Kiryat Bialik (Israel)
Twin city since 26 October 2022
Kiryat Bialik (kiryat means small town in Hebrew) is located in the north of Israel. The city currently has a population of around 40,000 and is growing, with several thousand new residents arriving every year. The town is located north-east of the city of Haifa and is part of its metropolitan area. Kiryat Bialik has a total area of 8.2 square kilometres and borders the Tel Afek nature reserve to the north-east, where remains from the Crusader era can still be found.
Kiryat Bialik was granted city rights in 1976 as the town continued to grow. Since then, the town has welcomed immigrants from over 65 countries, most recently from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. Today's city was founded in 1934 by German immigrants. It was the first settlement of German freelancers in Israel. They received the land from the Jewish National Fund for Israel and farmed and cultivated it themselves. The settlement was initially called the "German Immigrant Neighbourhood", but was named after the Israeli national poet Chaim Nachman Bialik after his death in the same year.
The first settlers to settle in Kiryat Bialik in 1924 were Ephraim and Sabina Katz, immigrants from Romania who had purchased the land. One of their houses, the Beit Katz ("Katz House"), has been preserved to this day and was handed over to the town for public use in 1959. Today it houses a local history museum run by volunteers.
Inhabitants: | 40.000 |
Area: | 8.2 km² |
Website: |
New town twinning after 23 years
In a ceremony on 26 October 2022, Lord Mayor Sven Schulze and Mayor of Kirjat Bialik, Eli Dukorski, signed a joint agreement to seal the town twinning. Prior to this, a Chemnitz Skôda tram was christened "Kirjat Bialik".
Lord Mayor Sven Schulze: "After 23 years, we are entering into a new town twinning partnership. What is special about this partnership is that the relationship we are formally declaring today was not initiated by the administrations, but by committed citizens of both cities."
Chemnitz residents have been in contact with Kiryat Bialik since 2009. These were initiated primarily by the Jewish community with Dr Ruth Röcher and Prof Rafael Wertheim. Future cooperation is to focus on culture, business, sustainability, education, sport, security and, in particular, the participation of young people.
Support for Kiryat Bialik
Chemnitz' Israeli twin town Kirjat Bialik is also affected by the conflict that Hamas triggered with its attack on Israel on 7 October. Our twin town is asking for support for a specific project: it would like to equip kindergartens with shelters so that the children and teachers are better protected from rocket attacks.
Anyone wishing to support this project financially can make a donation to the special account of the Jewish Community of Chemnitz:
DE94 8709 6214 0321 0787 96
Keyword: Donation