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Read more about our travels around the former DDR
After a decent breakfast at our hotel in Leipzig, helping to clear the haze from the night before, we set off for a city that between 1953 and 1990 was known as Karl Marx Stadt which is around 1 hour from Leipzig. Following reunification a referendum was held whereby residents voted to return the City to its pre-1953 name of Chemnitz. It is probably worth noting here that Marx never actually visited the city, the name was chosen in part due to its industrial history, however there is a very concrete example of the man here.
As you can see from the picture though the town no longer bears his name there is still something to remember him by. This impressively large monument is over 13 metres tall in total, with Marx’s head being just over 7 metres. The monument was created by the Soviet sculptor, Lev Kerbel, in Leningrad. It was then broken down into 95 pieces and transported and reassembled in Germany. On the building behind the monument the immortal phrase “Workers of the world, unite” is inscribed in 4 languages (German, English, French and Russian).
The Karl Marx monument is the main reason for Red Tourists to visit the city, though there are other interesting things to see if you fancy a walk around the area. In fact, in a moment of pure serendipity, at the time of our visit there was a Union rally taking place. Workers organising in front of the monument and words of a man who has been the inspiration of countless workers movements. Ver.di, the second largest Trade Union in Germany, was organising to fight for better pay and conditions for 330,000 workers in the Municipal education and social care sectors. Since our visit to Chemnitz Ver.di have achieved a negotiated result, with more information available here.
After visiting the rally we went for a look around the city where we found some interesting four-part sculpture located along Brückenstrasse, along the same street where you will find the Marx Memorial. Completed on 6th October 1972, the sculpture is an artistic interpretation of Bertolt Brecht's four poems of praise, Lob des Revolutionärs. The city had commissioned the work as part of the redevelopment of downtown. Martin Wetzel designed the in praise of the party (pictured below) and the stele in praise of communism .
Further down the road, on the corner of Bahnhofstrasse, stands the relief ‘Kampf und Sieg der revolutionären deutschen Arbeiterklasse’ (1976) by Johann Belz. This sculpture depicts the revolution of the German working class.
If you're inclined there is a bar / cafe by the square opposite the Marx Monument called Tillmans, where you can find a red Marx statue (pictured below) and buy yourself a beer named after the man himself. It was a bit early for us though so it was on to Dresden for us.
Loving this post on Karl Marx Stadt? Read more about our Red Tourists road trip around the former DDR here.
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