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Yesterday was our not-national holiday which nonetheless is one of the most poignant of days if you’re German, because so much of German history, both the terrible and the good, seems to have happened on November 9th. (BTW, this is also why November 11th usually has less impact in German as opposed to other nations, WWI-related; it’s overshadowed by November 9th. This year is something of an exception because of the centennary.)
This article is an excellent summing up of all that happened, and how it continues to impact. Speaking of anniversaries, this year it’s 80 years for the night of the progroms - Kristallnacht - and 100 years for the November Revolution and the first German Republic. (Also 100 years of votes for German women; something all the anniversary stuff has reminded me off that the declaration of the Republic included a declaration of immediate votes for women (from age 24 onwards), no more delays.) Our current day politicians more often than not aren’t that quotable, but I must say I thought both our head of state (Steinmeier) and our head of government (Merkel) really came through this year, not least because their speeches powerfully went for the present day threats to democracy, both within Germany (read: the AFD) and abroad (take your pick among all the authoritarianism and right extremism) in addition to looking at the past. In the case of the progrom night anniversary, they both pointed out that nothing started in 1938, that all the normalisation of hate - by law, by custom, by speech - that had gone before it had made it possible. And regarding the start of the Weimar Republic, that to dismiss it as doomed for the start was ignoring lhow actively people were working against it; the Nazis weren’t somehow inevitable, it needed a great many people in all institutions ignoring, supporting and handwaving. Also, not to honor the people who were working for a republic, who had been struggling for equal rights for years and would continue to do so, is to buy into the propaganda of Hitler & Co. as well, not to mention that of the current bunch with their love of strongmen and disregard for democratic process.
100 Years for the first German Democracy Speech by President Steinmeier (the German original, but an English translation link is there as well)
80 Years Reichskristillnacht Speech by President Steinmeier (again, English trnaslation linked)
80 Years Kristallnacht Speech by Chancellor Merkel; alas, no English translation yet, linked, which is a double pity because as our journalists commented, in many ways it’s also her declaration of guiding principles in general. She gave this speech yesterday in the Berlin main Synagogue in the memorial service held there. (To which, btw, representatives of all German parties save one were invited. As the head of the leading German-Jewish organisation said, ilt would have been unbearable to have a party there which actively works against our Erinnerungskultur, our culture of remembrance, trivializes the Holocaust and employs demagogery in that awfully familiar style. (Wouldn’t you know it, the AFD of course declared themselves insulted. Because any antisemitism in Germany does of course not come from them but exclusively from Muslim refugees. Bah.) As part of the service, young people also read excerpts from letters and diaries written in that November 1938, and it struck me, again, that ensuring those voices keep getting heard - and listened to! - is the best way to honor them.
This article is an excellent summing up of all that happened, and how it continues to impact. Speaking of anniversaries, this year it’s 80 years for the night of the progroms - Kristallnacht - and 100 years for the November Revolution and the first German Republic. (Also 100 years of votes for German women; something all the anniversary stuff has reminded me off that the declaration of the Republic included a declaration of immediate votes for women (from age 24 onwards), no more delays.) Our current day politicians more often than not aren’t that quotable, but I must say I thought both our head of state (Steinmeier) and our head of government (Merkel) really came through this year, not least because their speeches powerfully went for the present day threats to democracy, both within Germany (read: the AFD) and abroad (take your pick among all the authoritarianism and right extremism) in addition to looking at the past. In the case of the progrom night anniversary, they both pointed out that nothing started in 1938, that all the normalisation of hate - by law, by custom, by speech - that had gone before it had made it possible. And regarding the start of the Weimar Republic, that to dismiss it as doomed for the start was ignoring lhow actively people were working against it; the Nazis weren’t somehow inevitable, it needed a great many people in all institutions ignoring, supporting and handwaving. Also, not to honor the people who were working for a republic, who had been struggling for equal rights for years and would continue to do so, is to buy into the propaganda of Hitler & Co. as well, not to mention that of the current bunch with their love of strongmen and disregard for democratic process.
100 Years for the first German Democracy Speech by President Steinmeier (the German original, but an English translation link is there as well)
80 Years Reichskristillnacht Speech by President Steinmeier (again, English trnaslation linked)
80 Years Kristallnacht Speech by Chancellor Merkel; alas, no English translation yet, linked, which is a double pity because as our journalists commented, in many ways it’s also her declaration of guiding principles in general. She gave this speech yesterday in the Berlin main Synagogue in the memorial service held there. (To which, btw, representatives of all German parties save one were invited. As the head of the leading German-Jewish organisation said, ilt would have been unbearable to have a party there which actively works against our Erinnerungskultur, our culture of remembrance, trivializes the Holocaust and employs demagogery in that awfully familiar style. (Wouldn’t you know it, the AFD of course declared themselves insulted. Because any antisemitism in Germany does of course not come from them but exclusively from Muslim refugees. Bah.) As part of the service, young people also read excerpts from letters and diaries written in that November 1938, and it struck me, again, that ensuring those voices keep getting heard - and listened to! - is the best way to honor them.
