With 379 Stolpersteine already embedded in the pavement, these memorial stones commemorate the tragic fates of people who were persecuted, deported, murdered or driven to their deaths in Chemnitz during the Nazi regime. The Cologne-based artist Gunter Demnig launched the project in 1993 in his home town. On 5 November, new stones will be laid in the presence of relatives, sponsors and members of the public.

A remembrance project led by the Stolpersteine Working Group in collaboration with the historian Dr Jürgen Nitsche, the Crime Prevention Council, the VVN-BdA and Buntmacher*innen.

The City of Chemnitz, in conjunction with the Chemnitz Jewish Community, invites you to a wreath-laying ceremony featuring speeches and music.

Speakers will include Lord Mayor Sven Schulze, President of the State Parliament Alexander Dierks, Dr Ruth Röcher, Chair of the Chemnitz Jewish Community, and Hannah Allen, a descendant of the Jewish Magen family from Chemnitz.

Note regarding road closures:

Due to the commemoration at the memorial stele on Stephanplatz, Reichsstraße will be completely closed on Monday, 9 November, from 10.30 am to approximately 12.15 pm between Zwickauer Straße and Weststraße. A diversion is available via Weststraße – Zwickauer Straße or, alternatively, via Barbarossastraße. The police will also be providing operational security for the event. The CVAG will announce any changes to bus services separately.

The people of Chemnitz are invited to clean and illuminate the Chemnitz Stolpersteine in memory of the victims of Nazi tyranny. The locations of the Stolpersteine that have already been laid can be found at www.chemnitz.de/stolpersteine.

Anyone wishing to take part can contact the organisers by email (info@buntmacherinnen.eu) by 20 October.

On Sunday, 9 November at 3 pm, the city of Chemnitz will commemorate the victims of the Reichspogromnacht on 9 November 1938 and the six million Jewish people murdered during the fascist tyranny. Lord Mayor Sven Schulze will lay a wreath at the stele on Stephanplatz, the former site of the Chemnitz synagogue. Dr Ruth Röcher, Chairwoman of the Jewish Community, and Dr Herbert Lappe, descendant of a Jewish family from Chemnitz, will also speak. The choir of the Jewish Community of Chemnitz will perform music at the public commemoration ceremony.

Note on road closures:

Due to the commemoration at the stele on Stephanplatz, Reichsstraße will be completely closed between Zwickauer Straße and Weststraße on Sunday, 9 November, from 2.30 pm to approx. 4 pm. A bypass is possible via Weststraße - Zwickauer Straße or alternatively via Leipziger Straße - Hartmannstraße - Theaterstraße - Falkeplatz - Zwickauer Straße. The police will provide additional operational security for the event. CVAG will announce any changes to bus services separately.

The installation by Swiss artist Eve Stockhammer, featuring a curtain made up of 1.5 million glass beads, serves as a memorial to the countless children who lost their lives during the Nazi persecution.

The exhibition “Captured” features a selection of photographs depicting the deportations of Jews, Sinti and Roma, as well as victims of the Nazi “euthanasia” programme. Also on display are the perpetrators and bystanders who were present during the deportations. For deportations were visible; they took place in broad daylight. Many people chose to watch as their neighbours were taken away and, in many cases, to play an active part in the process.

A research project by the Chemnitz Puppet Theatre

Tired of the silence and the gaps in her family’s history, Frida sets out to trace her grandfather’s life. She pieces together his life story using family accounts, photo albums and the voices of contemporary witnesses. Until 1938, her grandfather lived as a respected district doctor near Reichenberg (now Liberec). Later, he became increasingly caught up in the Nazi maelstrom and was appointed to Lemberg (now Lviv) in 1942 as an ‘epidemic specialist’. After the war, he was arrested, put on trial and lost his homeland. The production combines biographical and documentary material and sheds light on German history and its aftermath from the perspective of family history.

Tickets available at: www.theater-chemnitz.de/spielplan