On Tuesday, 5 May at 2 pm, Lord Mayor Sven Schulze will receive the descendants of Jewish families from Chemnitz in the Hall of Mirrors at the Hotel Chemnitzer Hof (Theaterplatz 4). On the occasion of their visit, they will sign the Golden Book of the City of Chemnitz. More than 60 members of former Chemnitz families will be travelling to the event.
Representatives of the media are invited to sign the Golden Book.
The descendants of the 22 Jewish families come from Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Portugal, Sweden, the USA and Israel. In the state-wide theme year "TACHELES 2026 - Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony", they are travelling to Chemnitz for a meeting of Jewish families. This is being organised by Buntmacher:innen e. V. in cooperation with the city of Chemnitz.
In addition to non-public appointments and the meeting with the Lord Mayor, the programme of the meeting also includes events to which the interested public is cordially invited with free admission:
On Wednesday, 6 May, from 10.30 a.m., stumbling stones will be laid for seven of the families present. The Sachs, Frank, Leder, Kellenberger, Ascher and Lachmann families will attend the laying of the Stumbling Stones for their families (see also press release 241).
On Thursday, 7 May at 6 pm, the exhibition "Threads - Verflechtungen" will be opened at the smac, Staatliches Museum für Archäologie Chemnitz, with invited guests from the worlds of art, culture and politics.
The exhibition shows 25 selected biographies of Jewish families who once lived in Chemnitz. The textile industry in Chemnitz, which was significantly shaped by Jewish entrepreneurs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, forms the backdrop against which the stories and lives of the families are told and interwoven into an associative network.
It was Jewish entrepreneurs who, with their spinning mills and upholstery fabric, glove, hosiery and tricot factories and their trading skills, made a significant contribution to the development of Chemnitz into a prosperous factory and trading town. Their potential for innovation, both in the economic and in the social and cultural sphere, was enormous. They acted as patrons, generously supported the establishment of cultural institutions, engaged up-and-coming artists, contributed to the modernisation of marketing and thus had a lasting influence on style far beyond the city.
The disenfranchisement, expulsion and murder of these people during the National Socialist era marked a caesura that brought these fruitful developments to an abrupt end. The life stories, if they did not fall victim to the Shoah, were continued far and wide across the globe. The history and life paths of the families present can also be seen in the exhibition.
Corresponding exhibitions are also on show in other Chemnitz museums, such as the Museum of Saxon Vehicles ("Mobile Memories - A Jewish Family Looks Back", from 8 May to 30 August 2026), the art collections on Theaterplatz ("An Unfinished Story. The art collection of Lola and David Leder in Chemnitz", from 29 May to 4 October 2026) and the Chemnitz Industrial Museum ("Traces of success. Jewish entrepreneurs in Chemnitz" from 5 June 2026 to 22 August 2027).
On Friday, 8 May, from 3 pm, there will be a talk with Tana Sachs and Uri Guttmann at smac. This will be followed by a dance performance by Israeli artist Nitsan Margaliot at 4 pm. From 8.45 pm, Buntmacher:innen e. V. will be presenting a special screening of the documentary film "Irmi" about the life of Irmi Goeritz, who was born in Chemnitz in 1906, at the Garagen-Campus.
To commemorate the book burnings of 1933, there will be a matinee with author Jessica Durlacher, who has written a book about the musical lives of her grandparents, on Sunday 10 May at 11 a.m. in the TIETZ event hall. Pianist Jeffrey Goldberg will reflect on the conversation with quotes and improvisation on the piano.
Numerous events will continue to accompany the "Threads" exhibition at smac after the opening weekend. In addition to guided tours, films, talks and lectures at the Archaeology Museum, Stella Maria Adorf, Mario Adorf's daughter, will be a guest at the art collections on Theaterplatz on 2 July and talk about her grandmother Doris Kiesow.
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