Michael Kunzel | 9 August 2019<\/span><\/p>\n National holidays help forge a sense of collective identity. As well as marking the Kaiser\u2019s birthday, the German Empire also celebrated the Day of Sedan on 2 September to commemorate<\/strong> the victory in 1870 <\/a>over France. These dates had lost their relevance in 1919, and so the young German Republic had to pick a new public holiday. Medals and coins reflect the events of their time, as<\/strong> Michael Kunzel <\/a>(a numismatist at the Deutsches Historisches Museum) illustrates through the example of the Weimar Republic.<\/strong><\/p>\n The German Empire\u2019s fate was sealed on 9 November 1918<\/a>. With the war lost and Kaiser Wilhelm II having abdicated and fled the country, a new republic was proclaimed. Or, rather, two proclamations were made in quick succession: one for a parliamentary republic, pronounced from the Reichstag by Philipp Scheidemann (1865\u20131939), another for a free socialist republic, declared by Karl Liebknecht (1871\u20131919) from the Berlin Palace. The following day, the Council of People\u2019s Deputies formed a provisional government, which approved the Armistice and agreed to hold elections<\/a>. Suffrage was extended to include all women and anyone aged twenty and over.<\/p>\n Election turnout was correspondingly high. The 423 newly elected deputies, including 37 women, took their seats at the National Assembly, which from 6 February convened at the National Theatre in Weimar, as the situation in Berlin was still far from stable. These political developments also inspired the medallists\u2019 art. Tapping into an acerbic style already well established among critics of parliamentary democracy, medallist Karl Goetz (1875\u20131950) mockingly depicted deputies at the National Assembly in Weimar as clamouring fishwives. By contrast, the sculptor Carl Ebbinghaus (1872\u20131950) provided a more optimistic take: a serene image of parliamentary calm, accompanied by the motto:<\/p>\n Now act, in time of peace, as the hour requires you to<\/strong><\/em><\/span>In the Beginning, There Were Elections!<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n(Goethe: Faust, Part 2<\/em>, c. 54).<\/span><\/p>\n