70 years since the "Reichskristallnacht" in Tübingen...
Round anniversaries have a certain magic about them that lead to greater effort on the part of those who organize public memory events and draw more passive participants as well. The 9th of November in Tübingen was no exception. The 70th anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht swamped, to a degree even greater than usual, the other layers of meaning for this important date in German history. While a few letters to the editor, articles and academic lectures paid some attention to the events of 1918, 1923 and 1989, the city and the Geschichtswerkstatt strongly emphasized the events 1938.
The round anniversary of the 1938 Pogrom against Jews all over Germany was acknowledged in Tübingen with a wide range of events. The Geschichtswerkstatt ("History Workshop") organized its usual ceremony at Synagogenplatz, but because of the round anniversary and the fact that it was on a Sunday, many more people came than in previous years. Also, it was held several hours earlier than in the past, so it was still daylight during the ceremony. By my count, there were well over 100 people, perhaps 200.
Just before the start of the ceremony at 4 PM, just as the crowd was quieting down, someone yelled something about someone having invited "right wing speakers" to some event. Martin Ulmer opened the ceremony with the remark that more would be said about that at the close of the ceremony.
The choir of the German League of Unions ("Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund") from Reutlingen, Zwischentöne sang several Yiddish and Hebrew songs throughout the short event. Their first song was the most dramatic, a song from the Cracow ghetto from 1942, "Es brent." (sic - that's Yiddish spelling) The text that was repeated over and over was, "Our little city is burning."
Then Martin Ulmer from the Geschichtswerkstatt spoke about the history of the 9th of November. He did not mention the fall of the Wall in 1989, but spoke briefly about the declaration of the German republic in 1919 and the Hitler "beer hall putsch" of 1923 and, of course, the pogrom of 1938. He emphasized, as in previous years, that this was not a spontaneous event, but had been long planned. He recounted the chronology of events in the days before and how the Nazi leadership unleashed the terror at an opportune moment. Ulmer also spoke about the passivity of the population in Tübingen and the lesson the Nazis learned: They could do just about anything they wanted and the population would not interfere. He briefly touched on the history of the location of the memorial, Synagogenplatz.
Daniel Felder from the Jewish organization Bustan Schalom spoke briefly about what 1938 meant for Jews in Germany. It wasn't the beginning of the end as it is often portrayed. That had been earlier. He urged us not to forget what happened, even as the last eye witnesses are dying off. He expressed his heartfelt thanks to the city of Tübingen for its collective stand against the Neo-Nazi demonstration in July. That drew applause from the crowd. One might remark that Germans have some sense of relief being complimented in a context such as this.
Before the final song by the Zwischentöne, Martin Ulmer spoke again briefly, this time about the need to maintain vigilance against anti-Semitism. He remarked that we do not need to point our fingers at eastern Germany to find problems. Right here in Tübingen there is right-wing extremist publisher. (I think he was referring to the Hohenrain Verlag).
After the final song, at the closing of the ceremony, Ulmer mentioned several recent public remarks by prominent politicians and other figures that show the vitality of right wing ideology in Germany today. He referred to several instances, including the remark by the head of Baden-Württemberg's water power association, Manfred Lüttke, that Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man executed in 1945 for his involvement in the plan to assassinate Hitler the year before, had been "a common traitor" ("ganz gewöhnlicher Landesverräter"). These kinds of remarks were like oil on the fire of extremism, Ulmer said.
At 5 PM, at the Tübingen Rathausplatz in the center of the city, the closing ceremony was held for what had been a full week of commemoration. Beginning on the 3rd of November, each evening at 5 PM a short ceremony had been dedicated to the memory of one of six Jewish citizens of Tübingen who had suffered under the Nazis (loss of property, exile, imprisonment and, in some cases, death): Ruth Marx, Hanna Bernheim, Margarete Arnold, Max Löwenstein, Simon Hayum, and Josef Wochenmark. Their potrait was projected onto the Tübingen city hall over one of the other faces that is painted there (Dann, Osiander, etc.) and their biography described. Now, on Sunday night, all six of them were presented.
Mayor Boris Palmer began the evening at the microphone. One of the victims displayed on the city hall had emigrated to America. Palmer welcomed and acknowledged the daughter and other family members of one of the victims who had come from America and were present on the market square. His speech then touched on several interesting aspects of collective memory in Germany and Tübingen:
Later, there was a commemorative church service and, at 7:30 PM, a reading of "Die Ermittlung" (The Investigation) at the local theater ("Landestheater Tübingen").
Pictures of these events will be posted soon.
The round anniversary of the 1938 Pogrom against Jews all over Germany was acknowledged in Tübingen with a wide range of events. The Geschichtswerkstatt ("History Workshop") organized its usual ceremony at Synagogenplatz, but because of the round anniversary and the fact that it was on a Sunday, many more people came than in previous years. Also, it was held several hours earlier than in the past, so it was still daylight during the ceremony. By my count, there were well over 100 people, perhaps 200.
Just before the start of the ceremony at 4 PM, just as the crowd was quieting down, someone yelled something about someone having invited "right wing speakers" to some event. Martin Ulmer opened the ceremony with the remark that more would be said about that at the close of the ceremony.
The choir of the German League of Unions ("Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund") from Reutlingen, Zwischentöne sang several Yiddish and Hebrew songs throughout the short event. Their first song was the most dramatic, a song from the Cracow ghetto from 1942, "Es brent." (sic - that's Yiddish spelling) The text that was repeated over and over was, "Our little city is burning."
Then Martin Ulmer from the Geschichtswerkstatt spoke about the history of the 9th of November. He did not mention the fall of the Wall in 1989, but spoke briefly about the declaration of the German republic in 1919 and the Hitler "beer hall putsch" of 1923 and, of course, the pogrom of 1938. He emphasized, as in previous years, that this was not a spontaneous event, but had been long planned. He recounted the chronology of events in the days before and how the Nazi leadership unleashed the terror at an opportune moment. Ulmer also spoke about the passivity of the population in Tübingen and the lesson the Nazis learned: They could do just about anything they wanted and the population would not interfere. He briefly touched on the history of the location of the memorial, Synagogenplatz.
Daniel Felder from the Jewish organization Bustan Schalom spoke briefly about what 1938 meant for Jews in Germany. It wasn't the beginning of the end as it is often portrayed. That had been earlier. He urged us not to forget what happened, even as the last eye witnesses are dying off. He expressed his heartfelt thanks to the city of Tübingen for its collective stand against the Neo-Nazi demonstration in July. That drew applause from the crowd. One might remark that Germans have some sense of relief being complimented in a context such as this.
Before the final song by the Zwischentöne, Martin Ulmer spoke again briefly, this time about the need to maintain vigilance against anti-Semitism. He remarked that we do not need to point our fingers at eastern Germany to find problems. Right here in Tübingen there is right-wing extremist publisher. (I think he was referring to the Hohenrain Verlag).
After the final song, at the closing of the ceremony, Ulmer mentioned several recent public remarks by prominent politicians and other figures that show the vitality of right wing ideology in Germany today. He referred to several instances, including the remark by the head of Baden-Württemberg's water power association, Manfred Lüttke, that Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man executed in 1945 for his involvement in the plan to assassinate Hitler the year before, had been "a common traitor" ("ganz gewöhnlicher Landesverräter"). These kinds of remarks were like oil on the fire of extremism, Ulmer said.
At 5 PM, at the Tübingen Rathausplatz in the center of the city, the closing ceremony was held for what had been a full week of commemoration. Beginning on the 3rd of November, each evening at 5 PM a short ceremony had been dedicated to the memory of one of six Jewish citizens of Tübingen who had suffered under the Nazis (loss of property, exile, imprisonment and, in some cases, death): Ruth Marx, Hanna Bernheim, Margarete Arnold, Max Löwenstein, Simon Hayum, and Josef Wochenmark. Their potrait was projected onto the Tübingen city hall over one of the other faces that is painted there (Dann, Osiander, etc.) and their biography described. Now, on Sunday night, all six of them were presented.
Mayor Boris Palmer began the evening at the microphone. One of the victims displayed on the city hall had emigrated to America. Palmer welcomed and acknowledged the daughter and other family members of one of the victims who had come from America and were present on the market square. His speech then touched on several interesting aspects of collective memory in Germany and Tübingen:
- He finds it unfortunate that Germany did not choose the 9th of November as a national day instead of the 3rd of October. The November date would have provided greater opportunity to reflect on the contradictions of German history
- There has long been a debate in Germany about finally concluding the endless discussion of the Holocaust and war guilt (Schlussstrichdebatte). But right here in Tübingen there are reminders of how current the history still is. Referring to the faces projected on the city hall building to his left, projected over and outshining the faces painted along the bottom, he pointed out how the top figure on the building, Eberhard, was not covered, had not been erased by this display. He pointed out how Eberhard is famous for having founded the University that bears his name in 1477. But that is also the year he expelled the Jews from the city.
- He gave a quick overview of the history of Jews in Tübingen after their return in the 19th century up to the Third Reich.
- Palmer also mentioned the recent unveiling of the "Platz des unbekannten Deserteurs here in Tübingen.
- He spoke about the project by the Tübingen group "Kultur des Erinnerns" ("Culture of Remembrance") and their efforts to have a plaque put up at the city hall to remember those members of the city council who had been removed from office by the Nazis. On this issue he expressed concern that we still haven't found a proper form to remember incidents like this. The man who was mayor of Tübingen when the Nazis came to power in 1933 and who stayed in office until 1939 has a street named after him. But the victims still have no marker to their memory in the city's landscape. Related to this is also the question of whether or not to expunge the names of Nazis from the city's official list of Honored Citizens (Ehrenbürger), a move he opposes as "unhistorical".
- Finally, the response of the city and its citizens to the neo-Nazis in July of this year shows that this history is still a very current issue.
Later, there was a commemorative church service and, at 7:30 PM, a reading of "Die Ermittlung" (The Investigation) at the local theater ("Landestheater Tübingen").
Pictures of these events will be posted soon.
mhatlie - Wed Nov 12, 09:33 Topic: Tübingen events
