Chemnitz 2025: Capital of Culture with new NSU documentation center!

Chemnitz 2025: Capital of Culture with new NSU documentation center!

The city of Chemnitz, the third largest city in Saxony and East Germany, recently reached a milestone: being named European Capital of Culture 2025 surprised many. But what is behind this unconventional title? At first glance, Chemnitz impresses with its architectural diversity, which can be seen at Theaterplatz, where the opera house, the Museum of Fine Arts and the monumental-style St. Petri Church come together harmoniously. A further look at the wide boulevards reveals that, despite the loss of numerous historical buildings, the city still embodies a large form that testifies to a will for cultural development, as Welt explains.

With around 250,000 inhabitants, Chemnitz has the ability to give an almost unreal feeling in the evenings. History and modernity meet here, and places like the “Chemnitzer Hof” hotel, a modern low-rise building from the 1930s, entice you with their charm. In addition, the city is actively dealing with its industrial past. The “#3000Garagen” course and the Museum of Industry provide an insight into technical history, especially the important role of automobile production.

Cultural highlights and art scene

Chemnitz boasts not only its architecture, but also its lively art, theater and music scene. This has taken on new meaning since reunification. An example of this is the Karl Schmidt Rottluff House, which is dedicated to the important expressionist and presents his works. The art collection at Theaterplatz shows a remarkable collection, while the Gunzenhauser collection focuses on works by 190 artists, many of them women, thus reflecting the diversity of artistic expression in the interwar period.

Another important contribution to the Capital of Culture 2025 is the newly opened “Open Process” documentation center, which is dedicated to coming to terms with the terrorist attack by the National Socialist Underground (NSU). The center was opened on May 25th of this year and the complexity of the NSU history, which tragically influenced the lives of many people between 1998 and 2011, is discussed here. Chemnitz 2025 describes that the center not only remembers the victims, but also meets the challenges of coming to terms with racism and everyday terror.

A look into the past and the future

The NSU terrorist acts, in which a total of ten people were murdered, are a dark chapter in German history. In addition to an exhibition, the documentation center also offers educational and outreach activities that are intended to encourage enlightenment and questioning. An archive is also curated that collects materials on migration experiences and racist incidents. The team invites everyone, especially young people and members of the migrant community, to contribute their memories and objects to keep history alive.

A central goal of the center is to make Chemnitz a place of remembrance and dialogue. “The city must face its past and remember the victims of the NSU crimes,” emphasized Gamze Kubaşık, daughter of an NSU victim, during the opening ceremonies. The center is supported by the “Initiative Offene Gesellschaft”, “ASA-FF” and “RAA Sachsen”, and the financing is supported by the federal government and the state of Saxony with around four million euros, as [MDR](https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/sachsen/chemnitz/chemnitz-stollberg/ exhibition-nsu-terror-kulturhauptstadt-100.html) reports.

Chemnitz's connection to the A 4 and A 72 motorways as well as good train connections from Rostock and Berlin make the city easily accessible. Anyone who stops by should not only take a look at the cultural highlights, but also take advantage of the inviting hotels on offer, including the “Hotel Chemnitzer Hof” and the “Hotel Alexxanders”. If you would like to find out more about the diverse museums and cultural institutions, you can find all the information on the city's relevant websites.