The Past
To the students, the German chapter of Fascism was not yet closed. Many former Nazis were still working for the government or at the universities (in fact, then-Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger had formerly been a member of the NSDAP) and the newly-formed right-wing National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) was attracting more and more voters. In addition to that the students had to deal with the fact that they were identified as Germans and blamed for the crimes committed by their parents’ generation.
The students did not want to be held responsible for their parents’ deeds. But their parents acted as if it were no concern of theirs; when the students tried to show the public that the anti-fascist idea of the constitution was not yet established in German society, the government and the press felt extremely offended, feeling they had formed a democratic society and did not want it to be attacked.
Read more about this topic: German Student Movement
Famous quotes related to the past:
“Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand-daughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said ‘On the line!’ The Reconstruction said ‘Go!’ I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)