App follows Stefan Heym's footsteps through Chemnitz

With a new app, those interested can now follow in the footsteps of the writer Stefan Heym (1913-2001) in Chemnitz. The "HeymTour" comprises 13 stops. These include the house on Kaßberg, where he lived with his family, the grammar school he attended as a teenager and had to leave shortly before graduating, and the Jewish cemetery, where some of his ancestors are buried. Heym reportedly visited the cemetery for the last time in 2001, just a few months before his death. He himself is buried in Berlin.

Heym was born Helmut Flieg in Chemnitz in 1913 and grew up in a German-Jewish family. He fled from the National Socialists to the USA and returned to the GDR in 1952. There he became an important voice in oppositional literature and is one of the most important authors in post-war German history. He was also politically active in reunified Germany. He is known for novels such as "Five Days in June" about the popular uprising in the GDR in 1953, "Schwarzenberg" and "The King David Report".

Heym is an honorary citizen of Chemnitz. At the Tietz Cultural Center, the Stefan Heym Forum provides information about his life and work in words and pictures. The centerpiece is his working library, comprising several thousand volumes, including original furniture from his former study in Berlin-Grünau.

"HeymTour" with 13 stops in Chemnitz

In its year as European Capital of Culture, Chemnitz 2025 also raised awareness of Stefan Heym's work in various ways - from a reading marathon at numerous locations in the city to a writing workshop, concert and panel discussion to a city tour in the footsteps of the young Heym. The idea behind the "HeymTour" is to create a sustainable guide to the life and work of Stefan Heym, says Michael Müller from the board of the International Stefan Heym Society. The information in the app can be accessed in German and English.

The approach is low-threshold in order to appeal to young people. The offer can also be expanded. Other important locations could be added in the future. Müller mentions Schwarzenberg as the setting for an important novel and Prague, for example. The Czech capital was the first station of Heym's exile. He lived here for around a year and a half and used the name Stefan Heym as a pseudonym for the first time. In Prague, he wrote for the local German-language press and emigrant newspapers. Heym himself later explained that this time had a great influence on his later work.