The German student movement took place during the late 1960s across Germany. It was started in order to change not only students' situation but also that of the whole Federal Republic of Germany. To understand the reasons behind that movement one must understand the general situation in which the students and the republic were at that time.

Historical background

Leading up to the failure of the civil revolution in Germany ( 1848/ 49) German students were very active politically. Together with the working-class people they tried to turn the empire into a republic. After they failed, however, the German students reversed course and began to try to follow the Prussian ideal of a "good citizen". During this period, the students stopped all political activity against the empire and began to become more conservative.

When the First World War began in 1914 the students were so certain of the power of their emperor that many of them went to war voluntarily. When the war was lost in 1919 the students did not turn to liberalism; rather, they became even more conservative, blaming the newly-formed Weimar Republic, its founders and the Treaty of Versailles for the sorry state of affairs from which Germans then suffered.

Partly because the German people and students were so used to being controlled by a single almighty authority, it was not hard for the German Nationalist Socialist party headed by Adolf Hitler to convince most students to join its student organization (the NSDStB - German Nationalist Socialist Student Union ) and to abandon their right of self determination in favour of a single leader. Thus, when Hitler gained full control of Germany in 1933, the universities were already prepared to serve his will. This may explain why so many students and professors worked together with the Nazi regime.

In the years after 1945 both students returning from battlefields all over Europe and professors that had remained in Germany wanted to resume normal academic study as quickly as possible. The allied forces agreed with this plan, removing only a few professors from the posts they had already held during the Nazi regime. In staying within the established structures of the universities, German students were able to continue with their work very quickly. They conserved their national-conservative traditions in student fraternities while liberal student organizations like the SDS (German Socialist Student Union ) played almost no role until the 60s.

All these historical events and processes formed the German people and the status quo of the 1960s. It is within this context that arguments explain that the people of Germany were not yet ready for true democracy after the Second World War. Some argue that the people had not overcome many centuries of authoritarian governments and still wanted a single authority to reign over them. Now they found this authority in the German government while the Bundestag (the German parliament) -- intended to represent the people -- was not seen as very important.

The beginning

The situation at the universities was also different than may be expected. The students were mostly taught scientific models of economics, politics etc. but were not taught how they worked, that they could be changed and that these models were only partly transferable to the real world. This curriculum was formed to keep the students from seeing the real connections of economy, politics and the general social situation making them as efficient as possible for their future jobs, to keep the Wirtschaftswunder of Germany up and running.

When the miracle was over, however, the German economy had to be reorganized; with the forming of the national unity government in 1966 the government had all the power it needed to shape the economy the way it wanted: there was no opposition left to question their actions. By this time the students had already discovered that the economic wealth of the nation, instead of improving the standard of living of the working class, would destroy it and lead to an ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor. This and the fact that the government was very powerful led the students to the conclusion that the German people had to become more democratic and that a new opposition had to be formed. Authority, they believed, addicted people. The media, however, perceived this new attitude as an anti-democratic movement because it was aimed against the society that they believed was democratic.

Through their critical work on many different topics and the reactions of the public and the government itself, these main goals formed in the minds of the students:

• Changing society for more democracy

• Dealing with Germany's and their parents' Fascist past

• Reforming the curriculum.

• Stopping the war in Vietnam and improving the horrible conditions in the Third World.

• Keeping the government-controlled mass media (especially publications from the “Axel Springer” publishing house) from controlling the masses and blocking the freedom of press.

• Stopping the planned German emergency legislature from being passed.

The first goal was the source of all the others and thus the most important in their minds.

To summarise, the students rejected the existing circumstances with the unequal balance of wealth, social injustice, intolerant decision-making processes. They felt the need to overcome and change these things.

The past

To the students, the German chapter of Fascism was not yet closed. Many former Nazis were still working for the government or at the universities and the newly-formed right-wing NPD (National Democratic Party of Germany) was attracting more and more voters. In addition to that the students had to deal with the fact that they were identified as Germans and blamed for the crimes committed by their parents’ generation.

The students did not want to be held responsible for their parents’ deeds. But their parents acted as if it was no concern of theirs; when the students tried to show the public that the anti-fascist idea of the constitution was not yet established in German society the government and the press felt extremely offended because they had formed a democratic society and did not want it to be attacked.

Reforming the universities

To support its new economic policies the government wanted to change the universities, producing graduates faster by introducing a time limit on courses and limiting the number of students. The students, however, did not want to adjust to the needs of the economy and the government. In fact, they wanted to adjust the universities to their own needs. They wanted more rights in the running of universities, better-equipped workplaces and the expelling of the professors who had been active during the Nazi period. The university boards did not react to the students protest and introduced the time limit for studying.

When this time limit was introduced at the Free University of Berlin during the summer holidays of 1966 the students were not there so were unable to protest against it; instead, the first big sit-in of the German student movement happened when they returned after the holidays, with about 4000 participants. The events at the Free University of Berlin can bee seen as representative of the events at all universities in Germany because the same events were repeated elsewhere a short time later.

The war in Vietnam and political suppression

Through their increasing interest in politics the students quickly engaged in discussions concerning the war in Vietnam. They formed the opinion that the USA had no right to fight in Vietnam, not only because of the victims but mainly because of their aggressively imperialistic policy. Since the students were very open-minded concerning political theories they were well-informed not only about Communist and Socialist systems, but also about Capitalist ones.

The government, however, had to back the USA since they were still watching over Germany after World War Two. For this reason, university boards put a ban on political activities by students (e.g. discussions) at the universities. They explained this act by saying that science should always be neutral. This was the same explanation the professors had used to justify their behaviour during the Third Reich. The students wanted to be able to act politically, not only because of the war in Vietnam, but to protest against the horrible conditions in the Third World as students and not only as individuals.

Emergency legislature

The students were strongly opposed to the idea of German emergency legislature which was due to be passed, which would allow the government to take various undemocratic actions in the case of an emergency. It would allow the government to forbid strikes, to censor the media, to spy on their citizens, to use the army against dangerous groups inside Germany and so on.

Action and reaction

By the year 1966 the number of students which were interested in the conflict between the students and the authorities had increased. Many of those who had not been interested before became at least passively interested by now. This newly-formed public took part in the demonstrations, sit-ins and other protest actions arranged by the students and their organizations (e.g. the SDS).

The reactions to this increasing unrest among the students were very superficial, sometimes even aggressive. The government tried to fight the situation by decreasing the funds for universities and student organizations and by agitating the public against the students with help of the press. The public opinion that students should study and not demonstrate became even more aggressive. The students got to feel this new aggression during their increasingly violent encounters with the police during demonstrations. But the more pressure the government and the public put on the students, the more the students would stick together.

On June 2nd 1967 the conflict would finally escalate. Students had organized demonstrations against the official visit by the Shah of Iran because the in their opinion the German government was demonstrating a positive attitude towards a dictatorial government that was suppressing and torturing their people.

During the first demonstration in front of the Opera House which the Shah was visiting it happened. While the police of Berlin and the Iranian service where attacking and hunting down the protestors the student Benno Ohnesorg was shot in the head from behind by Polizeiobermeister Karl-Heinz Kurras and killed.

The following days saw many demonstrations throughout the whole republic against police brutality. The students in Berlin, however, were anxious and in a desperate situation. The police was preventing them with brute force from gathering in public, the universities had submitted their authority to the government and the press wrote that the students were the brutal and aggressive component of the demonstrations and that they had provoked the death of Benno Ohnesorg. Even though there were some students groups supporting the idea of a violent revolution the protesting students were mostly peaceful.

For the following days the students took over control of the Free University of Berlin. Finally being able to meet again, they used the time to discuss and reflect on the events of the past days.

The revolt continues

The spirit of the students in Berlin spread across the whole country. In autumn 1967 there were organized protest groups at nearly all universities of Germany. In the following months some of the largest and most brutal demonstrations in the history of the German republic happened. The press, especially the tabloid Bild-Zeitung newspaper was telling the public what to think about those protestors. Its publisher, Axel Springer, did not publish any positive articles about the students. Springer supported the government and was spreading its aggressively conservative views among its readers.

At Easter 1968, there was an attempted assassination of one of the most important members of the SDS, Rudi Dutschke. The students were outraged because the “Springer” press and the government had named Rudi Dutschke their “public enemy”. Overnight students all over Germany organized actions to block the delivery of the Bild-Zeitung by building blockades and protested in front of “Springer” buildings. During these actions about 400 students were injured and two died. Rudi Dutschke died in 1979 of the late after-effects of his injury.

The climax and the decline

The revolt against the government reached its climax in May 1968. Students, schoolchildren and members of workers' unions formed a group of 80,000 people who demonstrated in the capital Bonn against the emergency legislature. Even though the students mobilized as many people as possible to support their actions they could not stop the parliament from passing the new law.

This failure marks the beginning of the end for the student movement. The former union of many small student groups representing different theories on the same topics was falling apart because they were blaming other groups' theories and thinking for the failure of the whole movement. This meant that the students were not working together anymore but against each other. By the end of the year even the SDS, the strongest of all student organizations, was falling into pieces.

The effect

Although the students failed to overthrow the status quo, the effects of the student movement are still visible today because the movement did change things in Germany.

The students were the first in Germany to carry their opinion onto the streets and the first to protest against the government with demonstrations, sit-ins and other actions. While this seems normal for us today it was absolutely new and provoking at that time.

Another side-effect of the student movement was the emancipation of women in Germany. Through their political work the women discovered that they were being suppressed by male society and that they had to change this condition. In addition to that the student movement brought up many theories on education and the raising of children which have influenced the modern forms of these processes. These changes and the huge influence on culture and art were probably the most important effects of the student movement.

An indirect effect was the "radical decree " which was passed in the year 1972. It allowed the government to remove people from public service if they had a “questionable” political view.

The student movement, although it failed to achive its main goals, brought many new and important elements to German society and culture which influence the country even today.

See also

• May 1968
• Daniel Cohn-Bendit
• Anarchism