Chemnitz contemporary witnesses: Wolfgang Reiter
On 5 March, I was with my parents and two siblings in the so-called air-raid shelter at Äußere Klosterstraße 5, where my parents lived with their children in the rear building on the second floor. There was a cabinetmaker's shop (Pester) in the side building. We prayed and despaired during the air raid. After the air raid warden gave the order to leave the cellar, we saw the house and the wood in the courtyard on fire. It was a sea of flames.
I went back to our flat in the rear building. I grabbed the fire sticks with my work gloves and threw them into the water flow, the so-called rubbish ditch. But the phosphorus continued to burn in the water. The theatre on Theaterstraße was also on fire, as were the surrounding buildings. The sea of flames could be seen in all the streets. Our beautiful city was recognisable with fire and destruction. People were screaming and desperate. It was terrible to watch and listen to everything. I then walked with my stepfather to my grandparents on Dresdner Straße, which was very dangerous. We were very lucky because the house was intact and hadn't been exposed to the flames. We lived there until the end of the war.
After this last attack on 5 March 1945, we looked at our destroyed city and thought about what fascism had left us. Today, the city of Chemnitz is no longer Russchemnitz. Our city is almost rebuilt, even more beautiful than when I was a child, with narrow alleys and streets like in the old days. I only wish that I will never again experience a night like the 5th of March. The hatred and brutality should be a thing of the past. All people, regardless of skin colour or origin, should live together peacefully.
There must be no more war, because that is the worst thing for people.
Contemporary witness brochures
The eternal March
Memories of a childhood during the war
The last witnesses
When the old Chemnitz died in a hail of bombs