Festive naturalisation ceremony in Chemnitz town hall: Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig welcomes new citizens to the city
At the city's naturalisation ceremony yesterday, Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig warmly welcomed the Chemnitz citizens who were naturalised last year to the city hall, who had accepted the city's invitation to the ceremony in the historic Wandelhalle of Chemnitz City Hall.
The naturalisation ceremony for the new citizens was attended by Etelka Kobuß, the city's Commissioner for Foreigners, and Pedro Martin Montero Perez, Chairman of the city's Foreigners' Advisory Council, as well as Cornelia Utech as head of the Chemnitz pilot project "Foreigners' authorities are welcoming authorities".
With the invitation to the naturalisation ceremony, the city extends a warm welcome to its new citizens. Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig: "A naturalisation ceremony is a wonderful and important opportunity to get to know each other and engage in dialogue. Immigration enriches Chemnitz: it makes us and our city more diverse, more open and stronger. The efforts of the city, which is also a welcoming authority for people from different parts of the world, are aimed, especially in these weeks characterised by refugee flows, at welcoming these people who have found their first refuge in Chemnitz and - if they settle here - also offering them professional and social prospects. This also applies to foreign students, who are fortunately becoming more and more numerous at Chemnitz University of Technology. "
Over 40 new citizens had confirmed their attendance at the naturalisation ceremony, which took place for the fourth time at Chemnitz City Hall. The 184 women, men, young people and children naturalised in Chemnitz last year come from the following countries of origin (in alphabetical order): Afghanistan, Angola, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Georgia, India, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Cuba, Libya, Macedonia, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romaniania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, the Czech Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Belarus. The overwhelming majority (55) of naturalised newcomers in 2013 came from Ukraine, followed by 20 newcomers from Vietnam, ten from Kazakhstan, nine from the Russian Federation and eight from China.
Each of the guests received small gifts to commemorate the ceremony in the Wandelhalle: these included a gift pack of fair trade Chemnitz coffee and Chemnitz chocolate for the adults and an annual voucher for borrowing books from the Chemnitz City Library, while the children also received an annual voucher for visiting the City Library and Chemnitz chocolate.
The musical programme for the guests at the ceremony was also provided by Pedro Martin Montero Perez from Peru, who performed a guitar solo, and the Syrian couple Youssef Bash and Mai Alkurdi, who sang and played the guitar.
At the end of the naturalisation ceremony, tower keeper Stefan Weber gave the guests a tour of the town hall, told them about the history of their new home town and finally offered the Neuchemnitz residents a beautiful panoramic view of Chemnitz in the evening from the High Tower.
Background information: As at 30 June 2014, there were 10.597 foreigners from 129 countries - including: 982 from Ukraine, 951 from the Russian Federation, 635 from India, including Sikkim and Gôa, 618 from Vietnam, 597 from Hungary, 567 from China, including Tibet , 421 from the Czech Republic, 404 from Poland, 329 from Romania, 319 from Tunisia, 290 from Syria and 281 from Turkey.
Most of the foreign citizens come from Eastern Europe. Most of the Indians and Chinese are students at Chemnitz University of Technology. There are currently 11,231 students registered at the TUC, including 1,633 foreigners; over 70 % of foreign students are of Asian origin.