Honour for Irmtraud Morgner
Invitation to the inauguration of a women's place: on 22 August, 2 pm, in front of the Agricola-Gymnasium
On Tuesday, 22 August at 2 pm, the fourth Women's Place in Chemnitz will be inaugurated in front of the Georgius Agricola Gymnasium, Park der Opfer des Faschismus 2. The Equal Opportunities Officer of the City of Chemnitz, Pia Hamann, the State Women's Council of Saxony and the Lila Villa Women's Centre invite all Chemnitz residents and media representatives to attend.
Irmtraud Morgner will be honoured. Another memorial stele will be dedicated at her former place of learning, the former Karl Marx Secondary School, on her 90th birthday. In addition to short speeches by representatives of the school, the city of Chemnitz and the Landesfrauenrat Sachsen e. V., the dedication will be accompanied by readings and music.
Irmtraud Morgner was born in Chemnitz in 1933. After studying in Leipzig, she worked on the editorial staff of Neue Deutsche Literatur from 1956 to 1958. She then lived as a freelance writer in Berlin. She published several novels. In 1965, she was banned from publishing her contemporary novel "Rumba auf einen Herbst" (Rumba to an Autumn) by the Ministry of Culture when she made critical reference to everyday problems in the GDR as well as the dogmas of socialism. This censorship experience led Morgner to use fantastic stylistic devices in later works in order to indirectly criticise social and political grievances. The first volumes of her "Salman Trilogy", "The Life and Adventures of the Trobadora Beatriz Based on Testimonies of Her Playmate Laura" (1974) and "Amanda - A Witch Novel" (1983), established her worldwide fame. Irmtraud Morgner was unable to complete the third volume of the trilogy; fragments of the novel were published in 1998 under the title "The Heroic Testament". Irmtraud Morgner died in Berlin in 1990 after a long illness.
The first women's memorial in Saxony was dedicated to the textile worker and strike leader Minna Simon in Chemnitz in 2016. The plaque hangs in the entrance area of the university library. It was followed in Chemnitz by the teacher and peace activist Luise Marie Pleißner, the designer Marianne Brandt and now Irmtraud Morgner. There are now almost 40 women's sites throughout Saxony.
With the "frauenorte sachsen" project, the Landesfrauenrat Sachsen e. V. wants to make Saxony's moving and diverse women's history visible, publicise role models and honour women who have made special achievements in the political, social, economic, scientific, cultural or sporting fields. In this way, urban and regional history from the perspective of historical female personalities will be recognised throughout the state.
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