Somber Germans Mark Fall of Wall--and Crystal Night

Tuesday was the fourth anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, a historic event that marked both the beginning of the end of the Cold War and Germany’s long, brutal division, but Germans did little celebrating.

Instead, in rallies, speeches and meetings in several cities, the focus fell on a darker chapter of Germany’s checkered past: the 55th anniversary of Kristallnacht , or Crystal Night, when Nazis attacked Jews and their property throughout the country in 1938 in a frenzy of violence that served as an ominous prelude to the Holocaust.

Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen, for example, decided to attend a Kristallnacht commemorative service conducted by a Jewish group in the western part of the city rather than stroll along the old line of the Wall.

The opposition Social Democrats chose Tuesday to launch a series of proposals for fighting right-wing extremism, while a series of newspaper commentaries dwelling on the historic date tended to devote most of their thoughts to the infamous events of 1938.

But several of these commentaries also mentioned other events--such as the declaration of Germany’s first ill-fated republic, the Weimar Republic, in 1918; the failure of Adolf Hitler’s putsch in Munich in 1923, and the forming of Hitler’s praetorian guard known as the SS in 1925--all of which occurred Nov. 9.

The emphasis on Kristallnacht reflects the concern among a growing number of Germans about the rumblings of a new fascist right that has emerged since unification.

But the absence of celebration also fits a larger sense of gloom as the Germans struggle with a series of social and economic woes that have descended over the nation since the Wall fell--worries that include the persistent influx of illegal immigrants, the failure to revive the former Communist east, a deep recession in the west and the rise of extremist violence.

The day’s mood was best captured in the main speech to a special session of the Bundestag by parliamentary President Rita Suessmuth. She dwelt almost exclusively on the legacy of Kristallnacht , now officially called Pogromnacht-- or Pogrom Night.

Suessmuth pointedly warned of the dangers of trying to “draw a line under the past,” declaring that such a policy is no basis on which to build a future.

Her remarks were seen as a direct response to comments made by Steffen Heitmann, the controversial conservative candidate for the German presidency from Suessmuth’s own party who has said that it is time for Germany to put its bitter past to rest and concentrate on the future.

“Whoever believes that it’s possible to deny the history of their people with the argument that they weren’t personally involved is deceiving themselves,” she said. “History lets go of no one.”

While the vanguard of the new rightist threat consists of largely ill-organized young street toughs known as skinheads, their xenophobic attacks have gained added impact thanks to the tacit encouragement of extreme right political parties and the failure of Germany’s mainstream politicians to mount meaningful countermeasures.

In a formal statement, Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel called it “incomprehensible that today there is hate directed against foreigners, xenophobic violence and desecration of Jewish memorials and cemeteries.”

Despite the emphasis on the events of 1938, the anniversary of the collapse of the Wall wasn’t completely forgotten. The former Communist Party organ Neues Deutschland ran a lengthy interview with Egon Krenz, the East German leader who ordered the Wall opened.

Then-Soviet leader Mikhail A. Gorbachev “assured me the Soviet Union stood fully behind East Germany,” Krenz said. “I trusted him at that time. It proved to be a mistake.”