From the volks who gave us 'angst'

     A slight reflection here on marking the 20th year of the Berlin Wall's fall, because what is rarely mentioned is that it coincides with the Night of Broken Glass in 1938 as well as the victory of the Communists in 1918.

   In that year a naval mutiny and a dockworkers' strike spawned the Social Democrats' ensuing conquest of the Reichstag on Nov. 9 — a watershed day for the Communist surge in Berlin.

   Twenty years later came Hitler's response with Kristallnacht.

   How so German that current events eliciting headiness and pure joy share a historic date with rage and cataclysmic destruction — no wonder they drink day and night.

  And other than this continual angst, it's not surprising that the Huns have also given us the concepts of Sturm und Drang, Weltschmerz and Neanderthal to help us better understand the troubled soul of the volk.
   And if one is ever searching for the best way to articulate 'battling one's inner pig-dog,' the Germans have that covered with the phrase: Den inneren Schweinehund bekämpfen.

   Note: Looks like these nice riot policemen are helping this confused protester find his inner pig-dog.