Between Demolition and Bargain Hunting: The Early 1990s in Chemnitz

Lecture by Thomas Morgenstern

With German reunification and the currency union, many East German industrial enterprises went bankrupt. To prevent the unplanned demolition of historically significant industrial architecture, heritage protection authorities had to act quickly. Only a few industrial sites were listed in the GDR heritage register. The legal protection that began in 1990 was able to save many industrial sites. However, their renovation and repurposing did not initially progress as quickly as desired. Early efforts focused on stabilization measures to preserve the structures and the recovery of individual machines for the Museum of Industry. The Esche Factory marked one of the first successful cases of repurposing.

This event is part of a lecture series with Thomas Morgenstern, Dipl.-Ing. Architect and head of the Heritage Protection Authority of the city of Chemnitz from 1989 to 2019.