"We have to tell stories of peace"
Interview with Christoph Magirius
He cannot imagine his life without the topic of peace, says honorary citizen Christoph Magirius. The 89-year-old was not only an important negotiator in the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 in Chemnitz, but is also committed to the Peace Day in Chemnitz. For a quarter of a century, he has been part of the Peace Day working group, which is committed to ensuring that the horrors of war never reach Chemnitz again, and is involved in peace work with the younger generations. In this interview, Christoph Magirius explains what is particularly important to them.
What does peace mean to you?
Christoph Magirius: I am a pastor by profession and there is one term that dominates both the Old and New Testaments: the Israelis call it "shalom" - peace. The beauty of "shalom" is that it is a comprehensive term. It includes everything we need to live. We want to live as a community. If we want to live as a community, things have to be fair. If things are to be fair, very different people must be taken into account and brought into dialogue.
And for all this to flourish, weapons must be laid down and the ability to talk to each other and negotiate things that life brings where there are contradictions must be developed.
You are a co-initiator of the Peace Day. What gave rise to the idea and the desire to organise a Peace Day in Chemnitz?
1989 was a wonderful year. We thought: "Now peace has broken out". Europe, no antagonisms, no armies, lots of money. Now we can really shape our lives. But peace - how does that work? And there were two people who deserve special mention: Hans-Joachim Vogel, a pastor who has always been very committed to peace in society, but also to coexistence, balance and justice. He met with Sabine Kühnrich, who is cut from a completely different cloth. But the great thing was that although they are so different, the two of them said: "We have one thing in common - the question 'How will things be now in Europe and especially in our city? They wanted to set a peace accent in Chemnitz. I definitely wanted to be there.
It wasn't as if 5 March hadn't been celebrated in the city before. There was always a commemoration of the destruction, the victims, and we were convinced of that: Remembrance is very important. No one should be forgotten. And certainly not such cuts and such destruction and devastation.
We wanted to organise life in such a way that people living here in Chemnitz could understand each other and come together. We didn't want opposites to be resolved by simply eliminating people, but that people should come together. That was the vision.
Then various people came together in the Peace Day working group and I have rarely met such a wonderful group in my life. To experience this kind of cooperation, where there is no set programme, but where people from different areas set off together. There were real, wonderful debates, but never hostile, but with a lot of respect.
How many times a year do you meet with the Peace Day working group?
From September onwards, we think about what the topic for the next Peace Day could be. Then we ask ourselves which forces could be addressed here. Are there choirs, are there dancers? Are there exhibitions? We usually meet once a month and more often just before 5 March.
This year's motto is "Staying peaceful". What does that mean for you specifically?
That's what I'm trying to say on 5 March. My thesis is: I become capable of peace the moment I discover peace events and stories and don't let them rest, but continue to tell them. There are so many things, encounters, events and kindnesses, reaching out to one another and helping one another - these are all stories of peace. And we have to tell these stories of peace, that war no longer has a chance, that there is no more room for it.
Which experiences from the past 25 years do you particularly remember?
All of them. But the best are the Peace Prize events and the Peace Prize winners. The important thing about Chemnitz is that the prizewinners come from here. That is important to us.
When visitors go home from the Peace Day, what attitude or message do they take with them?
I think the messages will be enormously different. For example, if you are at the cemetery and hear a contemporary witness say: "We lost everything, but we kept our lives", you go home thinking: "I should remember that." Or when people see a peace banner and start talking to a pupil who painted it, they realise that a group of pupils has been working on peace for a year.
What can we do to keep remembrance alive for future generations?
That is a crucial question. You have to go into schools, which is what we did. Pass on personal impressions. So if the contemporary witnesses are no longer able to convey this because they are no longer around, the collective memory must be cultivated in courses of study and in school programmes. You can't lose sight of that.
But I think there is a lot of impetus here. That you can communicate: War is so hard, you can't even imagine it. No electricity, no water, no food, no nothing, no roof over your head. But you can't talk people into that, you can only say: "People, think about it and don't be reckless with your decision and the opportunities you have." Becoming capable of peace is a real task.
Watch the interview with Christoph Magirius
About the person
Christoph Magirius
Pastor Christoph Magirius, born in Meerane in 1937, was superintendent in Chemnitz from 1979 to 1 September 1990. He was a co-organiser of the grassroots democratic round table (municipal level) in 1989/90. For more than a decade, Magirius was a negotiating partner between the state and the church. He fearlessly used the power of his personality and his office to promote mutual understanding and conflict resolution.
On 3 October 1990, Christoph Magirius was made an honorary citizen of the city of Chemnitz.