50 years of the "Fritz Heckert" residential area
The city within the city celebrates its anniversary
The residential area, with around 32,300 flats and 92,000 residents at the time, is an important part of the city's history. It was created in the 1970s and 1980s in response to the housing shortage in the GDR. The planning was accompanied by various scientific research projects in order to meet the needs of the residents. During extensive modernisation measures, the new buildings were demolished over time, which is why the current population of the residential area is around 37,000 residents. The "Fritz Heckert" residential area can therefore look back on an eventful history.
To celebrate the anniversary in style, an initiative of committed 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.
Numerous events will take place over the course of 2024. The anniversary celebration took place on 17 and 18 August behind the Vita-Center.
Further information
Note:
The texts were written by author and historian Norbert Engst. The City of Chemnitz would like to thank him for his valuable support and co-operation.
This was the Fritz50 anniversary on 17 August 2024
The celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Fritz Heckert residential area were characterised by the inauguration of two new information steles, the opening of a park project and the sinking of a new time capsule.
One highlight was the opening of the "Park Morgenleite" intervention area. The three-part facility, consisting of a water playground, exercise elements and the so-called Park of Tranquillity, which was developed in direct cooperation with the residents, extends behind the Vita Centre. It is intended to increase the quality of life and attractiveness of the neighbourhood. The construction costs totalled around 225,000 euros.
At the same time, two new information steles were unveiled to commemorate the history and development of the neighbourhood. The first stele is located in front of the Vita Centre and tells the story of the "Morgenleite" district. The second stele is located at Wenzel-Verner-Platz and provides information about the history of the "Fritz-Heckert" residential area up to 1990 as well as 30 years of urban development.
A particular highlight was the return of the historic foundation stone, which was brought back to its original location on Wenzel-Verner-Platz after decades. At the same time, a new time capsule was deposited next to the restored inscription plate, symbolising a link between the past and the future. This project was only possible thanks to the cooperation of various local stakeholders, including the Chemnitz History Association 1990 e. V., the Chemnitz Helbersdorf Citizens' Association and the City of Chemnitz's monument protection authority. Thanks to the commitment of numerous participants, this extensive programme could be realised in a very short time. Special thanks go to the local craftsmen, historians and citizens' initiatives who supported this project with their heart and soul.
Information pillars
Two information stelae were unveiled on 17 August: the stele at the Vita-Center provides information about the "Morgenleite" district, the stele at Wenzel-Verner-Platz about the "Fritz-Heckert" residential area.
New time capsule in old foundation stone
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Fritz Heckert area, an alliance of citizens, the Chemnitz History Association 1990 e. V., the Chemnitz-Helbersdorf Citizens' Association e. V. and the City of Chemnitz Monument Protection Authority came together in July 2023 to have the foundation stone recognised as a cultural monument in accordance with its socio-historical, local historical and artistic significance.
Since the foundation stone, which was inaugurated on 5 October 1974 at the site of today's Wenzel-Verner-Platz, had been exposed to exhaust fumes and weathering for 50 years, it showed severe damage to the concrete body and the inscription plate darkened. In October 2023, the building was added to the state monument list. At the beginning of July 2024, the restoration of the concrete body and the inscription plate began under the leadership of the Kulturbetrieb der Stadt Chemnitz. This work was carried out by Till Apfel, a master stonemason and master stone sculptor based in Chemnitz. The documents from the old time capsule - newspapers, building plans, documents from the Karl-Marx-Stadt housing construction combine, coins worth around 145 GDR marks, a Karl Marx medal and documents from the construction workers - were recovered and will be kept by the Schloßberg Museum in future.
The new capsule was filled in the Schloßbergmuseum by 14 August and was already soldered on 14 August, as it was not possible to fill it on site during the inauguration of the foundation stone on 17 August for technological reasons. The new time capsule was filled with the official gazette issues of the series on the 50th Heckert anniversary, current issues of two Chemnitz daily newspapers, documents and flyers on the celebratory programme on 17 and 18 August, a calendar with historical photographs and a booklet with the history of the company. August, a calendar with historical photographs of the Heckert area, the set of coins and the Karl Marx medal from the old time capsule, a set of new euro coins, an empty bottle of Heckert beer, issues of Südblick and two books: an edition of "Das Wohngebiet 'Fritz Heckert' - Bauen in neuen Dimensionen" by Norbert Engst, Chemnitzer Geschichtsverein e. V., and "My children's room in the clouds" by the author Manuela Klitzsch.
The new time capsule will be ceremoniously embedded in the restored foundation stone on 17 August.
The location at Wenzel-Verner-Platz was chosen as it is representative and this location is close to the original location of the foundation stone. Shortly after the foundation stone was laid in 1974, it was presumably moved to the building yard and stored there until the work on construction area I was completed. It was then placed in the car park of the Chemnitz-Süd tax office at the end of the 1970s. In line with the Capital of Culture motto "C the Unseen", the barely seen and unnoticed stone was to be brought out of its niche and presented as an important identification anchor for the residents of the residential area and a symbol of a formative urban development era in the city of Chemnitz.
An accompanying new information stele on the restored foundation stone on Wenzel-Verner-Platz provides information about the history of the "Fritz Heckert" residential area up to 1990 as well as interesting facts about 30 years of urban development funding from 1994 to 2024.
The Chemnitz-Helbersdorf Citizens' Association is responsible for the preservation and maintenance of the foundation stone and the information stele, just as it has been looking after the entire Wenzel-Verner-Platz for years.
Childhood and youth in the Fritz Heckert area
Over 38 per cent of Chemnitz children from the 1970s to 1990s grew up in the Heckert area. Manuela Klitzsch is one of them. In entertaining episodes, she recalls her childhood in Karl-Marx-Stadt in the 1980s with a wink and a love of detail.
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The 1990s in the Fritz Heckert area
The European reorganisation of society, the economy and politics after 1989/1990 led to a contrasting development between the new housing estates in eastern Germany and their eastern European counterparts.
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Mobility in the Fritz Heckert area
The move from an old building close to the city to a new flat on the outskirts not only changed the way the new tenants lived, but also their transport behaviour.
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Transformation of the Fritz Heckert area
The social transformation of 1989/1990 fundamentally changed the conditions under which East German new housing estates existed, albeit not abruptly.
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Historical
In 1974, the foundation stone was laid in the south of Karl-Marx-Stadt for a major urban development and social project of hitherto unknown 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. However, as is so often the case with large-scale social projects of this kind, the history goes back much further. The "Chemnitz Helbersdorfer Hang" development plan from 1919 already included a housing estate between Helbersdorfer Strasse and Stollberger Strasse.
This plan also included the Gürtelstraße, the predecessor of the Südring. Meanwhile, at the time of the foundation stone inauguration, the construction of the northernmost part of the residential area, building area 0 - Irkutsker Straße, was in full swing.
The location of the residential area in the south of the city was the result of 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 late 1950s onwards envisaged the town growing southwards along Stollberger Strasse. These plans were supported by dust and temperature measurements in the summer of 1950, which showed 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 that were 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 beginning 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 large housing estate here therefore plays a pioneering role.
The first plans for the Heckert area envisaged building up to the village of Markersdorf. Later, the fields to the 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 resulted in 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 authorised costs of 50,000 marks per flat in the Heckert area, 85-90,000 marks had to be raised for the flats in the southernmost district 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.