1964

18.12.1964 400 demonstrators at the airport in West Berlin. 150 protestors in clashes with the police in the streets of Berlin during a state visit by president Moise Tschombe (Katanga/Congo) in West Berlin. Rudi Dutschke later considers this demonstration the start of the anti-authoritarian campaign in West Germany.

1965

08.04.1965 Dean at the Free University of West Berlin bans lectures by the author Eric Kuby in university facilities.
07.05.1965 Mass protest meeting at the Free University in West Berlin against the Dean’s decision to ban the use of the facilities at the University by Erich Kuby. 3,000 students sign the protest resolution.
18.05.1965 Lecturers on strike at the Otto-Suhr Institute, the Free University in West Berlin. Consequently, both teachers and students protest the ban on Erich Kuby.
28.05.1965 Wolfgang Lefévre, a representative for the AStA, launches harsh verbal assaults on the Dean at the Free University in West Berlin at the opening ceremony starting the new term.
01.07.1965 At the University of Freiburg, the student organization VDS organizes the single largest demonstration against university reforms proposals during the 1960s in West Germany. It is a large and peaceful demonstration against Government University Reform proposals. Aktion 1. July. The demonstration spurs comprehensive critique against the University system all over the country.

1966

03.02.1966 - 04.02.1966 The anti-authoritarian group in West Berlin with Rudi Dutschke and Bernd Rabehl, a branch of the Munich-based Subversive Aktion led by Dieter Kunzelmann among others, put up posters all over the city protesting the American War in Vietnam. This action made the anti-authoritarian group known to the public.
05.02.1966 In a mass demonstration against the American War in Vietnam, 2,500 protestors take part in a peaceful march through West Berlin. 200 militants hold a ”sit-in” outside the “Amerikahaus”, a U.S. cultural institution. The protestors throw eggs at the building and lower the American flag half pole. Five persons are arrested – two of them are SDS members.
08.02.1966 Demonstration in support of the American War in Vietnam and in protest against the anti-American demonstration outside the American Embassy. The demonstration is organized by CDU in West Berlin. 300 persons participate.
09.04.1966 - 11.04.1966 Peaceful demonstrations during the Eastern Holidays against the American War in Vietnam.
22.05.1966 Together with several other organizations, the SDS arranges a conference about the American War in Vietnam in Frankfurt. Among the participants are Conrad Ahlers, Oskar Negt, and philosophers from the Frankfurter school – like Herbert Marcuse and Jürgen Habermas – both important ideological influences of the anti-authoritarian section of the SDS. Through this first national congress on the American War in Vietnam, the SDS emerges as the dominant force of the German anti-war movement.
30.05.1966 The student organizations SDS, HSU, SHB and LSD arrange a Congress in Bonn in protest against the proposed emergency laws by the federal Government.
22.06.1966 3,000 students occupy the Henry Ford building at the Free University in West Berlin. The demonstration is a protest against the decision that students will not have a say on closing the admission to studies at university. The protestors arrange the first sit-in/teach-in at a German university. Both teachers and students take part. Rudi Dutschke presents the theories of the anti-authoritarian section of the SDS in West Berlin.
02.08.1966 The SDS organizes a demonstration in West Berlin against the controversial film Africa Addio by the Italian film director Gualtiero Jacopetti.
03.08.1966 The Chief of Police in West Berlin bans all demonstrations against the film Africa Addio in West Berlin.
04.08.1966 600 - 800 protestors in an illegal demonstration against the film Africa Addio outside one of Berlin’s cinemas. 300 Policemen take part in the fights to break up the demonstration by force. 43 protestors are arrested; many of them are bystanders.
08.10.1966 Demonstrations against Federal President Luebcke in Frankfurt.
30.10.1966 A National congress in Frankfurt protests the proposed emergency laws. 8 – 9,000 persons participate in the congress. 24,000 protestors take part in the demonstration march at the closing of the congress.
26.11.1966 Actions against Dean at the Free University in West Berlin by SDS members during a mass meeting addressing the University reforms.
28.11.1966 SDS arranges a demonstration in Munich against German support of the American War in Vietnam. Parallel demonstrations in the USA.
28.11.1966 The student organizations SHB, LSD and “Die Falken” arrange a protest meeting in West Berlin against the establishment of the Grand Coalition.
30.11.1966 GASt and LSD arrange a protest meeting in München against the new Grand Coalition.
December, 1966 Widespread student demonstrations in protest against the right-wing extremist party NPD, especially at the University in Erlangen-Nuremberg.
01.12.1966 The Grand Coalition in German politics is established resulting in a new Government by CDU and SPD. Consensus about fundamental economic and foreign policy issues.
06.12.1966 Provocations against the South Vietnamese ambassador to West Germany during his lecture at the Free University in West Berlin.
10.12.1966 Demonstrations against the American War in Vietnam in Berlin, New York and London. The police attack protestors in West Berlin. Extensive police violence is used to put an end to the demonstration.
17.12.1966 Demonstration in protest against the police methods used during the demonstration December 10.

1967

01.01.1967 Kommune I is established in West Berlin. With its emphasis on provocation techniques, this German commune has similarities to the Provo Movement in Netherlands and the Yippi communities in USA.
24.01.1967 Widespread student demonstration at the TU in West Berlin in protest against Kanzler Kiesinger who pays his respect at a cemetery where also Nazi soldiers are buried.
25.01.1967 Hard assaults in mass media against the students’ demonstrations by the Springer Press, especially in the widely read newspaper Die Welt.
26.01.1967 The police raid the office of SDS in West Berlin and confiscate their membership files.
27.01.1967 - 28.01.1967 2000 students take part in illegal demonstrations in protest against the police raid at the SDS office in West Berlin. The police hesitate to stop the demonstrations.
18.02.1967 Parallel demonstrations in Hamburg, Frankfurt and Erlangen. In Frankfurt the demonstrators use smoke bombs against the police; others arrange “Sit-down” in the streets, and passively resist the police. Demonstration in protest against the American War in Vietnam in Erlangen. The American soldiers’ conduct in Vietnam is compared to the National Socialist SS.
25.03.1967 - 27.03.1967 Easter marches all over West Germany criticize lack of democracy in the West German society. Protests against the American War in Vietnam.
07.04.1967 Demonstration in protest against Vice President Hubert Humphrey in West Berlin. The demonstration is condemned by the labor unions in West Berlin.
19.04.1967 Fritz Teufel (24) and 11 other members of the Kommune 1 are arrested for making plans to assassinate the American Vice President during his visit to West Germany.
19.04.1967 2,000 students participate in an illegal ”sit-in” action at the Free University in West Berlin in protest against the university authorities’ decision to use disciplinary action against SDS members arrested with the Kommune 1. The police are called and they out the protesting students.
08.05.1967 800 – 1,000 demonstrators participate in a protest march to the American Consulate in München. The protestors throw eggs and bottles against the police. 15 activists participate in sit-down actions that block the traffic. The police arrest several who are later on prisoned or fined.
11.05.1967 Protest meeting in Nürnberg.
20.05.1967 Republikanischer Club in West Berlin opens as a forum for debate and as a meeting place for radicals on the political Left.
21.05.1967 The Senate at the Free University in West Berlin decides that SDS no longer is playing by the rules set for the political organizations at the university and bans SDS from participating in the student body at the institution.
26.05.1967 The Convent at the Free University in West Berlin reacts to the Senate’s decision by openly declaring itself as a political organization. The Convent also passes resolutions against the American War in Vietnam and asserts that university policy has a broader societal perspective.
01.06.1967 AStA arranges open meeting at the Free University in West Berlin about the political conditions in Iran.

The Radicalization of Protests
02.06.1967 Widespread demonstrations in protest against the Shah of Persia during his state visit in West Germany. SDS distributes plans to use eggs and tomatoes against the police. Iranian security personnel attack the demonstrators without reactions from the German police. 3 – 6,000 protestors participate in the demonstration during which the student Benno Ohnesorg is shot and killed by the police. The demonstration June 2 is a turning point in the protest. 3,905 police officers participate in the action. 44 protestors are arrested, more than 40 people are hurt – including 20 police officers.
03.06.1967 The Senate of West Berlin decides to ban demonstrations in the city. The university Senate decided also to inflict disciplinary actions against student’s that had participated in the demonstration June 2.
03.06.1967 - 04.06.1967 Nationwide demonstrations against the killing in West Berlin. Almost every university in West Germany is involved in the protest. Violent clashes between demonstrators and police in Hamburg. Many of the protestors take part in a demonstration for the first time.
08.06.1967 The Kommune I in West Berlin publishes ”Burn, Warehouse, Burn”-leaflet that the police investigate as an encouragement to use arson as a means to fight against the American War in Vietnam.
09.06.1967 5,000 students participate in a march in memory of Benno Ohnesorg. 100 cars in the parade followed his coffin to his hometown. Several thousand people are standing alongside the route from Berlin.
09.06.1967 During a congress in Hanover, Jürgen Habermas accuses Rudi Dutschke and the anti-authoritarian section of the SDS of practicing “left fascism”.
10.06.1967 10,000 students from all over West Germany march behind the coffin in the funeral of Benno Ohnesorg. More than 100 000 students participate in different demonstrations in the days that followed the killing of Benno Ohnesorg. The killing of Benno Ohnesorg is a decisive moment in the radicalization of the German student movement.
August, 1967 The students organize actions in support of labor rights and wage demands in the retail trade.
September, 1967 In a joint statement during an SDS conference in Frankfurt, Rudi Dutschke and Hans-Jürgen Krahl support the use of violence and urban guerilla tactics to change society
15.09.1967 Demonstrators walk in and disrupt a meeting at city hall in West Berlin in protest against Mayor Heinrich Albertz.
18.09.1967 The investigation report on the events of June 2 is presented to the politicians in West Berlin. The investigators criticize both the police and the students and make them both responsible for the violence. They specifically criticize the police and their use of violence.
18.09.1967 The Senate at the Free University in West Berlin decides that the ”Critical University” is not a contribution to the university reforms, but only a contribution to the APO’s political actions.
19.09.1967 The Minister of interior in West Berlin resigns as a result of the harsh critique of the police from the investigators.
26.09.1967 The Mayor of West Berlin, Heinrich Albertz (SPD), resigns for the same reasons and is followed by Klaus Schütz (SPD).
15.10.1967 Professor Ewald Harndt, a former member of the Nazi party and the SA, takes office as new Dean at the Free University in West Berlin. Conflicts with the students about the “Critical University”.
21.10.1967 10,000 participate in a mass demonstration in West Berlin against the American War in Vietnam. Similar demonstrations take place in cities all over the world – like in Washington, Paris, Copenhagen, Ottawa and Sidney. The demonstration in West Berlin ends in violence between protestors and the police.
09.11.1967 SDS members at the University of Hamburg disrupt the inauguration ceremony for the new Dean. They demand to discuss students’ problems instead of going through with academic rituals. The police are called to clear the building. The students’ actions are condemned by West German mass media.
20.11.1967 SDS members “walk in” and disrupt lectures at the University of Frankfurt. The Dean reacts with suspending SDS from participation in the student bodies at the university.
27.11.1967 600 radical students and 60 teachers from all institutions of higher education in West Berlin participate in the establishment of a “the Critical University”. 33 different courses and study groups are established.
December, 1967 The students at the Technical University Bochum hold “go-ins” to protest against the appointment of Dr. Kesting as a professor in sociology.
01.12.1967 - 07.12.1967 The SDS and AStA at the Free University in West Berlin host a “Vietnam week”. The event is a prelude for the conference in February.
19.12.1967 Students at the university in München under surveillance of police in plain clothes during a”Go-in” action at a lecture given by Dean Becker.
24.12.1967 Rudi Dutschke and other SDS members disrupt a Christmas Eve service in the Gedächtniskirche on Kurfürstendamm in West Berlin with FNL flag and pro-Vietnam posters. West German mass media condemn the provocation.

1968

January, 1968 January 1968 is marked by nationwide and widespread confrontations between students and university authorities at almost every university in Germany. The students demand university reforms.
10.01.1968 Six students protest the presence of police on campus by dressing in police uniforms and disrupting lectures by former Nazi professors at the University of Munich.
31.01.1968 Mass meeting of students at the Romanic Institute at the Free University in West Berlin. The students try to force changes to the study program. The SDS students disrupt teachers’ meetings and violently remove other students trying to stop them.
01.02.1968 Student demonstrations in four West German cities in protest against higher fares on public transportation.
01.02.1968 - 07.02.1968 A nationwide series of violent demonstrations in protest against the American War in Vietnam. In Frankfurt 1,000 participate in a demonstration arranged by SDS. The demonstration ends in a riot when the protestors try to attack the American Consulate.
01.02.1968 Holger Meins (later one of the leaders of RAF) shows film about how to make Molotov-Cocktails during the Springer Tribunal at the Critical University in West Berlin. The windows in the office of Berliner Morgenpost are broken the following night.
02.02.1968 The Springer Press declares the actions against the Berlin newspaper an act of  ”fascist terror” and compares the methods to those used by Hitler’s SA troops.
03.02.1968 A wave of violent actions in West Berlin and nationwide against American offices, national producers of napalm and against West German newspapers.
06.02.1968 Dean at the Technische Universität in West Berlin bans the Critical University from using facilities at the university. The Critical University moves all its activities to the Free University.
08.02.1968 SDS members disrupt an exhibition at the American Consulate in Munich. The police use harsh methods to clear the building.
09.02.1968 SDS arranges demonstration in Hamburg. Massive police force is present. Extreme fights between police and demonstrators.
09.02.1968 Federal Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger warns students that they will be punished hard if they participate in violent demonstrations.
14.02.1968 The Mayor of West Berlin, Karl Schütz, considers a political ban on SDS.
17.02.1968 - 18.02.1968 The International Vietnam Congress is held in West Berlin. The congress represents a climax in the international and West German anti-war movement. 10, 000 students demonstrate in West Berlin against the American War in Vietnam and  fill Kurfurstendamm. Rudi Dutschke leads the demonstration. The authorities try to ban the demonstration through the Court of Law, but fail.
19.02.1968 Walter Rüegg, Dean at the university in Frankfurt and chairman for the Rector Conference (WRK), deliberates about the Rector Conference’s proposals for university reforms in an interview in Der Spiegel.
20.02.1968 Federal Chancellor Kurt George Kiesinger warns against the mounting anti-American attitudes in West Germany.
21.02.1968 The demonstrations against the American War in Vietnam result in a large counter demonstration in West Berlin in favor of “peace and liberty”. The counter demonstration in support of the United States is organized with support from the Mayor of West Berlin. 150,000 people participate.
21.02.1968 The widespread demonstrations in West Berlin spawn demonstrations in other German cities like Freiburg, Bremen, Hamburg and Munich.
17.03.1968 Protestors attack the West German Foreign Minister, Willy Brandt, at the National Convention of the SPD in Nürnberg.
21.03.1968 Willy Brandt is reelected as chairman of the SPD in West Germany.
30.03.1968 Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Sohnlein, and Thorwald Proll set shopping centers in Frankfurt on fire, damaging property in the value of 2 million marks.
03.04.1968 Demonstration in West Berlin in protest against the American War in Vietnam.
11.04.1968 The student leader Rudi Dutschke (28) is assassinated outside the SDS-office in West Berlin. The assassin Josef Bachmann hits him twice in the head and once in the chest.
12.04.1968 Extensive riots in West Berlin. 300,000 participate in a demonstration in protest against the assassination the day before.
13.04.1968 Nationwide and violent clashes in West German cities between students and police in the aftermath of the assassination of Rudi Dutschke, e.g. in Düsseldorf, Köln, München, Heidelberg, Mann­heim, Freiburg, Essen, Baden-Baden and Frankfurt. The police control Kurfurstendamm using armored carriers to prevent demonstrations. The demonstrations are also aimed against the Springer Press and the activists try to stop the distribution of the Springer newspapers. Anti-Springer demonstrations occur in West Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Esslingen, Frankfurt and Munich.
13.04.1968 Federal Chancellor Kiesinger appears on national television blaming the demonstrations and the riots on the political Left radicals.
14.04.1968 The police break up a peaceful Easter march with 4,000 participants in West Berlin. The demonstrators demand the release of 350 imprisoned colleagues arrested in the demonstrations the previous days. The demonstrators shout “Rudi Dutschke”, ”Nazi pigs”. They throw stones, apples and use fireworks against the police. The police arrest 180 demonstrators. One of them is Peter Brandt (19) – the son of the Foreign Minister and Vice-kansler Willy Brandt. Demonstrations occur in Cologne.
14.04.1968 - 16.04.1968 Extensive demonstrations outside the editorial office of the Springer Press owned newspaper Bild in München. 1,000 police officers surround the building and prevent the demonstrators from storming the office. Violent clashes between police and demonstrators. The press photographer Klaus Frings and the student Rüdiger Schreck are killed during the fights. 110 demonstrators are arrested and seven police officers injured. Mass media blame the demonstrators for the clashes. Demonstrations in sympathy with the German demonstrators in several European cities. Violent clashes outside the office of Springer Press in London. Riots in West Berlin and student demonstrations in Frankfurt.
17.04.1968 - 18.04.1968 Peaceful demonstration in Munich. Students at the Technical University Berlin discuss the use of violence.
22.04.1968 Students of journalism at the Free University in West Berlin organize lecture strike in protest against the lack of university reforms and student representation.
30.04.1968 The German parliament debates the student demonstrations.
05.05.1968 Ulrike Meinhof argues in her weekly column in “konkret” that it is due time to move on from protest to revolt.
11.05.1968 40,000 participate in a demonstration in Bonn in a protest against the proposed emergency laws.
12.05.1968 On their return to West Berlin, 800 students hold  a “sit-in” in an East German railway station to debate how to support the revolts in Paris, France.
15.05.1968 Violent clashes between the police and students in Munich. 2 people are killed.  Students on strike in universities nationwide. Students on strike at the university in Frankfurt. Students at the Asian Institute at the Free University in West Berlin start a lecture strike that last several weeks. Demonstrations against the proposed Emergency Laws in several German cities.
16.05.1968 SDS members block the admission to lecture facility at the University of Frankfurt. Daniel Cohn-Bendit appears in Frankfurt. 300 students force their way through resulting in a violent fight among students.
16.05.1968 Occupation of the Administration building at the University of Frankfurt. Militant students use battering ram to break through doors. After 4 days of occupation the police are called to clear the building.
22.05.1968 The student leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit is expelled from France as an illegal immigrant. He leaves the country heading home to Germany.
24.05.1968 Student demonstration in Saarbruecken.
27.05.1968 - 31.05.1968 Students at the Free University in West Berlin follow the request of SDS to arrange mass meetings at the faculties and to occupy buildings at the university in protest against the Emergency Laws. Student demonstrations in Frankfurt. Mounting opposition in the SPD.
29.05.1968 Students occupy the University of Frankfurt, renaming it “Karl Marx University”. Student riots in West Berlin in protest against the Emergency Laws.
30.05.1968 The German parliament in in Bonn passes the Emergency Laws with 384 against 100 votes under heavy police protection. All German universities go on strike. Mass demonstration at the University of Frankfurt.
June, 1968 The University of Giessen is closed because of student unrest. Students in München, Bonn and Hamburg hold “go-ins” in theaters and disrupt performances. 2,000 Berlin students try to make contact with workers at several factories in the city, but receive little attention. Student at the Free University in West Berlin protest against gender separation rules at campus. The actions are successful and contribute to the lifting of separation in student dormitories.
25.06.1968 17 students occupy the East Asian Institute and demand the Dean’s resignation.
27.06.1968 Dean at the Free University calls in the police to have the occupants at the East Asian Institute removed.
28.06.1968 Riots at the Free University in West Berlin. Activists occupy the Dean’s office and the main auditorium. Daniel Cohn-Bendit is back in Germany and asks for more occupations of other institutes. Student reaction  against Dean’s decision to use police force to end 5 weeks of occupation of East Asian Institute.
03.07.1968 Demonstration in protest against the American War in Vietnam and a “blood donation” action in support of FNL at the Free University in West Berlin.
10.07.1968 Students occupy Dean’s office at the Free University in West Berlin once more. They demand his resignation and a full democratization of the university. Kommune I member Fritz Teufel proclaimed as Dean of a socialist university. The police are called in and they remove the demonstrators from the building. More than 600 police officers take part in the operation.
22.08.1968 Widespread demonstration in Munich and in West Berlin in protest against the Soviet invasion in Czechoslovakia and in support for the Czechoslovakian people. Mayor Schüttz leads the demonstration in West Berlin.
21.09.1968 Several hundred students, including Daniel Cohn-Bendit, take part in an action at Frankfurt Book Fair. The demonstrators hold a “sit-in” in the exhibition hall.
22.09.1968 The police in Frankfurt arrest Daniel Cohn-Bendit in connection with the SDS demonstration against the president of Senegal, Léopold Senghor. Cohn-Bendit is convicted for disturbing public order. The police use tear gas against the demonstrators.
24.09.1968 Demonstrations against the NPD meeting in Bonn.
27.09.1968 The author Günther Grass condemns the radical student demonstrations in Frankfurt.
02.10.1968 Riots during the NDP meeting in Bonn.
18.10.1968 The police remove 300 students taking part in a ”sit-in” at the Technical university in Bochum.
18.10.1968 Members of the SDS at the Technical university in Aachen disrupt Dean’s speech at the opening ceremony. The police remove the protestors. SDS is suspended from participation in the student body at the institution.
21.10.1968 Demonstrations in West Berlin in protest against the American War in Vietnam.
29.10.1968 Dean at the Free University in West Berlin removes the student and member of SDS, Bernd Rabehl, from his position as research assistant at the university because Rabehl had stated his support for “a permanent revolution” at the university during events in May.
29.10.1968 Teachers and students are on strike at the Free University in West Berlin in protest against the Dean’s ruling in the Rabehl case.
30.10.1968 Several hundred students at the Free University in West Berlin arrange a ”go-in” during the sessions of the university’s Academic Senate in protest against the handling of the Rabehl case. Daniel Cohn-Bendit is arrested again after disturbing a court trial against four radicals charged with arson crimes. Three of the accused later on become key members of the Baader-Meinhof group (Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Thorwald Proll).
07.11.1968 Demonstrations against the American War in Vietnam.
09.11.1968 Demonstration in West Berlin against the American War in Vietnam. The SDS organizes the protest.
14.11.1968 Violent clashes between police and demonstrators in West Berlin (“Schlacht am Tegeler Weg”) in connection with the court trial against Horst Mahler and his participation in the riots in April. The demonstrators are using helmets and batons. For the first time the demonstrators are actively prepared to strike back at the police. There are more police officers injured during the clashes than demonstrators.
16.11.1968 Demonstrations during the election in Germany.

1969

27.01.1968 Moderate students and teachers at the faculty of Math and Natural Science at the Free University in West Berlin protest all actions to “democratize the university by undemocratic means”. They protest the methods used by SDS and especially their use of force against fellow students January 31, 1968.
January, 1969 Mounting internal conflicts among students in regard to actions and protests that disturbed lectures and the normal activity at the universities. The political Left lost both its momentum and base of support.
20.01.1969 Extensive protests against the disciplinary rules at the Free University in West Berlin. 2 of 14 students that are exposed to disciplinary actions are expelled from the University. One student gets warnings and threats of exclusion.
22.01.1969 Students at the Free University in West Berlin break down the office door of professor Baader to force him to discuss the disciplinary rules.
March, 1969 The German Government announces plans for a federal university law that applies to all German universities. The reform plan sparks off a series of new protests and student demonstrations.
18.06.1969 Students at the Faculty of Economy and Social Science at the Free University in West Berlin are on strike in protest against the proposed new University Law. Clashes between students and police on Campus.
20.06.1969 Students occupy buildings at the Free University in West Berlin. The protestors build barricades and fight the police.
July, 1969 From the summer of 1969 the student movement is increasingly divided into different competing fractions on the political Left. The SDS loses its momentum and support from the majority of students.
10.07.1969 All German universities adopt the new University Law.