Ganymede History

 Germany: June 2 1967, Shah Visit and Death of Benno Ohnesorg The years 1967 and 1968 were exceptionally turbulent not just in Western Germany but many parts of Europe. At June 2 1967 the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was visiting West Berlin. This was highly controversial especially in the eyes of German students since the Shah was a dictator who was torturing and executing his people. Yet the official position of the Western German government was positive towards him and large parts of the public adored him and his wife. The couple was a favorite in the tabloids back then. At an official event in front of a Berlin city hall protests broke out at noon. Students were holding up signs and banners protesting the situation in Iran. Yet there weren't only people there who were against the Shah. A large group of people was cheering towards the Shah. Those persons weren't German citizens, they were actually Iranian secret service agents. The Shah brought them to give him s...

Germany: Grand Coalition, Emergency Laws and APO The changing political landscape within West Germany also had an affect on the student movement. Until this point the conservative parties CDU/CSU (who always work together in a partnership) were governing alone or in a coalition with the liberal party FDP . Yet in 1966 there was a coalition between the two largest parties, the CDU/CSU and the social democratic party SPD . This "Große Koalition", 'grand coalition', was a significant change for the political landscape. Suddenly the whole opposition was represented by the relatively small FDP. Plans by the Große Koalition to change the rules about voting further alarmed many people who didn't think the FDP was strong enough as an opposition or who didn't feel properly represented by it. Many young people also felt disappointed by the only large left party SPD following controversial and relatively conservative politics. A new protest movement was created call...

German society of the 1960s Part 3 The Western German students cared both about education and the fight for the powerless. Both of those goals combined when it was about child-rearing. Raising children used to be a very cold matter with little empathy and a lot of violence. Beating your children and expecting obedience was very common, many parents didn't know anything else. Even worse were children's home that were affected by the old Nazi way of thinking. Children were treated like recruited soldiers, they were forced to work very hard, they were beaten and often sexually abused. Many students and other young adults started questioning this. They debated different ways to raise children without violence or even an upbringing without authority. People tried being more empathic with children and treating them with respect. It wasn't just theory what they were doing. Many people helped children who were in need. Many children from notorious children's homes ran away. S...

German society of the 1960s Part 2 Within a society there's a group of highly educated, critical thinkers who may get called intellectuals or Intelligentsia . Until this point in history the majority of this group in Germany had been conservative or right-leaning. They were often against democratic and labor movements, they represented the establishment and the elite and they wanted to keep those structures intact. During the 60s this started to change. Western German students had been mostly conservative or apolitical during the 50s but now they started to lean left. They became critical of capitalism, the pervasive fight against communism, the exploitation of the Third World and the nuclear arms race. They questioned both the Western German society and the state the world was in, they became highly political. This wasn't an isolated movement. Many countries around the world experienced (left-leaning) student movements during the 60s. Particularly important were the ones...

German society of the 1960s Part 1 During the 60s the Western German society began to change rapidly. After the war people had started getting more children again. The new prosperity of the Wirtschaftswunder further reinforced this effect. Now, 20 years after the end of the war, many of those were teenagers or young adults. They represented a relatively large percentage of the population and they started questioning the rules of their parents generation. Women became more independent. The invention of contraceptive pills meant they could feel safer in avoiding a pregnancy. An unwanted pregnancy was a huge problem for a woman during the 50s. Unwed mothers were heavily ostracized and discriminated. There wasn't as much social welfare as there is today. The "pill", as it was colloquially called in Germany, drastically changed the form of relationships. Women had more power and control over their own lives. Relationships started getting more free from restriction and ...

Kennedy visit and "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in 1963 One year after the Cuban Missile Crisis president John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin at June 26th 1963. Kennedy had to accept the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 without being able to do anything about it. At that time people in the US had accused him of not responding forcefully to the construction of the wall. His visit at the 15th anniversary of the Berlin airlift and his speech were supposed to show his support towards West Berlin and his determined fight against communism. Kennedy didn't have the intention to substantially act against the confinement of West Berlin. Despite its oppressing nature the construction of the Berlin Wall represented a peaceful outcome out of the Berlin Crisis . The main goals of the Western Bloc were still achieved. The Western Powers were able to have representation within their sectors, they had access to West Berlin and the safety and the rights of the West ...