Today is Veterans' Day at home in the States, Memorial Day in other countries. For Germany other days have taken higher priority. The 9th of November has been a very important day in German history: the fall of the wall in 1989, the Reichskristallnacht, when Nazis all over Germany harassed, beat-up and murdered German Jews and burned down their places of worship, in 1923, when Hitler's first bid for power, the "Beerhall Putsch", was defeated, in 1918, when revolution broke out in Germany, in 1848, when the Frankfurt Parliament – which had offered the Prussian King the crown of all Germany as a constitutional monarch under a democratic constitution – was broken up by force of Prussian arms. Decisive moments in national memory with contradictory meanings and opposing constituencies.

Obviously, the last two events are foremost in Germans' minds. The tragedy and shame associated with the Reichskristallnacht prohibit any overtly joyous expressions of joy over the fall of the Wall. Somber memorial ceremonies and events surrounding the former event take precedence over remembrance of the latter, at least in public expression.

Here in Tübingen, Germany, the local Förderverein zur Erforschung der Heimatgeschichte des Nationalsozialismus im Landkreis Tübingen e.V. (an organization to promote the study of the local history of National Socialism in Tübingen) conducted a walk through Tübingen led by Sylvia Takacs. About a dozen people showed up. Starting at Gräberfeld X, where victims of the Nazis, whose bodies were used for medical research at the Tübingen anatomical institute were buried, the route continued to the memorial plaques at entryway of the Neue Aula, and on to Münzgasse in down town Tübingen, where the police and, during the Nazi period, the Gestapo was headquartered. It is right around the corner from the memorial plaques in the city center. Finally, we ended up at the memorial ceremonies at Synagogenplatz, the place where the Tübingen synagogue was located until being torched by Nazis 67 years before.

The event was an interesting mix of Gedenken ("remembrance") and education. At Gräberfeld X, the university and at the synagogue memorial there were elements of both: wreath layings and moments of silence and poetry on the one hand, historical background information on the other. Martin Ulmer of the Geschichtswerkstatt presented information about the fate of Tübingens Jews at the down town locations. Especially interesting was his recounting of how one of the city's main clothing stores, Haidt, right across from the memorial plaques, was "aryanized", "bought" far below value, from a Tübingen Jew in 1938 and the scandal it caused when the Haidt store celebrated its 50th jubilee in 1988. It reminded me of the recent discussion about the new book by historian Götz Aly (link in German), who unmasked the local economic reasons why many people supported Nazi anti-Semitism and terror.

One of the highlights was also a visit to the chapel of the city cemetery where Andreas Vogt showed us artwork by Ilona Lenk. It symbolically refers to the 13 unidentified victims of the Nazis interred at Gräberfeld X (see above). The photo here shows her work, 13 cloth-covered cubes arranged in a large X formation; the banner in the background lists the known names of victims buried there. Visitors to the cemetery can view the work, accompanied by the song, "The Train" by Valerio R. Pizzorno in the chapel until 20 November from 1400-1600 on Thursdays and Fridays and 1100-1600 on weekends.

At the synagogue location, there were many more people. A survivor of the Reichskristallnacht in Dortmund, Professor Reynold Koppel, recalled his experiences, and Professor of German Jürgen Wertheimer spoke on the language of memory associated with anniversaries and memorial ceremonies - remarks I will summarize in a later entry. Many then proceeded to the church for a memorial ceremony. I hurried home to help get the kids into bed.

The annual historical walk was announced (in German) here. It was reported on in the Schwäbisches Tagblatt on 11 November.