Tuesday, November 9th, 2021
Commemoration of November 9th
Steinmeier recalls an “ambivalent day”
Three decisive events occurred on November 9th: the proclamation of the Republic in 1918, the Reichspogromnacht 1938 and the fall of the Wall in 1989. For Federal President Steinmeier, November 9th is “a bright and a dark day”.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier recognized November 9 as an important day for German history. On this date, “forces of progress” were just as at work as forces of barbarism, liberation and injustice, said Steinmeier at a memorial event in Berlin’s Bellevue Palace, according to the speech. “And precisely because it is about human behavior, what Germans have done and what we learn from it for our actions, that is precisely why November 9th is an important day.”
Steinmeier added that he did not want to call November 9th a “fateful day”. Because “fate, that sounds like providence, like force majeure”. “November 9th is an ambivalent day, a light and a dark day,” said the Federal President. “He makes our hearts palpitations and brings tears to our eyes. He gives us hope for the good that lies in our country, and he makes us despair in the face of its abysses.”
Perhaps that is why November 9th is a very German day – a day that provides more information about our country than almost any other. The Germans have many thoughts and feelings when it comes to their country, Steinmeier said. “We just often don’t know what to do with it.” November 9th puts “this difficulty in the magnifying glass of a single day”.
November 9th stands for three decisive events in German history: in 1918 Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the republic in Berlin, in 1938 the National Socialists set synagogues and other Jewish institutions on fire during the Reichspogromnacht, and in 1989 the Berlin Wall fell.
At the memorial event in Bellevue Palace, the Green politician Emilia Fester, who at the age of 23 is the youngest member of the Bundestag, speaks about the proclamation of the republic. The Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer, who turned 100 a few days ago, speaks on the Reichspogromnacht, the former Stasi file officer Roland Jahn on the fall of the Berlin Wall.