Berlib November 28, 2020 marks the 200th anniversary of Friedrich Engels’ birth. On that day, its hometown, Wuppertal, Germany, commemorated this special day by holding various forms of online activities.
Friedrich Engels was born in Barmen (now Wuppertal, Germany) in 1820. To commemorate the 200th birthday of the “most famous son of Wuppertal”, a series of commemorative activities throughout the year were planned.
Due to the impact of the coronavirus epidemic, the event originally scheduled for Engels’ birthday was held online. People around the world can remotely visit the renovated Engels Residence through the “200th Anniversary of Engels’ Birth” theme website built by the city of Wuppertal. The local area also cooperated with artists to interview 200 ordinary Wupertal people and invite them to say what they are in the Engels.
In a message to the celebration of the bicentennial of Engels’ birth, Wuppertal’s Governor Rasette said that Engels was a figure who “shaped his time and the influence lasted until later generations”, and it was still important to explore his theories, beliefs, thoughts and actions in depth.
Wuppertal Mayor Schneiderwind said that through the renovation and layout of Engels’ former residence, as well as the “Engus Year” series, which will be extended until the end of next year, people can feel the contemporary significance of Engels in many ways.
In recent days, major German media have also issued articles to commemorate the bicentennial of Engels’ birth. Time described Engels as “one of the most influential and diverse thinkers of the nineteenth century, theorist and practitioner of proletarian revolution, the earliest sociologist, and an outstanding journalist.” According to Süddeutsche Zeit, Engels changed the course of history through writing.
According to Deutsche Radio, Engels lived a “double life” and was both an entrepreneur, a philosopher, a communist and a revolutionary.” Engels supported Karl Marx financially and intellectually, and the friendship between the two deeply influenced Engels. He and Marx wrote one of the most influential texts in history.”
