November 9th is historic. The Wall fell 33 years ago, 51 years earlier, National Socialists attacked and killed fellow Jewish citizens. On the anniversary, the events in the Free State will be commemorated in many places.
Dresden/Leipzig/Chemnitz (dpa/sn) - The events of November 9th are to be commemorated in different places in Saxony on Wednesday. A concert was held in the Dresden Frauenkirche on the night of November 9th, 1938 to commemorate the victims of the pogrom. The victims are to be commemorated with a service in Leipzig's Thomaskirche. Eighty-four years ago, on that night, soldiers under National Socialist leadership devastated and destroyed thousands of shops and homes belonging to Jewish fellow citizens and burned down synagogues across Germany. In addition, thousands of Jews were arrested during the anti-Semitic riots - some of them were stabbed, beaten to death or beaten to death.
The cities of Leipzig and Chemnitz had also announced that the stumbling blocks that commemorate the places where Jews were abducted and killed in many German cities are to be cleaned. In other cities, commemorations and vigils are to be held at memorial sites and synagogues. The International Auschwitz Committee announced that it intended to commemorate those Auschwitz survivors in Zwickau who died or were murdered there during the death marches in January 1945. The committee was founded in 1952 by survivors of the German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in then-occupied Poland.
Saxony's state parliament president Matthias Rößler warned on the occasion of the commemoration day to resolutely oppose any authoritarian efforts: "The history of November 9th clearly shows us the devastation to which totalitarian rule leads," said the CDU politician. Also on November 9, but in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. The day also stands for the emergence of parliamentary democracy in Germany, said Rößler.
Nancy Aris, the person responsible for coming to terms with the SED dictatorship, also recalled the day the Wall fell 33 years ago: "We should take the joy and bonding of this moment into the current pan-German dialogue and appreciate it more." The Berlin-born historian and author said that the separation between East Germans and West Germans is outdated and does not contribute to solving the challenges of the present.
In the past, other historical events took place on November 9th. Among others, the democrat Robert Blum was shot dead by counter-revolutionary troops on November 9, 1848 during the subsequent failed March Revolution in Vienna.
