Akteure & Partner en – Chemnitzer Friedensbanner

Gerald Richter

Gerald Richter was born in Wingendorf/Saxony in 1955. He is married and has three adult daughters.

As an architect, he worked in the preservation of historical monuments and in school and university construction. Since 2011, he has been involved with the citizens’ initiative Aktion © in Saxony, advocating for peace and tolerance, for which the group received the Saxon Civic Prize in 2013 and the Chemnitz Peace Prize in 2015.

He initiated the art project ‘Chemnitz Schools,’ in which thousands of children and young people have been creating banners for the Chemnitz Peace Day since 2013. He collaborates with Marian Kretschmer in workshops. He conceived and wrote the text for the graphic novel ‘The Seven Lives of Stefan Heym.’ Together, they received the Stefan Heym Advancement Award from the city of Chemnitz in 2021 and 2024 for their Stefan Heym youth art project.

Marian Kretschmer

Marian Kretschmer was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) in 1983.After training as a design assistant and a guest study period at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig, he became a member of the Saxon Artists’ Association and has lived as a freelance artist in Baden/Zurich since 2012.

In 2015, he returned to Saxony and has lived with his family in Waldenburg near Chemnitz since 2022. His artistic work includes project work with children and young people, paintings, and illustrations. He has presented his paintings in numerous exhibitions both domestically and internationally, also supporting integrative projects in the process.

He drew comics and illustrated poems, texts, and fairy tales, as well as the books ‘Wonderland’ and ‘Wim and the Pond Maiden.’ He is the artistic designer and illustrator of ‘The Seven Lifes of Stefan Heym.’