West German student movement
The West German student movement (German: Westdeutsche Studentebewegung), sometimes called the 1968 movement in West Germany (German: 1968 Bewegung in Westdeutschland), was a social movement that consisted of mass student protests in West Germany in 1968. Participants in the movement later came to be known as 68ers. The movement was characterized by the protesting students' rejection of traditionalism and of German political authority which included many former Nazi officials. Student unrest had started in 1967 when student Benno Ohnesorg was shot by a policeman during a protest against the visit of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. The movement is considered to have formally started after the attempted assassination of student activist leader Rudi Dutschke, which sparked various protests across West Germany and gave rise to public opposition. The movement created lasting changes in German culture.[1]
West German student movement
1968
- New political alliances in West Germany
- Various leftist political movements
Quelling of protests
Protest against the Vietnam War
Conference to protest the Vietnam War
Protest march in West Berlin
Demonstrators in West Berlin
Vandalized Bild-Zeitung delivery cars
Protesters with signs
Aftermath[edit]
Terrorism[edit]
On 22 May 1967, a fire at the L'Innovation department store in Brussels killed hundreds of people. Kommune 1 issued a leaflet celebrating the fire and calling for more such occurrences to bring parity between Western countries and Vietnam. The leaflet was widely condemened and caused a split between Kommune 1 and the SDS. On 2 April 1968, members of the Außerparlamentarische Opposition, Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin committed arson at a department store in Frankfurt to protest the Vietnam war. Although convicted, they were released while pursuing an appeal and went underground when it was denied. They were joined by Ulrike Meinhof in forming the Red Army Faction, which continued to engage in arson and other terrorist acts for more than a decade. Dutschke, Enzenberger, and Nirumand wrote an apologia for terrorism based on Walter Benjamin's Critique of Violence and Herbert Marcuse's Repressive Tolerance.[14]