We all want to live like a local when we go somewhere. Immersive travel. Germany means drinking beer in public and eating pretzels. Hunting for street art and falafels. Having picnics in one of the many parks. Sitting in a café. Getting lost in bookshops. Swimming in lakes.
We all want to travel to understand the world around us. Germany is a picture-perfect place for immersive travel. Everything you get to see in this country will change you as a person. Immersing yourself in the German culture will last well beyond your return home. You will have gained a deeper knowledge of Germany as well as of world politics.
Your experiences are going to be a bit overwhelming at times, but they will only make you stronger. Next time somebody is trying to tell you that the press spreads fake news you will know who said it first. You are right, it was Hitler.
You cannot visit
Germany and ignore what the 9th of November is all about. The 9th of November is a
significant day in German history.
Germany on 9th of November 1918 – Declaration of a Republic
On November 9, 1918, a revolution ended the imperial regime. The revolution started with seamen unwilling to sacrifice their lives for WWI any longer. The fleet should enter one more battle with the Royal Navy, even though the government had already started negotiations for a ceasefire with the Allies. The times of princesses and emperors were over. The last German Emperor, Wilhelm II, spent nearly 24 years in exile in the Netherlands following his official resignation from the throne.
Germany on 9th of November 1923 – Hitler coup
On 9th November 1923, Hitler tried to take power in a coup, to no avail. For that, Hitler was in jail for only nine short months, since apparently, German judges considered his actions as sort of acceptable.
In hindsight, how very stupid and careless of the Germans to ignore where Hitler's populist hate-spreading ways might lead. The National Socialists did not belong to the political left, they were not socialists. They were as far-right as one can be. They did not care about citizens. The only thing they cared about was power. It is hard to believe, but nationalists and right-wing conservatives from industry, politics and the military felt that the time was ripe for a dictatorship anyway. The propaganda of the far-right National Socialists managed to portray the coup as a heroic act and not as the crime that high treason is.
Germany on 9th of November 1938 - Night of pogroms
In previous years, the Austrian Hitler tried several times to get German citizenship, so that he could run for office in Germany. Hitler knew that becoming a civil servant would grant him German citizenship. He tried hard. He blackmailed the Brunswick parliament. He became a civil servant and with that automatically granted German citizenship.
Hitler was named chancellor in 1933. Hitler was voted into power in 1934. Once voted into power, Hitler removed the law that granted all civil servants German citizenship. Hitler wanted that only 'proper Germans' should be civil servants.
Hitler and his right-wing National Socialists want the destruction of Jewish shops and synagogues. On 9th November 1938, they rob and demolish churches and shops. Jews are deported or murdered. The hate and persecution of the Jews were widely accepted by Germans after the night of pogroms. German Anti-Semitism escalates. Harsh acts of violence and the Holocaust where six million Jews are murdered follow.
Today there is a party in the federal parliament who says that these times were nothing more than small bird-droppings in the otherwise glorious history of Germany.
You can get more details about the Holocaust and WW2 when visiting Germany at these places, read
Travel Germany. The Best Museum in Munich: National Socialism Documentation Centre and
Berlin: 8 Memorials and museums that teach about the National Socialism Dictatorship in Germany and
Travel Germany: 2.5 kilometres Berlin - Let's Talk About Diversity.
In Germany, you might see stumbling stones. Read: Art Project Stolpersteine: Europe's biggest Holocaust Memorial.
9th of November 1989 – The Fall of the Wall
What a happy day, Germany reunited after what felt like an eternity. People were weeping out of joy, hugging strangers in the streets. The two Germanys meet. One side, delighted to be free at last after having been held hostage by the dictatorship of the German Democratic Republic for decades. The other side, over the moon to welcome them.
Günther Schabowski, political journalist and member of the ruling party of the GDR, sits in the press centre of the Central Committee his party in East Berlin. In a press conference, he answers questions from journalists from all over the world. In recent times more and more locals tried to get away from the dictatorship of the GDR, in September there were already hundreds of refugees in the German embassies in Prague, Warsaw and Budapest. At the time, daily TV reports showed thousands of refugees running from the GDR towards the freedom of embassies. Over the weeks there were talks, that the regime plans to allow its citizens to apply for travel visas.
Towards the end of the press conference, a journalist asks when that decision will be made. Günther Schabowski answered live on TV "As far as I know, it comes into effect, now, at this moment". That was it.
Today one can find Germans who want this back, they long for that dictatorship of the GDR.
In Berlin
you can find out more about the dictatorship of the GDR. Berlin: 6 Museums that Teach Tourists and Locals about the Dictatorship of the GDR.
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The end of the Monarchy and with that the end of the German Republic in 1918. The Hitler military coup in 1923. The November pogrom in 1938. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. All took place on the 9th of November. These events turned Germany into the place it is today. Learn from history. Know about history. Do not repeat history.
From Berlin with love