Shake off your Karl-Marx-Stadt Chemnitz you have only your given city name to lose.
Which is exactly what the good burghers of Saxony’s third biggest city did in the days around German unification.
The haste was understandable given they had waited 37 years to win their name back.
The original which defined them on account of it being the name of the river which runs through it.
It’s not as if the Father of Communism, Karl Marx, had ever been to Chemnitz, which is 162kms north of the Czech border.
But industrial Chemnitz was deemed the perfect stand-in to glorify Karl in 1953.
What’s in a name?
The year was a biggie behind the Iron Curtain as Stalin curled up his tache and his toes that year.
The GDR, the old communist East Germany, had been taken by surprise.
As they had just built a spanking new socialist city, Eisenhuttenstadt, which they had planned to rename after Marx.
Only to get the name Stalinstadt instead and industrial Chemnitz bequeathed with the Marx mantle.
Forward fast 57 years and the good people of Karl Marx Stadt struck a blow for freedom to call themselves exactly what they wanted.
And renamed themselves Chemnitz.
Also agreeing to keep the huge statue of the old dogmatist which is where we meet today to explore the city and region.
Lessons of history
It might seem strange that the Saxons should hold onto such a symbol of Communist oppression.
But, of course, I am reminded of the words of my guide from a previous German convention trip in nearby Dresden.
When I asked why the Dresdeners had not painted over a giant mural of Communist heroes on one of the walls.
And she informed me that as a child she had been taught that Saxon history only began with Communism.
And that to ignore it now would be to continue their lie and risk history repeating itself.
Today’s Chemnitz
Today’s Chemnitz is a vibrant city and the Chemnitzers a creative and forward-thinking people.
Rightly true to their past and proud of their future as a European Capital of Culture for 2025 along with its neighbouring town and countryside.
Through which I have been travelling today, the Purple Path, its mining heritage and the Ore Mountains.
As they say in these parts, and something they share with the Ruhr heartland, another former coal capital Gluck Auf.
Which means Luck Up which miners would say to each other in gratitude for getting back to the surface.
Now I’ve shaken off my own hangover after last night in the smoky rock bar The Hangover in Chemnitz I’m back.
Being a mine of information again and sharing with all how it came to be.
How you got to shake off your Karl Marx Stadt Chemnitz.
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