Just one hour away from Dresden, there’s this little day trip gem. There’s architecture, there’s a reconstructed Rathaus. Reconstructed as many other German cities after WW2. A nice botanical garden and a lake with a great restaurant next to it, popular amongst the local people and very friendly vibes.
I even went to a Woolworth here to buy a plastic bag for my day, the cashier was smiling and patient. Something that I really appreciate in my interactions with German cashiers.
The historical part:
I remember watching a Youtube video talking about the history of Chemnitz, how the city first flourished as an industrial complex, how during the DDR times they decided to keep up this growth and how after the reunification of Germany many of the industrial complex closed because now foreign companies were offering better products and with cheaper production costs. Leading to massive layoffs.
In contrast to Görlitz where the city is slowly decaying, Chemnitz welcomed foreigners. However, this also led to other social problems due to rising anti migration demonstrations in this same city.
That was the case in this medium size city of east Germany. Like mentioned in the Youtube video, the city had this vibe, combination of the students living here and proper East Germany vibe.
Karl Marx bust:
Of course, one popular attraction here is the Karl Marx bust. Brought directly from Moscow, by pieces and ensambled in Chemnitz.
Karl Marx is worldwide known for his book “Das Kapital”, “The Capital”, which mainly talks about something very real. Saying that in modern life, the capital is controlling the world we live in. Whereas the proposed thesis of the workers should be owners of the means of production, thus achieving emancipation.
Sounds very good as an idea and we know some important people used these ideas to create sociopolitical structures we all know or should know. The socialism and Communism.
In the mainstream media, these ideas are always portrayed like those systems failed because of trying something different than Capitalism, of course, they are antagonizing “Das Kapital”. For that reason we won’t ever hear that it is a good idea.
Visiting Chemnitz was a very interesting for a day trip and left me with so many impressions and thoughts. Specially after having my first Schweinhaxen ever in Germany and a regional beer. I couldn’t capture all of it in pictures and I highly recommend visiting this City.
