eretria

November 9th

1848 - the Revolution fails, Robert Blum is shot

1918 - Abdication of the Emperor Wilhelm II, he seeks refuge in the netherlands. On the very same day, Phillip Scheidemann declares the Republic, later known as Weimar Republic, and the base for a democratic Germany as we know it today.
Two days later, World War 1 ends.

1923 - Hitler's and Ludendorff's putsch fails. The plan was to abuse a demonstration and try to destroy the Weimar republic. The Munich police, however, thwarted the plan and imprisoned Hitler two days after.

1938 - Reichs Pogrom night - more than 200 Jewish synagogues, and thousands of jewish owned houses, flats and shops are devastated by SS, SA and normal people on the streets, people of jewish faith were also tortured and killed by members of the SA that night - more than 30000 were imprisoned, 91 died that night

1939 - an assassination attempt on Hitler fails

1989 - The Berlin walls comes down, after separating Eastern and Western Germany for 28 years.

I was 11 years old back then, but this night, I remember vividly. We didn't go to Berlin that night - my parents were politically active at that time*, being out almost every night and they said they needed some sleep. You have no idea how much we regretted that - and still do- afterwards. However, we went to Berlin the next day. To Western Berlin. I went into a supermarket for the very first time, and looked at shelves which were full of things I had only dreamed of before. Western Berliners were handing out candies to the kids. They were smiling. The happiness in the air was incredible.

* To explain a little more on this: Yes, my parents were politically active, very active in the time before the wall came down. They went to demonstrations, meetings, and, yes, went into danger with their eyes wide open, because back then, no one knew that all of this would end well.
My father was at the biggest demonstration in Berlin - 500.000 people at the Alexanderplatz - and I remember sitting in front of the TV with my mother, who was both cheering the speakers on, and was white-knuckled with worry for my dad, who easily could have been arrested. It's one of the strangest feelings in the world when you know and realise that yes, what your parents are doing is important, but it also means that you might not see one of them again. No one knew if the government wouldn't send military after all.

They didn't.

We had candles in our windows, as a sign of hope. I remember soot on the glass, and the way it felt beneath my fingertips.

I remember standing in a human chain in December, holding a candle. The chain went through Eastern Germany, thousands of people joined in. It was a cold, dreary day. But we didn't care, because we were setting a sign - we wanted change, but peaceful change. With nothing but our own presence and candles in our hands.

17 years ago, the wall fell.

And this morning, I woke up, listened to the news, and realised that it really is that long ago already. And I realise in what a historically and politically turbulent time I grew up. And how much I have seen in my lifetime already. Three different currencies. The fall of communism, the fall of the wall, the fall of the Soviet Union.

Today, I had a seminar on traffic at the University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), and the building alone is so close to the border that, 17 years ago, you wouldn't even have come near it. I wouldn't have had Polish colleagues and friends the way I have them now. It wouldn't be normal to cross the border for a pizza.
In Frankfurt, both countries share this university, there are Polish and German lectures, and I remember how it was before the wall fell, and how difficult it was to even get to Poland.

But, most of all, I think about how incredibly lucky I am to have witnessed all of this, and to be in a free country now. We all bitch and whine and moan, but I only ever learned freedom after the wall fell. But I also realise now that I would never be able to appreciate that freedom the way I do now, if I hadn't lived behind the iron fence, and wouldn't have known what it means to be mostly confined to your own, small country.