Discover history: Old airport
Chemnitz receives stamp in the "Time Travel Germany" series
The new special-issue stamp in the "Zeitreise Deutschland" series was officially presented on 3 April 2025! With this stamp, the Federal Ministry of Finance and Deutsche Post are honouring the city of Chemnitz and drawing attention to a special period in its eventful history. Mayor Sven Schulze placed the first stamp on the special postage stamp, which shows the reception building of the former Chemnitz airport.
Representatives of Deutsche Post, the city of Chemnitz and the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 presented the stamp to an interested audience at the celebratory event at the old airport. A special mobile post office offered the exclusive stamp and collector's products, while visitors were able to take part in a photo postcard campaign.
The stamp (95 cent) is now available - for mailing or as a collector's item with a piece of Chemnitz history.
In these branches: Straße der Nationen 2-4, Ringstr. 31, Einsiedler Hauptstr. 82, Augustusburger Str. 189, Erdmannsdorfer Str. 4, Barbarossastr. 32, Schiersandstr. 15, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Str. 153, August-Bebel-Str. 3, Zwickauer Str. 438, Fürstenstr. 265.
A new chapter in aviation in Chemnitz began on a sunny autumn day. Tens of thousands of Chemnitz residents made the pilgrimage on 14 September 1924 to take part in breathtaking flight events on the occasion of the airfield promotion day. The striking reception building was officially opened on 2 May 1926, and the first scheduled aircraft landed a day later. The airport quickly developed into a popular and important destination for travellers and the regional economy. The visit of the world's largest passenger aircraft at the time, the Junkers G 38, and the stopover of the legendary airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" on 16 November 1930 were major crowd-pullers. More than 100,000 Chemnitz residents and their guests cheered the arrival of the large airship. This made the cessation of air traffic on 25 July 1937 all the more incomprehensible for many, as the aircraft became too large and some even sank in when manoeuvring.
The airport survived the Second World War without damage, but the aircraft hangar was transported to the Soviet Union as reparations. On 1 May 1958, "Deutsche Lufthansa der DDR" reopened scheduled flights. Just two years later, a total of around 21,000 passengers used the airport, making an immediate expansion necessary. However, the cramped conditions on the runways posed an unsolvable problem. On 31 October 1962, scheduled flight operations were once again discontinued, this time for good.
After lengthy discussions between airfield supporters and housing construction advocates, the GDR Council of Ministers decided on 30 October 1969 to finally end the operation. The last major aviation event was the IX. GDR Skydiving Championships on 29 and 30 June 1974. At this time, construction work for the future Fritz Heckert residential area was already in full swing.