Chemnitz Peace Day 2021
Speech by the Lord Mayor
Dear people of Chemnitz,
I am writing to you today to remind you of perhaps the most terrible night in the history of this city. It was a Monday, 5 March 1945, and after almost 600 tonnes of bombs had already fallen on Chemnitz in the morning, a white, almost comforting layer of snow covered the streets in the evening.
None of the people of Chemnitz had any idea that the calm mood was about to change abruptly.
As the first marker bombs, the red and green flares in the sky, showed the pilots their targets, mothers hurriedly woke their children, packed their things and sought shelter in bunkers and cellars. They prayed that the walls would hold, the ceilings would not collapse and there would be enough oxygen for the people huddled close together.
Deafening noise. It whistled, howled, boomed and banged. Heavy vibrations, walls shook, children screamed, mothers and fathers cried.
For 30 minutes, almost 700 allied bombers unloaded their deadly cargo. 2,800 tonnes of aerial mines, high-explosive and incendiary bombs fell on the city centre.
Chemnitz was engulfed in a sea of flames. More than 27,000 flats, countless factories and offices and many public buildings were destroyed.
That night alone, 2,100 people died in the flames and rubble. They were crushed by falling debris, shredded by the bombs, suffocated or burnt to death.
That night in the Second World War changed the face of our city and its inhabitants forever.
But when we remember that day and that night 76 years ago today, it is not just about the past and mourning, it is also about Germany's responsibility for the Second World War.
But we are also looking to the future: how do we want to deal with the lessons of the past in the future? It is also about: how do we want to shape our society, our coexistence?
I want our society to be peaceful, humane and hospitable.
I want an open, diverse and vibrant democratic society that never loses sight of the struggle for peace in the world - the basis of our lives over the past decades.
And I wish for a society that protects our democracy. Not just since Hameln or Hanau, not just since Mölln or Rostock-Lichtenhagen. We must stand up for democracy every day and defend it against its enemies.
Our honorary citizen Justin Sonder, who died last year, once said:
"Nobody who goes to school today and tries to understand the history of the country is to blame for what happened then. But of course they should and must learn from it and do everything they can to ensure that it doesn't happen again."
Here in Chemnitz, we have managed - with the help of many - to develop active peace work with a view to the future with the Peace Day alongside the commemoration of the night of the bombing.
We see the work of the Peace Day Working Group not only every year on Peace Day.
The peace banners are one of the many projects that show us all, and in this case especially the younger generation, in a creative way what war can do and why it is so immensely important to stand up for peace always and everywhere.
Dear people of Chemnitz, my wish for Chemnitz is that peace should always reign in this city of ours. And that doesn't just mean bomb attacks, but also the way we live together here. Peaceful coexistence in society begins with honest but also respectful language, with respect for one another. Hatred and agitation - no matter against whom - are never the right way. Neither in our city nor beyond.
Thank you very much