Chemnitz contemporary witnesses: Wolfgang Sandig
Dresden had already been destroyed in February and the fear hovered in us - in everyone actually - that now it could be our turn. And that's exactly what happened.
My grandparents, an aunt and an uncle were in Hainstraße that day, so not that far away from us. An air mine flew in there on 5 March; a real air mine tore the whole villa apart. We went there after the attack and had to identify my grandparents and my uncle. All three were dead. My parents were totally devastated. And when you stand there as a nine-year-old boy and see the reactions ... I remember my father bowing his head.
I go there every year on 5 March, bow my head briefly and look at the early bloomers - very modest little flowers, just like my grandparents were.
This is where the contemporary witness lived his story:
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