Moving To Berlin and Radicalisation
The heated climate of the German student movement following the shooting of Benno Ohnesorg on 2 June 1967 made von Rauch move to Berlin in order to participate in the political protests originating from Freie Universität. He entered the Socialist German Student Union and was engaged in several left-wing protests for a better education policy and against the Vietnam War, which lead to his radicalisation.
During this period, von Rauch lived in a commune in Berlin-Charlottenburg in an apartment rented by lawyer and left-wing radical Otto Schily, who later became German Interior Minister. The group called itself Wieland-Kommune after famous Kommune 1 and had Michael Baumann as one of its leading figures. The philosophy of Wieland-Kommune saw a merger of socialism and Hippie culture, including the use of drugs and the embracing of the sexual revolution. Livelihood was achieved by illegal printing and sale of socialist literature and shoplifting (which was called "proletarian shopping").
The attempted murder of student leader Rudi Dutschke on 11 April 1968 and the May revolts in France led von Rauch and some other members of Wieland-Kommune to break with the German state system and they started attacking it. With the example of the Tupamaros in Uruguay, a group of "urban guerrillas" was founded, the West Berlin Tupamaros, which later became the Movement 2 June. Von Rauch was an active member and committed a series of serious crimes.
Read more about this topic: Georg Von Rauch
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