIETZ.
In Chemnitz, 81 Stolpersteine already commemorate victims of National Socialist despotism. The city has supported the project by Cologne artist Gunter Demnig since 2007 and lays memorial stones every year in memory of former Chemnitz citizens who were persecuted, deported, murdered or driven to their deaths during the Nazi regime.
All information about stumbling stones in Chemnitz can be found on the city's website at www.chemnitz.de/stolpersteine.
Note: In order to be able to hold the memorial event at the stele on Stephanplatz in an overall dignified and quiet setting appropriate to the occasion, i.e. In order to be able to hold the memorial service at Stephanplatz in an overall dignified and peaceful setting, i.e. without traffic noise from the main roads directly adjacent to the memorial site, Reichsstraße will be fully closed to traffic on Friday morning from 9.30 a.m. in the section between Zwickauer Straße and Weststraße. Road users are asked for their consideration and understanding. The memorial event will end at around 10.45 a.m., after which the road section will be reopened.