March 18

In an earlier blog, I referred to November 9 being a fateful day for Germans. The Federal Assembly met in the Berlin Reichstag yesterday to elect a new German President. In welcoming the 1240 delegates, the speaker of the German parliament (Bundestagspräsident) suggested holding any future election of Germany's highest representative on March 18, and not as in the past on May 23, the Constitution Day of the Federal Republic.

In fact, on March 18, 1793, German revolutionaries supported by French revolutionary forces proclaimed the first republic on German soil, the Republic of Mainz.

Berlin March 18, 1848

On March 18, 1848, people all over Germany rose up against their princely rulers and manned barricades to underline their Märzforderungen (demands of March) for freedom of the press, jury trials, and free election of an all-German parliament.

On March 18, 1990, the first free elections in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) were at the same time the last in East Germany as the so-called Volkskammer (the peoples' chamber) decided to join the West German Federal Republic. Following general elections in all of Germany on October 3, Unification Day became our national holiday.

This year the Federal President was elected on March 18, not May 23. This had to do with our constitution demanding that in case a president dies or steps down from office, the Federal Assembly must meet within 60 days to elect a successor. 

March 18, 2012, became a historic date because two presidents resigned before finishing their five-year terms. Hence the Federal Assembly, which usually comes together only once every five years, met three times within three years.

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