9. November, Germanys so called “Day of Fate”, gets commemorated by the german President as “a day that, like no other, shows germany” (in picture with a 100 year old jewish witness of the “Night of broken glass”)
9. November, Germanys so called “Day of Fate”, gets commemorated by the german President as “a day that, like no other, shows germany” (in picture with a 100 year old jewish witness of the “Night of broken glass”)
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**Context:**
The 9. of November marked both some of the brightest and some of the darkest moments in german history.
9. November 1848: After the failed german march revolution one of its leaders, Robert Blum, gets executed in Vienna, marking its symbolic end and failure
**9. November 1918**: **The first german republic gets proclaimed** by the social democrats and the communists on different occasions, after the announcment of the german emperor Wilhelm II. (forced) abbdication is made public. The birth of the first german democracy.
9. November 1923: The famous “Beer Hall Putsch” by Hitler and the NSDAP to seize power in Bavaria and then in Germany fails. During the nazi rule from 1933 until 1945 it becomes a state holiday.
**9. November 1938**: The “**nigh of broken glass”** starts, in which synagogues and Jewish property were burned and destroyed on a large scale, and more than four hundred Jews were killed or driven to commit suicide. This marked the first large scale state organized progrom of jews in germany.
**9. November 1989**: **The Berlin Wall falls**. After a famous interview of a DDR spokesmen, whihc unintentionally announcing the border of the DDR to be open for travel instantly, thousands march to the border checkpoints in Berlin, until the pressure becomes to great and the border guards, who had no orders what to do, opened the border without firering a shot. This was the beginning of reunification of Germany one year later and a symbol of the cold wars end.
During the event the main points of commemoration were the declaration of the republic 1918, the “night of broken glass” 1938 and the fall of the Berlin Wall 1989. The president called it “*A day to think about the country. That is the core of enlightened patriotism. Instead of trumpet and trombone , a patriotism of quiet tones. Instead of triumph and self-assurance, a patriotism with mixed feelings.”*
Source for picture (in german): [https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/9-november-deutschland-steinmeier-gedenkveranstaltung-1.5460043?reduced=true](https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/9-november-deutschland-steinmeier-gedenkveranstaltung-1.5460043?reduced=true)
Fun fact: A lot of history teachers in germany jokingly say to their students that, if you are asked about a date when something important happened in Germany the last 100 years, and you have no clue about it, the 9. November is your best bet for guessing.
I do admire Germany’s efforts to acknowledge the horrors of their past. Other countries could learn from them.
It’s not about self flagellation but instead remembering how easy it is for terrible events to happen and ensure they don’t happen again.
She’s still kind of hot…