Press release: Documentation center on the NSU complex reopens for the city and region
After the Capital of Culture year, the Documentation Center on the NSU complex in Chemnitz is realigning itself. Under new management, the center will in future see itself more as an open place of discourse for the city and region: with adapted opening hours, extended educational offers and the aim of remaining a relevant point of contact beyond the event year.
The new management team of Dr. Nora Krzywinski and Esther Gerstenberg has opened up the museum in terms of content. The aim is to make the documentation center better known as a meeting place that is used by different population groups – both within the city of Chemnitz and in the surrounding area, for example in the Ore Mountains.
Esther Gerstenberg has been involved in the project since 2024 and is now Managing Director of Offener Prozess gGmbH. She formulates her goal for the project:
“The documentation center is to become a meeting place for the city’s population. A so-called third place where people can come together, discuss and exchange ideas.”
In order to facilitate this opening, the opening hours have been adjusted so that working people can also attend events. At the same time, the educational and event program is being further developed and thematically broadened. The Chemnitz resident continues:
“Our aim is to bring together different perspectives. Older people from the region as well as young people, local initiatives as well as guests from beyond the region.”
A first example of this thematic and social opening is a reading on February 7, 2026 at the Documentation Center. Here, “the elders” from Chemnitz’s urban society will talk about their lives.
The event exemplifies how the house sees itself as an open space for exchange and different social experiences.
Memories of the baseball bat years in the context of the NSU are also to be examined as part of an oral history project by the Collecting + Sharing department. In cooperation with the Alter Gasometer e.V. in Zwickau, joint approaches to reappraisal and remembrance work are also being pursued in Chemnitz and Zwickau. A special office has been set up for this purpose. Cooperation with the relatives of the murder victims is also being expanded as part of a series of events.
“In addition to this opening, the documentation center will remain a place for political education and professional discussion of the NSU complex,” says Dr. Nora Krzywinski, who has already accompanied the project as managing director of the local association ASA-FF e. V. She describes further tasks for the young year 2026:
“Accompanying the second NSU trial, which is currently underway, is part of our ongoing work to pool local expertise and make it accessible to the public. At the same time, we continue to invite school classes and other groups to visit the house, learn from history and remember the victims and survivors.”
