Siegmund Rotstein
Event to mark the 100th birthday of Siegmund Rotstein
The power of small miracles - panel discussion with friends, family and companions
Panel discussion with friends, family and companions
Wednesday, 3 December 2025 at 4 pm in the Green Salon of the town hall, Markt 1, 09111 Chemnitz
Siegmund Rotstein, born in Chemnitz, was chairman of the Jewish community for 40 years. He experienced the
He experienced the persecution of the National Socialists first-hand in his own family. After the deportation, he returned to
Chemnitz and rebuilt community life here. The guests at the panel discussion will
memories, share anecdotes and stories and paint a vivid picture of a special person.
Marion Rotstein - daughter of Siegmund Rotstein
Dr Peter Seifert - former Lord Mayor
Renate Aris - long-standing board member of the Jewish community
Dr Jürgen Nitsche - historian
The event is open to the public. Please register at www.chemnitz.de/rotstein.
On Wednesday, 3 December 2025 at 4 pm in the Green Salon of the town hall,
Market 1, 09111 Chemnitz
Siegmund Rotstein, born in Chemnitz, was chairman of the Jewish community for 40 years. He experienced the persecution of the National Socialists first-hand in his own family. After being deported, he returned to Chemnitz and rebuilt community life here. The guests at the panel discussion will reminisce, share anecdotes and stories and paint a vivid picture of a special person.
Marion Rotstein - daughter of Siegmund Rotstein
Dr Peter Seifert - former Lord Mayor
Renate Aris - long-standing board member of the Jewish community
Dr Jürgen Nitsche - historian
The event is open to the public. Please register at www.chemnitz.de/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 Nazis seized power, Siegmund Rotstein's childhood and youth were characterised by repressive measures against the Jewish population: anti-Semitism, marginalisation, persecution and finally deportation to the Theresienstadt concentration camp - experiences that had a lasting impact on his consciousness and his deeply humanistic attitude to life.
After his liberation from the concentration camp in June 1945, Siegmund Rotstein was one of the few survivors of the Jewish religious community to return to Chemnitz.
Siegmund Rotstein initially completed an apprenticeship as a men's tailor in Chemnitz as well as further professional qualifications and worked successfully in various management positions in the wholesale and retail trade until he retired.
In addition to his profession, Siegmund Rotstein dedicated himself with passion and commitment to Jewish community life in his birthplace and hometown: from 1959, he was a member of the community council and the advisory board of the Association of Jewish Communities in the GDR. In 1966, he was elected chairman of the Jewish community of Karl-Marx-Stadt for the first time and held this responsible honorary post until 2006. In 2007, Siegmund Rotstein was made Honorary Chairman of the Jewish Community of Chemnitz.
It is Siegmund Rotstein's great personal achievement - as stated in the explanatory memorandum to the resolution submitted to the city council for the award of honorary citizenship - that the Jewish community, which initially only had 53 members after 1945, and thus Jewish life in Karl-Marx-Stadt/Chemnitz, has always existed. In the years 1988 to 1990, Rotstein, in his capacity as President of the Association of Jewish Communities in the GDR, ensured above all that the preservation and maintenance of religious traditions could be continued together with other Jewish communities and with the help of cantorial support from Berlin.
The fact that Chemnitz became a new home for more than 500 members of the community who had resettled there is primarily due to the tireless commitment of Siegmund Rotstein. From 1990 to 2001, Rotstein also dedicated himself to solving these integration issues in Leipzig and Dresden as chairman of the Saxony State Association of Jewish Communities.
Together with the city of Chemnitz, Siegmund Rotstein persistently endeavoured to build a new synagogue. Since 2002, the new synagogue in Chemnitz has been a clearly visible centre of Jewish life in Chemnitz!
In recognition of his great services to the preservation of Jewish life in Karl-Marx-Stadt / Chemnitz and his many years of commendable commitment in Chemnitz, the Chemnitz City Council decided to award Siegmund Rotstein honorary citizenship at its meeting on 14 March 2007 with draft resolution no. B-110/2007.
Siegmund Rotstein passed away on 6 August 2020 at the age of 94.