Hello Leipzig: Here’s how Monday 31 August 2026 begins

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That’s a clever move: the city is inaugurating a new education campus in the east of Leipzig today. Everything from nursery to sixth form college is housed in one place. Traffic is flowing freely again on Georg-Schumann-Straße without any rail replacement services. Instead, diggers are now at work at Waldplatz. This evening, actress Corinna Harfouch and writer Clemens Meyer, amongst others, will pay tribute to the author Wolfgang Hilbig.

Off to Schkeuditz as soon as possible

Today, following extensive track works, Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe (LVB) had planned to resume regular services on tram line 11 towards Schkeuditz

. That’s not going to happen. However, for a most welcome reason: The work was completed sooner than planned – much to the delight of passengers, the route has been operational again for a few days now without rail replacement services!

To enable Line 4 to start operating today, construction crews working on behalf of the LVB have been working night shifts on the track bed. Work is not yet complete on Lindenthaler Straße itself, between Georg-Schumann-Straße

and Coppiplatz. That section will remain completely closed to traffic until 18 September. Bus routes 85 and 90 will continue to be locally diverted.

At the same time, track works are starting today at Waldplatz, which will affect tram line 8 and car traffic. Due to the works between Waldplatz and Friedrich-Ebert-Straße, line 8 will be diverted from Waldplatz via Leibnizstraße and Thomaskirche. The Westplatz stop will not be served until 18 September.

For motorists, Jahnallee

remains open to traffic heading out of town without restrictions. However, heading towards the city centre, it is closed at Friedrich-Ebert-Straße. Friedrich-Ebert-Straße is also closed to traffic between Jahnallee and Carl-Maria-von-Weber-Straße. For traffic heading into the city centre, a diversion has been set up to the south via Marschnerstraße and Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße

. The northern diversion route runs via Am Sportforum, Leutzscher Allee and Waldstraße.

Between Wilmar-Schwabe-Straße and Marschnerstraße, the lanes on Jahnallee that normally lead into the city centre become a dead end and, subject to this restriction, can be used in both directions at this point. Information on the roadworks is available from Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe at www.L.de/baustellen

. The current timetables and services are available at www.L.de/fahrplan

and via the LeipzigMOVE app.

Good for the little ones

They’ve already had a bit of a ‘taster’: the two new – or rather, completely refurbished – schools at Lene-Voigt-Park. After all, the new school year began on 17 August. However, they are being officially inaugurated today.

Together, they form a new educational campus in the east of Leipzig: the Wilhelm-Busch-Schule as a primary school, the 125th School as a secondary school and the Schraderhaus School as a grammar school. These immediately adjacent educational institutions are complemented by after-school care and all-day facilities, an inclusive nursery and a shared, state-of-the-art three-court sports hall.

A new five-form-entry building has been constructed at Reichpietschstraße 2 for the Wilhelm Busch School, designed to accommodate up to 616 pupils. The completion of the campus involves substantial investment in educational infrastructure. At the start of construction in 2023, the city estimated the cost of the complex comprising the Wilhelm-Busch Primary School, the sports hall and other facilities at 69.8 million euros. Of this, 16.9 million euros came from grants.

Following a cost increase in 2023, just under 38 million euros were earmarked for the conversion and refurbishment of the Schraderhaus, including 17 million euros in grants. In addition, 10.3 million euros were allocated for the purchase in 2018. The 125th School had already been historically reconstructed and thoroughly refurbished between 1992 and 1997. Around 6.5 million euros were spent on this. The nursery forming part of the campus was originally estimated to cost 8.6 million euros.

Unlike the primary school, no new building was constructed for the four-form-group grammar school; instead, a listed former industrial and printing building was extensively refurbished and converted for use as a school. The building was erected in 1912 on behalf of the entrepreneur Wilhelm Schrader. During the GDR era, it housed parts of the graphic arts firms Interdruck and Druckhaus Einheit. In order to establish a school there, the City of Leipzig acquired the land and property in 2018 for 10.3 million euros.

Among those attending today’s opening ceremony are, amongst others, Lord Mayor Burkhard Jung, Councillor for Education Vicki Felthaus, Councillor for Building and Construction Thomas Dienberg and Head of the Education Authority Peter Hirschmann.

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Corinna Harfouch and Clemens Meyer at the Hilbig evening

Today, the Literaturhaus Leipzig is commemorating the Central German writer and poet Wolfgang Hilbig – who would have turned 85 on 31 August 2026 – with a literary birthday evening. Corinna Harfouch, Clemens Meyer, Volker Hanisch and Jürgen Hosemann, all members of the Wolfgang Hilbig Society, will be exploring the special significance of Leipzig for the writer’s life and work.

The Wolfgang Hilbig Society (founded in Leipzig 15 years ago) keeps the memory of the author alive and fosters engagement with his extraordinary body of work. For the former working-class writer, Leipzig was the place where he first gained literary recognition. The evening will focus on how the city, as an important biographical setting, is reflected in his writings.

The discussion will cover well-known works such as *Leipzig-Plagwitz* and *Das Provisorium*, as well as lesser-known texts such as *Versuch über Katzen*. Volker Hanisch, who compiled the texts, will discuss them with Clemens Meyer, who himself writes about Hilbig in Leipzig, and Jürgen Hosemann, Hilbig’s editor at S. Fischer Verlag and a self-confessed fan of Leipzig. Corinna Harfouch will read the Leipzig-related texts.

At the same time, the event marks the launch of the ‘Hilbig 85’ programme at the Literaturhaus Leipzig
. This also includes a graphic art exhibition, a conference featuring Jan Röhnert taking place from 1 September at the Literaturhaus and at the Technical University of Braunschweig, the premiere of the new audiobook ‘Alte Abdeckerei’ by Buchfunk Leipzig, narrated by Thomas Dehler, and a new film essay about Wolfgang Hilbig.

Admission costs €10 / €8. Tickets have been available since 24 August at the box office or ONLINE at rausgegangen.de
. It is not possible to reserve tickets by telephone.

Wolfgang Hilbig was born in Meuselwitz in 1941 and initially worked as a toolmaker in the lignite industry. As a self-taught writer, he faced increasing repression from the GDR regime. He lived in Dresden, Leipzig and East Berlin. Hilbig was briefly arrested in 1978 and eventually emigrated to West Germany in 1985. In 1990, he moved to Berlin, where he died of cancer on 2 June 2007.