Jürgen Becker

The midnight celebrations on the 1st February 1926, a significant hour in world history, were reported on by Cologne’s newspaper, the Kölnische Zeitung: At the stroke of midnight a roar and a surge swept through the crowd of people. St Peter’s Bell, also called the German Bell on the Rhine, tolled the ceremonial declaration with heavy and powerful peals. On two giant candelabras, which had been put up on each flank of the cathedral’s steps, mighty fires blazed up to the heavens, an image that no one who saw it will forget. Deeply moved, the public watched in silence. Then Mayor Adenauer stepped up to the lectern and delivered a pithy speech that, relayed by loudspeakers, could be heard without difficulty on the square:

‘The hour ’as come,’ he started in his broad Cologne accent. ‘The so ardently, so fervently longed for hour, the day of freedom ’as broken! Our ’earts fly up to God the Almighty. Thanks to ’im, ’oo ’as led us through our ’our of need and peril! United once again with our state, our people, our fatherland, united an’ free after many years of separation and servitude! The truest camaraderie grows out of difficulties borne an’ overcome together. You, German compatriots of the occupied zones, stood beside us. You, ’oo are still without your freedom, we greet you with our love an’ loyalty in this hour! We ’ave ’ad much to suffer from the victor’s ’ard fist these seven long years. Today, at this solemn moment, let us not mention that. Yes, we want to be fair, in spite of much that ’as ’appened to us, we want to recognize that the former enemies have ensured fairness in the political sphere. We ’ope. That our time of suffering ’as not been in vain, now that a truly new spirit is taking ’old of the people of Europe. The principles of right an’ of morality, upon which the relations between individuals are based, which declare every person to be free an’ equal, must also be realized, not only words but also in reality, for the community of peoples! Brothers, sisters! We speak the same language, we love the same ’omeland. Whether rich or poor, on the left or right: the deepest and truest, the most ’uman feelings are common to us all. We’ve borne the same difficulties, we’ve discovered what it is to share a common destiny. When the burden is now lifted from our shoulders, when we step out into freedom, let us never forget these times! This square was once dedicated with the words ‘These cathedral doors shall become gates to the glory of the spirit of German unity an’ strength’. On this ’oly square foreign troops ’ave stood; let us consecrate it again! Our cathedral is a symbol of German unity, its mighty spires tower up into the night sky like fingers raised to swear an oath. Come now! Let us raise our ’ands to swear an oath too! And all of you in German lands ’oo in spirit are with us now, swear with us! Let us swear an oath of unity and allegiance to our people, and of love for our fatherland! Join with me now: Germany, dearly loved fatherland, ’urrah, ’urrah, ’urrah!