Yesterday, November 9 marked three historical events in the German calendar.
The Germans had thought of making November 9 German unification day but they went for October 3 instead, which is the date the German Democratic Republic joined or was united with the Federal Republic of Germany.
The night of November 9/10, 1938 reminds the Germans of the night of the Nazi pogrom against the Jews. The majority of Germans looked on as the Nazis smashed the windows of Jewish premises.
It’s called Kristallnacht - Crystal Night but that’s far too nice an expression. They used that term because of the shards of glass that scattered the streets of Germany after the Nazi handy work.
But yesterday also carries good vibes for Germany. On that day in 1921, Albert Einstein, the man from Ulm, at his birth in the German Empire, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. He did not receive his award until the following year. Einstein warned the Americans about the Germans preparing a nuclear warhead.
And then of course November 9, 1989, the day the Wall came down. The East Germans called it the 'Antifascistischer Schutzwall’ or the Antifascist Protection Wall’. Maybe had the West and Nato treated Mother Russia with more respect after the fall of the Wall Putin might never have been given the oxygen to head for the river Dneiper.
And that too is filled with irony. Turning the tables around, the Dneiper is really the mirror of the Volga. The mighty Germans arrived at Stalingrad in August 1942 convinced they would take the city in three weeks. In February the Red ran them out of the city and chased them all the way to Berlin.
It is said Putin expected to cross the Dneiper in three weeks. Not only is it not happening but again on another November 9, the Russian Army has been given instructions to leave the city of Kherson, which lies on the River Dneiper. Failure or a trick?
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