Potsdam Day
The Day of Potsdam, otherwise known as the Tag von Potsdam or Potsdam Celebration was a March 21, 1933, ceremony for the opening of the new Reichstag after the German federal election, March 1933, following the Reichstag fire.
Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels selected the site as it was the center of the old Kingdom of Prussia of Frederick the Great as well as the Second Reich of Otto von Bismarck. The date was chosen because on 21 March 1871 opened the first Reichstag of Imperial Germany.[1][2]
Among the attendees were Crown Prince Wilhelm, guest of honour and representative of the Hohenzollern dynasty, and his three surviving brothers Prince Eitel Friedrich and Prince Oskar, both Stahlhelm members, and Prince August Wilhelm, an Oberführer in the SA. Prince Adalbert was the only brother who did not attend the ceremony.[3]
Broadcast in its entirety on radio, the festivities began with religious services. Protestant members of the Reichstag, including Chairman Hermann Göring, held services at the Church of Saint Nicholas presided over by Otto Dibelius. Catholics held services in Peter and Paul Church. Neither Hitler nor Goebbels attended these religious services, but attended a later state ceremony at the Garrison Church. Speeches were made by Reich President Paul von Hindenburg and the new Reichskanzler, after which the two had a solemn handshake which symbolized the "marriage of the old grandeur and new power". Hindenburg laid a wreath at the tomb of Frederick the Great. Afterwards, parades were held by the Reichswehr, SA, the SS, the Stahlhelm, and others. Finally the deputies convened the new Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House, as the Reichstag building had been rendered unusable in the fire.[4]
That evening celebrations ended with a torchlight parade and a performance of Ricard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Berlin State Opera with Hitler in attendance.[3]
A year later, two- and five-Reichsmark coins showing the church and the date "21 März 1933" were minted. They are not rare, although larger numbers of both denominations were also issued through 1934-5 without the commemorative date.[5]
See also
References
- ^ Christian Zentner and Friedeman Bedurftig The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich New York: Macmillan (1991), p. 723.
- ^ William L. Shirer Rise and Fall of the Third Reich New York; Simon & Schuster pp. 196-7.
- ^ a b Hitler and Hindenburg on the "The Day of Potsdam" (March 21, 1933).
- ^ Christian Zentner and Friedeman Bedurftig The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich New York: Macmillan (1991), p. 724.
- ^ 5 Reichsmark Potsdam Garrison Church
External links
- Der Tag von Potsdam. 21. März 1933 propaganda documentary available at the US Holocaust Museum.
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