Laudation
on the award of honorary citizenship of the City of Chemnitz to Dr Peter Seifert on 4 November 2016
The spoken word prevails!
Honoured guests,
I have been asked by the person being honoured to give the keynote speech.
It is an honour and a challenging task for me to do this for my predecessor. And it is the second time that I have given a speech in his honour. And how could it be otherwise, there are great similarities in terms of content.
The honking concert
Spontaneous honking concerts, honoured guests, are an expression of ecstatic, extraordinary joy and enthusiasm.
Like at the football World Cup, when Germany wins and advances to the next round. Or becomes world champion.
When such collective outbursts of joy were not yet commonplace in our country, such a spontaneous honking concert took place in Chemnitz in 1993 because of a city council decision.
Perhaps the only one of its kind ever in Germany because of a city council decision.
On 15 September 1993, Dr Peter Seifert was initially elected acting mayor by the city council.
Whenever Chemnitz made headlines in the early 1990s, it was usually due to scandals and chaos in the city leadership or the city council.
Chemnitz, the valley of tears. A willing victim, often ridiculed.
And that is why many Chemnitz residents saw the election of Peter Seifert as salvation and great hope for their city.
Hence the concert of horns when the radio reported what many were hoping for: finally the city council had made the right decision. At last, Chemnitz has a mayor who can be trusted to do it.
I was just out and about in my car in the city centre. I thought this euphoric, collective outburst of emotion from the people of Chemnitz at the car horn was great.
But isn't the horn a warning signal? Also to the elected? Hot euphoria - which already harbours the cooled disappointment.
Yes, objectively speaking: Expecting redemption outside the church, from a Lord Mayor, is an unredeemable longing not only in a city that was called Karl-Marx-Stadt for several decades. But the hope that there is now a doer at the top of the city who can do it is realisable.
Peter Seifert will not disappoint his Chemnitz citizens. He had the cross to reorganise his city together with the city council, the mayors and the city administration.
The people of Chemnitz have now backed the right man. He has a plan for the city. At last.
A 7-point plan that he wants to have implemented by the 1994 elections. This gives him profile and the courage of entrepreneurs to back Chemnitz.
And the confidence of the people of Chemnitz in their city leadership and in the young democracy. He is full of energy, ideas and drive.
And he demanded everything of himself. A 14-hour working day will be his workload for many years to come.
The direct election by the citizens takes place on 12 June 1994. The people of Chemnitz elected Peter Seifert as their Lord Mayor for the first time with 73% of the vote. He is re-elected in 2001 with almost 70 %.
The horn is no longer honked in his favour. It is now somehow clear that there can only be this mayor for Chemnitz.
He is quite naturally the Lord Mayor. "Seifert will do it," is often said in the city. And he knows exactly that.
The office
I first met Peter Seifert in 1991, two years before he took office. We were in the same local SPD organisation.
What immediately struck me was his natural authority. When Peter Seifert spoke, people listened and what he said carried weight. That was the case in 1991 and it stayed that way. In fact, everywhere I met him over the following 25 years or so.
For this laudatory speech, I considered whether Peter Seifert has changed significantly as a result of his office. I think not.
He came into office as a strong, distinctive personality. With many decisive strengths and some weaknesses. Everyone has them, otherwise he's no one.
The non-party doctoral engineer and plant manager of the Zwönitz measuring instrument factory was transformed into a politician in a fast-track procedure due to the historic caesura of the happy reunification.
His increasing experience in office underpinned his effectiveness.
His encounters with many personalities from contemporary history - from Willy Brandt to Vladimir Putin - touched him and strengthened his drive for action.
He reorganised the administration with assertiveness.
His emphatic expertise was convincing and contributed, for example, to the Volkswagen Group investing in Chemnitz. Prof Carl Hahn, then Chairman of the Board of Management, made this decision in particular. He wanted to play his part in making German reunification a success story.
Today, the VW engine plant employs around 1700 people and is the most efficient plant of its kind in the VW family worldwide.
Under the leadership of Lord Mayor Seifert, urban planning became a location policy with foresight. Several industrial estates were created and enabled many companies to establish themselves nationally and internationally.
Peter Seifert supported the Jewish community with sensitivity, historical awareness and commitment. He personally took on the construction of a new synagogue in Chemnitz. It has now been over a decade since the inauguration. The Jews once again have a permanent place in Chemnitz. Today there are over 600 members of the community.
There is now also a Jewish kindergarten. Jews are being born in Chemnitz again. Almost a miracle. Miraculous.
Perseverance is also a quality that Peter Seifert brought with him and could put to good use.
Z. For example, in the creation of a new Chemnitz city centre. Several drafts, long discussions and around ten years later - around 2000 - the new city centre took shape.
The decisive factor was that Mr Seifert managed to steer the discussions in the city council, which were frightening investors and full of ever new demands, in the right direction and thus put an end to them.
Leading architects in Germany, some of whom I have met in the last 10 years, had thought about the former K-M city and submitted plans.
And - the impression I got from that time - the more ideas were on the table, the less the city council knew what was good and right.
The tour de force finally succeeds.
Our town hall - one of the few remaining historic buildings - IS once again THE centre of life in the town centre:
This beautiful hall in the centre of the city was given an unmistakable aura 100 years ago with the painting by Max Klinger, timeless.
The title "Work, Prosperity, Beauty" in a way reflects the concept for the city's new centre. Combined with the old Chemnitz and the architecture of Karl-Marx-Stadt, this is a highly appropriate claim.
Peter Seifert himself says of the city centre development: "If that had gone wrong, the people of Chemnitz would have chased me out of the city with a truncheon."
And because I have you, ladies and gentlemen, with me in the city council chamber right now, let's stay with that for a while:
In 13 years in office, Lord Mayor Seifert chaired over 130 city council meetings, flanked by the half-naked beauties of Max Klinger:
Sovereign, entertaining, whimsically humorous - when he was in the mood - , demanding and insistent - when it was important. He never liked long, rambling speeches.
He got to the point quickly and showed poise. The councillors liked that. But not all of them did the same.
The broad appreciation from the citizens was both an incentive and a means for him, which he used in good measure to push through his plans in the city council.
In other words, he used his power in a targeted manner for a cause he was convinced of. In doing so, he occasionally pushed the councillors to the limit. And he not only applied pressure, but also speed. He often couldn't move fast enough.
The fact that the decision to make him an honorary citizen was supported by almost all political groups across the board shows that this is the highest that can be achieved in this House: Respect and recognition of and for joint achievement across party lines.
The honour bestowed on Mr Seifert today is also a tribute to all honorary city councillors who have moved the city forward through their decisions.
It therefore also symbolises the development work of that time.
The sprint
The future honorary citizen is, dear guests, a child of the war - born in Zwickau in 1941. Hard times that shaped his generation. Sport may have been an outlet, who knows. Psychologists didn't care about the war children with all their cruel experiences.
Perhaps because other sports that required certain practical prerequisites were not to be found in post-war Zwickau - or because it was exactly his talent - he became a runner, short distance.
At less than eleven seconds - hand-stopped - for 100 metres in his youth, he was incredibly fast. He also loved football. But he never became a successful footballer. He was always faster than the ball. So athletics remained his great passion to this day.
The fast doctor - one of his nicknames as mayor - promoted the sport.
The German Athletics Association held the Mayor of Chemnitz and Chemnitz sport in such high esteem that the association set the course for the European Athletics Championships in 2002 in Germany, in Saxony, in Chemnitz.
There was already a stadium design: by the Chemnitz-born architect Behnisch, who also designed the 1972 Olympic Stadium in Munich.
The only thing missing was DM 50 million from the Free State. He fought for it, he, Chemnitz did not get it. The European Championships took place in Munich.
That hit Peter Seifert hard. But he didn't let setbacks get him down. He is still president of the athletics club in Chemnitz today. Max Heß, 20 years old, competes for LAC Erdgas, German indoor champion and European triple jump champion, is one of "his athletes".
Incidentally, no European Athletics Championships have ever been held in Saxony.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Chemnitz is a car city. And the people of Chemnitz love their cars very much. So does our speedy Laureate.
That was already the case when he was Lord Mayor. He rarely let himself be chauffeured. He wanted to set the pace.
If he did, the service was no fun for the assigned driver.
The secretariat had ordered a driver for a business trip to Cologne. There were many roadworks and speed limits on the A4 motorway. The driver drove in an exemplary manner. However, he had to stop near Erfurt and move into the passenger seat.
The Lord Mayor was going too slowly. So the driver was driven to Cologne by the Lord Mayor.
It remains Dr Seifert's secret how much he paid to the fining authorities throughout Germany.
He had even managed to get a four-week driving ban while working for his city.
Someone like him didn't end up in the headlines. Instead, he was met with a mild smile, happy that he also had weaknesses.
Now that he is 75 years old, he will perhaps get into his car tomorrow and ask himself how fast honorary citizens are actually allowed to drive.
What remains?
A lot. Much more than I can say here.
Lord Mayor Peter Seifert and the City Council have set the course for Chemnitz to once again be a modern, successful industrial city, a city of business, science and crafts.
As an engineer, he was convinced of the expertise of the well-trained, hard-working skilled labour force.
The tradition of entrepreneurship in Chemnitz spurred him on to cultivate the soil in which new, courageous companies could plant themselves and grow. This growth continues and sets the pace for the city.
Today, "Made in Chemnitz" is once again a global seal of quality. For example, in mechanical and plant engineering, technical textiles, developments in vehicle construction, microsystems technology, energy efficiency and lightweight structural engineering.
Ladies and gentlemen,
What remains is one of the largest private collections of classical modern art, from Otto Dix to Andy Warhol.
It is not located in Munich, where the collector lives, but in Chemnitz. In the Gunzenhauser Museum.
The laureate was mayor at a time of radical upheaval. The fact that this resulted in a new beginning for Chemnitz also benefited sport.
He laid the foundations for the sports school centre.
Today, with its grammar school and sports high school and the boarding school currently under construction, it is an exemplary training centre for the state.
What remains is an outstanding mayor in the history of the city, who in 13 years in office made a significant contribution to what Chemnitz is today:
A city that has recovered from the collapse of industry and the great exodus of 75,000 people.
Today, Chemnitz is growing again.
It is a place where the future is being thought and made. With room for ideas and people who want to create something.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Can a person who has worked, achieved and accomplished so much actually be a pensioner?
Not really. No, he can't.
Just mow the lawn, go hiking, watch what others are doing. That's not his thing yet. He no longer has to prove anything to anyone. He no longer has to fulfil the promises of a honking concert.
But I hope he still needs the adrenaline that comes from doing something for a good cause.
I don't know all of his honorary posts.
What I do know for sure is that
- he is Chairman of the TU Chemnitz University Council
- President of the LAC
- Member of advisory boards
- And when I ask him, my counsellor.
Anyone who leads a city with so much human greatness, with so much passion, could remain mayor forever.
However, it was not the Saxon municipal code with its age limit, but he himself who set a limit. He wanted to retire at the age of 65. And he did. Self-determined. Just the way he is.
And he was not indifferent to his successor.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It was never his aim to receive speeches about himself and personal honours.
Now it has come to this.
The City of Chemnitz is awarding honorary citizenship to former Lord Mayor Dr Peter Seifert.