Berlin marks first official Women’s Day public holiday
Deutsche Welle reported that this year, for the first time, March 8 is a public holiday in the city-state of Berlin making it the first of Germany’s 16 states to take the measure.
Under the motto, “Celebrate, strike, fight on,” thousands of men and women are set to take to the streets across the German capital, with demonstrations taking place at the monument to Clara Zetkin as well on the city’s iconic Alexanderplatz to mark Women’s Day.
Deutsche Welle also takes a look at the history of this international day which was first suggested back in 1910 by German women’s rights activist Clara Zetkin.
A year later, along with Austria, Switzerland and Denmark, Germany celebrated Women’s Day for the first time on March 19 and they were characterized by demonstrations demanding women’s suffrage.
The date March 8, which has been earmarked for Women’s Day since 1921, was the idea of Alexandra Kollontai, wife of Vladimir Lenin.
It was originally intended to commemorate the women workers’ strike in Petrograd [today St. Petersburg] on the same day in 1917. The walkout is widely considered the prelude to the October Revolution in Russia, eight months later.
In 1977, the UN declared the day International Women’s Day.