Kristallnacht

[Iceman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht

Intresting and sad moment in history...just had a blip on the news about this and thought I'd see a little bit more about it.

Wow...I beat peeps to something in the news.. jk

[kranz]

there is a "funny" episode of this story but somehow it's missing on wiki. It goes like this: Grynszpan wanted to kill the ambassador who was Johannes von Welczeck. Bu he didn't know where is the german embassy. With his gun he walked looking for it and asked a guy who was also going somewhere. Excuse me sir, where is the german embassy he asked? Oh, you are near it, just go ... and you are there. So Grynszpan went there and met von Rath- Are you german ambassador? Rath answered that he CAN HELP him with his problems and Grynszpan pulled out his gun and killed von Rath. The guy who he met on a street of Paris and asked for direction was Johannes von Welczeck.

Die Reichskristalllnacht.

That is a deeply disturbing event in german history, in some ways more disturbing then the holocaust itself.

This night caused quite an uproar in the german public back then. Not because a ppl, the jews, considering themselves more german then jewish and loyal german citizens, some of them highly decorated in WW1, were deeply branded, their stores demolished, the synagoges burned with the firefighters often enough just taking care of the fire not jumping to other buildings, the ppl beaten and humilated in front of the public.....no. The uproar was because the german public did not tolerate the breakdown of order on the streets. This is one reason why the holocaust later on was not made public in the Reich, even though those that "wanted" to know could have easily found out what is going on. Ppl decided to look away instead.

This for me has always been a prime example for a people whose secondary values...beeing on time, work ethics, loyility, order, etc., became more important then the very values of life itself. Luckily this changed in the last 60 years, quite dramatically. The Reichskristallnacht was opposed not for compassion for human lives, but for nationalistic ideological reasons.
Recent happenings in Cologne, when during a europeanwide NeoNazi rally common ppl opposed the extreme right nut jobs, cab drivers and hotel owners declined offering their services to them despite losing money in the process, give me faith this change is not just artifical and a product of political correctness. At least in western Germany. The east...well, I suppose these guys need another 20 to 50 years until coming to grips with reality.

The 9th of November still remains one of the most important dates in german history and imho, should be a national holiday. On that same date the Weimar Republic was called out in Berlin in 1918. Hitler had his first attept to overthrow the german government in 1923. On this day in 1989 the Berlin wall fell, just to name a few profound happenings on this very date. So many events, both positive and negative on such a historic scale are worthy of a day for national reflection.

[Jimbuna]

Thanks for that information Bewolf....I was not aware of each significance

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Thanks for that information Bewolf....I was not aware of each significance

np, always a pleasure



P.S.: 21.000 posts!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Bewolf

np, always a pleasure



P.S.: 21.000 posts!

I'm posting on a commission basis.

[bookworm_020]

I wonder how many were double posts???:hmm:

Kristallnacht was a black day in German history. It would be nice to think that it could not happen again (to any ethinic group), but alas, this is not the case I fear!