Honorary citizen of the city of Chemnitz
Dr h.c. Ingrid Mössinger
General Director of the Chemnitz Art Collections for many years
Honorary citizenship awarded on 20.04.2018
Ingrid Mössinger, who grew up in Stuttgart, initially studied library science and later art history, archaeology, ethnology and philosophy. She worked as a curator at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, served as director of Art Frankfurt in 1992/93 and subsequently as director of the Kunstverein Ludwigsburg. In 1996 she was appointed director of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz.
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Dr Peter Seifert
Lord Mayor of the City of Chemnitz for many years
Honorary citizenship awarded on 04.11.2016
Dr Peter Seifert was born on 27 July 1941 in Zwickau. He studied and completed his doctorate at the Technical University of Karl-Marx-Stadt. His professional stations included the Robotron combine and the Zwönitz measuring instrument factory.
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Christoph Magirius
Co-organiser of the grassroots democratic round table (municipal level) 1989/90
Honorary citizenship awarded on 03.10.1990
The pastor Christoph Magirius, born in Meerane in 1937, was superintendent in Chemnitz from 1979 to 1 September 1990. For more than a decade, Magirius was a negotiating partner between state authorities and the church. He fearlessly used the power of his personality and his office to promote mutual understanding and conflict resolution.
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Katarina Witt
Figure skater
Honorary citizenship awarded on 22.12.1988
Katarina Witt was born on 3 December 1965 in Staaken near Berlin. She began figure skating at the age of five in the junior group of the SC Karl-Marx-Stadt. Her talent was recognised and actively encouraged there. After attending the children's and youth sports school, Katarina Witt was able to devote herself intensively to competitive sport and became GDR champion for the first time in 1981.
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Prizes of honour
Since 1998, the City of Chemnitz has awarded prizes of honour at irregular intervals for special services to the development of the city and its inhabitants >>more
Deceased citizens of honour (selection)
Jutta Müller - Figure skating coach
Honorary citizenship awarded on 12.12.2008
Jutta Müller, née Lötzsch, was born in Chemnitz on 13 December 1928. She was initially a teacher of German and sport. But her love was roller skating and figure skating. In 1949, she became the GDR pairs champion. Jutta Müller later studied at the German University of Physical Education in Leipzig (DHfK Leipzig).
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Prof Dr Carl Hahn - automotive engineering manager and visionary
Honorary citizenship awarded on 9 June 1994
The long-standing VW manager Carl Horst Hahn was born in Chemnitz on 1 July 1926. His father, Carl Hahn senior, was involved in the early days of automobile manufacturing in Germany and was one of the co-founders of Auto Union AG in Chemnitz in 1932 from the merger of Audi, Wanderer, Horch and DKW.
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Justin Sonder - Auschwitz survivor
Honorary citizenship awarded on 21.04.2017
Justin Sonder was born on 18 October 1925 in Chemnitz, the son of a housewife and a merchant and wine salesman. He was confronted with growing anti-Semitism as a child and experienced the pogrom night in Chemnitz on 9 November 1938.
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Siegmund Rotstein - long-standing chairman of the Jewish Community of Chemnitz
Honorary citizenship awarded on 16.05.2007
Siegmund Rotstein was born on 30 November 1925 to Jewish parents in Chemnitz.
After the National Socialists seized power, Siegmund Rotstein's childhood and youth were characterised by repressive measures against the Jewish population.
Dr Sigmund Jähn - Aviation cosmonaut
Honorary citizenship awarded on 25.09.1978
Dr Sigmund Jähn was born on 13 February 1937 in Rautenkranz, Vogtland. After attending school and completing his apprenticeship, he worked as a printer. From 1955 to 1958, he studied at the Officers' Academy of the Air Force of the National People's Army of the GDR, became a fighter pilot and studied at the Soviet military academy "Yuri Gagarin" from 1966 to 1970.
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Valery Fedorovich Bykovsky - Aviation cosmonaut
Honorary citizenship awarded on 25.09.1978
Valery Fedorovich Bykovsky was born on 2 August 1934 in Pavlovsky Posad, Moscow Region. After studying at the Kachinsk Military Aviation School and a career as a military pilot in the Soviet Air Force, he was accepted into the world's first cosmonaut group in 1960.
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Dr Folker Weißgerber - long-standing member of the VW Brand Board of Management
Honorary citizenship awarded on 22.11.2004
Dr Folker Weißgerber was born in Chemnitz on 25 March 1941, attended school here and completed an apprenticeship as an electrician from 1955 to 1958. From 1961 to 1964, he worked as a factory electrician at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg and qualified as an electrical engineer in a distance learning programme while working.
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Stefan Heym - Writer
Honorary citizenship awarded on 02.10.2001
Stefan Heym was born in Chemnitz on 10 April 1913 under the civil name of Helmut Flieg, the son of a Jewish merchant. As an 18-year-old pupil at the Hohe Straße state grammar school, Helmut Flieg, who was influenced by a humanist upbringing, was already grappling with the social contradictions of the Weimar Republic.
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