There are five levels that prevent Gunther and Frank Liebers from accessing their world – a world of small railways and fictional landscapes. There you can relax and unwind from everyday stress. Even as children, they were fascinated by this world like other like-minded people in the Chemnitz Valley. And they tinkered with different tracks, lit mini-houses and set points. “That is a fascination that accompanies you for a lifetime,” says Gunther Liebers.
Every Wednesday evening he met with friends in the clubhouse of the Markersdorf / Chemnitztal model railway club in the Markersdorf-Taura museum station. The old grain store and later the seat of the Sparverein and Bäuerlicher Handelsgenossenschaft (BHG) had been converted by the hobbyists into a clubhouse, with a counter, a handicraft workshop and a showroom with a large H0 system. So far he has spent countless hours there, for example recreating the landscape with houses, rocks and streets around the Markersdorf-Taura train station in great detail.
But almost four years ago a tragic accident changed his whole life. “It was on the evening of January 29, 2018,” says the 68-year-old. He wanted to go to bed and stumbled. He fell miserably on a radiator. There he lay motionless. “I heard a crack and first thought of a stroke,” says his wife Birgit. But in the hospital, the doctors found that the spinal cord was injured at the level of the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae. After spending more than nine months in a rehabilitation clinic in Kreischa, he returned home dependent on a wheelchair.
Then another stroke of fate overshadowed the family. Two years later, his younger brother Frank fell into an artificial coma after an internal surgery. The family feared for his life for three months. He survived – but, like his brother, is now dependent on a wheelchair. “It started with an inflamed toe. The cause was unclear,” recalls the 61-year-old. After a blood poisoning, the aorta, i.e. the main artery, tore. Several operations followed. After a multiple organ failure, life hung by a thread.
In the meantime, the two of them and their families with the handicap have settled down. “We don’t want to complain,” says Frank Liebers. But it is precisely at these five levels that he sees how his life is restricted, that he is dependent on outside help every time. “Everything used to be so natural, now I’m grateful for every step he has made,” says his wife Kerstin. She has given up her job and is taking care of her husband. “If someone is in life like this and suddenly sits in a wheelchair, it scratches their own ego,” she says. But she and her husband are looking ahead.
This also means that she and her sister-in-law want to remain loyal to the club. “We are all vaccinated,” says Birgit Liebers. So the hard core continues to meet in the clubhouse. Only exhibitions and public events could not take place because of the corona pandemic. “We miss the club life very much,” she added.
So far, the way over the five steps to the mezzanine floor, where the club rooms are, was denied to the two wheelchair users. “We had the idea of building a ramp there,” says Robin Helmert from the Chemnitz Valley Railroad Friends, who are also based there. Your wish to regularly take part in club life could come true with the “help readers” campaign of the “Free Press”. Through a suitable funding program “Favorite Places for Everyone – Barrier-Free Building 2021”, funding of 25,000 euros has also been promised by the Central Saxony District Office. Now donations would have to be collected so that the own contribution of 11,350 euros can be financed. The association expects construction costs of well over 36,000 euros. “We have already had the old stairs torn down and a company is currently building a wheelchair-accessible staircase,” says Helmert. He hopes that enough donations will arrive to finance the construction.
“We don’t just think of ourselves,” says Frank Liebers. Visitors to the exhibitions with walkers, prams or wheelchairs could also get to them more easily thanks to the barrier-free staircase. “We are a great group,” says Gunther Liebers, who was the club’s chairman for many years. Two young people have also found their way to the club in the past few months. “I am optimistic that we can really celebrate our 70th anniversary next year,” added the 68-year-old. He can only move one hand to a very limited extent. For working at home on the computer, he controls the computer’s mouse by moving his head. So he can create circuit diagrams for the model railway systems.
To the donation form
Details on the donation project for the model railway association
Go to the “help readers” special