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STUDENT MOVEMENT AND GERMAN TERRORISM 1

STUDENT MOVEMENT AND GERMAN TERRORISM 2

Role of the United States during the German student movement of the late 1960s

West Germany faced several tough situations, particularly challenging economic times due to the Second World War. However, this was not all the remnants in this country faced. There was a noticeable student movement in 1968 and also terrorism whose impacts was highly felt in the 1970s. The German Student Movement of 1968 is commonly referred to as 68er-Bewegung. One of the primary reasons that led to the upheaval in the education system included high levels of hypocrisy from the country’s government, students’ poor living environments as well as authoritarianism form the government (Rinner, 2013). Comment by Kathy Appleton: Syntax/word usage/word choice make meaning unclear. Comment by Kathy Appleton: Word choice: were

The United States played a major role in the German Student Movement of the late 1960s. The nation influenced the start of the movement and determined how the movement will be coordinated. To begin with, the United States and West German had a very close relationship due to the impact of the Second World War that had left Germany in devastation and the United States was the only major power that was left standing.

Secondly, the United States played a significant role in influencing 68er-Bewegung through its American student’s movement. The United States had experience student unrest in the 1960s just like Germany did. Some of the reasons why the students caused turmoil included reaction towards the country’s political leadership. During this time, Germany had had close dealings with the United States as (the) American government had shown a great interest in the country’s revival. The students from German Colleges had there been inspired by the ways of the American life. It is, therefore, logical to argue that though not directly, the United States Students movement had inspired the German Students to revolt against the injustices in their country’s governance and also issues in their students’ welfare. Comment by Kathy Appleton: Word order/usage

Post- war relationship

The U.S and Germany are two countries whose relationships before and after the Second World War cannot be underestimated. After 1945, which marked the end of the Second World War, the two countries were great friends, and their relationship was positive for the United States significantly participated in the rebuilding and rehabilitation of German from Nazism. The American government did this through the Marshall plan in which the country provided financial aid to revive Germany’s economy. Besides, the relationship between these two countries was still visible through international trade and anti-communistic ideas (Rinner, 2013).

The relationship between these two countries changed in 1960 because Germany engaged in the cold war. The United States had been working towards stabilizing Germany only to participate in cold war instead of focusing on fully establishing its economy. Comment by Kathy Appleton: Germany was an ally. The Cold War was basically between the US and the Soviet Union.

Comparing German student movement and its American counterpart

The 1960s period was characterized by numerous unrest in the school systems. The most outstanding unrest of the period included the German student movement and its American counterpart. These unrest were similar in some aspects, but also significantly different . One of the similarities is that both unrest were against the governance of their countries. As for the United States, the American student movement demonstrated against the political leadership and also the American culture. This was also the case with the German Student Movement of 1968 in which the learners opposed the kind of hypocrisy that existed in the government. On the contrast, the New Left or the American Student’s unrest highly influenced the Germany Student Movement. The issue of influence was one factor that was not witnessed in the case of American Student Movement (Huff, 2015). -5 Comment by Kathy Appleton: Word choice: disputes, etc. Comment by Kathy Appleton: What was the hypocrisy?

How the United States perceived by German students

The German students perceived the United States as a country of high intellectual capacity who could not watch the consequences of the Vietnam War but chose to share their opinions about it. Besides, the German Students perceived the United States as comprising of an individual who had a full understanding of their rights and also knew what civil rights actions they should engage in when fighting for their rights. The American movements’ therefore highly influenced upheavals in many universities in Germany. -5

German students' perception of America

I firmly believe that the German’s Students’ perception of America was correct. The United States has been known to be a land of great intellectual capacity were learners are interested in exploring and investigative works rather than just following some dogmatic tendencies in the education system. Besides, the fact that students were ready and out to rise against poor leadership trends which affected their lives as not only students, but also the larger society are an indication that the citizens are acutely aware of their rights. -5

Content: -15 What were the things going on at German Universities that made the students feel upset? What did the German students believe that the US was trying to do by having war with Vietnam and by promoting capitalism in Germany?

Syntax: -1 84 points Thank you.

References

Huff, C. (2015). Student Movements of the 1960s. University of Georgia; http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history/archaeology/student-movements-1960s.

Rinner, S. (2013). The German student movement and the literary imagination: Transnational

memories of protest and dissent. New York: Berghahn Books.