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Student Opposition in Western Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Kurt Sontheimer
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Extract

THE OUTSIDE OBSERVER OF THE WEST GERMAN SCENE, JUDGING from casual newspaper reports, might be inclined to consider student opposition as a permanent feature of German political life. In fact, student protests and student demonstrations, though a recurring phenomenon in the Federal Republic, have been until recently rather rare and it is difficult to assess their influence on, or real importance for, political life. As a rule student politics whether they take the form of ‘opposition’ or not, are normally an inner-university affair and, at least in relatively stable democracies, come to the attention of public opinion only when they develop into political activity giving emphasis to outstanding critical issues in general politics.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , 01 January 1968 , pp. 49 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1968

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References

1 No history of the evolution of German student organization has so far been written which includes the period after 1945. An unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation by Martin Laubig ‘Die Studentische Selbstvemaltung in Deutschland’, Tübingen 1955, treats the organizational development. A detailed historical study appeared in 1932: Schulze‐Sysmank: Das deutsche Studententum von den ältesten Zeiten bis zur Gogenwart, Munchen 1932. Useful historical and sociological information is to be found in a publication entitled: 4 Duten, Hamburg, 1961, several authors.

The period of reconstruction after the second world war can best be studied in the Göttinger Universitätszeitung, later Deutsche Universitätszeitung, the leading student paper of a high intellectual level. It is now edited by university professors. The best (and the only) book on student politics after 1945 is by Herbert Adam: Studentenschaft und Hochscbule. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen studentischer Politik, Frankfurt, 1965. It contains a detailed bibliography covering all kinds of published material. Another important sociological contribution was also produced in the Frankfort Institute for Social Research: Habermas, J. et al.: Student und Politik, Neuwied, 1962 Google Scholar. One of the collaborators, L. v. Friedeburg, is doing research on student politics and the development of student government at Berlin’s Free University.

The legal position of student self‐government can be found in publications by W. Thieme, mainly his Deutsches Hochsbulrecht, Berlin‐Köln 1956. See also Bettermann, K. A.’s contribution to Universitätstage 1963: Universität und Universalität, Berlin, 1963 Google Scholar.

For the development and policies of the VDS see its numerous publications, especially the recordings of the Studententage, edited by VDS, Bonn.

The role of the university in the Nazi era with some reference to student politics is covered in a number of recent collective publications: (I) Die deutsche Universität im Dritten Reich, eine Vortragsreibe der Universität München, München, 1966; (2) Deutsches Geistesleben und Nationalsozialismus – Eine Vortragsreibe der Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, 1965; (3) Nationalsozialismus und die deutsche Universität, Universitätstage Berlin 1966, Berlin, 1966.

The radical position for a democratic reform of the university, guiding most of the left‐wing student politicians can best be studied in the voluminous publication by Nitsch, , Gerhardt, , Offe, and Preuß, : Hochschule in der Demokratie, Berlin‐Neuwied, 1965 Google Scholar. See also the SDS‐memorandum: Hochschule in der Demokratie, 2nd edition, Frankfort, 1965.Google Scholar

The problem of democratization within the university is well stated by one of Germany’s leading social philosophers: Jürgen Habermas: ‘Universität in der Demokratie – Demokratisierung der Universität’, Merkur, Nr. 230, May 1967.

For pertinent remarks about student politics which are equally relevent for the German scene, see Bernard Crick’s editorial: ‘ Student Politics’, The Political Quarterly, Vol. 38, (1967) Nr. 3.Google Scholar

See also my three studies on student politics: (1) ‘Einige Reflexionen uber studentische Politik’, Deutsche Universitätszeitung, 1965, H.4; (2) ‘Uber den politischen Bildungsauftrag der heutigen Universität’ in Festchrift für G. Leibholz, Bd. 1, S. 283 ff, Tübingen, 1966; (2) ‘Studenten auf Kollisionskurs’, in Merkur, Nr. 233, August 1967.