Chemnitz Peace Day on 5 March
Review: 23rd Chemnitz Peace Day 2024 in the spirit of understanding
Commemorating the bombing of the city 79 years ago and the victims of wars around the world
On 5 March 2024, several hundred Chemnitz residents commemorated the bombing and destruction of Chemnitz on 5 March 1945 at events and campaigns entitled "Peace for the city - a city for peace" and remembered the victims of wars all over the world.
Lord Mayor Sven Schulze opened the Peace Day with the traditional commemoration ceremony at the municipal cemetery, where wreaths were laid at the memorial for the victims of the bombing of the city of Chemnitz and contemporary witnesses recounted their childhood memories of the night of the bombing on 5 March 1945.
Sven Schulze: "A lively and diverse culture of remembrance is a crucial prerequisite for repeatedly engaging in social discourse about German history. Keeping memories alive, but looking to the future: How do we deal with the lessons of the past? How do we want to shape our society, our coexistence? I want our society to be peaceful, humane and hospitable. I wish for an open, diverse and vibrant democratic society that never loses sight of the struggle for peace in the world."
Impressions of the 23rd Chemnitz Peace Day
The main event from 6 p.m. on the Neumarkt, entitled "Menschenkinder" (Children of Men) and organised by the Peace Day working group, was a joint vigil for the fact that wars and conflicts at all times only bring suffering and grief to mankind. Children from the municipal music school appealed for peace around the world in an entertaining programme.
Chemnitz state parliament members Susanne Schaper, Hanka Kliese, Alexander Dierks and Volkmar Zschocke, city councillor Jens Kieselstein and Lord Mayor Sven Schulze recited words by children's book author Astrid Lindgren, also focussing on children at war.
Film screening in the city council chamber
Various contemporary witness films were shown in the town council chamber of the town hall. For the first time, pupils from the Untere Luisenschule presented their own film and introduced it to the audience.
The films "Kinder im Krieg" (2018), "Die letzten Zeugen" (2019) and "Der ewige März" (2021) were also shown.
Wreath-laying ceremony
79 years ago today, Chemnitz was bombed and destroyed during the Second World War. In a commemorative event at the municipal cemetery, Lord Mayor Sven Schulze and contemporary witness Renate Fechner remembered the victims of the bombing on 5 March 1945. Wreaths were traditionally laid. Pupils from Chemnitz schools presented a short remembrance programme.
Peace banner at the town hall
The peace banners traditionally hang on the town hall.
"The interest in designing banners has grown from year to year and has long since spread beyond Chemnitz. For many years, there was only the workshop at the Montessori school. Then we also designed banners with special schools, and thanks to the Stefan Heym youth art project, we are now travelling all over Saxony. Last year, 40 new banners were created, six at André-Gymnasium Chemnitz, five at Pestalozzi-Förderzentrum, ten at Gymnasium Rochlitz and seven at Gymnasium Zwönitz. With twelve new banners, the Montessori school once again contributed the largest share. The five workshops in very different schools resulted in a wide variety of opinions," says the initiator of the art project, Gerald Richter.
The total number of seven-metre-long banners has now grown to 267, which corresponds to a length of 1,778 metres. Cross banners and other formats were also designed, bringing the total length to 2,750 metres.
Messages of peace from the twin towns
Review of the Chemnitz Peace Day 2023: In search of peace
Under the motto "Peace for the city - a city for peace", hundreds of people from Chemnitz commemorated the bombing and destruction of the city 78 years ago and the victims of the Second World War as well as the victims of wars in Ukraine and other countries around the world with events and actions on 5 March.
The main event took place in the evening at 6 pm on Neumarkt square under the title "Searching for Peace". Mayor Ralph Burghart and the deputy mayor from Łodz, Adam Wieczorek, commemorated the victims of past and present wars together with all those present.
Numerous activities organised by the Peace Day working group and other civil society actors shaped the entire Peace Day in Chemnitz, including at Neumarkt.
more