Some dates mean much more than just an ordinary day in the calendar. November 9th is a pivotal date that highlights two opposite zones of the historical landscape of the 20th century, which are still firmly woven into the modern narrative.
Exactly 35 years ago on November 9th, 1989, the Berlin Wall, a symbol of oppression and separation for over 28 years, fell. At 7:34 pm Günter Schabowski, a representative of the GDR government, announced the new rules for entering and leaving the country: from that moment GDR citizens could obtain visas to get to West Berlin and the FRG. Hundreds of thousands of East Germans immediately hurried to the border on the evening of November 9th. On the other side, a great number of West Berliners came to the Berlin Wall to greet people from the East. The borders were opened, and the wall was destroyed. It was a truly national holiday full of tears and joy as many family members and friends finally reunited.
This event affected not only Germans; it was the day when millions of people all over the world celebrated the victory of freedom, democracy, and peace.
The book Eastern Europe! 2nd Edition by Tomek Jankowski depicts Eastern European perspective on the Cold War period and the epoch of the Iron Curtain. The pages of the book describe the stories of those people who were not in Berlin on November 9th, but who were following the news very attentively.
The fall of the Berlin Wall is the centerpiece of many films and books both fictional and nonfictional. But we would like to introduce you to the example of quite an unexpected picture of Berlin shown in the absurdist and utopian novel The Eighth Wonder of the World by Jordan Plevnes.
The protagonist of this book, Alexander Simsar, during the last 3.3 seconds of his life in Berlin in 1989, envisions the creation of a monument—an eighth wonder of the world—that would embrace humanity in all its layers and countenances.
It’s a weird coincidence that on this particular day, but back in 1938 was Kristallnacht, translated to mean the night of broken glass, that marked the beginning of Jewish genocide in Nazi Germany. It was late evening when SA troops together with the locals came to destroy Jewish houses, shops, and small businesses run by Jewish people as well as synagogues. The term “night of the broken glass” stands for the pictures of broken windows scattered across the streets after the tragedy.
While reading the book Traces of Memory: The Life and Work of Else Dormitzer (1877–1958), you will find the personal story of the Holocaust survivor at the margins of memory: in 1938 she was in Nuremberg, and she dedicated most of her poetry to this hardest period for her nation. This book is accompanied by historical photographs, poetry, and personal stories which makes the process of reading also a small ritual of remembrance.
These dates appear not to be connected because they happened in different epochs. But can you imagine that both of these events could be observed by people of one generation? A young boy or girl who grew up in Nazi Germany finds their country destroyed, demoralized, and separated in two pieces postwar, and in mature age, finally gets to the point where freedom wins.
Walter Jessel, the author of Class of ’31: A German-Jewish Émigré’s Journey across Defeated Germany is a memoir of a person who dedicated his life to finding the answer to this question. As a German Jew who had to immigrate to the US in 1938, he returned back to Germany in 1945 to find his classmates and to hear what they were experiencing during the Nazi regime and how it impacted their lives. Hard to imagine that victims, observers, and executioners were sitting in the same class in 1931. This is an extremely honest story to read and reflect on today.
Dark and cold November evenings are made to reflect. It is the perfect time to read and to find new links between the present and the past. And also to seek positive thinking: no matter how dark it is outside, there is always hope for reunion and reconnection.
Sources
Syed Rafid Kabir, The Fall of the Berlin Wall: History, Meaning, Causes, Consequences https://historycooperative.org/accidental-freedom-fall-berlin-wall
The Night of Broken Glass, Never to Be Forgotten, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/nightbroken-glass-never-be-forgotten
Michael Scott Bryant, Kristallnacht, 85 years ago, marks the point Hitler moved from an emotional antisemitism to a systematic antisemitism of laws and government violence, https://theconversation.com/kristallnacht-85-years-ago-marks-the-point-hitler-moved-from-an-emotional-antisemitism-to-a-systematic-antisemitism-of-laws-and-government-violence-213327
David Morris, The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall, https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2019/11/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-berlin-wall/