Premiere for the documentary "Children at War"
On Chemnitz Peace Day next Monday, 5 March 2018, the film "Kinder im Krieg - Chemnitzer Erinnerungen, die ein Leben lang bleiben" will be shown for the first time. Mayor Barbara Ludwig invites the people of Chemnitz to the premiere at 3 pm in the city council chamber of the town hall. Further screenings on this day will be at 3.30 pm and 4 pm.
The film is a reminder of how, 73 years ago, the war returned to the country from which it started in 1939. Chemnitz was hit hard on the night of the bombing on 5 March 1945. Many people sought shelter in the cellars and had to watch their homes burn to the ground. There were countless dead and injured. Those who can still talk about their wartime experiences today were children at the time.
The film "Kinder im Krieg - Chemnitzer Erinnerungen, die ein Leben lang bleiben" captures the stories of four contemporary witnesses who experienced the Second World War and the bombing of the city in very different ways. In the 30-minute documentary, pastor Karl-Heinz Kleve, who lived on Kaßberg, recounts how he and his family were buried in a cellar on 5 March 1945 and were able to escape through the neighbouring house. Honorary citizen of the city of Chemnitz, Justin Sonder, was arrested as a Jew in 1943 and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was one of the few survivors to return to Chemnitz after the war. Stephan Tanneberger lived with his brother and his mother in the cellar of Turnstraße 39 and, as an almost ten-year-old, carried the furniture and other things out of the house together with his brother and a few other helpers.
Brigitte Speck was in Zeißigwald at the time of the air raid and is still moved to tears today when she thinks about her encounter with her mother after the bombing.
These stories from the war children of the time show impressively how children feel in times of war and how difficult it is to come to terms with these experiences.
The film was commissioned by the city of Chemnitz and produced by the Chemnitz film production company Red Tower Films.