2. Opposition to government 1945–1989 Flashcards
The Basic Law
The Basic Law that ensured free speech, freedom of the press and no censorship which meant opposition had a voice again
Political dissent and active challenge were less important than the bigger issues of the time…
Rebuilding the government by working together in useful coalitions to avoid problems that the Weimar government had
Establishing the FRG as a viable, moderate member of Europe and building a sense of identity while leaving room for reunification with East Germany
Rebuilding the economy and physically rebuilding the
country
Voters wanted parties that trod a moderate line so SPD (the party with the most radical political agenda) was not part of the government and became the group that voiced political opposition in the 1950s - argued against Adenauer’s ‘year zero; and his desire to align the FRG with Europe.
Basic Law clause towards political parties
The government used a clause in the Basic Law that said political parties could exist as long as they did not threaten the constitution or the principles of democracy to ban the right-wing Socialist Reich Party in 1952 because it was expressing views too reminiscent of those of the Nazi regime and therefore a threat to democracy
Demonstrations and marches in the 1950s
The KPD began to organise communist demonstrations (unable to win enough seats in the Bundestag) - in Munich 1953, the police used water cannon to disperse 6000 communist marchers
Challenges in the 1960s
Youth protest: young people objected to the ‘year zero; (principle that helped Adenauer rebuild the civil service) They adopted the slogan ‘What did you do in the war, Daddy?’ to taunt the older generation and because some young people genuinely felt dislocated by the widespread lack of family history ad a result of the ‘year zero’ behaviour.
Protests against the FRG’s military - it’s involvement with the West through NATO and the possibility it might start to build and store atomic weapon
The APO - The Ausserparliamentarische Oppostion (the Extra-Parliamentary Opposition)
Left wing group with left-wing intellectuals (students or young professionals) as core members who distrusted the established conservative government because there were no left-parties to absorb them after the KPD was banned and the SPD revised it’s policies to become less radical. Violent political protest began to gather force
The SDS - The German Socialist Student Union
Previously part of the SPD but broke away because it felt the party was becoming less radical and no longer represents its feeling e.g over rearmament
Much radical protest in the 1960s and violent terrorism in the 1970s was not always directed at political issues but at various human rights and moral issues in the world e.g The SDS protested about the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons
The SDS also protested about former Nazis holding office in government and the FRG;s involvement in NAT)
The Easter Riots 1960s
Series of attackers by the SDS on offices of the Springer Press after a right-wing fanatic shot Rudi Dutschke (SDS Leader) after reading criticisms of student protests by by the conservative newspaper owner Axcel Springer
Demonstration against the emergency laws
May 1968 against the Emergency Law with 80,000 people protesting against what they saw as a violation of the Basic Law’s human rights principles and concern that concern that the emergency law could give the government extraordinary powers - law was passed anyways
Challenges in the 1970s
Government pressure on protest and dissent via the emergency laws and police control reduced the amount of protests but made some groups feel more marginalised and so increase the level of violence by resorting to terrorism
Terrorist groups in the 1970s
Terrorist groups were fluid e.g. In 1971, one of the leaders of the West Berlin Tupamaros was shot by the police whilst the other was in prison so its members moved on to other groups
The police developed hard-line policies including putting up posters of wanted terrorists and appealing to the public to turn them in and regular gun battles sometimes several times a month
Red Army Faction - Baader-Meinhof Gang
One of the most long-lived terrorist groups (first known action = bombing in Dahlem in May 1970) - Most gang’s leaders were in prison by the end of the 1970s and they called for hunger strikes - Hoglar Meins (one of the strikers) died in prison and this resulted in bombings of homes of several lawyers and judges involved in the trials that sent the gang members to prison.
Result of the Red Army Faction being arrested
By 1975 all the Baader-Meinhof Gang were arrested - their were some bombings in Stockholm and Paris to show support for them but then terrorist activity in the FRG slowed.
Public reaction to protests
level of sympathy for terrorist groups - a public poll in 1970 showed that one in five Germans felt sympathy for the Baader-Meinhof Gang which suggests government action against these groups did not always get a positive reaction from members of the public which could be seen as a lack of success
The government’s difficult position (similarities to Weimar)
It wanted to uphold democracy and free speech but did not want this democracy overthrown by groups from either side
Like Weimar it came down on more heavily on left-wing extremists although it could be argued that these groups posed more of a threat - (terrorist groups in the 1970s were left-wing)
