Ausserparlamentarische Opposition
Encyclopedia
The Außerparlamentarische Opposition (German
for extra-parliamentary opposition
, commonly known as the APO), was a political protest
movement active in West Germany
during the latter half of the 1960s and early 1970s, forming a central part of the German student movement
. Its membership consisted mostly of young people disillusioned with the grand coalition
(Große Koalition) of the SPD
and the CDU
. Since the Coalition controlled 95% of the Bundestag
, the APO provided a more effective outlet for student dissent. Its most prominent member and unofficial spokesman was Rudi Dutschke
.
(FDP) has often not been represented in Länderparlamente (federal state governments), but they are not classified as APO.
entered into a coalition with the SPD (the social democratic party in Germany) in 1998, remaining in government until 2005.
(the socialist German student group).
The APO was formed through the opposition mounting against the "grand coalition" government in power since 1966, which united the CDU and the SPD under the Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger
(CDU) and its proposed German Emergency Acts
(emergency laws), which would maximise governmental control in case of public emergency, allowing them to restrict civil rights such as privacy and freedom of movement. With 49 seats in parliament, the FDP was the only opposing party in the parliament; the rest of the opposition was extraparliamentary. This weakened opposition in the Bundestag strengthened the APO in Germany.
The APO demanded a democratisation of university politics A motto of the student movement protesting against the oldfashioned nature of higher education institutions was "Unter den Talaren - Muff von 1000 Jahren" ("under the university gowns, the musty smell of a thousand years"), which also referred to Hitler, who had called his regime a Reich for a thousand years.
The APO criticised society's repression of the crimes of National Socialism through its parents' generation, interested only in economic recovery. Thuse, it joined worldwide protests against the Vietnam War
and showed solidarity with the guerilla fighters campaigning in North Vietnam
against the actions of the USA. Among other protagonists, the movement idolised both Cuban guerilla fighter Che Guevara
and the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party Ho Chi Minh
. "Ho-Ho-Ho-Chi-Minh" was often chanted at demonstrations towards the end of the 1960s.
Soon student movement took part in discussions about society and made eidely criticised society, demanding fundamental changes in society toward a socialist revolutionary ideal. New forms of communal life were tried, as well as new forms of protests and political actions. In particular, life in the Kommune I
(Commune 1) was begun, spurred on by the words of Fritz Teufel, Dieter Kunzelmann and Rainer Langhans. Its members were often prosecuted, which caused a platform for further protests.
The APO also found support and theoretical guidance from intellectuals and philosophers such as Ernst Bloch
, Theodor W. Adorno
, Herbert Marcuse
and Jean-Paul Sartre
.
On the whole, the West German APO consisted of young people, mostly students, who could hardly gain a foothold in the work force and in the milieu. A few analysts of the time, such as Jutta Ditfurth, spoke out against these assumptions and embraced the workforce, including them in the political movement.
In France, the case was somewhat different. There solidarity was found between the unions and the student activists, which led to a near-revolutionary situation and much disruption, street fighting and mass strikes in May 1968, culminating in a state crisis. One of the protagonists of the German and French APO, activist and later Green Party politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit
was refused reentry into France on the initiative of president Charles de Gaulle
. Further members of the APO were Joseph "Joschka" Fischer
(German foreign minister from 1998–2005) and Matthias Beltz, who became a famous kabarett
ist in the 1990s and the 1980s.
when student Benno Ohnesorg
was shot by a policeman. Ohnesorg was attending his first-ever political demonstration, and his death left his pregnant girlfriend to fend for herself. The student movement radicalised itself, became more militant and focused its attention on the Springer Press, namely the Bild Zeitung (the German equivalent of the British publication The Sun), which greatly opposed the student movement to the general public. Almost a year after the death of Benno Ohnesorg, Rudi Dutschke, one of the most prominent leaders of the student movement, was severely wounded by three shots fired against him by worker and avid Bild-reader Josef Bachmann. Dutschke survived the attack but died from the effects of his injuries, which caused him to suffer from epilepsy for the remainder of his life.
After 1969, the APO, in its then-current form, played no further role in West Germany, although there was further extraparliamentary opposition. New social movements in the 1970s affected political and social areas, which had already been addressed in part by the student movement. Environmental protection and nuclear power became the latest themes focused on by former APO activists.
The "Marsch durch die Institutionen" (march through the institutions) propagated by Rudi Dutschke
was embarked upon, resulting in the formation of the Green Party 11 years later. The idea behind this march was that political structures could be manipulated only from within, so it made more sense for larger groups to disband and for individuals and smaller groups to work singlehandedly to change the political system of their federal republic. The Green Party was formed to organise and accommodate the [anti-nuclear movement in Germany]], the peace movement activists and other new social movements in the 1970s and 1980s, whose founders had previously been very active in the APO.
In 1983, the German Green Party) was elected into the Bundestag, where it stood for the concept of movement and change, so that its roots and philosophy were seen in new social movements. Within only a few years, the Greens gained much political power and prestige. In the time following the party's founding, there was a divide between the fundamentalists and the realists, which still exists. It is the willingness of the Greens to compromise and adapt that has led to their increased political power. In particular, since they entered into a coalition government with the SPD in 1998 and supported issues targeted by the APO which were in the eyes of many underrepresented such as participation in the Kosovo War
in 1999 and the Afghan War
in 2002.
, Gudrun Ensslin
, journalist Ulrike Meinhof
resorted to arson in department stores and illegal underground work. They collaborated in the "Rote Armee Fraktion
" (RAF) that was commonly known as the "bewaffneten Widerstand" (armed opposition). Bank robberies, kidnappings and even murders were committed against protagonists of the businesses, politics and justice by the RAF, the "Bewegung 2. Juni
" (Movement of the 2nd June) and the "Revolutionären Zellen"
(Revolutionary Cells) right up until the 1980s.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
for extra-parliamentary opposition
Extra-parliamentary opposition
An extra-parliamentary opposition is a political movement opposed to a ruling government or political party that chooses not to engage in elections...
, commonly known as the APO), was a political protest
Protest
A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...
movement active in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
during the latter half of the 1960s and early 1970s, forming a central part of the German student movement
German student movement
The German student movement was a protest movement that took place during the late 1960s in West Germany. It was largely a reaction against the perceived authoritarianism and hypocrisy of the German government and other Western governments, and the poor living conditions of students...
. Its membership consisted mostly of young people disillusioned with the grand coalition
Grand coalition
A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government...
(Große Koalition) of the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
and the CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
. Since the Coalition controlled 95% of the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
, the APO provided a more effective outlet for student dissent. Its most prominent member and unofficial spokesman was Rudi Dutschke
Rudi Dutschke
Alfred Willi Rudi Dutschke was the most prominent spokesperson of the German student movement of the 1960s. He advocated 'a long march through the institutions' of power to create radical change from within government and society by becoming an integral part of the machinery...
.
Classification
As opposed to APO, there was also opposition from other parties that, although they are represented in parliament, do not participate in the formation of the government. Small parties would receive too few votes in an election to reenter the parliament. For example, in the past the Free Democratic PartyFree Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
(FDP) has often not been represented in Länderparlamente (federal state governments), but they are not classified as APO.
APO in Germany
APO in Germany called primarily for the constitutional freedom of opinion, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly to convey its demands publicly. New political currents usually begin outside the parliament and usually creep over the Länderparlamente into the German Bundestag (federal parliament) or even into the Bundesregierung Deutschlands (the German federal government). For example, the Green PartyAlliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
entered into a coalition with the SPD (the social democratic party in Germany) in 1998, remaining in government until 2005.
APO in the 1960s
The student movement began to gain strength and momentum in the middle of the 1960s in West Germany. The student movement is often used synonymously with APO, since it was at the time the most prominent form of extraparliamentary opposition in Germany. The student movement reached its peak in 1967 and 1968, especially in the towns with universities. The most cited form of student-led APO was headed by the Sozialistischer Deutscher StudentenbundSozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund
Der Sozialistische Deutsche Studentenbund was founded 1946 in Hamburg, Germany, as the college organisation of the SPD...
(the socialist German student group).
The APO was formed through the opposition mounting against the "grand coalition" government in power since 1966, which united the CDU and the SPD under the Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Kurt Georg Kiesinger was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 until 21 October 1969.-Early career and wartime activities:...
(CDU) and its proposed German Emergency Acts
German Emergency Acts
The German Emergency Acts were passed on 30 May 1968 at the time of the First Grand Coalition between the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. The Emergency Acts faced opposition from outside the German parliament...
(emergency laws), which would maximise governmental control in case of public emergency, allowing them to restrict civil rights such as privacy and freedom of movement. With 49 seats in parliament, the FDP was the only opposing party in the parliament; the rest of the opposition was extraparliamentary. This weakened opposition in the Bundestag strengthened the APO in Germany.
The APO demanded a democratisation of university politics A motto of the student movement protesting against the oldfashioned nature of higher education institutions was "Unter den Talaren - Muff von 1000 Jahren" ("under the university gowns, the musty smell of a thousand years"), which also referred to Hitler, who had called his regime a Reich for a thousand years.
The APO criticised society's repression of the crimes of National Socialism through its parents' generation, interested only in economic recovery. Thuse, it joined worldwide protests against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and showed solidarity with the guerilla fighters campaigning in North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
against the actions of the USA. Among other protagonists, the movement idolised both Cuban guerilla fighter Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
and the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
. "Ho-Ho-Ho-Chi-Minh" was often chanted at demonstrations towards the end of the 1960s.
Soon student movement took part in discussions about society and made eidely criticised society, demanding fundamental changes in society toward a socialist revolutionary ideal. New forms of communal life were tried, as well as new forms of protests and political actions. In particular, life in the Kommune I
Kommune 1
Kommune 1 or K1 was the first politically-motivated commune in Germany. It was created on January 12, 1967, in West Berlin and finally dissolved in November 1969....
(Commune 1) was begun, spurred on by the words of Fritz Teufel, Dieter Kunzelmann and Rainer Langhans. Its members were often prosecuted, which caused a platform for further protests.
The APO also found support and theoretical guidance from intellectuals and philosophers such as Ernst Bloch
Ernst Bloch
Ernst Bloch was a German Marxist philosopher.Bloch was influenced by both Hegel and Marx and, as he always confessed, by novelist Karl May. He was also interested in music and art . He established friendships with Georg Lukács, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Theodor W. Adorno...
, Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher, and musicologist known for his critical theory of society....
, Herbert Marcuse
Herbert Marcuse
Herbert Marcuse was a German Jewish philosopher, sociologist and political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory...
and Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
.
On the whole, the West German APO consisted of young people, mostly students, who could hardly gain a foothold in the work force and in the milieu. A few analysts of the time, such as Jutta Ditfurth, spoke out against these assumptions and embraced the workforce, including them in the political movement.
In France, the case was somewhat different. There solidarity was found between the unions and the student activists, which led to a near-revolutionary situation and much disruption, street fighting and mass strikes in May 1968, culminating in a state crisis. One of the protagonists of the German and French APO, activist and later Green Party politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit
Daniel Cohn-Bendit
Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit is a Franco-German politician, active in both countries. He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France and he was also known during that time as Dany le Rouge...
was refused reentry into France on the initiative of president Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
. Further members of the APO were Joseph "Joschka" Fischer
Joschka Fischer
Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens. He served as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005...
(German foreign minister from 1998–2005) and Matthias Beltz, who became a famous kabarett
Kabarett
Kabarett is a form of cabaret which developed in Germany from 1901, with the creation of the Überbrettl venue, and that by the Weimar era in the mid 1920s was characterized by political satire and gallows humor...
ist in the 1990s and the 1980s.
Intensified conflict
A watershed in the history of the West German APO commenced on June 2, 1967 during demonstrations against the official visit of the Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza PahlaviMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
when student Benno Ohnesorg
Benno Ohnesorg
Benno Ohnesorg was a German university student killed by a policeman during a demonstration in West Berlin.- Death :On June 2, 1967, Ohnesorg participated in a protest held near the Deutsche Oper, aimed against the state visit of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was attending a...
was shot by a policeman. Ohnesorg was attending his first-ever political demonstration, and his death left his pregnant girlfriend to fend for herself. The student movement radicalised itself, became more militant and focused its attention on the Springer Press, namely the Bild Zeitung (the German equivalent of the British publication The Sun), which greatly opposed the student movement to the general public. Almost a year after the death of Benno Ohnesorg, Rudi Dutschke, one of the most prominent leaders of the student movement, was severely wounded by three shots fired against him by worker and avid Bild-reader Josef Bachmann. Dutschke survived the attack but died from the effects of his injuries, which caused him to suffer from epilepsy for the remainder of his life.
After 1969, the APO, in its then-current form, played no further role in West Germany, although there was further extraparliamentary opposition. New social movements in the 1970s affected political and social areas, which had already been addressed in part by the student movement. Environmental protection and nuclear power became the latest themes focused on by former APO activists.
From the end of the SDS to the founding of the Green Party (end 1960s to present day)
The SDS disbanded itself in 1968, dividing into smaller communist groups known as K-Gruppen, which remained on the political landscape but had no notable influence on West German politics.The "Marsch durch die Institutionen" (march through the institutions) propagated by Rudi Dutschke
Rudi Dutschke
Alfred Willi Rudi Dutschke was the most prominent spokesperson of the German student movement of the 1960s. He advocated 'a long march through the institutions' of power to create radical change from within government and society by becoming an integral part of the machinery...
was embarked upon, resulting in the formation of the Green Party 11 years later. The idea behind this march was that political structures could be manipulated only from within, so it made more sense for larger groups to disband and for individuals and smaller groups to work singlehandedly to change the political system of their federal republic. The Green Party was formed to organise and accommodate the [anti-nuclear movement in Germany]], the peace movement activists and other new social movements in the 1970s and 1980s, whose founders had previously been very active in the APO.
In 1983, the German Green Party) was elected into the Bundestag, where it stood for the concept of movement and change, so that its roots and philosophy were seen in new social movements. Within only a few years, the Greens gained much political power and prestige. In the time following the party's founding, there was a divide between the fundamentalists and the realists, which still exists. It is the willingness of the Greens to compromise and adapt that has led to their increased political power. In particular, since they entered into a coalition government with the SPD in 1998 and supported issues targeted by the APO which were in the eyes of many underrepresented such as participation in the Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
in 1999 and the Afghan War
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
in 2002.
Radicalised Groups
A small number of APO activists such as Andreas BaaderAndreas Baader
Andreas Bernd Baader was one of the first leaders of the German left-wing militant organization Red Army Faction, also commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang.- Life :...
, Gudrun Ensslin
Gudrun Ensslin
Gudrun Ensslin was a founder of the German militant group Red Army Faction . After becoming involved with co-founder Andreas Baader, Ensslin was influential in the politicization of Baader's voluntaristic anarchistic beliefs. Ensslin was perhaps the intellectual head of the RAF...
, journalist Ulrike Meinhof
Ulrike Meinhof
Ulrike Marie Meinhof was a German left-wing militant. She co-founded the Red Army Faction in 1970 after having previously worked as a journalist for the monthly left-wing magazine Konkret. She was arrested in 1972, and eventually charged with numerous murders and the formation of a criminal...
resorted to arson in department stores and illegal underground work. They collaborated in the "Rote Armee Fraktion
Red Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
" (RAF) that was commonly known as the "bewaffneten Widerstand" (armed opposition). Bank robberies, kidnappings and even murders were committed against protagonists of the businesses, politics and justice by the RAF, the "Bewegung 2. Juni
Movement 2 June
Movement 2 June was a West German terrorist organization that was based out of West Berlin. Active only from 1971–1980, the anarchist group was one of the few violent groups at the time in West Germany. Although Movement 2 June did not share the same ideology as the Red Army Faction , these...
" (Movement of the 2nd June) and the "Revolutionären Zellen"
Revolutionary Cells (RZ)
Revolutionary Cells was a German left-wing political militancy of self-described "urban guerillas" who were active from 1973 to 1993. According to the office of the German Federal Prosecutor, the RZ claimed responsibility for 186 attacks, of which 40 were committed in West Berlin...
(Revolutionary Cells) right up until the 1980s.