Opening : »… and from the ruins springs new life!«

The City of Chemnitz became the target of American and British air raids a total of twelve times in the final year of the Second World War, resulting in the deaths of some 4,000 people. The city centre in particular, constructed over several generations, suffered almost total destruction. Immediately after the capitulation of Nazi Germany, however, tremendous efforts were made under the most difficult circumstances to normalise life. As there was no Marshall Plan, the Soviet occupation zone had to bear the reparation costs alone. On the basis of a variety of documents, photographs, films, models, and objects, the exhibition spans the period from the vibrant city Chemnitz was before the war through the Allied air raids between February and April 1945 to its reconstruction, the first stage of which was completed in 1954 with the development of the Innere Klosterstraße.