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Editor:
Presscouncil City of Chemnitz
Pressrelease: 623

Local action plan supports "Yiddish Christmas"

Nirit Sommerfeldt and KLEZMORIM give a concert at Georgius-Agricola-Gymnasium and talk to pupils - high school pupils were already involved in a stumbling block in memory of Julius Sommerfeldt in 2013

A concert entitled "Yiddish Christmas" with Nirit Sommerfeld and her group KLEZMORIM is being held on Thursday, 27 November at 6:30 pm in the auditorium of the Georgius Agricola Grammar School in Chemnitz. The concert is jointly organised by GAG, Evangelisches Forum Chemnitz, Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft and the LAP Coordination Office at the City of Chemnitz and is supported by the Local Action Plan for Democracy, Tolerance and a Cosmopolitan Chemnitz (LAP) with around 2,260 euros.

Admission to the concert is free - however, due to limited space, tickets will be allocated and are now available from the Evangelisches Forum, Theaterstraße 25, 09111 Chemnitz.

About the concert and the performers: With this concert, the organisers want to draw attention to the connection between the Jewish Hanukkah festival and Christian Christmas. Singer and actress Nirit Sommerfeldt has found both literary and musical inspiration for this and is building an artistic bridge between religions, traditions and musical styles. Framed by partly fictitious memories of her grandfather Julius, Nirit Sommerfeld tells of the interweaving of the Jewish Hanukkah festival with Christmas.

With music by KLEZMORIM and texts by Ota Pavel, Anne Frank, Jochen Hoffbauer, Friedrich Hoffmann, Lionel Blue, Hanno Loewy, Tereska Torres Levin, Erich Mühsam and Nirit Sommerfeld, an emotionally moving evening is created.

Nirit Sommerfeldt is the granddaughter of Julius Sommerfeldt, who was murdered by the Nazis because of his Jewish origins. His son Rolf was a pupil at what is now Georgius Agricola Grammar School and was no longer allowed to study at this school during the Nazi dictatorship because he was Jewish. Year 7 pupils learnt about the biographies of the Sommerfeldt family and collected donations for a stumbling block in memory of Julius Sommerfeldt. The stumbling block was laid last year at what was then Antonplatz 15 (today: Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße/footpath towards Brückenstraße).

The high school students are also financing the concert on 27 November in the GAG auditorium in part with the proceeds from the cake bazaar and are also delighted that Nirit Sommerfeld has agreed to talk to students at Georgius Agricola Gymnasium after the event on Friday, 28 November between 10 and 11:30 am.

Contact: Ines Vorsatz, LAP Coordination Office at the City of Chemnitz, call 0371/488-1934, e-mail koordinierungsstelleLAP(at)stadt-chemnitz.de and Dorothee Morgenstern, Evangelisches Forum, Theaterstraße 25, 09111 Chemnitz, call 0371 40056-12.