Großer Zapfenstreich
The Großer Zapfenstreich is a military ceremony performed in Germany and Austria. It is similar to the military tattoo ceremony performed in English-speaking countries, is the most important ceremonial act executed by the German federal armed forces, the Bundeswehr, by the Austrian Armed Forces; the Zapfenstreich is performed only during national celebrations and solemn public commemorations, to honour distinguished persons present at such special events. Examples are the farewell ceremony for a German federal president, or at the conclusion of large military exercises, it takes place in the evening hours and consists of a military formation of at least one military band, two platoons of armed infantrymen, two lines of soldiers carrying torches, in total about 400 men. The Zapfenstreich originated in the military as a sign of the end of daily activities in both field and garrison; the term was mentioned for the first time in 1596. The Saxon major Hans von Fleming described this military custom for the first time in detail in his book Der vollkommene deutsche Soldat.
The Zapfenstreich was a trumpet signal to end the selling of liquor in the military quarters and to prepare for lights out. To underline that order, the sergeant major walked across the military camp and struck the taps of the casks with a stick; the word Zapfenstreich is similar to the Dutch "tap toe". Like the tattoo military ceremony, the Zapfenstreich signifies completion of the day's work. In 1813 the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III witnessed the evening ceremony of the Russian army after the battle of Großgörschen near Berlin, he was impressed of the religious parts of the ceremony a choral version of the Lord's Prayer. The king ordered. In 1838, a Zapfenstreich in nearly its present form was prepared by Wilhelm Wieprecht, director of music of the music corps of the Prussian Guard Corps, who arranged a great outdoor concert for the king and his guest, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, in Potsdam. On 12 May over 1,000 musicians performed the Prussian tattoo signals, a newly composed tattoo march, the choral "Ich bete an die Macht der Liebe", composed by the Ukrainian musician Dmytro Bortniansky with text by Gerhard Tersteegen.
After the founding of the German Reich in 1871, the emperor's hymn Heil Dir im Siegerkranz became part of the Zapfenstreich, but only when the emperor was present at the ceremony. Following the German Revolution the new national anthem, the "Deutschlandlied" by Hoffmann von Fallersleben, replaced the old imperial hymn in 1922; when foreign heads of state or military units are honored, their respective national anthems are played. The German Democratic Republic reinstated the Großer Zapfenstreich in 1962 in an updated version, supplementing the traditional German ceremony with music based on "elements of the progressive military inheritance" including the song "For the Peace of the World" by Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich and a medley of songs and marches drawn from the German and international working-class movements; the hymn was replaced by a Russian funeral march honoring the martyrs of the Russian and German revolutions. The GDR national anthem replaced the Deutschlandlied. Other elements of the traditional Prussian ceremony—especially the torchlight procession and the Zapfenstreich March—were retained.
The additions were an opening fanfare, inspection report of the unit commander, with the unit at present arms and eyes right, the presentation of the National People's Army Colors by the unit color guard, two fanfare calls by the fanfare section and kettle drummers, a parade march past of the unit present in front of the honored guests after the reformation of the torchbearers and of the parade unit. The GDR's version, made official in 1981 and performed on March 1, NVA Day, October 7, the GDR's National Day, on several other occasions when needed, was made possible due to the support of longtime Director of Music of the NVA itself, Colonel Gerhard Baumann, who arranged some of the pieces that were used in the ceremony. West Germany/Germany Staff Band of the Bundeswehr Corps of drums Two escort companies of the Bundeswehr Wachbataillon or another deputized unit of the Bundeswehr TorchbearersEast Germany Central Band of the NVA Corps of Drums Honor battalion from the Friedrich Engels Guard Regiment of the National People's Army Sailors company from the Volksmarine Colour guard of the NVA TorchbearersAustria Gardemusik Wien or any regional band of the Austrian Armed Forces Two escort companies from the Austrian Armed Forces Color party Torchbearers The German Großer Zapfenstreich consists of various components today: Marching-up of the formation, the military band plays the Yorckscher Marsch by Ludwig van Beethoven Forming up and dressing the formation, post march of the torchbearers Report of the commanding officer formally opening the ceremony "Serenade": up to three or four songs chosen by the honoured person, otherwise chosen by the acting military band Großer Zapfenstreich proper: Locken zum Zapfenstreich by the drummers and fifers Preußischer Zapfenstreichmarsch by the band and the drummers Retraite mit drei Posten by the band and timpanist Ruf zum Gebet by the drummers and fifers Gebet: "Ich bete an die Macht der Liebe" by the band and the drummers Ruf
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is an unofficial historical designation for the German state from 1918 to 1933. The name derives from the city of Weimar; the official name of the republic remained Deutsches Reich unchanged from 1871, because of the German tradition of substates. Although translated as "German Empire", the word Reich here better translates as "realm", in that the term does not have monarchical connotations in itself; the Reich was changed from a constitutional monarchy into a republic. In English, the country was known as Germany. Germany became a de facto republic on 9 November 1918 when Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the German and Prussian thrones with no agreement made on a succession by his son Crown Prince Wilhelm, became a de jure republic in February 1919 when the position of President of Germany was created. A national assembly was convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for Germany was written and adopted on 11 August 1919. In its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism as well as contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War.
Resentment in Germany towards the Treaty of Versailles was strong on the political right where there was great anger towards those who had signed the Treaty and submitted to fulfill the terms of it. The Weimar Republic fulfilled most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles although it never met its disarmament requirements and paid only a small portion of the war reparations. Under the Locarno Treaties, Germany accepted the western borders of the country by abandoning irredentist claims on France and Belgium, but continued to dispute the eastern borders and sought to persuade German-speaking Austria to join Germany as one of Germany's states. From 1930 onwards President Hindenburg used emergency powers to back Chancellors Heinrich Brüning, Franz von Papen and General Kurt von Schleicher; the Great Depression, exacerbated by Brüning's policy of deflation, led to a surge in unemployment. In 1933, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor with the Nazi Party being part of a coalition government.
The Nazis held two out of the remaining ten cabinet seats. Von Papen as Vice Chancellor was intended to be the "éminence grise" who would keep Hitler under control, using his close personal connection to Hindenburg. Within months, the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act of 1933 had brought about a state of emergency: it wiped out constitutional governance and civil liberties. Hitler's seizure of power was permissive of government by decree without legislative participation; these events brought the republic to an end – as democracy collapsed, the founding of a single-party state began the dictatorship of the Nazi era. The Weimar Republic is so called because the assembly that adopted its constitution met at Weimar, from 6 February 1919 to 11 August 1919, but this name only became mainstream after 1933. Between 1919 and 1933 there was no single name for the new state that gained widespread acceptance, why the old name Deutsches Reich remained though hardly anyone used it during the Weimar period.
To the right of the spectrum the politically engaged rejected the new democratic model and cringed to see the honour of the traditional word Reich associated with it. The Catholic Centre party, Zentrum favoured the term Deutscher Volksstaat while on the moderate left the Chancellor's SPD preferred Deutsche Republik. By 1925, Deutsche Republik was used by most Germans, but for the anti-democratic right the word Republik was, along with the relocation of the seat of power to Weimar, a painful reminder of a government structure, imposed by foreign statesmen, along with the expulsion of Kaiser Wilhelm in the wake of massive national humiliation; the first recorded mention of the term Republik von Weimar came during a speech delivered by Adolf Hitler at a National Socialist German Worker's Party rally in Munich on 24 February 1929—it was a few weeks that the term Weimarer Republik was first used in a newspaper article. Only during the 1930s did the term become mainstream, both within and outside Germany.
According to historian Richard J. Evans: The continued use of the term'German Empire', Deutsches Reich, by the Weimar Republic....conjured up an image among educated Germans that resonated far beyond the institutional structures Bismarck created: the successor to the Roman Empire. After the introduction of the republic, the flag and coat of arms of Germany were altered to reflect the political changes; the Weimar Republic without the symbols of the former Monarchy. This left the black eagle with one head, facing to the right, with open wings but closed feathers, with a red beak and claws and white highlighting. By reason of a decision of the Reich's Government I hereby announce, that the Imperial coat of arms on a gold-yellow shield shows the one headed black eagle, the head turned to the right, the wings open but with closed feathering, beak and claws in red color. If the Reich's Eagle is shown without a frame, the same charg
Alliance 90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens simply Greens, is a green political party in Germany, formed in 1993 from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90. The party focuses on ecological and social sustainability. Since January 2018 Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck have co-led the party. In the 2017 federal elections the Greens came sixth with 8.9% of the votes and 67 out of 709 seats in the Bundestag. The Green Party was founded in West Germany as Die Grünen in January 1980, it rose out of the anti-nuclear energy, peace, new left, new social movements of the late 20th century. Grüne Liste Umweltschutz were the names of some branches in Lower Saxony and other states in the Federal Republic of Germany; these groups took part in several elections. Most of them merged with The Greens in 1980; the West Berlin state branch of The Greens was founded as Alternative Liste, or Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz in 1978 and became the official West Berlin branch of The Greens in 1980. In 1993 it renamed to Alliance 90/The Greens Berlin after the merger with East Berlin's Greens and Alliance 90.
The Hamburg state branch of the Green Party was called Grün-Alternative Liste Hamburg from its foundation in 1982 until 2012. In 1984 it became the official Hamburg branch of The Greens. In the 1970s, environmentalists and peace activists politically organised amongst thousands of action groups; the political party The Greens was founded January 13, 1980 in Karlsruhe to give this movement political and parliamentary representation. Opposition to pollution, use of nuclear power, NATO military action, certain aspects of industrialised society were principal campaign issues; the Greens originated from civil initiatives, new social movements of the protests of 1968, but from the conservative spectrum. Important figures in the first years were – among others – Petra Kelly, Gert Bastian, Lukas Beckmann, Rudolf Bahro, Joseph Beuys, Antje Vollmer, Joschka Fischer, Herbert Gruhl, August Haußleiter, Luise Rinser, Dirk Schneider, Brigitte Heinrich, Rolf Stolz, Baldur Springmann, it was at this congress, that the Greens lay their ideological foundations, proclaiming the famous Four Pillars of the Green Party: Social justice Ecological wisdom Grassroots democracy Nonviolence In 1982, the conservative factions of the Greens broke away to form the Ecological Democratic Party.
Those who remained in the Green party were more pacifist and against restrictions on immigration and reproductive rights, while supporting the legalisation of cannabis use, placing a higher priority on working for LGBT rights, tending to advocate what they described as "anti-authoritarian" concepts of education and child-rearing. They tended to identify more with a culture of protest and civil disobedience clashing with police at demonstrations against nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, the construction of a new runway at Frankfurt airport; those who left the party at the time might have felt about some of these issues, but did not identify with the forms of protest that Green party members took part in. After some success at state-level elections, the party won 27 seats with 5.7% of the vote in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, in the 1983 federal election. Among the important political issues at the time was the deployment of Pershing II IRBMs and nuclear-tipped cruise missiles by the U.
S. and NATO on West German soil, generating strong opposition in the general population that found an outlet in mass demonstrations. The newly formed party was able to draw on this popular movement to recruit support. Due to the impact of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, to growing awareness of the threat of air pollution and acid rain to German forests, the Greens increased their share of the vote to 8.3% in the 1987 federal election. Around this time, Joschka Fischer emerged as the unofficial leader of the party, which he remained until resigning all leadership posts following the 2005 federal election; the Greens were the target of attempts by the East German secret police to enlist the cooperation of members who were willing to align the party with the agenda of the German Democratic Republic. The party ranks included several politicians who were discovered to have been Stasi agents, including Bundestag representative Dirk Schneider, European Parliament representative Brigitte Heinrich, Red Army Faction defense lawyer Klaus Croissant.
Greens politician and Bundestag representative Gert Bastian was a founding member of Generals for Peace, a pacifist group created and funded by the Stasi, the revelation of which may have contributed to the murder-suicide in which he killed his partner and Greens founder Petra Kelly. A study commissioned by the Greens determined that 15 to 20 members intimately cooperated with the Stasi and another 450 to 500 had been informants; until 1987, the Greens included a faction involved in pedophile activism, the SchwuP short for Arbeitsgemeinschaft "Schwule, Päderasten und Transsexuelle". This faction campaigned for repealing § 176 of the German penal code, dealing with child sexual abuse; this group was controversial within the party itself, was seen as responsible for the poor election result of 1985. This controversy re-surfaced in 2
Germany
Germany the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north and the Czech Republic to the east and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to the west. Germany includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,386 square kilometres, has a temperate seasonal climate. With 83 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia, the most populous state lying in Europe, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is a decentralized country, its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital and has the country's busiest airport. Germany's largest urban area is the Ruhr, with its main centres of Essen; the country's other major cities are Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Dresden, Bremen and Nuremberg. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity.
A region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, the German Confederation was formed in 1815; the German revolutions of 1848–49 resulted in the Frankfurt Parliament establishing major democratic rights. In 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the revolution of 1918–19, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic; the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a dictatorship, the annexation of Austria, World War II, the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, Austria was re-established as an independent country and two new German states were founded: West Germany, formed from the American and French occupation zones, East Germany, formed from the Soviet occupation zone.
Following the Revolutions of 1989 that ended communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, the country was reunified on 3 October 1990. Today, the sovereign state of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic led by a chancellor, it is a great power with a strong economy. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer of goods; as a developed country with a high standard of living, it upholds a social security and universal health care system, environmental protection, a tuition-free university education. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957 and the European Union in 1993, it is part of the Schengen Area and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the G20, the OECD. Known for its rich cultural history, Germany has been continuously the home of influential and successful artists, musicians, film people, entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors.
Germany has a large number of World Heritage sites and is among the top tourism destinations in the world. The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine; the German term Deutschland diutisciu land is derived from deutsch, descended from Old High German diutisc "popular" used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz "popular", derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- "people", from which the word Teutons originates; the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a coal mine in Schöningen between 1994 and 1998 where eight 380,000-year-old wooden javelins of 1.82 to 2.25 m length were unearthed. The Neander Valley was the location where the first non-modern human fossil was discovered.
The Neanderthal 1 fossils are known to be 40,000 years old. Evidence of modern humans dated, has been found in caves in the Swabian Jura near Ulm; the finds included 42,000-year-old bird bone and mammoth ivory flutes which are the oldest musical instruments found, the 40,000-year-old Ice Age Lion Man, the oldest uncontested figurative art discovered, the 35,000-year-old Venus of Hohle Fels, the oldest uncontested human figurative art discovered. The Nebra sky disk is a bronze artefact created during the European Bronze Age attributed to a site near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt, it is part of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme. The Germanic tribes are thought to date from the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and north Germany, they expanded south and west from the 1st century BC, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well
Diether Posser
Diether Posser was a German politician, representative of the Social Democratic Party. During his childhood in Essen he was influenced by the Lutheran church. After serving in the military for the required time Posser studied law and became a lawyer in 1951. In 1952 he founded, with the former Secretary of the Interior Gustav Heinemann, Hans Bodensteiner, Thea Arnold, Helene Wessel, Hermann Etzel, the future President Johannes Rau the pacifist All-German People's Party, of which he was made General Secretary after the 1953 resignation of Bodensteiner. After the party's collapse in 1957, he became a member of the SPD, for whom he joined the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1966. In 1968 he was named the Minister for Federal Affairs. In 1972 he switched to the Judicial Department, before he became Finance Minister in 1978, he held this position until 1988 in the third cabinets of President Rau. He was an advisor to the Premier. Posser was the Godfather of actor Diether Krebs. Rapallo, nicht Tauroggen.
Politik ohne Solidarität. Anwalt im Kalten Krieg. Ein Stück deutscher Geschichte in politischen Prozessen 1951–1968. Munich: C. Bertelsmann Verlag, 1991. Gustav Heinemann, in: Protestantische Profile. Lebensbilder aus fünf Jahrhunderten, Ed. by Klaus Scholder and Dieter Kleinmann, Königstein/Ts. 1983, S.382-396. Die Hauptsache ist, daß die Hauptsache die Hauptsache bleibt, in: Begegnungen mit Wilhelm Busch, ed. by Karl-Heinz Ehring and Ulrich Parzany, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1997, S.67-71. List of Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Diether Posser's obituary Diether Posser in the German National Library catalogue
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral national legislature of Israel. As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister, approves the cabinet, supervises the work of the government. In addition, the Knesset elects the State Comptroller, it has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the President and the State Comptroller from office, dissolve the government in a constructive vote of no confidence, to dissolve itself and call new elections. The Prime Minister may dissolve the Knesset. However, until an election is completed, the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition; the Knesset is located in Jerusalem. The term "Knesset" is derived from the ancient Knesset HaGdola or "Great Assembly", which according to Jewish tradition was an assembly of 120 scribes and prophets, in the period from the end of the Biblical prophets to the time of the development of Rabbinic Judaism – about two centuries ending c. 200 BCE.
There is, however, no organisational continuity and – aside from the number of members – little similarity, as the ancient Knesset was a religious unelected body. As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the president, approves the cabinet, supervises the work of the government through its committees, it has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the President and the State Comptroller from office, to dissolve itself and call new elections. The Knesset has de jure parliamentary supremacy, can pass any law by a simple majority one that might arguably conflict with the Basic Laws of Israel, unless the basic law includes specific conditions for its modification. In addition to the absence of a formal constitution, with no Basic Law thus far being adopted which formally grants a power of judicial review to the judiciary, the Supreme Court of Israel has in recent years asserted its authority, when sitting as the High Court of Justice, to invalidate provisions of Knesset laws it has found to be inconsistent with a Basic Law.
The Knesset is presided over by a Deputy Speaker. The Knesset is divided into committees. Committee chairpersons are chosen by their members, on recommendation of the House Committee, their factional composition represents that of the Knesset itself. Committees may elect sub-committees and delegate powers to them, or establish joint committees for issues concerning more than one committee. To further their deliberations, they invite government ministers, senior officials, experts in the matter being discussed. Committees may request explanation and information from any relevant ministers in any matter within their competence, the ministers or persons appointed by them must provide the explanation or information requested. There are four types of committees in the Knesset. Permanent committees amend proposed legislation dealing with their area of expertise, may initiate legislation. However, such legislation may only deal with Basic Laws and laws dealing with the Knesset, elections to the Knesset, Knesset members, or the State Comptroller.
Special committees function in a similar manner to permanent committees, but are appointed to deal with particular manners at hand, can be dissolved or turned into permanent committees. Parliamentary inquiry committees are appointed by the plenum to deal with issues viewed as having special national importance. In addition, there are two types of committees that convene only when needed: the Interpretations Committee, made up of the Speaker and eight members chosen by the House Committee, deals with appeals against the interpretation given by the Speaker during a sitting of the plenum to the Knesset rules of procedure or precedents, Public Committees, established to deal with issues that are connected to the Knesset. Permanent committees: House Committee Finance Committee Economic Affairs Committee Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Interior and Environment Committee Immigration and Diaspora Affairs Committee Education and Sports Committee Constitution and Justice Committee Labour and Health Committee Science and Technology Committee State Control Committee Committee on the Status of WomenSpecial committees: Committee on Drug Abuse Committee on the Rights of the Child Committee on Foreign Workers Israeli Central Elections Committee Public Petitions CommitteeThe other committees are the Arrangements Committee and the Ethics Committee.
The Ethics Committee is responsible for jurisdiction over Knesset members who violate the rules of ethics of the Knesset, or involved in illegal activities outside the Knesset. Within the framework of responsibility, the Ethics Committee may place various sanctions on a member, but is not allowed to restrict a members' right to vote; the Arrangements Committee proposes the makeup of the permanent committees following each election, as well as suggesting committee chairs, lays down the sitting arrangements of political parties in the Knesset, the distribution of rooms in the Knesset building to members and parties. Knesset members join together in formal or informal groups known as "lobbies" or "caucuses", to advocate for a particular topic. There are hundreds of such caucuses in the Knesset; the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus and the Knesset Land of Israel Caucus are two of the largest and mo
Germany : Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Austria : Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (2004) [2]
Czech Republic : Collar of the Order of the White Lion
Estonia : Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana
Iceland : Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Falcon (1 July 2003) [3]
Latvia : 2nd Class, then, 1st Class with Chain of the Order of the Three Stars
Poland : Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
Slovakia : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (2001)[4]
Turkey : First Class of the Order of the State of Republic of Turkey (2000) [5]
Denmark : Knight of the Order of the Elephant (24 April 2002)
Spain : Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (8 November 2002)[6]
