November 9, A Day Of Great Consequence In 20th Century History

 

In this time of 24/7 new cycles, the geometrical growth of data, and a pace of life that gives one little time to look back to only yesterday it's far too easy to overlook this blink of an eye we call a lifetime. Take this day, November 9, as a good example. If we looks at events that occurred on this date in the 20th century we find it is one of the most pivotal of those 36,504 days.

On November 9, 1938, the German paramilitary group known as the Sturmabteilung (SA) or Brownshirts raided the homes. businesses, and synagogues of Jews in Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland. In addition, several thousand Jewish men were arrested and sent to camps. We remember this night as Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass. It is considered the first night of the Holocaust pogrom that resulted in the extermination of 6 million Jews at the hands of the Nazi (National Socialist) Party in Germany.

Fasanenstrasse Synagogue, Berlin, burned on Kristallnacht 

Fifty-one years later on November 9 the East German Communist Party politburo announced that permanent emigration by East Germans would be allowed at any border crossing including those in Berlin. Hours later the Berlin Wall which had divided the city for 28 years was essentially dissolved. It was the beginning of a reunification after nearly 50 years of partition during the Cold War between the free and communist worlds. In the end the events in Berlin on November 9 marked the end of the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since 1945 and the beginning of the end of communism in over a dozen nations in eastern Europe.   

People on the wall near Brandenburg Gate, November 9, 1989

Both of these days have great consequences for us. One brings great sadness at knowing evil walks among us. The other brings great joy knowing that good can overcome evil. Both remind us that freedom isn't free. Sometimes it's affordable; sometimes it is beyond our reach. I suppose the great lesson for this day is awareness, of keeping watch. We have been told for a few thousand years we have a choice to either remember history or relive its errors. November 9 is one of those days to remember well.  

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:

1938 photo, public domain
1989 photo, Sue Ream