Back in 1869, a little cookshop opened its doors at 9 Johannisstraße, offering simple and affordable meals to the local community. It became a popular meeting place for the working class. One of its leading figures was Ernst ‘Father’ Böhmer. He worked at the Lätsch cigar factory, where Löbau‘s first workers' association was founded in 1866. Ernst Böhmer is known as a founder-member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany, he later became the first Social Democrat to sit on the City Council. 

When Bismarck banned workers' associations in 1878, people met secretly, for example in places like ‘apolitical’ smoking clubs. After the so-called Socialist Laws were repealed in 1890, many people were reluctant to join large trade unions. Instead, people joined locally organised trade associations. Contributions to the Löbau worker’s association could be paid on Thursdays and Fridays at the ‘Christkindl’. In 1955, the Christkindl was ordered to close for ‘moral and political concerns’. Today it’s a residential building.