1848, 1918,1938,1989: November 9 is considered to be the "day of fate" in German history.
It marks the beginning of the first German republic, the pogrom against the Jewish population and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Every year on this day, celebrations and commemoration hour coincide.
by Earl of Cruise
November 9th often marked an epochal turning point in German history.
The most recent historical event on this day was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, 28 years ago, which divided the two German states for 28 years. On the same date 51 years ago, the violent persecution of Jews in Germany had its first peak. In the night of November 9,1938, at the behest of the National Socialist leadership, shops and apartments of Jewish fellow citizens were looted and destroyed, synagogues set on fire and Jews were murdered throughout Germany. The day went down in history as the Night of the Pogrom - Reichspogromnacht or Reichskristallnacht as the people of Berlin mocked about. But the events around the historical date go back even further - an overview:
1848: Failure of the March Revolution
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| Cheering revolutionaries in Berlin, Breiten Strasse baricades on March 19th, 1848 - Source: Wikipedia |
In the painting one can recognize in the middle and on the bottom edge
the flag of the monarchist Revolutionaries. They wanted a unified
Germany with a monarch at its head. On the right side one can see two
flags of the republican Revolutionaries. They wanted a Republic based on
the French example and therefore constructed their flag with vertical
stripes, in the style of the French Tricolor.
"I'm dying for freedom," had been the final words of Robert Blum. November 9th, 1848, the Democrat was shot dead in Vienna by the troops of the monarchic counterrevolution.
The event marked the beginning of the end of the so-called March Revolution in the states of the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund). The revolutionary era began in France, spanning almost the whole of Europe and finally reaching Germany. The intellectual foundation of the revolutionary movement was the demand for a constitution that would balance monarchic authority and popular sovereignty. In addition, the national question - the demand for national unity and independence - and the social question, in particular the demand for complete liberation of farmers and social security for the free wage earners, were at the centre of attention. However, the first attempt to align Germany as part of a European modernization process based on liberal and national concepts failed because of the resistance of the reactionary forces.
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| Session of the Nationalversammlung (german national assembly) at the Paulskirche; the speaker is Robert Blum (source: Peter Reichel: Robert Blum, S. 109), ca. June 1848, coloured Drawing by Ludwig von Elliott, 1848 - Source: Wikipedia |
The first German parliament in Frankfurt, Paulskirchen Parlament, was a result of the revolution of 1848. It was dissolved in 1849.
The failure of that revolution caused a first wave of mass emmigration at first to the USA, but too into Brazil.
1918: Novemberrevolution
In the autumn of 1918, the events in the German Reich overshadowed each other.
In view of the German defeat in World War I, the call for peace and food (malnutrition was caused by the British blockade) and the resignation of the emperor became louder. There was a revolutionary movement. Workers in companies were on strike, soldiers denied their orders, e.g. in Kiel for a last "glorious and heroic" see battle against Britain. Workers' and soldiers' councils formed in many cities. On November 9th, the revolution also seized Berlin, where the Chancellor Prinz Maximilian von Baden, worried about a radical political overthrow, unilaterally announced the abdication of the emperor.
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| Kiel mutiny: the soldiers' council of the PRINZREGENT LUITPOLD |
The vice-chairman of the SPD, Philipp Scheidemann, then called for the first German republic from a balcony of the Berlin Reichstag and thus sealed the end of Hohenzollern rule.
Germany has seen from 4 to 15 January 1919 the Spartakus Aufstand (Spartacist Uprising).
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| Members of the Reichstag cheering the revolution - Source: Wikipedia |
Ludendorff and Hindenburg, during the war the real power in the German Empire (they ruled dictatorial) urged the politicians to sign the armistice. With the declaration of the republic, both generals whined, that the civilian politicians signed the armistice, while the army was undefeated (Dolchstoss Legende).
But the young republic had a hard time from the very beginning: it lacked the support of the population, the unity and support of the executive power. Mass unemployment, famine and general malnutrition (the British blockade was still maintained), high infant mortality rate, assignment of Alsace and Lorraine, war damage and reparation claims from the First World War put Weimar democracy to the acid test. But the most serious factor was the issue of war guilt - Germany alone should be responsible for the WWI.
All across Europe, anti-democratic movements gained momentum and provided the fertile ground for the nascent National Socialism.
An attempt to take power by force was in Germany the Kapp Putsch in March 1920. This coup d´état failed because of general strike in Germany.
1923: Hitler-Ludendorff coup d´état (Putsch)
Inflation, fueled further on because of the French occupation of the Ruhr area, communist unrest, right wing terror and political murders, in the early 1920s fostered the emergence of reactionary and nationalist movements. In this unstable political situation, Adolf Hitler planned a violent coup in Munich as the party leader of the NSDAP. His aim was to depose the government in Berlin and to gain power in a national dictatorship.
On Sunday morning of November 9,1923, Hitler marched together with General Erich Ludendorff and other followers to the Feldherrnhalle in München. But the Bavarian police stopped the march and Hitler's attempt to seize power by force. The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch.
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| Early Nazis who participated in the attempt to seize power during the 1923 Putsch - Source: Bundesarchiv |
The NSDAP was subsequently banned and Hitler sentenced to five years in prison. But nationalistic judges attested Hitler good intentions and sentenced him only "light". In these month in Landsberg, he dictated the first paragraphs of his pamphlet "Mein Kempf". Ten years later, he managed to gain power legally.
1938: November pogrom / Reichspogromnacht
On the night of November 9th to 10th,1938, SA troops and members of the SS organized violent attacks on the Jewish population. Several hundred synagogues were set on fire, at least 8,000 Jewish shops were destroyed and countless apartments were looted and destroyed.
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| A ruined synagogue in München after Kristallnacht - Source: Wikipedia |
Between 90 and 100 Jews were slain, stabbed or beaten to death. In the days following that, about 30,000 Jewish men were arrested throughout the German Reich and taken to concentration camps in Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen.
The anti-Semitic riots were organized by the National Socialist party, which systematically pushed forward the discrimination and persecution of Jewish citizens since Hitler's "seizure of power" in 1933.
The night of November 9,1938 went down in history as the Night of the Reichspogrom.
1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall
"As of now - Ab sofort." This was the brief answer given by GDR politburo member Günter Schabowski to the question of a reporter when the travel regulations that had been decided upon came into force. With this new freedom he sealed the fall of the wall on November 9th, 1989 after 28 years.
Under the pressure of the thousands of GDR citizens leaving the country to Hungary and the ongoing Monday demonstrations in Leipzig and other East German cities, the SED regime in the GDR collapsed.
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| Lucky German partying on the wall of terror and imprisonment Source: ARD, still from the TV news |
I was running a restaurant in those days. 19:00 was news time for me, a must. Nov. 9th, 1989 I did see the press conference of Mr. Schabowski. I was flabbergasted! I went into the guestroom with my portable TV and switched it on ... later we have seen together these and other pictures of lucky East German people being free at last. That evening I predicted a unified Germany within a year. Nobody wanted to believe ... October 3rd 1990 we had been one country finally.
On November 4th, 1989, more than 500,000 demonstrators gathered at a rally on Berlin's Alexanderplatz square, and only four days later the SED's central political office collectively resigned. On the evening of November 9th, SED spokesman and politburo member Günter Schabowski announced the immediate opening of the Wall at a press conference. Thousands of East Berliners then flocked to the border crossings of their city. Around 23.30 at the border crossing at Bornholmer Straße, the inspectors could no longer withstand the crowds of people - nobody meant to inform them. The transition is opened. All Berlin border crossings are open until midnight. The road to German reunification was clear. And first parts of the wall had been torn down, or opened as gates.
Not only German people did party this event for days. Hundreds of foreign visitors came over to Berlin to witness with their own eyes HISTORY.
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