Chemnitz is, perhaps surprisingly for many, an extremely interesting city. During the GDR era, it was called Karl-Marx-Stadt. However, it actually has nothing to do with Marx. Nevertheless, the Karl Marx Monument remains emblematic of the city to this day. In 2018, following a fatal knife attack by asylum seekers in the immediate vicinity of the monument, the site witnessed the largest right-wing extremist riots in German post-war history. Chemnitz has clearly become the European Capital of Culture 2025 not despite this, but because of it. The lecture outlines the peculiarities of the city and its democratic challenges and strategies for dealing with right-wing extremism, taking a special look at the corresponding political characteristics and potential of the hybrid and ambivalent concept of neighbourhood.