Can Berlin Handle Any More Memorials?
When Helmut Kohl gave the green light for a Holocaust Memorial in Berlin during the early 1990s, he set in motion a process that has seen a proliferation of monuments across the capital's government district. This Friday the German parliament is to vote on yet another memorial: one dedicated to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Nov. 9 is the perfect day to vote on memorials in Germany: It is the most German day of all. No other date is quite so pregnant with history: In 1918, it saw the proclamation of Germany's first democracy; in 1938, it was the date of Kristallnacht, when violence against Jews in Germany escalated; and on Nov. 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall came down.
And so it is only fitting that members of the German parliament, or Bundestag, will reach a decision on the possible raising of a "Monument to Germany's Liberty and Unity" this Friday, Nov. 9. The date may be fitting, but the location chosen for the proposed monument is problematic. It is to be "located in the center of Berlin," according to the motion by the governing Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD). The question is whether there is any room left.
Read entire article at Der Spiegel
Nov. 9 is the perfect day to vote on memorials in Germany: It is the most German day of all. No other date is quite so pregnant with history: In 1918, it saw the proclamation of Germany's first democracy; in 1938, it was the date of Kristallnacht, when violence against Jews in Germany escalated; and on Nov. 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall came down.
And so it is only fitting that members of the German parliament, or Bundestag, will reach a decision on the possible raising of a "Monument to Germany's Liberty and Unity" this Friday, Nov. 9. The date may be fitting, but the location chosen for the proposed monument is problematic. It is to be "located in the center of Berlin," according to the motion by the governing Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD). The question is whether there is any room left.