Timeline of Chemnitz

Last updated April 16, 2025

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Chemnitz, Germany.

Prior to 20th century

1136 – Benedictine monastery [ de ] founded near Chemnitz.^[1]
1143 – Chemnitz "becomes a market town."^[1]
1398 – Paper mill established.^[2]
1466 – Population: 3,455.
1498 – Town Hall [ de ] built near the Markt (Chemnitz) [ de ].
16th. C. – "The manufacture of cloth was very flourishing."^[1]
1539 – Protestant Reformation.^[1]
1546 – Benedictine monastery, founded in 1136 by the emperor Lothair II is dissolved.^[1]
1551 – Population: 5,616.
1630 – Battle of Chemnitz.
1700 – Population: 4,873.
1801 – Population: 10,835.
1811 – Schwalbe manufactory in business (later Chemieanlagenbau Chemnitz [ de ] engineering firm).
1833 – Chemnitz City Orchestra [ de ] formed.^[3]
1836 – Royal Mercantile College established.
1840 – Population: 23,476.^[4]
1852 – Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof opens.^[1]
1864 – Population: 54,827.^[4]
1868 – Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz [ de ] founded.
1869 – Volksbank Chemnitz [ de ] (bank) founded.
1878 – Jewish Cemetery, Chemnitz [ de ] in use (approximate date).
1880
- Horsecar tram begins operating.
- Population: 95,123.^[4]
- Schlosschemnitz [ de ] becomes part of city.
1884 – Chemnitz Tar Mummy discovered.
1885 – Population: 110,817.^[1]^[5]
1888 – St. Peter's Church, Chemnitz [ de ] built.
1890 – Population: 138,954.^[4]
1893 – Electric tram begins operating.
1895 – Population: 161,017.^[1]
1898 – Horsecar tram stop operating.
1899 – Chemnitz Synagogue [ de ] built.

20th century

1905 – Population: 244,927.^[1]^[6]
1907 – Bernsdorf [ de ] becomes part of city.
1909
- Chemnitz Opera hall built.
- König-Albert-Museum (Chemnitz) [ de ] opens.
1910 – Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe-Gymnasium (school) established.
1911 – New City Hall, Chemnitz [ de ] built.
1913 – Borna-Heinersdorf [ de ] becomes part of city.
1919 – Population: 303,775.^[7]
1920 – Chemnitzer Polizeisportverein [ de ] sport club formed.
1926 – Airport Chemnitz opens.
1926 – Südkampfbahn stadium opens.
1930 – Modernised classification yard Hilbersdorf opens.
1933 – Theaterplatz (Chemnitz) [ de ] renamed "Adolf Hitler Platz".
1934 – Stadion an der Gellertstraße (stadium) opens.
1938 – 9 November: Kristallnacht antisemitic unrest; synagogue destroyed.
1944 – Subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp established. Over 500 women, mostly Russian, Polish, Italian and Slovenian, were held there as slave labour.^[8]
1945
- Bombing of Chemnitz in World War II [ de ].
- April: Subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp dissolved. Its prisoners were sent on a death march to German-occupied Rtyně nad Bílinou.^[8]
- City becomes part of East Germany.
1946 – Population: 250,188.
1947 – Wismut (mining company) headquartered in Chemnitz.
1950 – Adelsberg [ de ] becomes part of city.
1953 – City renamed "Karl-Marx-Stadt".
1955 – Chemnitz Botanical Garden rebuilt.^[9]
1959 – Red Tower, Chemnitz [ de ] reconstructed.

1960 – Arbeiterfestspiele [ de ] (workers' cultural festival) held.
1961
- HKW Chemnitz-Nord power station begins operating.
- City twinned with Tampere, Finland.
1966
- Chemnitzer FC (football club) formed.
- City twinned with Ljubljana, Yugoslavia.
1967 – City twinned with Arras, France.
1968 – City twinned with Timbuktu, Mali.
1970 – City twinned with Ústí nad Labem, Czechoslovakia.
1971 – 9 October: Karl Marx Monument unveiled.^[10]
1972
- City twinned with Łódź, Poland.
- Population: 301,502.
1974 – Wohngebiet Fritz Heckert [ de ] (housing) construction begins.
1986 – City hosts the 1986 European Weightlifting Championships.
1988 – City twinned with Düsseldorf, West Germany.
1990
- City renamed "Chemnitz".
- Chemnitzer Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft [ de ] (transit entity) established.
- Population: 294,244.
1991 – Annual "Days of Jewish Culture" begins.^[11]
1993 – Peter Seifert [ de ] becomes mayor.
1997 – City-Bahn Chemnitz (transit entity) established.
1999 – Röhrsdorf [ de ] and Wittgensdorf [ de ] become part of city.

21st century

2001 – Villa Esche [ de ] restored as a cultural space.^[10]
2002 – Neue Synagoge opens.
2002 – Multi-system tramway network ("Chemnitzer Modell") starts.
2003 – Chemnitz Industrial Museum [ de ] opens.^{[ citation needed ]}
2006 – Barbara Ludwig [ de ] becomes mayor.
2007 – Gunzenhauser Museum opens.^[10]
2010 – Population: 243,248.
2012 – Thor Steinar "Brevik" shop in business.^[12]
2014 – March: Neo-Nazi Nationale Sozialisten Chemnitz [ de ] group banned.^{[ citation needed ]}
2014 – SMAC (Saxonian Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz) opens in the restored historical Mendelsohn building (former "Schocken").
2018 – Protests.
2020 – Stefan-Heym-Forum opens in a restored historical building (today "Kulturkaufhaus Tietz").
2020 – Sven Schulze becomes mayor.
2020 – Central academic library of the TU Chemnitz opens.
2020 – Schauplatz Eisenbahn is part of the Saxon Exhibition "Boom".
2021 – Chemnitz becomes German main part of the Hydrogen and Mobility Innovation Center ("HIC").
2025 – European Capital of Culture
2025 – Opening Karl Schmidt-Rottluff-Art-Museum

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Britannica 1910.
↑ Wilhelm Sandermann (2013). "Beginn der Papierherstellung in einigen Landern". Papier: Eine spannende Kulturgeschichte (in German). Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-662-09193-7. (timeline)
↑ Colin Lawson, ed. (2003). "Orchestras Founded in the 19th Century (chronological list)". Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00132-8.
1 2 3 4 Brockhaus 1896.
↑ "German Empire: Area and Population: Principal Towns". Statesman's Year-Book. London: Macmillan and Co. 1890. hdl:2027/nyp.33433081590527.
↑ "Germany". Statesman's Year-Book. London: Macmillan and Co. 1908. hdl:2027/nyp.33433081590592.
↑ "Germany: Area and Population: Principal Towns". Statesman's Year-Book. London: Macmillan and Co. 1921. hdl:2027/njp.32101072368440 – via HathiTrust.
1 2 "Chemnitz Subcamp". KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
↑ "Garden Search: Germany". London: Botanic Gardens Conservation International . Retrieved 30 November 2015.
1 2 3 "In Germany, an Unlikely Art Hub Honed by Enthusiasm", New York Times, 27 July 2012
↑ "Kurt Weill's Heritage: Honor Replaces Scorn; A German City Performs His Jewish Opera", New York Times, 28 June 1999
↑ "Furore over German 'Brevik' clothing shop in Chemnitz", BBC News, 6 March 2012

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.

Bibliography

in English

"Chemnitz". Handbook for North Germany. London: J. Murray. 1886. hdl:2027/hvd.hn1imr.
"Chemnitz". Chambers's Encyclopaedia. London. 1901. hdl:2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t0vq37095.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
"Chemnitz", Northern Germany (15th ed.), Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1910, OCLC 78390379
"Chemnitz" . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 6 (11th ed.). 1910. pp. 76–77.

in German

C. W. Zoellner (1886). Geschichte der Fabrik- und Handelsstadt Chemnitz.
"Chemniz". Brockhaus' Konversations-Lexikon (in German) (14th ed.). Leipzig: Brockhaus. 1896. hdl:2027/njp.32101064064445.
P. Krauss und E. Uetrecht, ed. (1913). "Chemnitz". Meyers Deutscher Städteatlas[Meyer's Atlas of German Cities] (in German). Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut.
Harald Weber. Aus der Geschichte von Chemnitz und Umgebung. Verlag für sächsische Regionalgeschichte, Nördlingen 2000, ISBN 3-9805106-3-8.

External links

Links to fulltext city directories for Chemnitz via Wikisource
Europeana. Items related to Chemnitz, various dates.
Digital Public Library of America. Items related to Chemnitz, various dates

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[FOOTNOTEBritannica1910-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Britannica 1910.

[Sandermann2013-2] Wilhelm Sandermann (2013). "Beginn der Papierherstellung in einigen Landern". Papier: Eine spannende Kulturgeschichte (in German). Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-662-09193-7. (timeline)

[Lawson2003-19th-3] Colin Lawson, ed. (2003). "Orchestras Founded in the 19th Century (chronological list)". Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00132-8.

[FOOTNOTEBrockhaus1896-4] 1 2 3 4 Brockhaus 1896.

[5] "German Empire: Area and Population: Principal Towns". Statesman's Year-Book. London: Macmillan and Co. 1890. hdl:2027/nyp.33433081590527.

[6] "Germany". Statesman's Year-Book. London: Macmillan and Co. 1908. hdl:2027/nyp.33433081590592.

[7] "Germany: Area and Population: Principal Towns". Statesman's Year-Book. London: Macmillan and Co. 1921. hdl:2027/njp.32101072368440 – via HathiTrust.

[kzgf-8] 1 2 "Chemnitz Subcamp". KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg. Retrieved 9 August 2022.

[botanic-9] "Garden Search: Germany". London: Botanic Gardens Conservation International . Retrieved 30 November 2015.

[nyt2012-10] 1 2 3 "In Germany, an Unlikely Art Hub Honed by Enthusiasm", New York Times, 27 July 2012

[nyt1999-11] "Kurt Weill's Heritage: Honor Replaces Scorn; A German City Performs His Jewish Opera", New York Times, 28 June 1999

[12] "Furore over German 'Brevik' clothing shop in Chemnitz", BBC News, 6 March 2012

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