Chemnitz / Karl-Marx-Stadt / Chemnitz
“Well, l have to go to a circus in Karl-Marx-Stadt.” says Roger Moore’s James Bond in Octopussy.
Well, I went to Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1995 and there was no circus, but Kenny Ball and his Jazz Men were due to play at the magnificent 1974 Stadthalle and the large bust (and it is a very large bust) of Karl Marx, looked down sternly over the town. (Kenny Ball wasn’t the reason for my visit, I’m not that cool.)
Karl-Marx-Stadt, formerly known as Chemnitz and latterly known as Chemnitz is one of Manchester’s partner towns (along with Leningrad and Cordoba). In 1995 this German city was commemorating the 50th anniversary of having been smashed to pieces by the allied air forces. On the 13/14th of February 1945, 717 RAF bombers attacked this industrial town followed by 760 British bombers on March 5th.. and being situated close to Leipzig and Dresden didn’t help. By May of that year Chemnitz was occupied by Soviet troops.
Chemnitz had had a strong history of architectural Modernism, the 1930 Schocken Department Store by Erich Mendelsohn being perhaps the most famous example. The Nazis later forced Salman Schocken to sell off his department stores. Much of the civic centre was rebuilt in the post-war Socialist years and many 19th century apartment blocks and industrial buildings also remain.
In 1995 the post-war GDR buildings were largely in-tact and some remnants of the Socialist years lingered on, there was the shop that sold only thick white woollen tights and still plenty of Trabants on the roads. Anyway, here we revisit Chemnitz of the 1990’s, Modernist, Socialist, 19th Century, white tights, Trabants and all.
Words and pictures by Jack Hale
manchester modernist society 