9.11.
Every political revolution or change in Germany is in some way linked to 9.11. (Which is also why it didn’t become our national holiday-the date is just too conflicting.) Seriously: It’s the day
- the (failed) revolution of 1848 receives a serious blow in the execution of Robert Blum, one of its leaders.
- the (somewhat more successful) November revolution of 1918 culminates in Scheidemann’s proclamation of the Republic (and the end of Monarchy). On the same day, Liebknecht proclaims the Socialist Republic.
- Hitler first tries to seize power in the so-called Beer Hall Putsch in 1925. It’s one of his more stupid maneuvers -- those that make you seriously doubt how anybody could ever think that this man was a genius. Anyway, it fails, and the Nazis decide that they need to change their strategy and take over power through democratic elections instead of force.
- Jewish property, synagogues, businesses and homes are burned and over a thousand Jews are killed in street riots in 1938. The Nazis claim that the riots are a spontaneous expression of “Volkszorn” (wrath of the people), but they are in fact orchestrated by Nazi organizations. Nevertheless, ordinary Germans do participate.
- students in Hamburg display the slogan “Unter den Talaren - Muff von 1000 Jahren” (Under the robes - the smell/stale air of 1000 years) in 1967. It is a protest against the culture of repression, conservatism and failure to deal with the Nazi crimes both in the German university system and society as a whole. This is one of the defining moments of the German student movement of 1968. (It also leads to the abandoning of academic robes and caps.)
- after months of intense protests, the GDR Politbüro decides to allow free movement between East and West Germany in 1989. When Günter Schabowski, who is charged with announcing the decision, but has no information on its specifics, is asked when it is to take effect, he replies "immediately". Consequently, East Germans storm the Berlin Wall, checkpoints are opened and the East Berliners are received by their Western neighbours in a giant celebration. A year later, Germany is reunited.
My first political memory is of 9.11.1989. I was four years old then, and we were baking the first Christmas cookies (they were jam-filled). I had this huge pot of jam that I was licking clean, and my father sat me down in front of our tiny black and white TV screen, which showed people standing on the wall and crying and hammering holes into it, and he explained to me the significance of it all-the GDR, socialism, democracy. I remember this so clearly. [It's very likely that this actually happened a couple of days after 9.11., because I remember the pickaxes, and that part came later, but still, the sentiment counts!]
What's your first memory of a political/historical event?
- the (failed) revolution of 1848 receives a serious blow in the execution of Robert Blum, one of its leaders.
- the (somewhat more successful) November revolution of 1918 culminates in Scheidemann’s proclamation of the Republic (and the end of Monarchy). On the same day, Liebknecht proclaims the Socialist Republic.
- Hitler first tries to seize power in the so-called Beer Hall Putsch in 1925. It’s one of his more stupid maneuvers -- those that make you seriously doubt how anybody could ever think that this man was a genius. Anyway, it fails, and the Nazis decide that they need to change their strategy and take over power through democratic elections instead of force.
- Jewish property, synagogues, businesses and homes are burned and over a thousand Jews are killed in street riots in 1938. The Nazis claim that the riots are a spontaneous expression of “Volkszorn” (wrath of the people), but they are in fact orchestrated by Nazi organizations. Nevertheless, ordinary Germans do participate.
- students in Hamburg display the slogan “Unter den Talaren - Muff von 1000 Jahren” (Under the robes - the smell/stale air of 1000 years) in 1967. It is a protest against the culture of repression, conservatism and failure to deal with the Nazi crimes both in the German university system and society as a whole. This is one of the defining moments of the German student movement of 1968. (It also leads to the abandoning of academic robes and caps.)
- after months of intense protests, the GDR Politbüro decides to allow free movement between East and West Germany in 1989. When Günter Schabowski, who is charged with announcing the decision, but has no information on its specifics, is asked when it is to take effect, he replies "immediately". Consequently, East Germans storm the Berlin Wall, checkpoints are opened and the East Berliners are received by their Western neighbours in a giant celebration. A year later, Germany is reunited.
My first political memory is of 9.11.1989. I was four years old then, and we were baking the first Christmas cookies (they were jam-filled). I had this huge pot of jam that I was licking clean, and my father sat me down in front of our tiny black and white TV screen, which showed people standing on the wall and crying and hammering holes into it, and he explained to me the significance of it all-the GDR, socialism, democracy. I remember this so clearly. [It's very likely that this actually happened a couple of days after 9.11., because I remember the pickaxes, and that part came later, but still, the sentiment counts!]
What's your first memory of a political/historical event?