Dr Ulrike Uhlig signs the Golden Book of the City of Chemnitz
Today, Dr Ulrike Uhlig signed the Golden Book of the City of Chemnitz. This honours her tireless voluntary work as Chairwoman of the International Stefan Heym Society for many years and her extraordinary commitment to the culture of the city of Chemnitz.
Lord Mayor Sven Schulze: "Dr UIrike Uhlig keeps Heym's legacy alive, preserves the memory of the Chemnitz author's life and work and makes it accessible to the people of Chemnitz. Not only every three years, when we award the International Stefan Heym Prize. Thanks to her and the members of the International Stefan Heym Society, the Stefan Heym Forum is located in Chemnitz. I would like to thank her for this on behalf of the city."
Dr Ulrike Uhlig has been a member of the International Stefan Heym Society since it was founded on 18 April 2009 and has been its Chairwoman since November of the same year. The society is dedicated to the literary legacy of the writer, son and honorary citizen of the city. It promotes the study and dissemination of his work and takes care of his published legacy. The Heym Society organises public readings and lectures, academic colloquia, exhibitions and publications and also maintains international relations. The society cooperates with the Stefan Heym Archive in Cambridge to realise its goals.
In her position as Chairwoman of the Stefan Heym Society, Dr Ulrike Uhlig is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz. This includes the literary prize, which is endowed with 20,000 euros and has been awarded by the city of Chemnitz to outstanding authors and publicists since 2008, as well as sponsorship awards for projects that preserve the memory of the life and work of the Chemnitz author.
As a long-time confidante of Stefan Heym's wife, Inge Heym, Dr Ulrike Uhlig played a key role in ensuring that the Heym couple's working library found a new home in Chemnitz. The library was opened in October 2020 as part of the Stefan Heym Forum at the TIETZ. It contains around 2,500 works as well as original furniture and personal items from Stefan and Inge Heym's shared home in Berlin.
After graduating as a teacher of German and art education, she worked as a teacher in Karl-Marx-Stadt for six years. After a subsequent traineeship at the University of Education in Dresden, she received her doctorate in 1986 in the field of literary methodology. She then worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Technical Education in Karl-Marx-Stadt and as a technical college lecturer. After reunification, she dedicated herself to the project of a music school in Chemnitz.
From 1991 to 2009, Dr Ulrike Uhlig was head of the culture department at Chemnitz Adult Education Centre. In 1996, she managed the adult education centre for about a year.
Today, Dr Ulrike Uhlig still works as an art lecturer at the adult education centre and leads educational excursions. In her, the city of Chemnitz has had an active networker for decades - both full-time and on a voluntary basis - and thus also a highly valued personality on the way to the European Capital of Culture 2025.