On the 90th anniversary and in remembrance of the book burnings by the National Socialists in 1933, around 100 people from Chemnitz read from sunrise to sunset at 17 different locations in the city on Wednesday, 10 May 2023. The "Democratic Chemnitz Reads!" campaign took place for the second time this year. Many people took part and read for 15 minutes each in many voices and languages from burnt books, suppressed literature and courageous texts that stand up to hatred, exclusion and violence and defend the democratic and solidarity-based values of our coexistence.
The reading started at sunrise at 5.28 a.m. in the premises of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH in the Schmidtbank-Passage. The reading marathon ended at sunset at 8:41 pm at the Gunzenhauser Museum, where, among others, language lecturers Burkhard Müller and Eske Bockelmann, who are well-known for their reading series, will read texts. Everyone was invited to become part of this event and read a text.
For example, the Omas (and Opas) Gegen Rechts (grandmas and grandpas against the right) agreed to read in the St. Jakobi church in Innere Klosterstraße, while Bürgerhaus City organised a reading in cooperation with "Flanierlesen" and Prof. Ulrike Brummert. Pupils read at KaffeeSatz and Nancy Gibson, the director of the Chemnitz Municipal Music School, read from the memoirs of Irmi Selver, who was born in Chemnitz in 1906, at the Lessing und Kompanie bookshop. The SenVital Niklasberg senior citizens' and care centre cooperated with Buntmacher*innen e.V. and focused on the memories of Justin Sonder, an honorary citizen of Chemnitz.
In addition to readings by refugees from Ukraine, there were also digital readings from Germany and Europe in the Chemnitz University of Technology library and the 1st Chemnitz Authors' Association opened its literature workshop for a community reading at Kraftwerk e.V. on Kaßberg.
On this day, we made the voices that the National Socialists wanted to silence loud and clear and continuously audible. The book burnings on 10 May 1933 on Berlin's Opernplatz (now Bebelplatz) and simultaneously at many other German university campuses were the culmination of the "Action against the un-German spirit" initiated a few weeks earlier. Nazi students burnt books, writings and art catalogues of unwelcome writers, scientists and artists. World-class texts and with them enlightenment, pluralism and tolerance were conspicuously expelled from their homeland that night for all the world to see and were to be erased from the country's memory.
The "Democratic Chemnitz Reads!" campaign is an initiative of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH and the regional management and is coordinated by cultural manager Daniel Dost. Numerous co-operation partners support the campaign.
The response to this campaign was great and many readings were very emotional. Many thanks to all the readers and listeners!
Readings were held here:
- 5:28 - 7:30 a.m. - European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH (Schmidtbank-Passage, Hartmannstraße 3a)
- 7:30 - 9:45 a.m. - St Jakobi City Church (Jakobikirchplatz 1)
- 9:30 - 10:45 a.m. - Chemnitz Town Hall (Markt 1)
- 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. - City Community Centre (Rosenhof 18)
- 10:45 - 11:45 a.m. - KaffeeSatz (Zietenstraße 40)
- 11:30 - 12:30 - House of Cultures (Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 15-17)
- 11:45 - 13:00 - Lessing und Kompanie bookshop (Franz-Mehring-Str. 8)
- 13:00 - 14:00 - Universitas bookshop (Reichenhainer Straße 55)
- 13:30 - 14:30 - Memorial site on the outer wall of the former Kaßberg prison (Kaßbergstraße, near Wielandstraße)
- 13:45 - 15:00 - State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz (smac) (Stefan-Heym-Platz 1)
- 14:30 - 16:00 - Chemnitz City Library in the TIETZ (Moritzstraße 20)
- 15:30 - 16:30 - SenVital Senior Citizens and Care Centre Niklasberg (Deubners Weg 12)
- 16:00 - 17:30 - dasTIETZ / stage on the ground floor (Moritzstraße 20)
- 16:15 - 18:00 - Chemnitz University Library (Straße der Nationen 33)
- 17:30 - 19:00 - Kraftwerk / Salon Hartmann (Kaßbergstraße 36)
- 18:00 - 19:00 - Hairdressing salon Belinda / Chemnitz-Ebersdorf (Krügerstraße 5)
- 18:45 - 20:41 - Museum Gunzenhauser / Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz (Stollberger Straße 2)
