Opposition in the FRG Flashcards
What allowed opposition in the FRG?
- It’s democratic nature and the Basic Law
- This allowed freedom of speech, allowing opposition to exist both inside and outside of the Bundestag
During the 1950’s was opposition a concern within the FRG?
There was more pressing issues in establishing the FRG:
- Rebuilding the gov, a sense of identity to allow later reunification
- Rebuilding the economy and the physical aspects of the country
- Wanting to integrate back into Europe and a re-established party
What party did oppose in the 1950’s and why?
- The SPD as they were left out of the coalition
- They voiced against Adenauer
- Against the ‘year zero’ approach, allowance of Nazi membership and desire to integrate with Europe, hampering unification with the East
When did the KPD march in Munich and why?
- After being banned, 6,000 communists marched in Munich
- They felt unrepresented and unjustly silenced as they were not extremists, they wanted German Socialism
- Police had dispersed them with water cannons
In the 1960’s what was the youth attitude to the ‘year zero’ approach?
- They opposed Article 131 under Adenauer
- They asked “What did you do in the war, Daddy”, spinning the British WW1 recruitment poster
- They were opposed to the ideas of the older generation having contributed to Nazi atrocities now living a stable life
In the 1960’s what did the youth think of the West?
- They were opposed to the FRG military and its joining of NATO in fears that they would begin building atomic weapons or allowing storage of them
- They criticised USA for the way they were handling the Vietnam war and were called money-grabbing and exercising repressive capitalism
What was the APO and why was it established?
- Extra Parliamentary Opposition
- These were left-wing intellectuals, students, young professionals
- They were not trusting of the established government due to their suppression of the left wing
- They had a large student membership and radicals who carried out violent student protest after the SPD moved right in 1959
What film fuelled the radical ideas of the APO?
- Viva Maria! in December 1965
- Showed a radical revolutionary lifestyle with use of guns, bombs and social revolution
What was the SDS and why did it break from the SPD?
- The German Socialist Student Union
- Broke away in 1961 as the SPD stopped being radical and expressing its real views, e.g being against rearmament
What did the SDS protest about?
- In the 60’s and 70’s it wasn’t exclusively about the FRG, it was also about wider human rights
- Protested against Vietnam War and nuclear weapons
- Protested about former Nazis in government, naming them the Auschwitz generation
- They also became increasingly violent and argued against NATO
Who was the SDS leader and why was he responsible for escalating violence within the group?
- Rudi Dutschke
- In 1967, protesting against human rights record of Iran a student Benno Ohnesorg was shot
- This increased membership but split the movement between violent members and non violent members
- e.g Member Gudrun Ensslin argued violence should be met with more violence against the Auschwitz generation
When was the leader of the SDS shot?
- Rudi Dutschke was shot by a right wing fanatic
- This was due to criticisms of the students in conservative papers published by owner Axel Springer
- This led to a series of attacks on the offices of the Springer Press known as the ‘Easter Riots’
What was the final protest of the SDS?
- 11th May 1968 in Bonn against the Emergency Law that was instated
- 80,000 protested as they saw it as a violation of the Basic Laws human rights principle
- It had allows government to arrest and exercise surveillance on them
In the 70’s what had the Emergency Law led to?
- It had reduced groups who were protesting, but instead led to terrorism
- They put up posters of wanted terrorists to try help the problem
- However terrorists were in and out of prison, changing groups and giving pamphlets explaining what they want and why they resorted to terrorism
What was the Baader Meinhof Gang?
- Set up in early 1970, it named itself the RAF (Red Army Faction)
- They were influenced by Carlos Mirighellas publishings in June 1969 which advised getting training
- The group then travelled to Jordan and trained with the Palestinian terrorist group PLO
