The Zuse Computer Museum ZCOM in Hoyerswerda could shut its doors by the end of 2026. The city's municipal housing company, which owns the museum's premises, has withdrawn its financial support, and Hoyerswerda's city council is now deciding whether to cut the remaining subsidy for the "Konrad Zuse City" program. If the funding disappears, the ZCOM Foundation, which has run the museum since 2017, says it will have no choice but to close, unless what the local outlet Hoyerswerda lebt calls a "white knight" steps in.

The housing company had already ended its annual subsidy of 110,000 euros. Attendance has not helped the case: the museum draws around 10,000 paying visitors a year, roughly half of the 20,000 to 25,000 the foundation once projected.

The museum traces back to 1995, when a small exhibition opened after Konrad Zuse received honorary citizenship of Hoyerswerda. That original space closed in 2013. Thanks to the housing company's backing, ZCOM reopened in larger quarters in January 2017.

On display are the Zuse computers Z11, Z22, Z22r, Z23 and Z25, alongside Robotron machines that represent East German computing technology once used for open-cast mining operations in the "Energy City" of Hoyerswerda. The museum also covers the work of computer pioneer Nikolaus Joachim Lehmann, who was born in the Lusatia region.