Germany Marks November 9 as Steinmeier Warns Against Revisionism; CDU Names Aigner for President

On Monday, November 9, Germany marked a date that carries both its worst and some of its best moments. Events across the country recalled the Nazi-led pogroms of 1938, 88 years ago, in which dozens of Jewish people were killed. Others remembered the opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which ultimately led to reunification.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke of the "darkness and light" of the date at the sixth annual meeting of the Weimar Forum for Remembrance. He pointed to the proclamation of the Weimar Republic in 1918, Germany's first attempt at democracy, and to the fall of the Wall, then to the 1938 pogroms as one of the darkest chapters in the nation's history. From this he drew what he called an obligation to observe historical truths and stay true to them. He called for history lessons that speak across generations, not for cutting them from school curricula.

Steinmeier also defended the tradition of Stolpersteine, the "stumbling stones" set into sidewalks where Jews lived before being sent to death camps. His remarks followed a recent decision by the far-right AfD and the conservative CDU to ban the stones in the eastern city of Heidenau. Monuments to those killed by the Nazis, he said, do not belong on the edge of town but in the center of cities and society, where victims once lived. He warned against using former concentration camps for political messaging about present conflicts, saying the memorials are for victims of the Holocaust and must not become a place to fight over the Middle East conflict. He said he was ashamed of growing antisemitism and urged resistance to hatred of Jews whether it comes from the political right or left, the center of society or Islamism.

His sharpest words concerned what he called a "new nationalism" in remembrance. It includes those who say it is time to forget Nazi crimes, and also those who ignore the crimes of East Germany's communist government. He condemned "aggressive historical revisionism" that lets the GDR be portrayed nostalgically without shame, and a romanticization of dictatorship that can feed extremist attacks on democracy.

The same day, Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU confirmed it will put forward Ilse Aigner, the 61-year-old Bavarian parliamentary speaker, as its presidential candidate. Her own CSU, the CDU's Bavarian sister party, already backed her. The Social Democrats' executive committee also supports her, according to AFP citing party sources, who called her an experienced, down-to-earth politician able to bring people together across party and social lines. The opposition Greens have said they favor her too. Germany has never had a female head of state, and a vote by the Federal Convention on January 30 could change that. The AfD and the Left Party say they will field their own candidates.

Appearing beside Merz, Aigner said she is in politics to overcome divisions and reach people who feel left out. She said the country and its democracy are under attack from inside and outside, with extreme positions celebrating triumphs and consensus mocked, and she wants to be a counterweight. Merz called her a president "with dignity and feeling." DW's chief political editor Michaela Küfner was less warm about the CDU's mood, writing that Merz once again seemed late to his own party, since his state premiers had already named Aigner the right woman. She added that many see Aigner's non-academic background as a helicopter technician as even more notable than her gender, and that the nomination also means less competition for Merz's own job.

Elsewhere, Vodafone Germany CEO Marcel de Groot told staff that about 2,300 jobs, one in five of the roughly 12,000 at the Düsseldorf-based company, will go over two years, through redundancy, outsourcing or AI. German exports rose 2% in September, against an expected 0.5%. In Dortmund, a crowd gathered for a cheap opening offer at a new kebab shop turned unruly on Sunday, and officers called in were attacked with bottles, stones, fireworks, an electric scooter and a chair; several people face charges. The trial of eight suspected members of the neo-Nazi group "Saxon Separatists" continues in Dresden, and the presidential vote on January 30 is the next date to watch.