Square on the Straße der Nationen is given the name Arthur-Weiner-Platz
At its meeting today, the city council decided that the square on the Straße der Nationen directly in front of the art collections will be named Arthur-Weiner-Platz. The square used to be home to the petrified forest.
With the naming of the square, a plaque will be erected in honour of its namesake, which will also commemorate the fate of many Jews. This was also agreed with the Jewish community.
Arthur Weiner was born on 22 July 1877 to a middle-class Jewish family in Chemnitz. After attending school, he studied law and graduated from the University of Leipzig in 1904. He established himself as a lawyer in Chemnitz in 1906 and later became a notary. He volunteered to take part in the First World War (1914-1918) and was honoured with awards. Weiner represented many Jewish families and industrialists during the Weimar Republic and also sat on the supervisory boards of various Chemnitz companies. Socially respected, but also culturally engaged, he supported his Jewish community. In the 1920s, he became deputy chairman of the Jewish community in Chemnitz.
With the transfer of power to the NSDAP in 1933, life changed abruptly for the Weiner family, as it did for many other Jewish people. Due to his religion, his high social standing and his profession as a respected lawyer, Arthur Weiner was one of the first German citizens to be abducted and then murdered in 1933.
Today, a stumbling block in front of his former home at Stollberger Straße 41 commemorates him.