What did it actually sound like when the telephone rang in Chemnitz 100 years ago? Who still remembers the role of the “operator” and how difficult it was to get through to someone on the other end of the line?
The cabinet exhibition “Telephone Stories – 100 Years of Dial Switching in Chemnitz” at the Chemnitz Museum of Industry takes visitors on a journey through the history of telecommunications - from the very first local calls in 1883 to the digital present.
In 1883, the first 68 telephone connections were installed in Chemnitz, used exclusively by companies such as the Saxon Loom Factory or the Hotel de Saxe. Anyone wishing to make a call had to contact the switchboard, where the “operator” would connect the line. With the opening of the first automatic dial switching office on Reichsstraße/Stephansplatz on May 17, 1925, a new era began: direct dialing was introduced - a technical milestone that fundamentally changed the way people made calls.
The exhibition makes this transformation tangible - with original city telephones, early rotary dial phones, and design classics that evoke memories and bring the history of technology to life. Visitors can even pick up the receiver in one of the last preserved phone booths in Saxony - a nostalgic highlight of rare value.
The exhibition also sheds light on lesser-known chapters of telephony: the role of women in switchboards, life with telephone shortages in the GDR, and the publication of the first German telephone directory, which was published in Berlin on July 14, 1881.
“Telephone Stories” appeals to technology enthusiasts as well as history lovers, curious visitors, nostalgics, and digital natives. It impressively illustrates how much our way of communicating has changed - from the hand-crank bell to the smartphone in your pocket.
The exhibition has been open since June 6, 2025, and will be on view until February 22, 2026, at the Chemnitz Museum of Industry. It was developed in collaboration with the Telecommunications Working Group of the Friends of the Chemnitz Museum of Industry e. V.
Chemnitz Museum of Industry, Zwickauer Straße 119, 09112 Chemnitz
Tue–Fri, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat, Sun & public holidays 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Closed: December 24, 25, 31 and January 1
Admission: included in regular museum entry
Further information: www.industriemuseum-chemnitz.de
Press contact: Almut Hertel / presse@industriemuseum-chemnitz.de