Crownlands, both liberated and still oppressed, celebrate 900th Anniversary of the Fifteenth of September15th of September, 4311A hastily improvised 15th of September Commemoration held at the site of a recently-discovered mass grave holding Kunihito and Septembrist bodies in the Kiennese Plain, with members of the RBW standing a vigilKien, Hulstria - In the midst of the Second September Revolution, Septembrists across the Crownlands, both in liberated and occupied territory, celebrated
their national day today, commemorating how 900 years ago to the day, a peaceful protest march got clubbed down by the North Dovani Union regime in Kien, sparking the First September Revolution. In improvised ceremonies all across the Crownlands, held clandestinely in occupied areas but proudly in the open in the liberated areas in the Crownlands of Budenlar, Hulstria and Mitrania, as well as Ostland, collectively observing silence to honour the memory of those who fell for freedom, democracy and tolerance and those who are still suffering across Terra and in the Crownlands under the heel of dictatorship.
Normally, the passage of a multiple of 5 years since 3416, the year of the victory over the North Dovani Union regime, would see elaborate celebrations on the 15th, with the commemoration being observed on the 14th. However, owing to the current struggle for freedom and democracy and the large parts of the country still oppressed by the Nimitz Regime, the Provisional Government called for commemorations and celebrations to remain sober, and fixed the commemorative ceremonies to noon on the 15th. Ceremonies were held with great gravity also at the sites of recently discovered mass graves, such as the site pictured above on the northern edge of the Kiennese Plain, which contained the remains of both Kunihito and Hulstrians who had presumably been shot for being Septembrists or other resistance fighters.
The Provisional Government itself attended the traditional focal commemorative ceremony in Kien, at site of the National Monument for the 15th of September, which had been torn down and replaced by the regime with a statue of the pretender Beatrice II in its attempt to rewrite history. As September Day approached, elated citizens of Kien had torn down the statue, pulling it from its place with an army van volunteered for that purpose by the Reichsbürgerwehr. So, as the traditional laying of wreaths in honour of the 15th of September was resumed at the site of the event in Kien, it had to happen around an improvised stand-in for the monument consisting of nothing more than a flagpole with the Union Flag and a sea of flowers left there the preceding day by citizens, with the Reichsbürgerwehr sollemnly standing guard.
After a sober speech in which he reflected on the recent deaths to be mourned (
"Never had our forefathers anticipated that we would have to fight a Second September Revolution and lose so many of our dear friends to the tyrannical jackboots of a totalitarian regime again. It shows that our freedom is never self-evident."), Governor-General Hubert Michels, himself a descendant of the pivotal figure 900 years ago, then-Dean of the Heinrich University Legal Faculty Thomas Michels, flanked by both Emperors, read the traditional
In Memoriam for the 15th of September, with a slight change:
On the 15th of September 3411, a group of peaceful protestors set out to protest the curtailment of their liberties. Their brutal deaths at the hands of the regime proved the spark of a 5-year struggle for freedom and democracy by which the peoples of Hulstria and Gao-Soto toppled their dictatorial government. Thanks to them and their sacrifice, our land became united and free. At noon on the 15th, all the Crownlands are silent for two minutes. Two minutes of national commemoration by which we remember them and all those that - in the Crownlands or wherever else in the world - have suffered or are suffering under dictatorial governments or lack of freedom, and those who have given and have been willing to give even now in these Crownlands their lifes for the sake of freedom and democracy.
Commandant Gubler, himself an aspiring bugler in the Heuboden Town Marching Band in his days as a civilian, took the honour of playing
the Tappzu signal at the National Commemoration, and was seen wiping away a single tear during the two minutes of silence after his moving but not-entirely-perfect rendition of the military signal, which is derived from Luthori's Last Post. The improvised RBW Marching Band, bolstered with some troops from coalition forces, then burst into a rousing performance of the September Hymn resounding through the square with a thousand voices as the Union Flag, flying at half-mast since then, was raised to the top. Then, after the laying of wreaths by the Kaiser, the Mikado, the Governor-General and the Staatsminister, and Commandant Gubler for the RBW, the people filed past the makeshift monument, laying down flowers to honour the death and many of them shedding a tear for those they knew who they'd have to miss.
The low-key celebrations afterwards consisted this time only of this solemn file past the monument, but no doubt the Crownlands look forward to when the full, celebratory observance of September Day can be restored. In a statement, Michels remarked that he expected that
"when we mark 900 years since the success of the September Revolution, I am confident that we will do so as a land of two peoples, united and free, and be able to fully rejoice in our democratic liberties once more."