Jim christopher

The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989. Germany's national day is 3 October. There is a reason, and it is one of the heaviest decisions the country ever made. 🇩🇪 9 November was the favourite. It is also a date German history keeps returning to. 9 November 1918. The Kaiser's empire ends and the first German republic is proclaimed. 9 November 1923. Hitler's first attempt at a coup collapses in Munich. 9 November 1989. The Wall opens. Three turning points on one date. Germans call it the 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗮𝗹𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴, the day of fate. But there is a fourth. 9 November 1938. The night the synagogues burned. Celebrating on 9 November would mean celebrating on the anniversary of that night. Germany decided it could not. So it took 3 October 1990 instead, the day East Germany formally joined the Federal Republic. A paperwork date. Which is why the 𝘛𝘢𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘌𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘵 feels so quiet. No bonfires, no parades, no customs anyone grew up with. A civic festival in a different city each year, and a day off. The date with all the feeling in it was already taken, by a night that can never be celebrated. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆 🇩🇪