10. frg opposition

• In 1958 the "Count me out" movement with close ties to the SPD organised a strike of 10,000 VW workers against nuclear weapons on FRG soil.
• There was little protest after the Banning of the Socialist Reich Party in 1952 and the banning of the KPD in 1956, showing how limited their support was.
• In Spring of 1964, Journalist Georg Picht wrote a series of articles claiming education was in crisis due the shortage of both teachers and resources. He claimed the level reached by school leavers was equal to that of some of the poorest countries in Europe.
• In 1964, 5 new universities were founded, others were worried that universities were making too many skilled workers for the number of skilled jobs.
• The Free University in West Berlin was established in 1948 and gained a radical reputation as students had representation in its governance.
• Students at the Free University organised demonstrations for more representation in JUne of 1966. These protests spread to other universities.
• The Minister of Science and Research announced a huge increase in university funding. The funding (DM 260,000) was double what it had been in 1955.
• The Vietnam war began in 1954 between Communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam (US Ally). Over 3 million people were killed over the course of the war. The Communists won in 1975 to create a united Socialist Republic.
• By 1969 there were 500,000 US personnel involved in the Vietnam war.
• In May 1965, students went on strike after the university authorities banned the radical journalist Erich Kuby from speaking against the war.
• In February 1966, 2,500 Free University students held an anti-war protest and in 1968, 12,000 protested against the Vietnam War.
• On the 2nd of June 1967 students protested against the visit of the Shah of Iran (brutal dictator). During the protests one of the students involved, Benno Ohnesorg, was shot dead by a police officer.
• In April 1968 Rudi Dutschke (leader of the Socialist Students' Union) was shot by a Neo-Nazi gunman. This led to 5 days of violent protest across the FRG.
• The shooting of Benno Ohnesorg caused widespread and sometimes violent protest especially once the officer was acquitted in November 1967.
• Socialist Students' Union (SDS) membership reached 80,000 in 1968
• The Socialist Students' Union was founded in 1946 as the student wing to the SPD. After 1959, when the SPD became more conservative, the SDS became more radical.
• In 1965, former radical communist from the GDR Rudi Dutschke became the leader of the SDS. They became more radical, arguing against the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons on FRG soil and former Nazis retaining positions of power.
• From 1966, the SDS became a vocal opposition group against the Grand Coalition that controlled 90% of the seats in the Reichstag.
• The APO (Opposition Outside Parliament) was short lived and had mostly faded by the mid 1960s. After graduation most members conformed although some joined more radical groups.
• In June 1968, Der Spiegel found that 92% of Berliners opposed student violence.
• In response to a Berlin Free University 'teach in' on Vietnam in February of 1968, city construction workers marched with the message 'Berlin supports America'.
• Der Spiegel found that 78% of working class Berliners under 30 were just as opposed to student protest as the elderly were.
• Eventually the magnitude of the War Tribunal process ment all 3 Western Allies lost interest in Denazification.
• Fragebogen


  A questionnaire consisting of 131 questions that classified each civilian into one of five levels of guilt.
• Emergency law was introduced in 1968.
• Ulrike Baader was arrested for firebombing a department store in in April 1968.
• 15% of the German population had sympathy for the Red Army Faction until 1970.
• In May 1970 Andreas Baader was freed from prison and the Red Army Faction altered their tactics to include bombings, assassinations and kidnappings.
• In 1970 Baader, Meinhof and other members visited Jordan for training from the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
• 7 million copies of Baader's wanted poster (DM 100,000 reward) were made in 1971.
• Meinhof was a leading journalist and Baader was a professional revolutionary.
• During the German Autumn of 1977 more than 28 people were killed and many more injured in bombing campaigns.
• The Red Army Group robbed 30 banks to finance themselves. They conducted assassinations and kidnappings of establishment figures and German and US military personnel.
• From 1972, the Red Army Group was attempting to radicalise people in prisons.
• Baader, Esslin and Meinhof were to die suspiciously in custody in the mid 1970s.
• The Red Army Faction ran from 1970 to 1998.
• The West German Embassy Siege in Stockholm Sweden April 1975, a RAF faction, the Kommando Holger Meins, attempted to get the release of RAF leaders like Andreas Baader. The terrorists set of a bomb and killed 4 people.
• In 1956, 3 million apartments were built in West Germany. In 1951 German industry reached pre war (1939) production levels.
• In 1967, 12 million Volkswagen were made.
• Karl Heinz Dellwo was part of a squatter movement, he was imprisoned for a year where he was repeatedly placed in solitary confinement.