There are particular time periods of German history that get some people 'hyped-up'. One of these time periods is the period of 1968.....particularly if you lived around the Frankfurt area.
What unfolded that year was a series of student riots in Frankfurt. West German authorities attempted various measures to contain it. The driving force for the students? Two things: student living conditions were condemned (in terms of apartments, pocket-money, etc), and some perception that the West German government was brutal and authoritarian in nature.
You have to put yourself into the mindset that this was barely twenty years after the war, and that the key players of the West German government were all men over the age of sixty....most had spent time in the war, and probably didn't have much open-mindedness.
So the riots started up.
In the middle of this, enters Rudi Dutschke. Rudi is a son of a postal clerk from eastern Germany. Rudi grows up in the DDR.....having two central interests....sports, and politics. Rudi's political interest is the kinder and gentler socialism angle. Refusing to participate in the East German military....he's denied entry into the East German university system. Oddly....one day before the 'Wall' is built.....he walks across and leaves DDR.
Over the next seven years, Rudi is going to broaden his horizon and becomes part of the student revolution taking place in West Germany. He's not a minor player.....he's actually moving up the ladder and being noted by a number of people.
In the spring of 1968....Rudi is shot by a Josef Bachman. Various journalists will attempt to tell this story....most leaving you with more questions than answers. Bachman is always described as a anti-communist. Most all want to sum up the Bachman side of this story in seven lines. Beyond that....he's a totally unknown character in the story.
The shooting? Well....Bachman did shoot Rudi in the head, but Rudi survived the shooting. A significant injury did occur, and it basically led onto a very limited lifestyle for Rudi, and he passed away eleven years later....never reaching the level of life that he had before.
Bachman, the shooter? Well....it's attempted murder and the court gives him a seven-year sentence. Roughly two years later, he commits suicide in prison (a plastic bag over his head).
The accusation by pro-Rudi folks is that a conspiracy existed, and that Bachman probably was led into this act by someone else, and that the suicide in prison might have been a 'hit'.
Up until this week, everyone had accepted the official version of the story. However, something occurred, and it's a bit of a shock.....they are reopening the file, and revisiting the shooting of Rudi. Little is said about the reason here. Maybe there's some bit of evidence that has come to light....maybe a letter.
Yeah, it's been fifty years. That is the hard part of the story to believe.
If a conspiracy? Who, and for what agenda?
My speculation is that Rudi was considered one of the top five student leaders in this 1968 revolution, and some saw this revolution in a very negative light. The German political system (at least in 1968) was still fairly fragile and hinged on two central political parties. Neither needed revolution on their doorstep.
Maybe something will come out of this, but I have my doubts that the conspiracy evidence will be found.
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