In the volunteer editorial team, Volunteers for Chemnitz 2025 publish reports on their experiences, assignments and adventures around the European Capital of Culture.
Heidi is 72 years old. She lived in Chemnitz for a long time, started a family and worked in the city. Today she lives with her husband in the Ore Mountains. The connection to the city of Chemnitz has never been broken, the offers of the theatres, galleries, club cinemas and many restaurants are too tempting. The opening event for the European Capital of Culture 2025 has sparked her desire to be actively involved in this event. Heidi has been a volunteer in Chemnitz since April.
Carsten, an employee of Kulturhauptstadt gGmbH, sent me an email with information about the Ifa exhibition "Verstrickungen" at Flöha station. The handout was important and good for the necessary actions for the opening of the gallery and the commissioning of the technical equipment.
There were already many visitors at the entrance to the gallery. The responsible contact person from the town of Flöha came by in person and I was able to set everything up under his direction. I was then introduced to an Indian student who was also working in the gallery that day that day.
The multilingual texts accompanying the exhibition are very detailed and informative. It turned out to be a good thing that I had worked through the brochure beforehand.
There were many conversations with the guests about Flöha railway station, the newly designed subway as part of the Purple Path and the wonderful exhibition Entanglements. Everything has to do with the history of the former Flöha cotton mill.
I was also asked about the Capital of Culture and its region and asked for suggestions for a varied programme of activities.
I also experienced great gratitude for such help and advice. My own stories, which I have collected over many years with Flöha railway station and the Capital of Culture Chemnitz, were beneficial.
Sometimes I had the feeling that a visitor was strolling quite timidly through the gallery, sometimes guests used the exhibition as a passageway to the platforms, as was once possible when there were still ticket offices and snack bars in the concourse. I often spoke to people and we got talking shop about this or that work of art in the exhibition. Sometimes guests told me their own stories in connection with the place.
One encounter was particularly close to my heart. Two elderly ladies came in. One of them sat down, the other was immediately interested in the etchings by Käthe Kollwitz. I drew the woman's attention to the film by Antje Engelmann. She watched the film hesitantly and then came up to me deeply moved. "Thank you," she said to me, "the film shows my story." I was touched, because encounters like this are a reward for our efforts as volunteers in the Capital of Culture year 2025.