What was happening in Germany in 1968? | DW Documentary

In Germany, 1968 is remembered as a year of student demonstrations, police crackdowns, sit-ins and communes. [Online until: 19.07.2018]
These pictures are branded in Germany’s collective memory. But was that the sole truth of 1968? There was another reality too: women in the kitchen, serving breakfast to their working husbands. And in the pop charts, child star Heintje stormed past the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. This documentary depicts German life in 1968 in both the Federal Republic of Germany and in communist East Germany, in the big city and in the rural areas. Half a century later, the film shines the spotlight on a year that marked a historic turning point for today's Germany. More than two decades after the end of the Second World War, West Germany was in the midst of its economic miracle. The economy was booming and prosperity was growing, but the rebuilt country was facing new challenges. Student protests and extra-parliamentary opposition movements dominated the news. Even today, memories of this year vary widely. While some were student protesters, others were police officers who broke up demonstrations. Still others were politically committed apprentices in the steelworks, or designed provocative fashion, or protested the East German regime, or conquered hearts all over the country as a child singer. As the sum of these experiences and perspectives makes clear, 1968 in both East and West Germany was a year like no other.
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