Publications of the Chemnitz City Archive

From the Chemnitz City Archive

Booklet 1 - Georgius Agricola and his family - Documents

The 500th birthday of the famous Chemnitz scholar provided the external occasion for this booklet. For the first time, the sources on Georgius Agricola and his family, which are held in the city archives, have been comprehensively reproduced. The edition is based on a systematic review of the indexed sources from the 16th century; 67 archival documents and around 500 mentions were recorded during the evaluation of around 45 linear metres of archive material. The booklet is introduced with a biography by the late Agricola researcher Hans Prescher.

Unfortunately no longer available

Booklet 2 - From André to Zöllner - 125 biographies on the history of Chemnitz

For the first time, important personalities who have shaped the development of Chemnitz over the last three centuries - in one way or another - are presented in a summarising volume in text and pictures. The booklet provides information about mayors and city councillors, entrepreneurs and representatives of the labour movement, scientists and educators, architects and artists, theatre directors and musicians, writers and historians. In addition to well-known personalities, it also includes those who are unjustly forgotten today, but who made a remarkable contribution to the city in their field. The short biographies are accompanied by facsimile signatures. Reference is made in each case to whether the persons in question have been honoured, e.g. by the naming of streets. The appended index makes it possible to establish further references to names.

Available as a reprint at a price of 5.00 EUR.

Issue 3 - Contributions to the history of the town

This booklet offers a cross-section of various topics relating to the economic history, social history, political history, cultural history, institutional history and personal history of the city. It contains essays by Helmut Bräuer and Elke Schlenkrich on everyday life in Chemnitz in the 18th century. Frieder Jentsch on the Chemnitz brickworks industry, Edith Franke on the social conditions at a Chemnitz school, the Kappler Schule, at the beginning of our century, Günther Grünthal on the local politics of the Social Democrats, Birgit Schubert on the rise to power of the National Socialists in the 19th century, and the history of the city of Chemnitz.The following books are available: Birgit Schubert on the National Socialists' seizure of power in Chemnitz in 1933, Stephan Pfalzer on the work of Richard Tauber, the first general director of the Chemnitz theatres, Wolf Künzel on the work of the Pathological-Hygienic Institute in Chemnitz and Wolfgang Bausch on the lecture events held by the City Archive in 1998.

Unfortunately no longer available

Booklet 4 - From Alberti to Zöppel - 125 biographies on the history of Chemnitz

This volume continues the collection of short biographies on Chemnitz history begun in issue 2. It summarises personalities who have helped to shape the development of Chemnitz over the last five centuries. In addition to the staff of the city archive, a whole series of expert authors, mainly from Chemnitz, have been recruited for this booklet. People who were important for the fate of the incorporated suburbs have also been included to a greater extent. The appendix provides an overview of important archival records on personal history in the city archives, and an index again facilitates orientation.

Price: 5,00 EUR

Issue 5 - Doris Schöpe, Urban green spaces in Chemnitz

This booklet contains the first comprehensive and summarised account of the history of Chemnitz's green spaces. The study covers around 100 years of their creation and management from the beginning of the 19th century to 1923, with a special focus on the life and work of the first three city gardeners Wilhelm Klensky, Franz Encke and Otto Werner. Doris Schöpe's work, which is divided into clearly organised chapters, is based on a very thorough analysis of archival sources. A chronological table, numerous photos, historical city maps and documents illustrate the explanations.

Price: 5,00 EUR

Booklet 6 - On the origins and early history of the city of Chemnitz

This volume brings together the contributions of renowned experts, which were held at a colloquium of the Chemnitz City Archive on 24 April 2002. Gabriele Viertel, Prof. Dr Karlheinz Blaschke, Dr Manfred Kobuch, Peter Degenkolb, Gerhard Dohrn-van Rossum and Rainer Tippmann commented on the current state of research. Summarising articles by Klaus Wirth and Volkmar Geupel on excavations in Chemnitz city centre and on the Schloßberg allow previous views on the city's origins to be compared with the latest archaeological evidence. Silva Teichert's remarks on the origins of the town of Zwickau and the results of excavations there also provide impulses for comparative urban history research.

Price: 5,00 EUR

Issue 7 - Atlas Crusius - Mayor in difficult times

The publication deals with the period after the Thirty Years' War in Chemnitz. Irene Crusius places the work of her ancestor, the mayor Atlas Crusius, in the wider context of the city's history and describes the difficult circumstances of his time in office. In the following articles on the history of music in Chemnitz in the 17th century, Hans-Hermann Schmidt summarises the results of his many years of research in archives and libraries. On a mini-CD enclosed with the booklet, three of these newly discovered pieces of music can be heard in recordings with the CONVIVIUM MUSICUM CHEMNICENSE and vocal ensembles.

Price: 5,00 EUR

Issue 8 - Helmut Bräuer - Chemnitz between 1450 and 1650 - People in their contexts

The volume is published on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of Georgius Agricola's death and covers the period from the beginning of the early modern period to the end of the Thirty Years' War. This is the first time in the history of the city that this period has been dealt with in such depth. During this period, Chemnitz was a municipality in Upper Saxony within a dense urban landscape. The author describes the city's constitution and administration and also deals with inner-city disputes. He paints a vivid picture of the city centre with its public buildings, walls and towers. He comprehensively analyses economic life in Chemnitz, which was characterised by linen weaving and bleaching, but also by the Saiger smelter and copper hammers.
The social conditions of the population, wages and prices as well as problems of family life are described.Church and religious life, schools and education, art and culture, the depiction of hardships and afflictions, in particular the Schmalkaldic War and the Thirty Years' War and its consequences, complete the picture of the city of Chemnitz during this period.

Price: 17,00 EUR

Issue 9 - Karl Joachim Beuchel - The City with the Monument - On the History of Building 1945-1990

This book offers a first-hand account of the city's history, as the author helped to shape the development of Karl-Marx-Stadt for over two decades, from 1964 to 1984, as the city's planning director and architect. During this time, the course was set that led to the construction of large new housing estates such as the Heckert area, the design of the city centre with the Karl Marx Monument and the modernisation of Brühl and Sonnenberg.
The book is based on memories, notes and documents that the author has analysed in the archives. He spans the period between the post-war situation in 1945 and the fall of communism in 1990 and describes the painstaking process in which our city was given a new face in the conflict between countless concepts and the sober realities. The numerous photos show which buildings of pre-war Chemnitz disappeared irrevocably at that time, but also what new and lasting things were created.

2nd edition was published in 2017, PRICE: EUR 19.95

Issue 10 - Chemnitz during the Nazi era - Contributions to the city's history 1933-1945

For the first time, research findings on this dark chapter of the city's history have been summarised in one volume. Der Band enthält Beiträge von Dirk Hänisch über das Wahlverhalten der Chemnitzer Bevölkerung am Beginn der NS-Herrschaft, von Andreas Pehnke über das Schulwesen, von Anne Naumann üon the press landscape, by Benjamin Krohn on the Evangelical Lutheran Church, by Werner Kaden on musical life, by Stephan Weingart on building development and by Wolfgang Uhlmann on the armaments industry.
Jürgen Nitsche in his essay on the treatment of the physically and mentally ill, Stephan Pfalzer in his contribution on the use of forced labourers and Eberhard Hübsch in his account of the murder of seven anti-fascists at Hutholz deal with particularly perfidious aspects of the Nazi system.

Price: 17,95 €

Issue 11 - Chemnitz - The dawn of modernity - Contributions to the city's history 1918-1933

If Chemnitz sees itself today as a "city of modernity", it was the years of the Weimar Republic, which are examined in this book, that set clear accents on the path to a modern city. In his contribution on the new election of the city council in 1919, Stephan Pfalzer describes the prehistory that led to the biggest reorganisation of the city constitution to date. Karlheinz Schaller examines the changes in the everyday lives of industrial workers during the Weimar Republic. Stephan Weingart and Birgit Schubert give due attention to the various endeavours to create healthy living conditions. Andreas Pehnke shows that the school reform approaches here have come a long way. The recognised level of engineering education is expressed in Stephan Luther's article on the Industrial Academy. In his essay, Dirk Hänisch reveals the political polarisation in the industrial city and names the electorate whose attitude ultimately made the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship possible. Brigitta Milde shows that the municipal art collections developed their profile as a centre of modern art in the 1920s. Werner Kaden shows how the breadth of musical culture was reflected in the Chemnitz press.

Price: 17,95 €