I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day. I can't believe it is already Memorial Day!! To me, this signifies that the school year is nearly over, that summer has arrived officially, and that the grilling of all things meat should commence. :-) We did do a little grilling of our own here, having bought a charcoal grill. However, unlike our gas grill, where we could grill all the time on a moment's notice, this grill takes a bit more to warm up. The charcoal here is not treated with the chemicals to help it light, so it takes a long time to get going, even longer to get hot enough to cook with, and still longer to finally die out. We took the opportunity this past Friday to grill not just one dinner, not just two dinners, but FOUR dinners' worth of meals. It felt like a holiday weekend for us too, even though Memorial Day is not celebrated here.
Saturday, although not an official part of a holiday weekend, did have some significance to the German people. As an answer to my Friday question, the people recognized a milestone of sorts for the country - the 60th anniversary of the constitution which changed Germany into the democratic nation we know today. Although Memorial Day is a time to honor our veterans in the US, I think it is the heritage of World War II that really makes this day special. The death, destruction, and sorrows of that war made heroes of all Americans who participated. In Germany, it was not possible to honor those who participated. Quite literally, from 1945 - 1949, they weren't even allowed to call themselves Germany, let alone feel honor towards their fallen and returning soldiers. Their country was in shambles, the people were humiliated and the country was being dismantled, quite literally, by the winners. As part of the war reparations, Germany's industry was to be removed as a "precautionary measure." Entire factories were either torn down or moved to allied nation countries. The countryside was to be used only for farming and non-threatening uses. All patents and scientific or engineering advances were divvied out to the allied nations. Many of the greatest German scientists were exported so that their knowledge could not be used for military purposes. Many Germans were forced into forced labor, better known as reparations labor, as an additional method to repay for the damages of war. Initially, there were rules that the German citizens were not to be engaged in conversation, even. Food was very scarce with a daily ration of just over 1200 calories a day per person on paper, but in reality there were regions where there was much less. The impacts of that can still be felt here today in how people eat and their choices of food. The once mighty land of the Holy Roman Empire lay in ruins and ashes - again. (Kids, look up the effects of the 30 Years' War on Germany to see how it compares to post World War II.)
Germany was subdivided into four occupied governances: the British, the Americans, the French and the Soviets. The capital, Berlin, was also divided as such. The original idea was for these four governments to act as a single entity of governance. However, relations with the Soviets were not good after the war, and eventually it evolved into East and West Germany, with the west being the non-Soviet nations. However, it was very expensive to continue to occupy the country and care for the citizens, so it was important to get the new government on its feet, although with much oversight and heavy restrictions. Government was seen best as divided. This led to the formation of the German states, and because of the negativeness associated with a strong central government, like that of the Nazi's, most Germans still think of themselves not as Germans but foremost as Bavarians, or Saxons, etc. Of course, as you may have gathered from my blogs, Germany being a collection of Germanic peoples over the centuries was really nothing new.
The constitution was formally approved on May 8th, 1949. It was called the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. The Allies approved and signed it, and it came into effect on May 23rd, 1949. It was carefully written to show remorse for their previous actions as a nation. The Basic Laws covers the protection of human dignity, rights to liberty, freedom of faith and creed, freedom of expression and a ban on a war of aggression, to name a few. The constitution also goes into detail of how the political system will work in terms of elections, parties, federal and state responsibilities, etc. It also spells out the legal system, like our own constitution does. The constitution was allowed to proceed on a provisional basis. Germany was still considered occupied until May of 1955. Even still, the country was burdened with its past. It was not until another important anniversary that will be celebrated this year (the 20th anniversary of the peaceful resistance that brought down the Soviet controlled East German government in 1989) before Germany was officially and completely recognized as a sovereign and independent nation. When Germany reunified in 1990, changes to the constitution that allowed the eastern regions of Germany to become part of the new government had to be again ratified by the members of the occupying forces. It was made law in March of 1991. Nevertheless, the 46 years prior of repaying for the past kept most Germans subdued in their national pride. It was not until the 2006 World Cup that finally, the last chains were lifted, and many Germans openly celebrated their national identity.
Ironically, in our area, people just really, REALLY seem to be laid back. Although the item was featured heavily in the news, and there were parties and celebrations in larger cities, especially Berlin, the Allgäu region seemed to take it in its usual stride and celebrated perhaps with a good hike in the mountains. That sounded good to us, too.
The word for the day is constitution: die Verfassung (fair fahs oong). It is important to note, though, that the word for this official constitution for Germany is Grundgesetz, meaning basic law.
The question for the day is "Who is Hermann the German?"
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
