Obelisk Day
Here you will learn everything there is to know about Obscurium's weirdest holiday and how it came into being.
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM to read the latest contributions!
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In late 2021, President Zar Antonov was exploring the wide expanses of the Charlottenburg palace park in Berlin. During this expedition he and his companion came across an obelisk, just a little off the path, standing amid bushes and grass. The obelisk bore the same inscription on all four sides: "11th of March - This could be a day of historical importance". According to a nearby sign "Braco Dimitrijevic created the 10-meter-high marble obelisk in 1979. The artist's intention was to erect a monument commemorating an arbitrarily chosen date (March 11th), which would stimulate contemplation about the nature of historical significance, much like it is connected with dates (in Germany) such as November 9th or October 3rd."
Naturally, the spirit of this monument perfectly reflects the spirit of Obscurium and therefore it was decided to uplift the 11th of March to the status of a national holiday for no other reason than the fact that it was randomly selected by Braco Dimitrijevic.
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After input from Obscurian citizens it was decided that the day would be celebrated in two ways:
1. One places a wreath (preferably a laurel wreath) on their head, raises their hands towards the sky (in other words, "becoming the obelisk" and holding this position while contemplating historical significance and the nature of the wider world.
2. Any person who wishes to do so may submit their short account of an obscure or strange historical event which will be shared on this site.
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While this is an Obscurian holiday, we encourage anyone to follow in the spirit of this date and even participate in the submission of little known historical events to this website on the 11th of March.
And lastly, if you are reading this on the 11th of March, we wish you a happy Obelisk Day!
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The recordings of both of these traditons can be found below.
Obelisk Day Celebrations
The Obelsik Ritual
Obscure Historical Events (2022 Entries)
The Anabaptists of Münster (Zar Antonov)
From 1534 to 35 a radical religious sect called the "Wiedertäufer" (Anabaptists),
took over the city of Münster and under the leadership of Jan Van Leiden, it became their kingdom of New Jerusalem. They believed that due to strange phenomena being observed in the skies Jesus would soon return to earth and that the apocalypse would begin. They banished everyone, who refused to be baptized by them, from the city, destroyed the city seals and archives and made polygamy legal. Van Leiden himself had 15 Brides.
After a long siege Münster was eventually retaken by the bishops troops and the Anabaptists rule of Terror came to an end.
Jan Van Leiden was taken prisoner, tortured, publicly executed and put into a cage which was hung on the Church tower and can still be seen there today.
From the late 19th to the middle of the 20th century the Anabaptists and Jan Van Leiden became quite popular and were used to attract Tourist to Münster.
There were Anabaptist medals and coin souvenirs, Anabaptist home decorations and even Anabaptist chocolate with a picture of van Leiden on them.
In 1921 he even appeared on the cities emergency currency.
While there aren't quite that many Anabaptist souvenirs for purchase in Münster nowadays, most people there still remember the story of Jan Van Leiden's apocalyptic kingdom. In addition to the cages, still hanging from the main church today, there is a large part of the city's historical museum, which examines this strange event.
Brennus and the Sack of Rome (Jan Olav Spiekermann)
Many of you will know of the fall of the city of Rome to the Visigoths in 410 AD. But there had been another sack of Rome, 800 years before this event.During the late 400s AD, both the Roman Republic and the Gallic Tribes who had previously settled in the north of Italy were expanding. At around 390 AD the Romans and the Gallic Senones tribe under their king Brennus, clashed in battle over the Etruskan city of Clusium, which had asked Rome for help against the Senones. Rome sent 3 ambassadors, one of whome got involved in the battle itself, which was a breach of the rule that ambassadors had to be neutral. Offended by this act, the Senones marched against Rome itself, meeting the Roman army at the place where the Tiber and Allia rivers meet. The Romans were decicively defeated at this engagement and Rome was subsequently taken by the Gauls and held for several months, before the Romans managed to drive them out.
Obscure Historical Events (2023 Entries)
The Target Shooter (Arthur de Turneau)
About one hundred and thirty years ago there was a target shooting in Ötz (Austria). A young man, who was working as a target shooter, suddenly fell down and lay lifeless for a while. The bystanders thought he was dead, but he got up again and was soon as fresh and healthy as before. Soon the rumour spread that he had seen something, i.e. had a vision. But when he was asked about it, he would only answer, "What is right there is right there, and what is right there is right there." By the word "there" he meant the other world. But once he said to his relatives: You will not live to see it, nor will your children, but your grandchildren will live to see it, that there is a world war." This prophecy came true, because those grandchildren lived to see the world war as elderly people. That man lived for 50 years after the incident, but no one had ever seen him laugh during that long time.
Is Heligoland still a British possession? (Jan Olav Spiekermann)
In 1807, Heligoland, until then part of the Kingdom of Denmark, was occupied by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland because Denmark was an Ally of the French Empire. In 1814, Heligoland officially became a British Crown Colony. It was a popular holiday destination, especially for German tourists, as well as a popular refuge for German Democrats who sometimes had to flee from the authoritarian regimes in the many German states of the German Confederation.
For example, in 1841 Heinrich August Hoffmann von Fallersleben composed the text of the German Anthem while staying on the Island. Heligoland was described as ''a land where there are no bankers, no lawyers, and no crime; where all gratuities are strictly forbidden, the landladies are all honest and the boatmen take no tips.'' A little paradise on earth. But after Germany became unified under Prussian domitation in 1871, the German Government was eager to get rid off the British possession off its shore as they saw it as a possible threat. On the other hand the British were afraid that in case of a war they would ot be able to defend Heligoland againsta German invasion. So in 1890 the British Government and the German Government signed the so-called Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty. In exchange for some German possessions and rights in Africa, the British ceded Heligoland to Germany. On the 10th of August 1890, there was a handover ceremony on Heligoland. The majority of the inhabitants of Heligoland were against this territorial exchange. If there would have been a referendum, the majority would have voted for the United Kingdom. Nonetheless there were some exclusive rights granted to the British and the inhabitants of Heligoland were allowed to remain British Citizens if the wished to do so. So even in 1914 there were still some natives of Heligoland on the Island who still had a British and not a German passport.
Due to this, when World War I broke out in 1914 the German Governemnt evacuated Heligoland as they thought that the inhabitants of Heligoland would still sympathies more with the British. And they had all reason to do so, because Prussian Germany built a naval base on the island and almost destroyed the tourist sector on Heligoland, which had been an important source of income under British rule. After WWI, through the Versailles treaty, all German pre-war treaties were annulled, except those which were explicitly renewed. So when I asked the State Government of Schleswig-Holstein if the privilege's of British Fisherman, granted to them in the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty, are still valid, I received this answer from a government official:
"Dear Mr. Spiekermann,
I apologize for only now getting back to your question below. To determine the facts, I asked my fishing colleagues at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for help, who have now sent me an answer:
""According to information from the Foreign Office, the Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty of July 1, 1890 is no longer in force. The privileges guaranteed therein to the explicit fishermen have thus expired. This results from the Versailles Treaty of June 28, 1919 (entry into force on January 10, 1920). whose art. 282ff. provided that, with the exception of the agreements mentioned there (nil report regarding the Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty), all existing agreements with the German Reich would become ineffective. Art. 289 of the Versailles Treaty then provides for the possibility of the victorious powers naming the agreement, by means of a unilateral notification within 6 months of its entry into force, to the German Reich which are to come into force again. However, no such notification was made to the German Reich by the end of the period on July 10, 1920. The British government also shares this view, as can be seen from a debate in the House of Commons in 1951 (https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1951/jun/25/heligoland). ""
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me again.
Best regards"
Well, if I count 1 and 1 together, I see that the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty is no more valid anymore, than the very central aspect of this argument - cession of Heligoland from Great Britain to Germany - is also invalid. So under international law Heligoland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. - Although that's both simply ignored by the British and the Germans.
The Kingdom of Romkerhall (Zar Antonov)
In the old days it was customary for the nobility to have specially designated area for hunting retreats. Geore V., King of Hannover had his hunting retreat in the picturesque landscape around Romkerhall. He was blind, so in order to have something nice there that even he could enjoy, he ordered the construction of a 64 meter tall waterfall at Romkerhall in 1862, the highest in the Harz mountains. Some even say that he placed the area under the direct authority of the crown of Hannover to commemorate the occasion. Furthermore, he allegedly subsequently gifted the land to his beloved wife, Queen Mary, who became its rightful owner.
The house on the property itself was managed by different owners until it became a hotel and inn in 1898, with its history slowly drifting from memory.
However, since the area was never given to any specific community and mostly ignored from the Prussian annexation of Hannover to the re-organization of German communities in the 1970s, the argument was made that it still belonged to the house of Saxony, of which Queen Mary had been a member.
So the search for a member of the house of Saxony to take over as monarch of this hidden piece of land began and sure enough, Princess Erina of Saxony was found, the wife of Prince Timo, the grandson of the last King of Saxony, Friedrich August III..
She was crowned queen of Romkerhall in an elaborate ceremony in 1988 and held this position until her death in 2010, after which the current owner of the territory, Princess Susanne of Romkerhall took over until the day when the rightful heir can be determined. The Kingdom has been run as a toruist attraction/ hotel ever since the coronation of Queen Erina in 1988 and has undergone renovations in recent years to compensate for the fragile state of parts of the building.
However, whether the Kingdom of Romkerhall is indeed the “World’s Smallest Kingdom” as they claim or just a community free area in the Harz mountains, has yet to be determined.
Emperor Norton I. (Clostridium Botulinum)
"At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, ....declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U. S.; and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble .. to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity."
—NORTON I, Emperor of the United States.
With these words, sent to the various newspapers of San Francisco and published on Sept 17, 1859, Joshua Norton, a former South African businessman who lost his fortune and disappeared after trying to corner the rice market in seven years before, returned to take up his duties as ruler of the country. Whether mad from his earlier ruin or from the direction of the country increasing lurching towards Civil War (or both), Norton was nevertheless humored by the folks of San Francisco. Soon after becoming emperor, Norton banned the United States Congress through proclamation as:
"...fraud and corruption prevent a fair and proper expression of the public voice; that open violation of the laws are constantly occurring, caused by mobs, parties, factions and undue influence of political sects; that the citizen has not that protection of person and property which he is entitled."
When Congress ignored the order, Emperor Norton ordered the US Army to depose of them. This was also ignored. When French Emperor Napoleon III invaded Mexico in 1862, Norton quickly gave himself the additional title, "Protector of Mexico". Again this was ignored.
Emperor Norton soon began to develop a schedule, spending most of the day observing the conditions of sidewalks and cable cars with a uniform of a used Army coat, a beaver hat, and an umbrella, eating free food at bars, and having lengthy philosophical discussions with anyone who would listen. Periodically he would send further proclamations to the newspapers, including some that in hindsight were quite visionary: a ban on the word "Frisco" (SF continues to be the abbreviation used by locals), a bridge connecting San Francisco to Oakland via Goat Island (some plan to rename the Bay Bridge to the "Emperor Norton Bridge"), and a League of Nations. He also banned the Democratic and Republican Parties and forbade conflict between religions. In one famous incident, while inspecting his lands Norton came across an ugly mob beginning to riot against the Chinese. Interceding between the mob and their targets, he bowed his head and recited the Lord's Prayer until the mob sheepishly dissipated.
In 1867, while on another inspection, Emperor Norton was arrested by a police officer for lunacy. A massive public outcry soon persuaded the police to release the emperor, who magnanimously pardoned the errant officer. Afterwards the officers of the San Francisco Police saluted Norton as he made his rounds. By the 1870s, Emperor Norton's fame had reached throughout the United States. The 1870 Census listed his occupation as "Emperor" (it also added "insane"). Tourists arriving at San Francisco were eager to meet the emperor, including Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II. Postcards of him became popular. Norton began selling "Imperial Dollars" to supplement his income, which became de facto currency throughout the city. Things were now much easier for him: he was able to ride the rails free, courtesy of Leland Stanford and eat at the finest restaurants as owners sought his seal of approval and the accompanying boost in revenue.
It all ended on January 8, 1880, when Emperor Norton collapsed in front of St. Mary's Church. Though a carriage was quickly called, Norton died on the way to the hospital. He had ruled San Francisco for 21 years. "Le Roi est Mort" screamed the headlines of the San Francisco Chronicle.The Pacific Club quickly took up his funeral costs, and Emperor Norton was buried at the Masonic Cemetery in a ceremony lined by perhaps 10,000 people. In 1934, as part of the massive gravesite removals from San Francisco, Emperor Norton was transferred to Woodlawn Cemetery in Colma.
Emperor Norton's eccentric legacy lives on, mentioned by Robert Louis Stevenson in the book the Wrecker, and serving as the basis for the figure "the King" in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Additionally, he is a patron saint of Discordianism and there remain efforts to rename the Bay Bridge after him. Perhaps Norton's best legacy is summed up by Robert Cowan:
"...he had shed no blood; robbed no one; and despoiled no country; which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line."
Woodlawn Cemetery, Colma, California
Obscure Historical Events (2024 Entries)
The Tailor of Krempelstein (Arthur de Turneau)
"The ship sails down the Danube from Passau past the ruins of Krempelstein Castle. There is no certain information about when the castle was built and when it fell into ruin. Today, a single, square tower looks gloomily and sadly down into the Danube, and it too has been badly eaten away by the ravages of time.
A long time ago, after the knights and troopers had left the castle walls for good, a poor tailor chose the Krempelstein as his home. In a room that had escaped general destruction, the good master plied his honourable trade and only descended from the rocky heights into the valley when he had to take on or deliver work and when he had to buy clothing or food. His quiet life was made more cheerful by the company of a goat that jumped up and down merrily and rewarded the master's care with excellent milk.
Many, many years passed. The tailor and his goat grew older and frailer. One evening, when the master returned from a walk, the goat lay dead in the castle corridor. The tailor was heartbroken. Resentment and despair gripped the mind of the now lonely and abandoned man. In his despair, he did not know what to do. So he grabbed the dead goat and prepared to hurl it down from the cliff into the Danube. In his haste, however, the animal's horns got caught in his skirt and he plunged into the swirling depths, where he died. Not long after this event, passing boatmen pulled the dead master and his goat out of the waves.
From then on, the little castle was called the Tailor's Castle and bears this name to this day."
According to L. Bowitsch
Addendum:
Between 1937 and 1965, Eduard Munninger ran the meeting place of the pansophical organisation of the "Antiquus Arcanus Ordo Rosae Rubeae Aureae Crucis", in English the "Old Secret Order of the Ruby Red Gold Cross", at the castle.
Today, the renovated and inaccessible castle is owned by the Schulz-Wulkow family.
The Henry Wirz Obelisk (Clostridium Botulinum)
The single most controversial monument at Andersonville is not even in the park service grounds but in the neighboring and namesake Town of Andersonville. This obelisk is a monument to Capt Heinrich or Henry Wirz, the leader of Andersonville Prison, who was later convicted and executed for his role.
A Swiss who fled bad debts to the United States and ended up as a plantation overseer in Louisiana, Wirz fought in the American Civil War and was crippled by a wound to the arm in 1863. He was assigned to Brig Gen John Winder as an adjutant. In April 1864, Wirz took command of Camp Sumter, better known as Andersonville Prison, where some 13000 out of 45000 Union prisoners held under his guard died of starvation, diseases and/or exposure. Wirz knew about the deteriorating conditions, at one point offering to parole prisoners if the Federal government would provide transportation to ship them. This was refused on the grounds that there were no transportation and supplies necessary to take in such a large scale of parolees (interestingly the Nazis similarly offered to release concentration camp inmates near the end of WWII, with the same results). Promoted shortly before the end of the war, he was quickly arrested at the end of it.
In what would become the first war crimes trial held in the history of the United States, Henry Wirz was charged with:
"combining, confederating, and conspiring, ... to injure the health and destroy the lives of soldiers in the military service of the United States, then held and being prisoners of war within the lines of the so-called Confederate States, and in the military prisons thereof, to the end that the armies of the United States might be weakened and impaired, in violation of the laws and customs of war", and for "violation of the laws of war, to impair and injure the health and to destroy the lives—by subjecting to torture and great suffering; by confining in unhealthy and unwholesome quarters; by exposing to the inclemency of winter and to the dews and burning sun of summer; by compelling the use of impure water; and by furnishing insufficient and unwholesome food—of large numbers of Federal prisoners".
He was charged with 13 acts of cruelty and murder, including stomping on prisoners, ordering guards to shoot prisoners, and shooting prisoners himself.
Some 160 witnesses were called to the stand. Testimony varied wildly, and may have suggested violent mood swings. However they did show a history of intimidation and cruelty: perhaps influenced by his time in the plantations, Wirz used iron shackles and bloodhounds liberally, and one Confederate guard recalled Wirz allowed a prisoner to drown while shackled in a rainstorm. Father Peter Whelan, "the Angel of Andersonville" and former Gen Robert Lee testified that Wirz had done all he could and was simply overwhelmed that led to the high death rate. Interestingly, both the prosecution and defense used what would become known as the "Nuremberg Defense"; Wirz hoped to pass responsibility to levels above him and that he was "just following orders", while the Federal prosecutors hoped to use his testimony to blame the Confederate leadership for the high death rate.
In November the Military Commission found Wirz guilty of 11 of the 13 charges and sentenced him to death. A clemency plea to Pres Andrew Johnson went unanswered, though according to some Southern sources a cabinet official visited Wirz and offered to commute his sentence in exchange for implicating Confederate Pres Jefferson Davis; this was refused, supposedly with Wirz stating: "Mr. Schade, you know that I have always told you that I do not know anything about Jefferson Davis. He had no connection with me as to what was done at Andersonville. If I knew anything of him I would not become a traitor against him, or anybody else, even to save my life."
Henry Wirz was hanged on November 10, 1865 in the Old Capitol Prison. Wirz, along with Champ Ferguson are the only people executed for war crimes during the American Civil War. The controversy did not die with Wirz, especially after a witness for the prosecution Felix de la Baume turned out to be a deserter named Felix Oeser, the implication being his testimony was perjured and the entire trial a farce. Wirz's role at Andersonville quickly divided along partisan lines, the North portraying him as an almost demonic villain, while the South portrayed him as an almost angelic martyr. Interestingly since the 1960s the Lost Cause viewpoint has become dominant, with a mythos such that Grant or Sherman helped cause the suffering at Andersonville or that Felix Oeser's perjury showed Wirz's innocence. It seems sufficient to say that as the leader of Andersonville Prison Henry Wirz was way over his head, overwhelmed by the ineptitudes of the Confederate government (mostly courtesy of John Winder) and the collapse of the Confederate transportation system, but simultaneously attempted to keep control by utilizing petty but violent and sometimes deadly acts of cruelty. Wirz was likely guilty of war crimes, though in the hindsight of the incredible cruelties of the American Civil War, those crimes seem to pale in comparison to say the actions of Nathan Forrest or William Qunatrill.
Built by the UDC in 1916 in response to the Northern monuments being erected around Andersonville Prison, this is the only monument erected to a war criminal in the United States. Many in Georgia were uneasy about the monument being so closely placed to the site of Andersonville, and managed to get the UDC to tone down language such as "an illegal court martial" and "a judicial murder". Even so as expected, the statue outraged Northern veterans, and the monument has been subject to frequent vandalism.
The wordy text of the monument:
North Side
When time shall have softened passion and prejudice, when reason shall have stripped the mask from misrepresentations, then justice, holding evenly her scales, will require much of past censures and praise to change places.
Jefferson Davis, Dec. 1888
South Side
Discharging his duty with such humanity as the harsh circumstances of the times, and the policy of the foe permitted Capt. Wirz became at last the victim of a misdirected popular clamor. He was arrested in the time of peace, while under the protection of parole, tried by a military commission of a service to which he did not belong, and condemned to ignominious death on charges of excessive cruelty to Federal prisoners. He indignantly spurned a pardon proffered on condition that he would incriminate President Davis and thus exonerate himself from charges of which both were innocent.
East Side
In memory of Captain Henry Wirz, C.S.A. born Zurich, Switzerland, 1822, sentenced to death and executed at Washington D.C. November 10, 1865. To rescue his name from the stigma attached to it by embittered prejudice this shaft is erected by the Georgia division, United Daughters of the Confederacy.
West Side
It is hard on our men held in southern prisons not to exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. At this particular time to release all rebel prisoners would insure Sherman’s defeat and would compromise our safety here. Ulysses S. Grant, Aug. 18, 1864
Andersonville, Georgia
The Disappearance of Harold Holt (Zar Antonov)
For the leader of a country to die in office is already an event of great note on its own. But what if the leader in question does not simply die but instead disappears, never to be seen again? Such a rare case occurred on the 17th of Decamber 1967.
Harold Holt, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, went for a swim on Cheviot Beach, in the State of Victoria. He was seen swimming further out to sea and then, he vanished, never to be seen again. Following this, a search by the Police and Military attempted to find Holt’s body for 19 days, before they gave up. A memorial service had already been held on the 22nd of December, which was attended by high dignitaries from numerous countries. However, one question naturally still remains to this day: what really happened to Harold Holt?
Since no body was ever recovered, theories raged wild. They range from suicide to an assassination to Holt being a spy. However, in the end, the official explanation, which is also the simplest, might just hold the answer to what occurred on that December noon. Harold Holt was swept out to sea and drowned. While it is true that Holt was an excellent swimmer and diver, he did seemingly have a history of over excreting himself and was advised to be more careful while practicing his perilous hobby. Thus, perhaps it was carelessness that led him to deep waters that day and ultimately took his life. Ultimately, whatever the truth may be, this will remain an obscure and, likewise, interesting case of a head of government disappearing, without leaving any trace.
The Mystery of Comrade Boris (Jan-Olav Spiekermann)
On the 29th of May 1990, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Fderative Socialist Republic and thus also became Russia's head of state. Boris Yeltsin is known as the man who dissolved the USSR and replaced Communism with Ganster Capitalism. But he is also considered by many to be the only really democratic Russian head of state. Democratic in a liberal, western style. But had Boris Yeltsin really the mandate of the people to destroy the USSR and to sell out the wealth of the nation to uprising gangster ''entrepreneurs''? Let's have a look at this. Boris Yeltsin joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1961. He made an impressive career within the party. Between 1985 and 1987 he even was leader of the local branch of the Communists in Moscov and in 1986 was initiated to the Politburo, the de facto the highes board of the USSR. Initially a supporter of Michail Gorbachev, Yeltsin soon became a critic. But what was he criticizing? Mostly the privileges of the party bosses. He stood up for real equality of all citizens. Against any privileges. So it is no wonder that Gorbachev considered Yeltsin to be a leftist revolutionary. People loved Yeltsin for that he criticized the elite, for that he fought against privileges and that he was open to all people, even sharing his private phone numer in public so that everyone could call him and tell him their worries and ideas. Isn't that like a true communist leader should be? Standing up for real equality, rejecting any privileges and always having an open ear for every citizen?
In 1987, the conflict between Gorbachev and Yeltsin escalated. Deeply shocked by the events, Yeltsin tried to commit suicide. And even as an injured man who had barely escaped death, he was publicy humiliated by Gorbachev in a Stalinist way. Although Yeltsin lost his positions, he stayed in the party. So when Yeltsin was elected to the Supreme Soviet and when he became head of state he still was a Communist. On the 28th Congress of the CPSU he resigned from the party, as he still was treated as an outsider in the party. In 1991 Yeltsin became the first President of Russia. On the 17th of March 1991 there was a referendum in 9 (of 15) Soviet Republics on wheather the Union should be preserved with a new Union treaty, or not. This was the only democratic referendum in the entire history of the USSR. And a Majority of 77,85% supported preserving the Soviet Union. In Russia itself, where Yeltsin was head of state, 73% supported preserving the Union. So the majority of Yeltsin's voters also supported preserving the USSR.
However, things developed in a different way. After the failed August coup some Soviet Republics like Ukraine, who had agreed to preserve the Union before the coup, withdraw their consent and declared independence. Still most republics supported the new Union treaty. But Boris Yeltsin, although he had praised the anti-coup-protesters also for ''saving the Union'', took initiative and, behind the back of Gorbachev, made a deal with the heads of state of Ukraine and Belarus to declare the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the founding of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as a loose confderation. Soviet Republics like Kazakhstan who had supported preserving the Union and signing a new Union treaty, where shocked by the move but eventually sided with Yeltsin and also joined the CIS. So in the end the Soviet Union was some kind of micronation, consisting only of some buildings.
On the 25th of December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as Soviet Head of State. One day later the Soviet of the Republics, the Upper House of the Supreme Soviet, under its Chairman Anuarbek Alimzhanov from Kazakhstan, declared the dissolution of the Soviet Union. All that due to the actions of Comrade Boris, who, after first considering to model Russian economy on the model of Social Democratic Sweden, introduced Predator Capitalism to Russia by selling out most of the national wealth, causing an explosion of violent organized crime, corruptions, injustice, famine, chaos and misery for millions of Russians. Did he had the mandate of the people for that. No. Having gained popular support as a left-wing Communist who fought agains injustice and against priveliges of the party elite and also considering the 1991 referendum on wheather to preserve the USSR or not, he clearly acted against the will of the majority of the people. When he was reelected in 1996 due to massive financial and logistical support by his new ganster oligarch friends and by the United States, people knew what agenda they were choosing. But in 1990/91 they didn't. So while the people in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, CSSR, East Germany and Hungary clearly wanted to end Communism, the majority of the people of Russia did not express such a will in 1990/91. They hoped for a better life under the guidance of Comrade Boris and in the end they received Gangster Capitalism and finally a new Cold War. So what is suprising, obscure, considerable about all this? - That Boris Yeltsin rose came to power as a left-wing communist. As someone who fought against privileges, for true equality and justice. - And in the end delivered the entire opposite of that.
