Skip to content

A special relationship exists between the former Volkswagen Group CEO Carl H. Hahn and Saxony. He was the head of Volkswagen when the Wall fell in 1989 – and pushed for the construction of new plants in the East. A retrospective:

Story "Jobs Created, Prosperity Earned"
Sachsen Classic 2019, starting number 24: Carl H. Hahn, Volkswagen Group CEO from 1982 to 1992
Story "Jobs Created, Prosperity Earned"
Off they go! Saxony’s state flag being waved at the start of the Sachsen Classic 2019 in Dresden. Carl H. Hahn behind the wheel of the Volkswagen Polo G40.
Story "Jobs Created, Prosperity Earned"
On the road in the region where he was born and grew up. Carl H. Hahn crosses the Elbe River in Dresden during the Sachsen Classic 2019 in a Volkswagen Polo G40. In the background (l to r): the rebuilt Frauenkirche, Brühl’s Terrace, Schlosskirche and the Semper Opera.
Story "Jobs Created, Prosperity Earned"
One of his favorite cars? The Trabant. The former CEO of Volkswagen stays loyal to his brand and drives a 1992 Volkswagen Polo G40 at the Sachsen Classic 2019. Alt-Text: Professor Carl H. Hahn behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Polo G40
Story "Jobs Created, Prosperity Earned"
The second leg of the Sachsen Classic ends at the Porsche plant in Leipzig: Carl H. Hahn in front of his Volkswagen Polo G40.
Story "Jobs Created, Prosperity Earned"
Carl H. Hahn (left) in discussion with Pastor Friedrich Magirius, who was Superintendant of the St. Nicholas Church in 1989, later Chairman of the Round Table and then the first freely elected mayor of Leipzig. Magirius gives Hahn a tour of the St. Nicholas Church, which was the starting point of the Monday prayers and Monday protests in the 1980s.
Story "Jobs Created, Prosperity Earned"
Witnesses of Fall of the Wall in Leipzig: Carl H. Hahn (left) and Pastor Friedrich Magirius, Superintendant at Leipzig’s St. Nicholas Church in 1989. The Monday prayers and Monday protests at the place of worship led to the peaceful revolution in the GDR on October 9, 1989. Nationwide citizen protests, the demands for freedom to travel and free elections led to the fall of the Berlin Wall a month later, on November 9, 1989, and ultimately to the opening of the border between the two Germanys.
Story "Jobs Created, Prosperity Earned"
Facts and figures: Volkswagen in Saxony since 1990