More than 2500 racists joined the xenophobic Pegida march in Dresden last night. There were also nazi marches in Berlin, Duisburg, Hannover and Munich. In Munich nazis marched to the Feldherrnhalle, which was the site of a brief battle that ended Hitler’s initial coup, “Beer Hall Putsch” in 1923.





After racist mobs blocked a bus with refugees in Clausnitz, and cheered an arson attack in Bautzen over the past few days, nazis continue to mobilize against refugees in Germany. In Dresden, partcipants of the xenophobic Pegida march were chanting “Clausnitz! Clausnitz!” and in Munich about 250 racists marched to the historic Feldherrnhalle at Odeon square.

The Feldherrnhalle was the scene of a confrontation on November 9, 1923, between the Bavarian State Police and an unauthorised march by the fascist followers of Adolf Hitler. This was the culmination of the Nazi’s attempt to take over the State, commonly referred to as the Beer Hall Putsch. When ordered to stop, the marchers continued, and the State Police opened fire. In the ensuing gun battle, four policemen and sixteen nazis were killed. Many more were wounded, including Hermann Göring. As a result of the failure of the so-called Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler was arrested and sentenced to a prison term.



After the Nazis took power in 1933, Hitler turned the Feldherrnhalle into a memorial for the nazis who died during the 1923 putsch. A memorial to the fallen SA men was put up on its east side, opposite the location of the shootings. This monument, called the “Mahnmal der Bewegung”, was designed by Paul Ludwig Troost. It was a rectangular structure listing the names of the fascists who died on November 9, 1923. This was under perpetual ceremonial guard by the SS. The square in front of the Feldherrnhalle (Odeon square) was used for SS parades and nazi rallies. During some of these events, the sixteen dead were each commemorated by a temporary pillar placed in the Feldherrnhalle topped by a flame. New SS recruits took their oath of loyalty to Hitler in front of the memorial.

It wasn’t the first time the xenophobic Pegida movement has marched to the Feldherrnhalle in Munich, and they will probably do it again. If there was any doubt about the objectives of the Pegida movement, the fact that organisers again and again march to the Feldhernnhalle makes clear what kind of movement it is; a racist movement that glorifies Nazi Germany.









