Overview of the Semester

I learned quite a few things over the semester in this class. In the beginning the focus seemed to be more on tangible topics, such as specific places or people in Germany’s history, including historic cities and natural wonders. As we moved through the semester, we delved more into topics like the media – specifically radio and print media. We also read All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and learned some of the feelings of the German troops during the Second World War. We then did somewhat in-depth analyses of broad topics from three important centuries in German history, including the roles of men and women in society, the poets and writers, the rulers and government, the music, theatre, and dance scene, and the inventions and industry. We last watched the movie The Baader-Meinhoff Complex in order to gain an understanding of the revolutionary culture within Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, and to witness the dissent from the student population therein.

Overall it may seem that the topics are quite disjointed, but I believe that a knowing a country’s past is pivotal to understand its present and future. All topics were relevant to Germany, and simply different aspects of the country and culture. I do feel I’ve learned a lot this semester and had adequate opportunity to share my own knowledge with my classmates.

My final question:

Why is it that Germans will associate themselves more with their individual state than Germany as a whole to foreigners?

Rote Armee Fraktion

RAF (the causes, the three generations, the end, and the similarities between today’s terrorists and the RAF) (250-300 words)

            The RAF was a political activist group formed in West Germany in 1970, self-described as a communistic and anti-imperialistic “urban guerrilla” group. The founding members included Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Ulrike Meinhoff, and Horst Mahler. Created in direct resistance of the “fascist state” they claimed West Germany had remained after World War Two, their aim was to change the country back to communism and free the people from their corrupt government. The young leftists saw the denazification of the country after the Second World War as completely ineffective, and altogether a failure.

            Three distinct generations of the RAF can be defined. The first was the original founding members, from 1970-1975, more commonly known to the German population as the Baader-Meinhoff Gang. The second was formed soon after the original members were arrested or killed, and lasted from 1975 to 1982. This included also mainly students, and the majority were of a middle-class background, who joined the ranks when their own political parties disbanded. The third generation was active from 1982-1993, and was perhaps the most violent with the least incentive, according to Wikipedia.com and an outside source, “Tom Vague.”

On 20 April, 1998, an 8 page, typewritten letter was faxed into the news headquarters at Reuters, signed with a machine-gun over a red star and the letters “RAF” declaring the group dissolved. According to the letter, “Vor fast 28 Jahren, am 14. Mai 1970, entstand in einer Befreiungsaktion die RAF. Heute beenden wir dieses Projekt. Die Stadtguerilla in Form der RAF ist nun Geschichte. (Almost 28 years ago, on 14 May 1970, the RAF arose in a campaign of liberation. Today we end this project. The urban guerrilla in the shape of the RAF is now history).”

There is a distinct similarity between today’s “terrorist” groups and the RAF, in that innocent people were killed to further the cause of an extreme activist group. One of the most glaring differences I can find, however, is the fact that the RAF killed police and civilians of their own country for political gain, whereas modern terrorists usually murder other citizens of other countries for their gain. Occasionally it is political; usually it tends to be more centered around religion.

The Baader-Meinhoff Complex

Personal Response to Baader-Meinhoff Complex (250-300 words)

This movie was actually very difficult to watch. In one of the first scenes, where the police watched as the student protestors were being beaten and eventually joined in beating them when they attempted to defend themselves was particularly contemptible. It still sickens me that any first-world country would do that to their own citizens. The trials near the end of the movie were nothing more than show put on for the public’s amusement – they wouldn’t listen to what any of the members had to say and denied them rights in prison and during trial.

What most surprised me was the fact that there were separate and distinct “generations” of the group. Instead of a member forming another group around themselves after the previous leaders had been captured or killed, an entirely new section started up with members who only knew of the ideals of the last group, and not the individual members.

I do believe, from what I saw in the movie, that action against the state was necessary, but the RAF went about it in the wrong way. Instead of forming a cohesive plan of action to change the world they lived in, they simply struck out randomly and expected things to be different because of it. Killing innocent people and terrorizing a nation is wrong, of course, but they said somewhere in the movie that a good majority of the nation’s youth actually supported the group. This proved to me that there were a lot more people in West Germany who wanted things to change from the way they were then there were people actually doing anything about it.