The 9th of November is an oddly important date in Germany history – not just the fall of the Berlin Wall, but various other things including the end of the Kaiserreich and Kristallnacht. All of which is presumably coincidental, but is a little odd all the same.
Anyway – while the fall of the Berlin Wall was one of the most important singular events in German (and also European) 20th century history and of the formal (and very, very real) division of the two Germanies, it’s worth noting that it wasn’t the end of divisions between the former DDR and the original territory of the Federal Republic – an obvious point, perhaps, but one overlooked in some of the more “branded history” coverage of the 20th anniversary. You only need to look at the election maps in the post below to see that - the division is especially sharp as regards Die Linke (for obvious reasons) but it shows up in the maps of support for all the major parties; even the Greens who’s utterly urban base means that regional divisions don’t dominate their support patterns as much as the other parties. But here’s the interesting thing – divisions of all kinds (though not so sharp as exist now) between what is now the East* and the West long before 1945. People who believe that all divisions between the ex-DDR and the rest of Germany can ever melt away are optimistic but also foolish.
*Before 1945 and the loss of all territories east of the Oder-Neisse line, “Eastern Germany” was Germany east of the river Elbe. The modern land of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia were regarded as being part of “Central Germany”. Central Germany was industrial with strong Socialist (both SPD and KPD) tendencies, “Eastern Germany” was largely rural (though included Berlin) and protestant-nationalist-conservative – though with large votes for SPD in places (especially Lower Silesia – now part of Poland) and for the KPD in parts of Berlin.
Further useless but mildly interesting historical fact – the greatest KPD stronghold in all of Germany was the borough of Wedding in Berlin. It was not included in East Berlin after 1945 and is the most dependable part of the city for the SPD.
“If Margaret Thatcher wins on Thursday, I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old.”
I guess that this counts as the end of an era. His dreadful jokes and bad hair will be missed more than words can say. I do hope that whoever is elected as the next leader of Welsh Labour develops some similar idiosyncratic tendencies. Politics needs more eccentrics.
Also… it’s interesting to note that the story had dropped off the frontpage of the BBC News site by the end of the day – if the Mayor of London had announced his retirement this would not have happend. Typical geographic bias by the media once again.
David Cesarani is angry. And rightly so – it’s difficult to think of anything more crass, tasteless and offensive than the plans to build a hotel at Babi Yar (other than, say, “Treblinka – the Theme Park”… and such a thing is, thankfully, impossible). The really sad part is the way that it fits in with the general issue of minimising and ignoring what happend there. A certain poem and a certain symphony remain relevant:
The final results weren’t greatly different from the provisionals posted earlier – though Labour polled over 35% and SV overtook Centre (though not in terms of seats). Anyway. Some maps.
Counting hasn’t finished yet, but the current estimate of results (or just results so far wi’ seat projections for those – I’m not entirely sure) seems to be:
Labour: 34.9% (+2.2), 64 seats (+3)
“Progress” Party: 22.8% (+0.7), 41 seats (+3)
Conservatives: 16.8% (+2.7), 30 seats (+7)
Centre Party: 6.7% (+0.2), 11 seats (-)
Socialist Left: 6.3% (-2.5), 11 seats (-4)
Christian Peoples Party: 5.8 (-1.0), 10 seats (-1)
“Left” Party: 4% (-1.9), 2 seats (-8)
Red Party: 1.4% (+0.2), 0 seats (0)
It is uncertain whether the liberal “Left” (Venstre) party will cross the thresehold or not. If these results hold, then the incumbent coalition (Labour, Centre, Socialist Left) will be re-elected. About a third of votes left to count.
