Hidden Leipzig: Fockeberg

Once you've torn yourself away from the breathtaking view, you might feel like getting active. The Fockeberg is the venue for several annual sporting events. Since 1991, the Fockeberglauf has been held twice a year (on the first Saturday in March and in November). The main run is twelve kilometers long (six laps, 270 meters in altitude) and the fitness run is six kilometers long (3 laps, 135 meters in altitude).

Don't be surprised if you come across people in colourful soap boxes. Once a year, the socio-cultural center the naTo organizes the "Prix de Tacot". The soapbox race comprises several disciplines: mass start (pushing uphill), time trial (one lap on the summit plateau), descent to the foot of the mountain and engineering league D, in which the teams have to build the best vehicle in four hours on the mountain plateau from unprocessed materials and tools they have brought with them under the eyes of the spectators.

After the Second World War, the building rubble from the destroyed houses had to be taken somewhere. Debris railway tracks were laid throughout Leipzig. The so-called Südbahn first took rubble to the Dölitzer Bruchfelder on Friederikenstraße. When this landfill was exhausted, another tip was put into operation in 1947 at the former farmers' meadows, which would later become today's Fockeberg. Over the course of ten years, the rubble from demolished ruins, mainly from the inner southern suburbs, was used to create a mound of land that rose some 40 meters above the surrounding area. In 1952, most of the clearing work was completed and all other landfills for war debris were closed. However, the dump at the Bauernwiesen was used for a few more years until today's Fockeberg had reached a height of 153 meters.