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1968 January, 1968 January 1968 is marked by nationwide and widespread confrontations between students and university authorities at almost every university in Germany. The students demand university reforms. 10.01.1968 Six students protest the presence of police on campus by dressing in police uniforms and disrupting lectures by former Nazi professors at the University of Munich. 31.01.1968 Mass meeting of students at the Romanic Institute at the Free University in West Berlin. The students try to force changes to the study program. The SDS students disrupt teachers’ meetings and violently remove other students trying to stop them. 01.02.1968 Student demonstrations in four West German cities in protest against higher fares on public transportation. 01.02.1968 - 07.02.1968 A nationwide series of violent demonstrations in protest against the American War in Vietnam. In Frankfurt 1,000 participate in a demonstration arranged by SDS. The demonstration ends in a riot when the protestors try to attack the American Consulate. 01.02.1968 Holger Meins (later one of the leaders of RAF) shows film about how to make Molotov-Cocktails during the Springer Tribunal at the Critical University in West Berlin. The windows in the office of Berliner Morgenpost are broken the following night. 02.02.1968 The Springer Press declares the actions against the Berlin newspaper an act of ”fascist terror” and compares the methods to those used by Hitler’s SA troops. 03.02.1968 A wave of violent actions in West Berlin and nationwide against American offices, national producers of napalm and against West German newspapers. 06.02.1968 Dean at the Technische Universität in West Berlin bans the Critical University from using facilities at the university. The Critical University moves all its activities to the Free University. 08.02.1968 SDS members disrupt an exhibition at the American Consulate in Munich. The police use harsh methods to clear the building. 09.02.1968 SDS arranges demonstration in Hamburg. Massive police force is present. Extreme fights between police and demonstrators. 09.02.1968 Federal Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger warns students that they will be punished hard if they participate in violent demonstrations. 14.02.1968 The Mayor of West Berlin, Karl Schütz, considers a political ban on SDS. 17.02.1968 - 18.02.1968 The International Vietnam Congress is held in West Berlin. The congress represents a climax in the international and West German anti-war movement. 10, 000 students demonstrate in West Berlin against the American War in Vietnam and fill Kurfurstendamm. Rudi Dutschke leads the demonstration. The authorities try to ban the demonstration through the Court of Law, but fail. 19.02.1968 Walter Rüegg, Dean at the university in Frankfurt and chairman for the Rector Conference (WRK), deliberates about the Rector Conference’s proposals for university reforms in an interview in Der Spiegel. 20.02.1968 Federal Chancellor Kurt George Kiesinger warns against the mounting anti-American attitudes in West Germany. 21.02.1968 The demonstrations against the American War in Vietnam result in a large counter demonstration in West Berlin in favor of “peace and liberty”. The counter demonstration in support of the United States is organized with support from the Mayor of West Berlin. 150,000 people participate. 21.02.1968 The widespread demonstrations in West Berlin spawn demonstrations in other German cities like Freiburg, Bremen, Hamburg and Munich. 17.03.1968 Protestors attack the West German Foreign Minister, Willy Brandt, at the National Convention of the SPD in Nürnberg. 21.03.1968 Willy Brandt is reelected as chairman of the SPD in West Germany. 30.03.1968 Andreas Bader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Sohnlein, and Thorwald Proll set shopping centers in Frankfurt on fire, damaging property in the value of 2 million marks. 03.04.1968 Demonstration in West Berlin in protest against the American War in Vietnam. 11.04.1968 The student leader Rudi Dutschke (28) is assassinated outside the SDS-office in West Berlin. The assassin Josef Bachmann hits him twice in the head and once in the chest. 12.04.1968 Extensive riots in West Berlin. 300,000 participate in a demonstration in protest against the assassination the day before. 13.04.1968 Nationwide and violent clashes in West German cities between students and police in the aftermath of the assassination of Rudi Dutschke, e.g. in Düsseldorf, Köln, München, Heidelberg, Mann­heim, Freiburg, Essen, Baden-Baden and Frankfurt. The police control Kurfurstendamm using armored carriers to prevent demonstrations. The demonstrations are also aimed against the Springer Press and the activists try to stop the distribution of the Springer newspapers. Anti-Springer demonstrations occur in West Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Esslingen, Frankfurt and Munich. 13.04.1968 Federal Chancellor Kiesinger appears on national television blaming the demonstrations and the riots on the political Left radicals. 14.04.1968 The police break up a peaceful Easter march with 4,000 participants in West Berlin. The demonstrators demand the release of 350 imprisoned colleagues arrested in the demonstrations the previous days. The demonstrators shout “Rudi Dutschke”, ”Nazi pigs”. They throw stones, apples and use fireworks against the police. The police arrest 180 demonstrators. One of them is Peter Brandt (19) – the son of the Foreign Minister and Vice-kansler Willy Brandt. Demonstrations occur in Cologne. 14.04.1968 - 16.04.1968 Extensive demonstrations outside the editorial office of the Springer Press owned newspaper Bild in München. 1,000 police officers surround the building and prevent the demonstrators from storming the office. Violent clashes between police and demonstrators. The press photographer Klaus Frings and the student Rüdiger Schreck are killed during the fights. 110 demonstrators are arrested and seven police officers injured. Mass media blame the demonstrators for the clashes. Demonstrations in sympathy with the German demonstrators in several European cities. Violent clashes outside the office of Springer Press in London. Riots in West Berlin and student demonstrations in Frankfurt. 17.04.1968 - 18.04.1968 Peaceful demonstration in Munich. Students at the Technical University Berlin discuss the use of violence. 22.04.1968 Students of journalism at the Free University in West Berlin organize lecture strike in protest against the lack of university reforms and student representation. 30.04.1968 The German parliament debates the student demonstrations. 05.05.1968 Ulrike Meinhof argues in her weekly column in “konkret” that it is due time to move on from protest to revolt. 11.05.1968 40,000 participate in a demonstration in Bonn in a protest against the proposed emergency laws. 12.05.1968 On their return to West Berlin, 800 students hold a “sit-in” in an East German railway station to debate how to support the revolts in Paris, France. 15.05.1968 Violent clashes between the police and students in Munich. 2 people are killed. Students on strike in universities nationwide. Students on strike at the university in Frankfurt. Students at the Asian Institute at the Free University in West Berlin start a lecture strike that last several weeks. Demonstrations against the proposed Emergency Laws in several German cities. 16.05.1968 SDS members block the admission to lecture facility at the University of Frankfurt. Daniel Cohn-Bendit appears in Frankfurt. 300 students force their way through resulting in a violent fight among students. 16.05.1968 Occupation of the Administration building at the University of Frankfurt. Militant students use battering ram to break through doors. After 4 days of occupation the police are called to clear the building. 22.05.1968 The student leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit is expelled from France as an illegal immigrant. He leaves the country heading home to Germany. 24.05.1968 Student demonstration in Saarbruecken. 27.05.1968 - 31.05.1968 Students at the Free University in West Berlin follow the request of SDS to arrange mass meetings at the faculties and to occupy buildings at the university in protest against the Emergency Laws. Student demonstrations in Frankfurt. Mounting opposition in the SPD. 29.05.1968 Students occupy the University of Frankfurt, renaming it “Karl Marx University”. Student riots in West Berlin in protest against the Emergency Laws. 30.05.1968 The German parliament in in Bonn passes the Emergency Laws with 384 against 100 votes under heavy police protection. All German universities go on strike. Mass demonstration at the University of Frankfurt. June, 1968 The University of Giessen is closed because of student unrest. Students in München, Bonn and Hamburg hold “go-ins” in theaters and disrupt performances. 2,000 Berlin students try to make contact with workers at several factories in the city, but receive little attention. Student at the Free University in West Berlin protest against gender separation rules at campus. The actions are successful and contribute to the lifting of separation in student dormitories. 25.06.1968 17 students occupy the East Asian Institute and demand the Dean’s resignation. 27.06.1968 Dean at the Free University calls in the police to have the occupants at the East Asian Institute removed. 28.06.1968 Riots at the Free University in West Berlin. Activists occupy the Dean’s office and the main auditorium. Daniel Cohn-Bendit is back in Germany and asks for more occupations of other institutes. Student reaction against Dean’s decision to use police force to end 5 weeks of occupation of East Asian Institute. 03.07.1968 Demonstration in protest against the American War in Vietnam and a “blood donation” action in support of FNL at the Free University in West Berlin. 10.07.1968 Students occupy Dean’s office at the Free University in West Berlin once more. They demand his resignation and a full democratization of the university. Kommune I member Fritz Teufel proclaimed as Dean of a socialist university. The police are called in and they remove the demonstrators from the building. More than 600 police officers take part in the operation. 22.08.1968 Widespread demonstration in Munich and in West Berlin in protest against the Soviet invasion in Czechoslovakia and in support for the Czechoslovakian people. Mayor Schüttz leads the demonstration in West Berlin. 21.09.1968 Several hundred students, including Daniel Cohn-Bendit, take part in an action at Frankfurt Book Fair. The demonstrators hold a “sit-in” in the exhibition hall. 22.09.1968 The police in Frankfurt arrest Daniel Cohn-Bendit in connection with the SDS demonstration against the president of Senegal, Léopold Senghor. Cohn-Bendit is convicted for disturbing public order. The police use tear gas against the demonstrators. 24.09.1968 Demonstrations against the NPD meeting in Bonn. 27.09.1968 The author Günther Grass condemns the radical student demonstrations in Frankfurt. 02.10.1968 Riots during the NDP meeting in Bonn. 18.10.1968 The police remove 300 students taking part in a ”sit-in” at the Technical university in Bochum. 18.10.1968 Members of the SDS at the Technical university in Aachen disrupt Dean’s speech at the opening ceremony. The police remove the protestors. SDS is suspended from participation in the student body at the institution. 21.10.1968 Demonstrations in West Berlin in protest against the American War in Vietnam. 29.10.1968 Dean at the Free University in West Berlin removes the student and member of SDS, Bernd Rabehl, from his position as research assistant at the university because Rabehl had stated his support for “a permanent revolution” at the university during events in May. 29.10.1968 Teachers and students are on strike at the Free University in West Berlin in protest against the Dean’s ruling in the Rabehl case. 30.10.1968 Several hundred students at the Free University in West Berlin arrange a ”go-in” during the sessions of the university’s Academic Senate in protest against the handling of the Rabehl case. Daniel Cohn-Bendit is arrested again after disturbing a court trial against four radicals charged with arson crimes. Three of the accused later on become key members of the Baader-Meinhof group (Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Thorwald Proll). 07.11.1968 Demonstrations against the American War in Vietnam. 09.11.1968 Demonstration in West Berlin against the American War in Vietnam. The SDS organizes the protest. 14.11.1968 Violent clashes between police and demonstrators in West Berlin (“Schlacht am Tegeler Weg”) in connection with the court trial against Horst Mahler and his participation in the riots in April. The demonstrators are using helmets and batons. For the first time the demonstrators are actively prepared to strike back at the police. There are more police officers injured during the clashes than demonstrators. 16.11.1968 Demonstrations during the election in Germany. 1969 27.01.1968 Moderate students and teachers at the faculty of Math and Natural Science at the Free University in West Berlin protest all actions to “democratize the university by undemocratic means”. They protest the methods used by SDS and especially their use of force against fellow students January 31, 1968. January, 1969 Mounting internal conflicts among students in regard to actions and protests that disturbed lectures and the normal activity at the universities. The political Left lost both its momentum and base of support. 20.01.1969 Extensive protests against the disciplinary rules at the Free University in West Berlin. 2 of 14 students that are exposed to disciplinary actions are expelled from the University. One student gets warnings and threats of exclusion. 22.01.1969 Students at the Free University in West Berlin break down the office door of professor Baader to force him to discuss the disciplinary rules. March, 1969 The German Government announces plans for a federal university law that applies to all German universities. The reform plan sparks off a series of new protests and student demonstrations. 18.06.1969 Students at the Faculty of Economy and Social Science at the Free University in West Berlin are on strike in protest against the proposed new University Law. Clashes between students and police on Campus. 20.06.1969 Students occupy buildings at the Free University in West Berlin. The protestors build barricades and fight the police. July, 1969 From the summer of 1969 the student movement is increasingly divided into different competing fractions on the political Left. The SDS loses its momentum and support from the majority of students. 10.07.1969 All German universities adopt the new University Law.

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