A Jewish-Christian-Muslim Programme

GALILLEE COLLEGE, MAR ELIAS COLLEGE

Joint Jewish-Christian-Muslim Programme:
A Religious Mosaic in the Holy Land

Students and faculty from all parts of the world are invited to a unique interfaith seminar that will utilise the Galillee in the north of Israel - the origin of religious traditions and the living place of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze (and other religious groups) - as a living example of interfaith dialogue and co-existence.

The participants will spend five weeks in the Holy Land studying the three great monotheistic traditions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam (as well as the other traditions/different sects which are present in Israel), the history of these, their connections to the Land of Israel / Palestine and its relevance to Modern Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Special attention will be given to the challenge of religious leaders and educators in our days to develop interfaith dialogues, both in Israel and in other parts of the world, in order to foster mutual understanding, tolerance and pluralism instead of hatred and violence.

If you are interested, please see this link for further details:

The "micro-histories" of fear: Erfurt & the KPD

Part I: January to May 1920
Part II: June to the Fall of 1920
Part III: Erfurt and the DNVP

The KPD started its newspaper, Der Kommunist, in May 1919 for Erfurt readers. It drew support from "Spartkists", who had sided with the uprisings in early 1919, and local independent socialists who were disenchanted with the old socialist party, the SPD. The Communist's editors also addressed the perceived lower middle class and other groups, whom they thought they could mobilize for its politics. For much of their first year of political activity under the banners of Independent Socialism (represented in the Vorwaerts daily newspaper too) and Communism, people in Erfurt kept their activity to public demonstrations and repeatedly hoisting a red flag on the Rathaus (which the local DNVP's supporters did not like). However, in the midwinter and early spring many were actively preparing for the chance to take up arms for the Revolution. After their failure to instigate that Communist Revolution by exploiting the General Strike of the "March Days" (see Part I), local Communists turned to the First national republican parliamentary elections scheduled for June 1920. The records of this newspaper in the Erfurt municipal archives, unfortunately, ends in June 1920.

The call for a new struggle
At the beginning of 1920 in an article entitled, “New Year – New Struggle” (The Communist, Nr. 1, 3 January 1920), the editors sketched the current situation. For the majority of those comrades still living the past year of 1919 was a year of greatest disappointment, a year of horror and the most bitter physical and spiritual torture. […] What will the near future bring? That is the anxious question which moves millions of hearts and minds at the turn of the new year.

In the rearguard
On page 2, the editors carried Maxim Gorki's article, “What is the lower middle class person (Kleinbuerger)?” Gorki wrote: Life is known as the struggle of the lords for power and of the servants for freedom from the yoke of this power. The tempo of this struggle is accelerating more and more with the increasing feeling of personal worth and the consciousness of the unified class interests among the Volk masses.

The lower middle class wanted to live quietly and agreeably without actively participating in this struggle; its favorite position was a peaceful existence in the rearguard of the strongest army. The internally powerless lower middle class bows to the visibly raw power of its government. When, however, as we have seen and still see, the government begins to become criminal, then the lower middle class becomes capable of begging or even taking its part in power over the land, whereby it draws from the strength of the Volk and relies on the hands of the same for achieving its desires.


The Reaction
As word of a possible right wing military coup spread, the editors of the Communist carried the headlines, “The Reaction Marches” (The Communist, Nr. 13, 11 March 1920), “Monarchist demonstrations in Potsdam; closure of the officers school there”.


Pogroms?
On age 2, in their “Political Overview”, the Communist editors described “Pogrom exercises” for its readers. On January 13^th 42 proletarians were shot to death by the security police in front of the Reichstag. What has followed is the Reich’s state of emergency, the suppression of the revolutionary press and protective detention for hundreds of revolutionaries. The military-monarchical counterrevolution promptly drew consequences from this fact… […] The first result was the revolver shots that Mr. von Hirschfeld fired on Erzberger (Matthias Erzberger, The current German Reichs Financial Minister). The independent German judiciary deemed the attack on the life of one of the democratic government’s leaders worth 1.5 years imprisonment. The so called public opinion praised the young hero of the “Black Hundred” (Schwarzhunderttum) with the laurel leaf and the Juenglingsstirn (? An honor for youth?).


The March Days of 1920 (see Part I)


The Housing Emergency
On page 4, the editors wrote about the local housing situation in “From the Local Districts”; from their view, the housing crisis was increasingly threatening; millions of people did not have a chance of finding even the most modest roof for their heads.

Weapons
In “The Call to the First of May” (The Communist, Nr. 23, 29 April 1920), the Communist's editors sought to mobilize local people for its coming demonstration. Workers! Comrades! In May 1919 the White Guards closed the iron ring around revolutionary Muenchen. The Noske Regiment completed its victory run. The middle class Democracy created a new weapon for itself in these struggles against the Proletariat: the Reichs Army with its aristocratic (Junker) officers, the citizens’ defense units and the Freikorps. The proletariat is being disarmed. The middle class Democracy has realized itself as a government by the saber, as the dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie.

The Red Army Advance
In “Advance of the Red Army” (The Communist, Nr. 41, 22 May 1920), the editors reported from new actions on the front of the war between pro-Soviet and anti-Soviet forces in the Ukraine and Poland. In the area around Borissow a Polish airplane was shot down. In the area around Kiev our units are advancing. […] Northeast of Kiev the battle is on.

The frightening social crisis
In “To the Comrades of the District of Thueringen!” (The Communist, Nr. 46, 29 May 1920), the editors of the Communist sought to mobilize voters for the upcoming national elections. Party Comrades! Men and Women! […] At every opportunity it must be clearly and sharply emphasized that the victory of the Proletarian Revolution cannot be achieved through elections and parliamentary decrees. The insidious illusion must be destroyed that a social democratic majority in parliament can bring about Socialism or at least an amelioration of the increasingly frightening social crisis! Tell the Proletariat that our representatives should not go to parliament in order to whittle away the advantages of the Proletariat for the representatives of the Bourgeoisie. Our representatives in parliament have no other task there but to ruthlessly strip capitalism and its agents of their masks for the whole world to see and call the masses to struggle from the tribune of the parliament for the dictatorship of the councils (Raetediktatur)! […] Our solutions are no division of power with the Bourgeoisie! No weapons in the hands of the Bourgeoisie! All weapons in the hands of the Proletariat! All power to the councils of the working Volk in the city and on the land!

Only work can save us
In“Only Work Can Save Us!” (The Communist, Nr. 49, 2 June 1920) on page 2, the editors of the Communist invoked the memories of the recent past. Remember the 15,000 proletarians, whom Noske had slaughtered in the name of democracy! Choose Spartakus! […] Send no social traitor or pseudo revolutionary to parliament! Vote for the Communists!

Cooperation with Soviet Russia
In the lead up to the June national parliamentary elections, the editors of the Communist carried banners in the headers and footers of each of its pages such as, “Spartakus fights for the closest cooperation with Soviet Russia. Send Communists to Parliament!” (The Communist, Nr. 50, 3 June 1920).

The Women Warriors for Communism
In “Women as the Warriors for Communism” (The Communist, Nr. 51, 4 June 1920), the editors of the Communist foresaw a special role for women. […] As soon as working women join the advanced socialist warriors for Communism the danger of rumors and the intrigues of pastors and village leaders, which incite the masses against the hated Bolsheviks, will disappear.

Hangman's work and sending Black Troops to Poland
In “Support Troops for Poland on the Way through Germany” (The Communist, Nr. 59, 13 June 1920), the editors of the Communist wrote about the possible role of German railway workers in supporting the use of French colonial black troops for the fight against Communism in Poland, a possibility which the local middle class press had called a racial insult in the French occupation of the Ruhr. The withdrawal of colored troops from the Saarland is foreseen for the middle of June. The troops are designated to go to Poland. The Saarland will maintain a French occupying force. The troops must make their way through Germany. German railway workers will be designated to transport them. However, the same German Bourgeoisie, who has just staged a national indignation against the “black insult”, suggests an insulting hangman’s work for the German proletariat against its Russian brothers.

Housing crisis
In “Increasing Housing Misery” (The Communist, Nr. 60, 15 June 1920, p. 4.), the editors of the Communist invoked a problem that must have been persistent among some of its intended audience. From their editorial view, the problem would grow worse because the recent national decree for the removal of housing shortages had been declared inadmissible by a court in Hannover.

Democracy in Crisis
In the wake of the parliamentary election results (see Part II), the editors of the Communist published, “The Continuing Crisis of the Democracy” (The Communist, Nr. 64, 19 June 1920), and proclaimed, “The Dying Democracy” in its subheading. […] The Democracy should have brought salvation from all need, should have brought the war to a favorable conclusion, the glorious peaceful understanding, etc. – and the Volk masses, who have just awoken with dumb heads from the frenzy of a patriotic shroud, believed in it with almost religious conviction. Not only the workers, but the broad masses of the lower middle class and the farmers began to believe in the Democracy; even large sections of the Bourgeoisie saw in it its way out of all difficulties. […] Only a small group of advanced proletarians, who rallied around the Communists, opposed the belief in Democracy and fought it from the very beginning as the cover for the counter revolution. […] Since then things have fundamentally changed. The military power has gained control of the situation and from the excitement for the Democracy there is barely a hint left to feel.

The "micro-histories" of fear: Erfurt & the DNVP

Part I: January to May 1920

Part II: June to the Fall of 1920

The DNVP was the German National Volks Party. In Erfurt, local elites gathered around this political party and helped start the Mitteldeutsche Newspaper (MZ) in 1919 in order to profile a more nationalist and conservative rightwing voice in the local media, especially to compete with the most widely read and highly respectable middle class paper, the Thueringer Allgemeine Newspaper (TAZ). In the wake of the First World War, they saw themselves as the proper voices to guide the people of Erfurt.

In “Weapons of the Spirit” (MZ, Nr. 136, So., 29. Mai 1920), the MZ reported on Communist deeds in Jena. At the German Nationalist meeting in the Volkshaussaale, Mr. Wilhelm von Trotha spoke to German Nationals about the new times they all found themselves in. According to the report, a mass of people were in attendance with Russian haircuts, openly hairy men’s chests and short English pipes. Those who did not have this uniform at least wore a tie. Every one who was aware of the local relations knew that the evening was developing like a storm. However, the results were much greater than expected.

From his very first word, Mr. Trotha’s objective and calm speech was interrupted by “Gebruell”, “Johlen” and “Schimpfereien” (onomatopoetic words for screaming and insulting). According to the MZ reporter, every one knew that is was an organized action. They tried to talk Mr. Trotha to death (totzuschreien), but only his cold bloodedness and “Gewandtheit” enabled him to bring the whole speech to its conclusion. Twice, they had to resort to their fists to help their throats and lungs. Three men, who had made it known they were members of the rightwing parties, were forced out of the room by pushing and punching. After the speech the real scandal broke loose. A small group pushed forward like a “Stosstrupp” (a strike force). Several people were encircled, forced into a corner and severely mishandled. The lights went out briefly. The election posters of the German Nationals were torn to pieces and stomped on. Instead of fists flying there were now stool legs. Several women were insulted and threatened. The “victors” celebrated their triumph by singing the Workers’ Marseillaise and other revolutionary tunes. Two of them gave their own speeches. The MZ reporter asked his readers, whether or not they thought the radicals were happy about their victory. From their speeches and other gestures one could surmise that the radicals themselves believed it was only a pyrrhic victory. It was only important to MZ readers, the reporter added, that every one except for those two communist speakers and their comrades, know what the phrases of equality, freedom and fraternity mean for the leftist radicals. One got a small taste of the gentlemanliness (“Herrlichkeiten”) that the Spartacists had to offer at the celebratory feast.

The "micro-histories" of fear: Erfurt in 1920, Part II

Part I: January to May 1920
Part II: June to the Fall of 1920

The death of parliament

In “The stillborn parliament” (FP, Nr. 124, 10 June 1920) the Free Press (FP) reacted with dejection toward the results of the first national parliamentary elections (Note: the editors of the FP had surmised that the conservatives would take it on the chin for the Kapp-Putsch; so this was a significant disappointment). The editors wrote that the Central German Newspaper (Die Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (MZ)) was silently enjoying the “personal defeat” of the government (Note: the MZ was as a paper was only in its second year and carried the perspective of the middle class right, especially the conservative German National People’s Party (DNVP)). The editors parted with a shot: We can only tell them and their whole pack of capitalist, pious and obstinate servants (Trotzknechten) that they should not be happy about this ‘victory’ and this ‘defeat’. It will not last long. Then they will not have anything to say publicly, but at home they will sit and moan in their little rooms. Woe to us, we have won.

The results of the National Parliamentary Elections on 6 June 1920:

The German Democratic Party (DDP): 10% of those who voted (about 6400 people)

The German Volks Party (DVP): 18,9%

The German National Volk Party (DNVP): 20,5%

The Centre Party: 5,1%

The old Social Democratic Party (SPD): 6,8%

The Independent Socialist Democratic Party (USPD): 36,3%

The Communist Party (KPD): 2,6%

Guns

In “The handover of weapons” (MZ, Nr. 213, 14 August 1920), The DNVP wrote in to the editors of the MZ and addressed Erfurt’s president in regards to the National Law for the Disarmament of the People (Das Reichsgesetz ueber die Entwaffnung der Bevoelkerung from 7 August 1920). First, they argued, a general disarmament will not help the inner peace. The precondition must be an equal disarmament – to no one’s advantage or disadvantage. The political parties will accept the invitation to meet. As for the workers, it does not matter how many freely give up their weapons, but rather how many are subjected to terror. We know that the workers of Erfurt generally acted in a calm and composed way during the last unruly days (the March Days of 1920), but we have to add that from our perspective it was the military and political security measures that proved effective. May it remain as such. We want to hope so. One should not take it the wrong way, when we make use of the “democratic duty to mistrust” in this matter. Mr. President, investigate the conditions of the working classes to see how their leaders agitate them and lead them down the wrong path. Then we will be on your side.

[…] We want a strong government, and we will welcome it when the government makes its strength known, as currently in the words of the president. A demonstration on the street does not bring us great joy. However, we are determined to use this means as well, when we have no other and when the parades of the Proletariat are not in a kindly fashion stopped.

In that same day’s paper on page five, the MZ reported on “The weapons find in Erfurt”. There were five wagons full of countless weapons, machine guns, 98s and manufactured guns. There was one further wagon was loaded by the Moving Company Liefegang (Erfurt) and has a value estimated at 35,000 Reichsmark.

The August Days

“General Strike in Upper Silesia” (MZ, Nr. 218, 19 August 1920; Note: Upper Silesia was an ethnically mixed Polish and German region under Allied Occupation).

Second page: “New Battles in Kattowitz” (Note: a town in Upper Silesia); “Persecution of Jews in Warsaw”; “The Cholera in Petersburg”.

The Poles

In “The Poles are the Instigators!” (MZ, Nr. 219, 20 August 1920), the MZ carried a report on the causes of the unrest in Upper Silesia and the deployment of Italian troops there. According to the author, just as well as the Poles ordered a strike force into Rybnick in order to disperse the German public gatherings there, they could have followed another tactic in Kattowitz in order to force the confrontation between the Germans and the French military. The Poles are working with the assumption that these sorts of frictions have to worsen the relationship between the occupiers and the German population so much so that under the circumstances the results of the ballot (on the national question of Upper Silesia) will most likely be influenced too. Most certainly, it is without question the Poles who have an interest in the military support of the Western Allies. All of Upper Silesia is swarming with Warsaw’s agents, who are working day and night to ignite the politically tense atmosphere.

Another Workers’ Uprising

(TAZ, Nr. 220, 21 August 1920), In Duesseldorf, the Workers’ Council Republic was declared. One hundred men occupied the Rathaus and were requisitioning automobiles and bicycles in the city. From those who were doing well, money was being taken.

Black Murderers

In “Colored murderers in Germany” (TAZ, Nr. 220, 22 August 1920) the TAZ editors reported on a former milk handler and current court civil servant who were shot and robbed on the way home from the Ruhr region to Erfurt by two colored soldiers.

The Day of Sedan
In an article entitled, “Sedan”, Dr. W. A. Krannhals commemorated the decisive battle in the German wars of unification against the French on 2 September 1870, whereby Napoleon III became a prisoner of war to the Prussian army. (MZ, Nr. 232, 2 September 1920). For many nationalist Germans this was the most important, albeit unofficial, national holiday. Kaiser Wilhelm I refused to declare it an official holiday and saw Sedan more as an honor to the Prussian military. In the 1890s more and more Germans began to associate Sedan with the theme of unity. On 27 August 1919, the Weimar Republic declared that there would no longer be celebrations to commemorate the day of Sedan since it was not considered appropriate for the times (hence the Erfurters' scheduling of a celebration over a week later). Dr. Krannhals wrote: Today, 50 years ago, is the proudest day among the great years that the Reich gave us and Germany unity. Not with celebratory actions nor in great joy do we celebrate this day, but with worry, full of a thousand doubts. We celebrate this day because we cannot do anything else except in calm reflection and in the struggle to draw new strength from the meaning of this day for the most difficult and largest challenge that this Volk and Reich have faced.

[...] “Then the devil should be afraid, we do not want to fear,” so proclaimed Luther in faithful trust: “The hour will come, in which the wisdom and violence that pulses will go away. We will say, where are they now?” This trust, this belief in Sedan, this unshakable confidence in victory should flourish in us from this day marking Sedan, which we observe from the depth of our need. It should steel us to new strength and commemorate the great inheritance that we have to protect. It should let us become healthy and commemorate the holy strength that have grown in us out of our greatness, from Luther, from Bismarck and from Hindenburg. So do these three lead us in the depths of our hearts and everywhere where we stand, whether on the field of deeds; one day it will also mean for our enemies, who lure us with their wisdom: “Where are they now?” We, however, will then be able to celebrate a new Sedan, greater and more powerful, as the source from which new strength will flow to us, when we are unified and true. Unified, like our fathers were, who created the Reich for us, such that we are concerned that we must fight today in word and deed with our blood, with our spirit and with our strength! For that help us Sedan!

“Citizens’ Courage”

The Central German Newspaper (MZ, Nr. 243, 13 September 1920) published a letter from a woman in Erfurt about the commemoration of the Fatherland in early September on the steps and broad plaza of the cathedral:

What moves me to write is not the attempt by the demonstrators to disturb the Commemoration of the Fatherland on Sunday, 12 September, but rather the once again proven courage and pride of citizens. Dear German citizens, do things really have to get worse for you first, does the water first have to climb up around your throats, before you have the courage to commit yourself to resistance? How many participants did I see from my vantage point on the steps of the cathedral run away to save themselves? Secretly, quietly they disappeared and left the showplace to the youth, who bravely fought and defended their beautiful, new black, red and white flag. Women also showed their courage, their temperament not daunted by coercion. I witnessed many fists dancing on the backs of the demonstrators. Bad examples spoil good morals and it is always still better to show one’s feelings for the Fatherland this way than to stand cautiously to the side as, unfortunately, I saw among many of my fellow citizens do. They screamed at the officials with complaining looks, ‘this did not function either. The whole event is poorly organized.’ Think about it, dear citizens, the best organization does nothing when it is not supported with powerful deeds, if not one for all and all for one, if not driven by the determined will that we want to do something, we want to have our commemoration undisturbed. That could happen without division! […] If only you knew how strong you are, dear citizen (Buergersmann). Carry through with the task at hand. Don’t always stand there by the side with a wait and see attitude, distinguished appearance and misunderstood decency. It is the only way to impress upon the riff raff and rabble, which, naturally incited by a Jew, sang, whistled and screamed on the Wilhelm Plaza, let the International live and otherwise revealed themselves in other ways as uneducated children in need of punishment. One can only call it riff raff and rabble, then one could not imagine that a reasonable, thoughtful and decent worker would have something against it when our great past, our heroes' deeds and our dead whom we have to lament, are to be commemorated.

The Defenseless Old Ones

In the same edition, the MZ carried an article about the fictional conversation between the cathedral dome and the old veteran (of the late 19^th century wars of unification, “Der Dom und der alte Veteran”. It described the thousands who had just gathered there on the wide space of the plaza, standing densely packed to the corners, and just having dispersed through the side streets. The sun of a September Sunday streamed playfully over the obelisk that stood in the middle and the children played ball in their bright Sunday best. There was still a group of people talking, but otherwise the place was quiet.

[…] “I saw everything and heard everything,” said the Dome. “Everything. I understand exactly what is going on with you old warriors and truly, so deeply the German has not yet tread into the muck. Not yet so deeply. He cannot surpass himself anymore, such as he can be outdone by the worthlessness and shamefulness of his own people. […] we must have patience. The insanity must and will cease raging. To be sure, you will barely live to experience it. Well, I have gone on talking long enough; soon you will see the gloriosa (!?). There is only one thing I want to ask you: why did all of you thousands gathered here today with honorable intentions, why did you thousands from this society stand here on this plaza and let the scandal of a few stupid young men take place? Huh? It is not meant as an accusation against you. No. You old ones have become defenseless and powerless, But the others, where are they? […] Wake them up. And now, live well, old man, for better times.”

Two Different Socialist Voices

In an article in that same issue entitled, “Two Socialist Voices” (MZ, Nr. 244, 14 September 1920), the editors of the MZ found it remarkable what Erfurt’s Free Press, the moderate Socialist paper in town, had to say about the scandalous events on Sunday: It was a sad picture. So the ‘celebration’ degraded into a tumult. Given everything that happened, it has to be seen as fortunate that it ended mildly. Certainly, there were at time moments where the situation was dangerous and the serious encounters seemed unavoidable. A unit of the security police was alarmed, but did not engage itself. Reason still proved victorious - luckily. If it were to come to something extremely and unforeseeably unfortunate, then the wire pullers of the communist counter demonstration would have to carry the primary responsibility [...]. Finally, the FP asked, What had the communists achieved with their senseless actions? We want to say it without making it sound nice: they have only damaged the thing that they say they wish to represent. Their appearance was a very visibly instructive lesson against the Moscow system. Moreover, the whole socialist minded working class of Erfurt will most certainly suffer the consequences because the bourgeois masses will weld themselves more strongly together to a unified block, which will allow itself to be all the more easily misused for reactionary purposes. The Reaction itself will not be affected by this […]. It demonstrates a lack of political education and the most elementary democratic principles to disturb disagreeable events in this violent and provocative manner.

The editors of the MZ noted how the other Socialist paper, the Tribuene, put it differently and added that the Tribune's editors had voted for working with Moscow. They defended their communist brothers and talk in well known ways about "German National Agitators Convention" and "Punches for the 'Victims of the War'".

The Enemies of the Republic and Democracy

In “The Interrupted Memorial in Erfurt” (FP, Nr. 205, 13 September 1920), the editors of the Free Press called it a victory for the enemies of democracy. As they saw it, last Sunday was a day for the victory of the enemies of democracy in Erfurt. The reactionary parties, namely the national rightwing Bolsheviks, have “won”; the Communists have given them water for the millwheel for new attacks on the democratic republic. We have held the Communists responsible from our side for all kinds of follies both non political and political, in order to discredit them and lead us past the old “gentlemanly” times of the monarchical-military “order”. And the leftwing Bolsheviks, the communists, have “won”, because they have marred the democracy. Both are enemies of the Republic, enemies of the Democracy, and enemies of the Social Democracy! When will the day come in Erfurt, on which the cool, thinking working classes make an end of the irresponsible communist heroes of riot, the greatest enemy of the calm upward development of the German working class? Workers, comrades! Prevent the uprisings from left and right! Long live the free democracy!

A Dangerous Pell-mell

In its coverage of “The Commemoration of the Fatherland” (TAZ, Nr. 243, 13 September 1920), the editors of the more moderate middle class TAZ emphasized how the memorial on Sunday at noon on the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Plaza was open for every member of the German Volk, without injury to any feeling or political view. Unfortunately, a few hundred people with red flags and the usual placards assembled, in order, as they had already threatened, to disturb the festivity. In the pile tumbled a large number of young men well known from similar opportunities. The whole pile of protesters disappeared at any rate in the excited mass, which wanted to celebrate despite all attempts at disturbance. The usual cheers for the International were answered with hand clapping and patriotic songs. […] there was a dangerous pell-mell on the steps of the Dome and a storm of demonstrators toward a black-white-red flag of a Veterans’ Association. In spite of all that, the memorial’s program was fully carried out. There were male choirs. Pastor Mueller greeted the veterans of 1870/71. The writer Gustav Schroer spoke on the spirit of love in which the entire people must unify themselves. To which those of another mind howled […] the sign of leftwing radical agitation.

The Police Report on the Disturbances

In “The Folks Festival” (MZ, Nr. 244, 14 September 1920), the MZ carried a report from the police of Erfurt on their security measures. The Organization of Revolutionary Railroad Workers and the International Federation of War Wounded, known by their placards and red flag, attached themselves at the end of the line of the associations. The police tried through negotiations with the leaders to make sure that they wished to peacefully participate in the festivities or intended to cause a disturbance. In that moment, the security chains fell and the whole mass poured onto and up the dome steps. […] The police tried to maintain order and calm those yelling. […] In order to counter any rumors from hence forward, it is also noted that the police did not observe or receive any reports about any injuries of a serious nature.

The Life Line & Personality

In an article entitled, “About the Reformation Celebration” (TAZ, Nr. 291, 31 October 1920), Pastor Huettenrauch from Klosterlausnitz wrote: for the second time since the collapse (of Germany), October 31^st had come to our Volk, which could still not raise itself up from its deep fall. Do you know why you have not found the strength to rise up? […] You wanted to bring about the new ordering of your life through laws and decrees. That is the wrong way. Then the rebirth of a Volk depends not on measures, but rather on people, from the quality of the personalities that are bound by success and ruin to the whole Volk. The quality of the personalities depends on the spiritual strength which they possess. […] Whoever takes religion away from the people rips the life line out of them.

Anti-Semitism

In “The Order to Murder Jews” (FP, Nr. 253, 8 November 1920), the editors of the FP commented on German National (DNVP) educators. In Munich there was an assassination attempt against Dr. Hirschfeld by German National younglings; the youth are trying to infect political opponents with the motivation to murder. The Dresdner DNVP supports the assassination attempt.

Dresden

Dresden is regenerating.

Please click here to see photos.

I visited Dresden in 1994 along with my friend Colin and our Colgate/Freiburg University Study Group. It was cold and gray and the city seemed desolate in March. The giant concrete buildings seemed like dead monuments to Communism even though there were new stores along the main pedestrian boulevards. There was only a pile of rubble where the Church of Our Lady once stood, but there were also tall construction cranes swaying all over the place and wonderful artistic collections in the museums and performance halls in the city center along the Elbe. Dresden had retained those old hints of classical Greece, the Enlightenment and Baroque, but I could find dilapidation everywhere. The city of Dresden in Canaletto paintings would never exist again, at least not like that. The traces of its destruction are writ large here, but not necessarily easily recognizable. Its experiences have been left lingering like testimonies in the voices of those like Kurt Vonnegut, Victor Klemperer or several generations of many other people.

In my return, I found plenty of activity. People had painstakingly rebuilt the Church of Our Lady and there are many new commercial projects. I also found a good energy and interesting people and things going on across the river in Dresden Neustadt (The "New City" which is actually pretty old too). Continuing to build on David Emory's suggestion to write about the people whom I meet, I include more sketches below. For more sketches from my travels, please see the friends link here on my blog.

In the Lollis Hostel:

I met Julianne (Jule) at the front desk. She seemed to be in charge and knew how to get me pointed in the right direction.

I met Jeremy and Will in the lounge off to the left of the front desk। Will was working on his I-Phone. His sketch books were laid out on the table.

Jeremy Gardner was at the chess board and he was waiting for a ride to Berlin. He recently graduated from college with a concentration in literature. He styles himself a young poet, novelist and musician and he is traveling around Europe and the Mediterranean coast for about a year depending how the money runs out. Jeremy plans to go to Jordan to meet displaced Iraqis, convey their stories and develop his journalism. He wants to return to the US and get involved in national politics for a Democratic US President, someone who knows how to lead us in national politics. He speaks passionately about the US even as he runs off a list of all our problems from foreign policy to intellectual freedom, war, consumption, the environment, capitalism and his own art. He is also the best chest player in the hostel’s guest lounge. I told Jeremy that groups like American Voices Abroad in Berlin may be interested in his work with Iraqis since they want to build up cooperative projects with both US veterans and Iraqi citizens and maybe even build some bridges. If you are interested in his work in its various forms and stages, check out http://geocities.com/thehartwick for his writing, http://www.myspace.com/themisms for his Hip-Hop music and http://www.myspace.com/jermgardner for his solo music.

Will is in the other corner. Everyone thinks he is crazy. Then again, there are several people in this room who can oddly strike an impression. Will admits that he is crazy, but not crazy like everyone else thinks he is crazy. I think Will is crazy in that good way of good people with good souls, burning. For Will, it is in the music and the moment. He is constantly thinking about his music and exploring everywhere for it. For Will, music is not simply to be found in the forms of the past, though he has nothing against history and what it has given us. He just wants people to consider the present and the future and bust out of the past. He looks everywhere among the world's canyons and mountains for its sounds and its players. He is concerned about the commercialization of art as compared to the actual act of making art. More importantly, he is constantly sketching and his composing seems to be leading him to some very interesting places, people and music.

I spent a Saturday walking around Dresden with Will looking for food, gifts and supplies for his digital camera. Will was born in 1965 in Cleveland but grew up in Florida. He oversees construction contracts for his father's company, but he is finding his groove with avant-garde music composition. He has been in Dresden for about a week as the guest of local musicians. On Saturday evening in Hellerau at the European Center for the Arts, the elole piano trio (http://www.elole.de) premiered Will’s piece, “Calabi-Yau” (2005/07) as part of a larger program including contemporary works from Tom Johnson, Juan Maria Solare, Hartmut Dorschner and Carsten Hennig. All of these composers still go back to the old forms and instruments, but they explore them for their range of experience in different ways from variations and structures to the performance itself. My favorite was the piece in which the trio visually took turns going through the motion of playing while the others kept fragments of the piece's sounds coming - sometimes it felt angry; at other times the silence was full of earlier variations in the listener's mind. Will was impressed with his peers' composition work, which motivates him to work even harder. He is not a bad chess player either; maybe just a little "unorthodox". He hopes to have a better designed webpage up and running some time soon for people to see.

Later in the evening, a local guy named Joe, popped in to the hostel to see Jule and hang out with people in the guests lounge. He likes to talk and show his wide range of knowledge on history, language and politics. He found me all ears. Having lived in the Neustadt for almost 20 years, he feels that Dresden has unfortunately become more commercialized. Neustadt, the place I find so cool, has lost its bohemian qualities from his view. Instead, the Neustadt has become more of a club and party atmosphere (God save the Kinks and the Village Green Preservation Society). However, Joe also notes the increasing diversity of people, although he also thinks there is still a lot of closed mindedness (Spiessbuergerlichkeit) around the Neustadt itself.

Gustavo Vieyra enters the lounge looking for people to play chess. He is from Mexico and studied German language and literature at UCLA. He has worked as a teacher in Los Angeles’ schools for years, but is frustrated with the curriculum and pedagogy involving Spanish-speaking children and bilingual language education in general. He has been to Germany many times and has been staying here at the hostel for an extended period. Most people in the lounge know him as the guy who has been in Germany for weeks at the computer checking his stocks and researching investment opportunities on the internet. Gustavo explains that he grew up poor. So he wants to have enough money to live well. However, Gustavo is also working on a new learning program that uses music as a core approach to teaching children. He claims a large degree of success in using the singing songs to help achieve a bilingual level by the age of eight or nine, if children start at the preschool level with his teaching model. He has found some support in German schools and is currently developing his model in Goerlitz. Still, Gustavo is frustrated with the bureaucracy and resistance to his project in general and is interested in finding people, both parents and teachers interested in applying his approach or even starting their own charter preschools. Gustavo is also a brilliant chess player, who seriously kicked my butt in three moves, although Jeremy beat him two out of three times. When I left him, Gustavo was researching the precious metal Tellurium, which is found in traces as an alloy of copper, gold and lead, and widely sought by the computer chip industry for its conductive quality. Gustavo told me that he is going to buy a house here in Dresden-Neustadt with his investments. Housing prices are still low and nice old apartments readily available. Yet I hear a sense of loneliness in his voice when he tells me that he likes Dresden. If you are interested in his project, please check out this link:

http://www.gestaltdialektik.com

I drank tea with Jule and Jeremy in the kitchen on Saturday morning. Jule loves her city, but she wants to go away every couple years for a healthy dose of change. When we asked her about Dresden and her family's past, she told us that her grandparents never really talked much it except for a few stories about her grandmother during the war.

That night several of us gathered at the lounge to accompany Will to elole's concert. Nicole Neeley is from Austin, TX. She is a good young artist and thinking about grad school. However, she wanted to travel first and think things over. Travel has meant feeling the uncomfortable and she is looking forward to returning to the comfort of home, although returning to Austin has her also thinking about the healthy change of place. Nicole has been traveling around to some of the premier art festivals in Italy and Germany this fall and heads home via Paris. If you are interested in her work, check out her myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/bespeeched and the link: “Things I Make” for her artwork.

Abram Foley is from way up in northern Wisconsin. All the lake effect snow up there lands in western Michigan, he tells me when I ask where up there. Abe has graduated from Wisconsin and is teaching English as a Fulbright Fellow in a little German town called Perleberg in Brandenburg. He speaks very good German and wants to go to grad school for English literature or maybe 20^th century American literature in another year or so. On Friday, he will be in Berlin to sing with a choir, and I may see him again soon.

When I asked a music composer after a concert, if Dresden was the new experimental music capital of Germany, he shook his head no and mentioned Berlin in the same breath. Yes, there is a small and interesting community of artists and musicians here in Dresden, he conceded. It may be provincial, he added, but it has a nice laid back pace that he appreciates.

As for me, I am heading home soon and I hope this finds you all well.

The "micro-histories" of fear: Erfurt in 1920

Introduction:
In this post I want to present my research on the public record of fear in Erfurt from the first half of 1920. In a post that follows, I want to present the second half of my findings for that year, highlighting a gathering of Erfurt’s citizenry for the commemoration of the nation that September and in a final post, I want to discuss the theoretical, historiographical and archival significance of this research in relation to my larger project. Part II: June to the Fall of 1920

A Year of Hope:
1920 began as a year of hope for Germany’s national leadership and the local Erfurt papers published their wishes for the New Year. The first national elections were scheduled for that June, but the rightwing Kapp Putsch in Berlin would lead to renewed Putsch attempts from the right and left across Germany. In nearby Gotha, the radical socialists and communists had taken control of the city only to be violently crushed by the military and paramilitary organizations made up of Great War veterans, local Buerger and fresh young men. Meanwhile, those local political and military leaders turned Erfurt into a militarized zone of barbwire and armed checkpoints, but called for restraint on all sides of the political spectrum as reports came in of excessively violent clashes. Most strikingly, there was a working coalition of moderate voices in Erfurt. The moderate socialist editors of the Free Press (FP), who supported more democratic and social reform and inter-party political cooperation, would claim victory by the end of March for the Republic because of the cooperative efforts of the town magistrate, police, military, moderate socialists, railroad and postal workers, middle class Democratic and Catholic leaders. However, they could not control more radical efforts from people on the extreme sides of the political spectrum, who wanted to undermine this cooperation and eliminate their political enemies. That spring, local papers continued to report on political acts of terror in the vicinity from all sides. As for local "everyday" voices, I found a few including a letter from a young engineer asking the local government to explain the excessive use of force by groups acting in its name.

Fear in 1920
Among the periodical highlights on fear in the first half of 1920:

The veiled threat from Erfurt’s civil servants:

In January, the civil servant association (Erfurter Beamten) held a public meeting at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz in front of the cathedrals. They claimed that they could physically feel how much the current government (the Weimar Republic) had troubled them and they demanded “reasonable” measures to deal with Germany’s economic problems. They saw themselves as the group which had saved this republic’s young life and hinted at withdrawing their support if they did not get their way.

Profiteering:

In response to the reports about the activity of “Wucher” in the region the government of Thuringia had passed a new law to combat the problem of profiteering (The Thueringer Allgemeiner Zeitung (TAZ), Nr. 1, 1 January 1920). In the spring articles on the history of “Wucher” in Thuringia would appear in the TAZ

Educating children in the wake of trauma:

In March, a group of teachers wrote into the TAZ (Nr. 63, 3 March 1920) with their concerns about the moral effects of the Great War and the use of force in the home and school on Germany’s children. They believed the Great War had tortured (zerquaelten) and broken the German people. So these teachers asked readers not to hold their children responsible for the past and resort to outdated physical forms of punishment.

The wounded nation and the duty of women:

In March, Dorothea Hartenstein wrote in the TAZ (Nr. 68, 8 March 1920) that it was the first duty of German women to cultivate a national feeling and Germans should focus on binding their own wounds and healing the German people before they should or could deal with the pains of other peoples.

The anarchy and chaos of Independent Socialism and Communism:

The FP (Nr. 59, 10 March 1920) saw the rise of an independent socialist government in Gotha as leading to anarchy rather than Bolshevism. Just the fact that the independent socialist (USPD) government in Gotha had declared war against the German nation demonstrated that the independent socialist leadership either had no qualms or the minds of sparrows. Their forms of politics continued to provoke other segments of the population, especially their declaration on religion. Moreover their elimination of the teachers’ council and its replacement with a directory was an assassination of democracy.

The lack of adequate housing:

The local communist paper, The Kommunist (Nr. 13, 11 March 1920), reported on capitalistic and communist housing politics. This author claimed that the housing crisis in Germany was growing more and more threatening. Millions of people did not have a chance of finding even the most modest roof for over their heads.

Economic Emergency:

In an article entitled, “A Declaration of the Middle Class” (der Mittelstand, the TAZ, Nr. 72, 12 March 1920), a gathering of the specialty trade shops, craft workers and house owners met in the gymnasium at the Catholic citizens’ school (Buergerschule). Senator H. Beythien spoke about Germany’s economic need. He recalled the days of economic prosperity before the war, but he also noted how difficult it was for the middle classes against big business. He described the current national government’s politics as an enemy of middle class interests, which robbed the virtuous and industrious elements in society of every initiative. It was a forced form of economy instead of a free one. The possibility of unfolding all of one’s own personal virtue could make Germany great and strong again. Dr. Seeman, the Syndikus for Erfurt’s Chamber of Craft Workers, described the results of the 9^th of November 1918 as detrimental (unheilvolle); only the interests of the workers were represented, which he reiterated, was a threat to the middle class. The business leader Meydig added that socialization was a danger for property owners.

Anti-Semitism:

In response to the increasing reports of anonymous defaming and threatening letters directed at Jewish Germans in the region the FP (Nr. 62, 13 March 1920; see also FP, Nr. 59, 10 March 1920) carried the writing of Hans von Weher from a publication called Onionfish (Der Zwiebelfisch). According to von Weher, the anonymous actions of Anti-Semites were the signs of their cowardness and underhandedness. Anti-Semites, from Weher’s perspective, were either political ignorant people who were just born that way, or if they understood politics, then they were demagogues who were using Anti-Semitism to conduct business. The FP believed that a recent assassination attempt on a prominent Jewish German in Baden-Baden was a sign that the old All German Union (Alldeutscher Bund) was actively inciting young people to attack Germans of the Jewish religion.

Heat for homes and energy for industry:

Most of the newspapers reported on the rising prices for brown coal and the concerns over home heating in the cold months. The FP (The Free Press, a local moderate socialist newspaper, Nr. 62, 13. March 1920) believed that there were more local roots to the lack of coal such as the distribution problems in Halle, and suggested balanced reporting in response to public accusations, like those of the German Brown Coal Industry Association in Halle pointed at the French Occupation and the Weimar Republic.

The home and family are in danger!

Fliers from the “March Days” of left and rightwing uprisings found in the Erfurt City Archive records of the Freikorps made statements like this: “Mothers, Women, Girls! Foreign elements without a fatherland have succeeded through (?) agitation and foreign phrases to shroud the reason of a part of the German people and distract them from the path of duty. True men of German blood have barely escaped the hell of war and must now take up the war against terror, murder and (Notzucht), against erroneous teachings. These are the Citizens’ Defense Units. Without paying heed to the shameless insults and lies of foreign agitators, voluntary bands are doing their duty, which is doubly difficult because they must defend the German homeland, mothers and children against members of the German people fanaticized by paid agents and spies. Your home, German women, and also your happiness, German girls, are in danger. Therefore, do your part too in the great task of liberation: talk to your man whose name you carry, to the father of your children, your fiancé, whose home you eventually want to guard. Talk to your friends, who would support you in times of danger and need, so that they too do their part and report to the Citizens Defense Units!”

The Call to all Order-loving Men
In another flier: The outrageous Terror of the last few days immediately demands the most aggressive defense, if it should not lead to the complete destruction of the economic life and property of the individual. For the support of the Professional Defenses (Berufswehren) the “Ordnungshilfe” (Order Support) has been created (StVAE, 1-2/120-14, Bl.2)

Copy for Reproduction and Distribution!
The labor unions associated with the German Civil Servants Union declare that they will only support an order of government that is based on the currently binding constitution because of the oath that the civil servants have taken on the basis of the constitution. (Deutschen Beamtenbund) (StVAE, 1-2/120-14, Bl.4)

District Commander's Order from 15 March 1920
As district commander of Erfurt, I am letting it be known that under my command: the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 21 and the Security Police will under all circumstances maintain calm and order regardless an older or newly built government.

The wish of the Fatherland must be that honorable and capable men from the old government and all parties should lead us.

[…] To Point 4a: The ban on gatherings of political parties will be suspended. For this all further gatherings should be officially registered with the Land Councils and the local Police authorities and subject to my authority. Signed Von Selle (StVAE, 1-2/120-14, Bl. 5)

Message to the Reichswehr

Brigade 11 in Cassel, 16 March 1920: The Proletariat strives for control through the call for the Councils Republic, Action Committees or Executive Council, and is trying to remove troops, security and citizens’ defense units. (StVAE, 1-2/120-14, Bl. 14)

Herr Oberbuergermeister!

Yesterday evening at 6:35 it was still daylight. I wanted to make my way from the Schloss Bridge accompanied by a colleague to Schloss Street past the main checkpoint.

[…] I afterwards confirmed: the three men from the Security Police fired without even the slightest grounds to do it. No one stood. Everything went further. No one wanted to in anyway harm the three men, the whole public was well clothed and did not look like Spartakus;, many women were there as well. All persons were far removed from the Security Police, every man immediately followed their command. It was completely unmistakable that this involved harmless people who did not know that the Anger (one of the major Erfurter plazas) was cordoned off. Why then this shooting?

I ask you earnestly, Herr Oberbuergermeister, to do everything in your power to protect your fellow citizens from such infringements. […] Besides this danger for the body and life of innocents there is, however, something else to consider: that the Green Police (Green uniforms were for the State Police *must check) have made themselves more and more unloved so that they are making a name for themselves not only among the politically most radical circles but also already in the whole citizenry as a raw, bloodthirsty Soldateska.

Robert Jacki

Teacher at the Building Trade School.
Prussian Government Building Master, Lieutenant in the Reserves of the 7^th Baden Infantry Regiment.

Member of the Technical Emergency Support (StVAE, 1-2/120-14, Bl. 31)

The threat to democracy and the call for its defense:

At the end of March and in response to voices from the right that democracy in Germany was bankrupt, the FP claimed that moderates across the political spectrum, including the railway and postal worker unions, old socialists and middle class democrats and Catholics had successfully defended the democracy during the “March Days”, but new support was needed to build democracy. Despite the warnings from some that such actions would result in democracy becoming terror and dictatorship, democracy’s proponents could not shy away from removing reactionary and rightwing elements from the military and civil service. (Nr. 64, 26 March 1920).

Terror from the right and left:

Newspapers reported on continuing terror from the right and the left in the region. The FP kept a daily column on the “civil war in Thuringia”. They reported a communist attack on the palace guard in Gotha from nearby Weissenfels and Zeitz (Nr. 65, 27 March 1920). In another article entitled, “The White Terror in Thuringia” (Nr. 67, 30 March 1920) the FP graphically described a middle class self defense force’s extralegal execution of 16 workers in neighboring Soemmerda.

In another article, “What will happen with the Self Defense Force in Soemmerda?” (Nr. 84, 21 April 1920), the FP cited an order from the German national government that the local citizens’ self-defense forces were supposed to disband themselves, but no one was obeying that order in Erfurt. The article’s author reported that the citizens’ defense force in nearby Soemmerda was still armed and holding training exercises. They were also maintaining a watch over local workers’ homes, preventing those workers from returning home. Those workers were afraid to return home because of the reports that the citizens’ defense forces had shot workers whom they claimed had tried to escape. The FP’s author saw as immediate danger for the republic in both left and rightwing paramilitary units and demanded the immediate disarmament of the citizens’ defense units.

Rebirth, Life and Freedom:

In its lead article on Easter the FP (Nr. 70, 3 April 1920), the authors wanted their readers to believe that everything had been rejuvenated. Countless voices, according to the authors, announced daily the joyful message of rejuvenation and life and liberation from the power of winter and bandits.

The end of small farms:

In April, the TAZ (Nr. 101, 21. April 1920) reported that 500 farmers convened in Weimar. The head of the meeting, the mayor of Legefeld, spoke about the sad situation of the fatherland and claimed that as long as the national government was in the hands of socialists, there could be no national rejuvenation. The head of the Thuringian Farmers Union (Landbund) claimed that there was a stark contrast between what the national government promised and what they did. The streets were under the control of the lowest elements of the masses (the Poebel). Meanwhile, the middle classes slept and had learned nothing. The only weapon that the individual had in this situation was the ballot. There was still a major division between large and small farm owners. It looked like most small farm owners would lose possession of their farms within three to four generations given the current and approaching tax laws. Despite their differences, farmers had to mobilize their voters. The speaker told those present that they had to be conscious of themselves. He reminded that that there were 46,000 organized farmers in Thuringia. There were 3.5 million farmers in all of Germany. They commanded over a million votes in and could take 100 seats in the national parliament.

Money and inflation:

The FP reported optimistically at the beginning of April that the value of money appeared to be rising, which would consequently mean lower prices (Nr. 74, 9 April 1920). However, at the end of the month, the FP was explaining the nature of inflation for its readers and demanding the organization of economic production instead of increasing prices as the solution among individual producers (Nr. 88, 26 April 1920).

The middle classes:

The TAZ (Nr. 106, 27 April 1920) also carried the announcement for the founding of a middle class union. According to the article the middle class had two tasks. One task was to avoid Germany’s political and economic catastrophe and the second task was to defend against the socialist assault, which mobilized workers with the slogan “Against the middle classes”. The author claimed that these were the wishes of all segments of the middle classes: industry, trade, house owners, farmers, civil servants, white collar workers and craftsmen. The Middle Class Union was an organization for the whole middle class and above all parties with the goal of forming a political block against the rising tide of socialism.

Black troops in Germany:

In May the TAZ (Nr. 111, May 1920) reproduced an article from the Syndikalist newspaper with the title, “Black Troops in Elsass”. The author wrote, “that if the government deemed it necessary that we must have foreign troops on German territory, then we would prefer to have French troops rather than half wild soldiers, who come from all other parts of the world and who are incapable of communicating with us. We will no longer accept black troops in our land!”

The Red Danger in the East:

The MZ (Nr. 136, 29 May 1920) carried an article about the “Red Danger in the East”, in which the author expressed the fear that Poland, the last bastion against the spring flood of Bolshevism, would fall. Germany had very little strength to oppose the Red Army and Germany’s enemies had broken the weapons for their own self defense. The German national government continued to look at the whole thing, as it always did, through rose colored glasses.

New rumors of a leftwing uprising:

In that same issue, the MZ reported on the latest rumors of possible uprisings. The author cited reports from Berlin and Munich that the leftwing headquarters were in Halle and Remscheid. Moreover, there was a plan to start small uprisings in cities like Hamburg and Berlin in order to draw the military into a conflict, which in turn would start a rightwing uprising that the communists would use to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Buchenwald

The word means "beech forest" in German. It was here, overlooking Weimar, Germany (about 15 minutes by train from Erfurt) that the Nazis built the prison facilities, forced labor and death camp of Buchenwald. The town of Weimar is known as one of the centers of German culture with familiar names to some like Goethe, Schiller, Nietzsche and Bauhaus. The SS built the camp in the early 1930s to hold political prisoners. During the Night of Broken Glass action, between November 1938 and February 1939, the SS imprisoned hundreds of Jewish men from the region, killing 650 people and telling those remaining to leave (See Thuringian State archival records in Weimar and Gotha). During the war the Nazis also imprisoned Russian soldiers, Jehovah's Witnesses and homosexuals. A local company from Erfurt, Topf and Sons, developed the crematoria and ventilation systems for the SS death ovens. It is said that on a clear day, Topfs' engineers could see the chimney smoke from their drafting room windows in Erfurt. After the war, former prisoners began commemorating their experiences on site (there is little left of the original camp buildings). The Soviet and GDR officials used this place as an opportunity to articulate their propaganda and political myth of Antifascist resistance to Nazism. On the ridgline overlooking the valley, they erected a monumental structure. If you are interested in seeing some of these photos, please click here.
For more information on Buchenwald, please see the link in English to the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation.

Erfurt's Christmas Market

I have just a few more days left of working in the archives in Erfurt. So I will soon introduce readers to my research findings for the year of 1920 as a starter. But I also want to show you some more photos; first, nice ones I took from Erfurt in December 2006. If you are interested in Erfurt's Christmas markets and some of my late afternoon walks, please click here.

Dictatorship, Terror and Human Rights in Iran

I have taken a break from archival work and writing to travel with my girlfriend Nicole from Berlin to Magdeburg, Erfurt and back. It was a much needed respite after months of being on the road. I plan to post more in the following days on my own research and writing, but I wanted to write today about the man I met while walking through Potsdamer Platz (Berlin) to the train station.

He was standing in the street bundled up in a long dark coat and gloves. He had metallic rim glasses, bushy eyebrows, gentle eyes and a mustache. He was waving his hands and asked me in German if he could speak to me about human rights violations in Iran, thanking me as he moved closer.

He had a folder in his hands and he quickly flipped through it to show me photo identification with his official proof of German citizenship and terrifying pictures of young people, both men and women, on the gallows.

He told me that he had been a teacher in Iran. When he refused to fight against the Iraqis in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, he claimed that the Iranian government imprisoned him for three years. Afterwards he sought asylum in Germany and has been living in the southwestern German state of the Baden-Wurttemberg for the last ten years. He had taken a few days off from his job to travel to Berlin and sought to raise awareness by approaching people among the passageways of Potsdamer Platz.

He asserted that his fellow Iranians now live under a brutal dictatorship, which will not come as a surprise to many. He flipped back through the photos of young men and women marched to the gallows for public executions. He asked me to help with a donation or petition campaign. I told him that I am not a citizen of Germany and could not fill out any of his petitions or bank transfer forms. I had little money, but I suggested that I could take a flyer with his group’s contact information and give him some of my pocket change. He was interested in my pursuit of a dissertation in history and the fact that I am a US citizen. I told him that I wanted to support his efforts and that I am concerned about current US foreign policy, especially the public calls from our neo-conservative right for strong gestures of saber rattling and even military action against a radical Iranian government armed with nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

If you are interested, please check out his organization’s website address: www.hmiran.de. However, it is in German. HMIRAN stands for Help for Human Rights in Iran and is based in Dortmund, Germany.

His flyer makes some moving claims. German papers like Die Welt (from 05.08.2007) have been reporting on these public executions, but the German government, so HMIRAN claims, has been slow to act. Moreover, HMIRAN claims that since the beginning of 2007, the Iranian theocratic dictatorship, i.e., President Ahmadinejad, the Mullahs, the secret police and paramilitary squads, have carried out over 1400 death sentences and executions. Over 1.5 million people have been arrested. At least 7,300 of these arrests have been politically motivated. Over 670,000 people have been imprisoned. At least 6,500 of these people were arrested for political reasons. 255 newspapers and other forms of media have been banned. The list of problems goes on and on; the group cites numbers for those Iranians who are addicted to drugs, infected with HIV, homeless or female survivors of male violence. Most striking, HMIRAN claims that there have been over 2700 public forms of demonstration, strikes and protests all despite the government’s public reign of terror.

I find HMIRAN’s projects worth considering. They want to use donations from German citizens to hire lawyers in order to free Iranian political prisoners and stop executions. They claim to have already engaged the support of over 500 lawyers for international law. In order to protect Iranians’ human rights, they are initiating these public protests and supporting the broadcast of television programs with more information via satellite.

I had to catch a train, but I promised to do something. He looked me in the eyes as if to see if I meant what I said. Why don't Americans hear more about the details of what is actually going on in Iran? I hope there are some readers out there that can think of ways to help these Iranians help themselves despite such oppression. I do believe that war should remain the very last option when our leaders have proven that all other political options are ineffective. Opposition to such regimes does face the prospect that their government will label them as a dangerous foreign influence in order to legitimize going after them, but there are still signs of an active Iranian civil society (See the BBC’s online articles from this week on the Iranian Supreme Court’s decision to reopen the case of a dead Canadian-Iranian woman). Military action is not the only way to overthrow regimes and too many US and Iraqi citizens have died in the current approaches to regime change and political reforms so as not to consider other more creative alternatives. See also last week's Spiegel for the problems the German government faces in trying to exert economic pressure on Iran because of Germany's own economic ties with Iran.

What about those readers out there who are connected to American Voices Abroad here in Berlin already looking for ways to start dialog among US and Iraqi citizens and soldiers here in Germany in order to help deal with the trauma of the current US occupation – is this a chance to act proactively on Iran? What about those of us connected to groups like MoveOn.org or Amnesty International? How can we help fact-check and network these activists with those who can focus political support in constructive ways? What about Americans? Does saber rattling help? Is the Bush Administration actually interested in a new course with Iran? Can we help Iranians help themselves against their fellow Iranians who resort to violence and terror? Can we develop a different approach than that of our current US Administration that will move our national foreign policy, professional service and average, everyday American effort and sacrifice in more thoughtful and constructive directions in the wake of perhaps the worst foreign policy mistakes in our nation’s history?