For most of the world – before the tragic attack at the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001 – the numbers <<9-11>> either referred to a model of Porsche or the 9th day of November. [* see explanitory note below]
Yesterday, on 9/11, that is the 9th of November, leaders from all over the world came to Berlin to commemorate and celebrate the breaching of the Berlin wall 20 years ago on the 9th November 1989.
The UK’s Gordon Brown, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, and the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, the German president Horst Kolher, and Chancellor Merkel all gathered at the Brandenburg Gate for a concert by the conductor Daniel Barenboim and his Staatskapelle orchestra, accompanied by the Spanish opera singer Plácido Domingo.
Performed were works by Beethoven, Wagner and Schönberg – a concert programme prepared by Barenboim to underline the importance of this particular day, 9th of November in German history – a day for rejoicing and also suffering.
On this particular day in 1938 all over Germany synagogues and Jewish property were destroyed by the Hitlerites in what has since become known as the “Kristallnacht”. On the same the day- in 1925, the [failed] Munich beer hall putsch took place – in 1923 it was the day that the German monarchy was abolished in 1918 and the day in a previous century the German revolution failed in 1848.
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*[dd/mm/yyy]
This sequence of writing a date, namely – day/month/year -is common to the vast majority of the world’s countries, but not in the US and a small number of other countries. The US finds itself in august company with heavy-weights like Belize, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and the Philippines. In Canada this awkward method is accepted [due to close proximity and influence from the US] while the Canadian Government officially uses the yyyy-mm-dd, and many citizens use the European standard, dd-mm-yyyy. In fact all 3 main types are used in Canada – in French and in English.
There is a movement to adopt a “Year/month/day” standard universally. The US – which put a man on the moon, has tremendous scientists and universities and is in every other way a logical and scientific nation – seems unable, unwilling or just very slow to adapt or to change.
Previously, the most obstinate and backward country was England for not wanting to accept world standards.
Along with the UK, the US is one of the few countries left in the world which also refuses to switch from the medieval <<inches and feet>> measuring system to the metric system.
Tags: Berlin, Berlin Wall
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