Residential area "Fritz Heckert" turns 50 years old

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone for the "Fritz Heckert" residential area. Following the ceremony on 5 October 1974 by the Karl-Marx-Stadt district council, the residential area in the south of the city developed into the second largest inner-city development area in the former GDR. At times, 92,000 people lived in 32,300 flats on an area of 750 hectares. The anniversary is being celebrated this year with numerous events, culminating in mid-August.

History
In 1974, the foundation stone was laid in the south of Karl-Marx-Stadt for a major urban development and social project of unprecedented dimensions. The ceremonial laying of the foundation stone on 5 October 1974 marked the official start of construction of the "Fritz Heckert" large housing estate. But the history goes back further. The "Chemnitz Helbersdorfer Hang" development plan from 1919 already included a housing estate between Helbersdorfer Strasse and Stollberger Strasse. This plan also includes the Gürtelstraße, the predecessor of the Südring.

The location of the residential area in the south of the city was based on three considerations. Firstly, the residential area was to be located between the large industrial areas in Altchemnitz and Siegmar-Schönau; in addition, urban development plans from the end of the 1950s included the prospect of the city growing southwards along Stollberger Strasse. These plans were supported by dust and temperature measurements in the summer of 1950, which revealed a large zone of above-average clean air and below-average cool temperatures along the Stollberger Straße/Morgenleite ridge.

With the official start of construction in 1974, the Fritz-Heckert area is one of the oldest of the large inner-city development areas built as part of the GDR's industrial housing programme. The foundation stone for Berlin Marzahn-Hellersdorf was laid in 1975, for Leipzig-Grünau in 1976 and for Dresden-Gorbitz in 1981. Although Halle-Neustadt is older, with construction starting in 1964, it was planned from the outset as an independent new town with its own administration and not as a housing estate within an existing town. The local large housing estate "Fritz Heckert" therefore plays a pioneering role.

The first plans for the Heckert area envisaged building up to the village of Markersdorf. Later, the fields south of Markersdorf were included, and from 1980, with the incorporation of 107 hectares of Neukirchen land, the Karl-Marx-Stadt city boundary was moved southwards to make room for an additional 5,000 flats. This created around 32,300 flats for 92,000 people by the time construction work ceased in 1990. The hilly and peripheral location drove up construction costs. While the Deutsche Bauakademie approved costs of 50,000 marks per flat in the Heckert area, 85,000 to 90,000 marks had to be raised for the flats in the southernmost neighbourhood of Hutholz. The panel elements used were prefabricated in the Furth panel factory, among other places, and transported by low-loader to the respective cycle routes in the Heckert area. The lorry drivers drove this route up to 600 times a year.

Today, it is hard to imagine that the future residents moved into this large construction site as soon as the houses were completed. As residual moisture was still bound in the concrete elements due to the manufacturing process, some first-time tenants dried their laundry on tumble dryers in front of the window. Many residents still remember muddy paths today. For many children, life on the construction sites was a great adventure.

Celebrations to mark the anniversary
To celebrate the anniversary, an initiative of citizens, the Chemnitz-Süd Citizens' Platform, the Chemnitz History Association, the "Einheit" housing cooperative, the Saxon Vehicle Museum, the Vita Centre, the City of Chemnitz and other stakeholders have joined forces. The "Fritz 50" anniversary and family celebration will take place at the Vita-Center on Saturday, 17 August from 10 am. Among other things, Lord Mayor Sven Schulze will inaugurate a new information stele in front of the Vita Centre. In addition, a large vehicle show under the motto "Cardboard meets disc" and round trips with the Ikarus bus are planned. There will also be dance shows, bands such as Gruppa Karl Marx Stadt will perform and author Manuela Klitzsch will present her book "Mein Kinderzimmer in den Wolken". The following day, Sunday 18 August, from 3 p.m., the Chemnitz History Society invites you to a summer party in the Bonhoeffer parish. Find out more at www.fritz-50.de.

To mark the anniversary, the official gazette of the city of Chemnitz has been publishing a multi-part series about the neighbourhood since the beginning of July, which focuses on childhood and youth, mobility and the transformation after the fall of communism in 1989/90. The articles can also be found at www.chemnitz.de/fritz50. The social media editorial team is also publishing a series of posts on Instagram, Facebook and the short message services with portraits of people who live in the Heckert neighbourhood, as well as background information on the history of the development and art on the building. A foretaste of this can be seen on the City of Chemnitz YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/5HmUfGVxiig.