Extra-Parliamentary Opposition

• Previous attitude of Ohne Mich - many had little to complain about.
• Reasons for the Student Protests of the 60s:

  • Kiesinger as Chancellor and his grand coalition (one party state)
  • First post-nazi university students
  • Overcrowded and outdated universities
  • 1968 Emergency laws
  • 1963-65 - trial of 17 Auschwitz guards provoked wider debate
  • Left-wing newspapers like Der Spiegel who criticised the conservatism of West Germany
  • Anti-American revulsion due to the Vietnam war. America was the overseer of West German prosperity.
• In 1966, 4,000 participated in a sit-in at the Free University. This sparked other students around the country to do the same. Police were used to repress them but the more pressure they used, the more outspoken the students became.
• 1967, Shah of Iran visited Berlin, leading to mass protest. Police used heavy handed tactics and Ohnesorg was shot. This was viewed as the first political murder from the republic.
• Ohnesorg's murder birthed the June 2nd Movement. One of key leaders, Red Rudi died of his wound after being shot in a protest were 400 others were injured.
• In 1968, 80,000 protested against the new emergency laws. 1968-69 saw opposition to the Vietnam war, the atomic bomb, the grand coalition and the bourgeois society.
• By 1969, the APO had passed its peak. The emergency laws were passed and it was divided on leadership and tactics. Some turned back to mainstream politics, some turned to communism and some turned to extremist terrorism.
• In response to the emergency laws, the SPD Students' Federation set up the APO (Outside Parliament Opposition)