Festival of Lights Home Edition
On 9 October 2020, together with colleagues and citizens of the region, we remembered the events of autumn '89 and set a sign of courage, cosmopolitanism and solidarity.
9 October 2020 was the 31st anniversary of the big Monday demonstration in autumn 1989. More than 70,000 people demonstrated for freedom and democracy in Leipzig. In order to keep the memory alive, a large festival is normally held every year. Streets and house fronts become works of art made of light. But this year everything was different. Due to the corona pandemic, the traditional Leipzig Festival of Lights at Augustusplatz had to be canceled. All citizens of the region were therefore asked to celebrate the Festival of Lights from home and to put tea lights in their windows at night.
As the official partner of the Festival of Lights, we literally wanted to be a shining example. Many colleagues were among demonstrators three decades ago and took part in the home edition of the Festival of Lights. On the night 9 October, there was a tea light in their windows. Our hub also shone bright that night. The light installation on the facade of the DHL office building in the form of a "‘89" was over 10 meters high. At the official ceremony, the personal stories of our colleagues about the Peaceful Revolution were read out by representatives of the Leipzig Youth Parliament.
But the message of the Festival of Lights 2020 was much more than the memory of autumn '89, our managing director Ralph Wondrak knows: “Courage, cosmopolitanism and solidarity shaped the events in Leipzig in '89. But even in this extraordinarily difficult time for society as a whole, these values are more important than ever" - Stefan Macourek