1.2 Opposition, Control and Consent - FRG

Question 1

What did the KPD do in Munich in 1953?

Answer 1

6000 communists clashed with police
dispersed using water cannon

Question 2

What did the Youth protest in the 1960s?

Answer 2

‘year zero’ - ‘What did you do in the war, Daddy?’
military involvement with the west and NATO
atomic weapons
US war in Vietnam

Question 3

Who were the APO?

Answer 3

left wing, young intellectuals who favoured radical action and did not trust the government

Question 4

What did the APO do?

Answer 4

December 1965 - Viva Maria! film - radical, revolutionary with bombs and guns
violent (student) protests

Question 5

How did the SDS form?

Answer 5

broke away from SPD in 1961 as it was becoming less radical

Question 6

What did the SDS do?

Answer 6

increasingly violent student protests

Question 7

What happened with the SDS in 1967?

Answer 7

during a demonstration against Iran’s human rights Ohnesorg (student protesting) was shot
increased SDS membership but divided opinions towards violence used

Question 8

What happened with the SDS in 1968?

Answer 8

Dutschke (leader) shot by right-wing fanatic prompted by newspaper coverage
SDS attacked newspaper offices
died down afterwards
11 May 1968 - last demonstration against Basic Law (80,000 people)

Question 9

What happened to opposition in the 1970s?

Answer 9

in reaction to the increase in police control it became more radical and turned into terrorism

Question 10

What were the terrorist groups like?

Answer 10

fluid and constantly changing
several gun battles with police per month
eg. West Berlin Tupamaros - 1971 leaders shot or imprisoned - group disbanded and joined others

Question 11

Who was the Baader-Meinhof Gang?

Answer 11

nicknamed by press
influenced by 1969 book Minimanual for the Urban Guerrilla
trained with the PLO in Jordan

Question 12

When was the Baader-Meinhof Gang set up?

Answer 12

early 1970
first action bombing in Dahlem May 1970

Question 13

What happened to the Baader-Meihof Gang in late 1970?

Answer 13

most leaders in prison - went on hunger strikes
Meins died in prison - several lawyers and judges houses bombed

Question 14

What had happened to all of the Baader-Meinhof Gang by 1975?

Answer 14

all arrested and in solitary confinement

Question 15

Why did bombings become less frequent?

Answer 15

government control
not actually achieving anything

Question 16

What was sympathy to the Baader-Meinhof Gang like according to a 1970 poll?

Answer 16

20% of Germans sympathetic
5% would let them stay the night if on the run

Question 17

What was government control like?

Answer 17

lopsided like the Weimar
came down heavier on the left
BUT left posed greater threat with terrorism

Question 18

When were BfD and BND set up and what were they set up to do ?

Answer 18

1950 and 1956
investigate suspects of working against Basic Law

Question 19

What was passed to try and overcome the BND being hampered by civil liberties?

Answer 19

Emergency Law
tried 1960 and 1962
passed 1965

Question 20

What were the consequences of the Emergency Law 1965?

Answer 20

drop in open protests
increased arrests
underground terrorism (unintended)

Question 21

What did the BEFA system do?

Answer 21

gave BND centralised access to all FRG police information

Question 22

What was the GSG-9 and why was it set up?

Answer 22

special operations unit against terrorists
set up aster shooting of Israeli athletes at 1972 Olympic Games

Question 23

What did the GSG-9 do?

Answer 23

arrested some of the Baader-Meinhof Gang
17 October 1977 - rescued hostages on a hijacked plane towards Frankfurt

Question 24

What did the Employment Ban 1949 do?

Answer 24

radical political views could not be in government
seldom used (100 lost jobs 1950-72)
contradicted by ‘year zero’ policy

Question 25

What did the Anti-Radical Decree do?

Answer 25

political vetting for all state jobs
because of university extremism rise

Question 26

When was the Anti-Radical Decree?

Answer 26

January 1972

Question 27

Why were the Nuremberg Trials in Nuremberg?

Answer 27

symbolic of Nazi ideology - vast parades held 1933-8

Question 28

When did the Nuremberg Trials start?

Answer 28

18 October 1945

Question 29

What were the outcomes of the Nuremberg Trials?

Answer 29

12 sentenced to death
3 to life imprisonment
4 imprisoned
3 acquitted

Question 30

What was the general reaction to the Nuremberg Trials?

Answer 30

accepted as necessary for losing the war
felt it should be the end of pursuing Nazis - Fuhrer myth made it easy to blame Hitler

Question 31

How many people were arrested by the end of 1949 during denazification?

Answer 31

250,000

Question 32

Why was denazification problematic?

Answer 32

many had to join Nazi Party to keep jobs
more involved Nazis could remove themselves from the record
sheer scale was huge

Question 33

What was done to denazify education?

Answer 33

May 1946 - racial theory teachings banned
teachers and librarians vetted

Question 34

How was prosecution inconsistent?

Answer 34

1600 scientist and doctors avoided it by agreeing to work for USA

Question 35

How was education denazification ineffective?

Answer 35

caused teacher shortages
those banned in one zone just reapplied in another
1947 - more than 85% teachers in Bavaria who lost jobs had returned

Question 36

What was voter turnout like from 1949-89

Answer 36

always over 84% (very high)
except initially in 1949 when people were cautious

Question 37

How did opinions for the government improve 1951-64?

Answer 37

number of people who believed the Bundestag represented the people doubled
number of people who wanted the monarchy restored from 33% to 10%

Question 38

How was a support for democracy shown through demonstrations?

Answer 38

marches and protests:
against restrictions to democracy in Germany
for democracy in other countries eg. Greece, South Africa
against Ostpolitik if it meant relations with the USSR