East German spy fired notorious shot that changed West German politics
The shot that changed German politics in 1967 was fired by an East German Stasi spy:
The killing in 1967 of an unarmed demonstrator by a police officer in West Berlin set off a left-wing protest movement and put conservative West Germany on course to evolve into the progressive country it has become today...Spy Fired Shot That Changed West Germany (Thanks, BillIt is as if the shooting deaths of four students at Kent State University by the Ohio National Guard had been committed by an undercover K.G.B. officer, though the reverberations in Germany seemed to have run deeper.
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History is nothing if not incredibly ironic.
This is one of the coolest stories I've seen in a long time. This adds a whole new perspective to an entire period of history.
Just to add another angle to the story.
The document was allegedly buried among the heaps of other Stasi files until, in a happy coincidence, it was found only days before the celebrations of the 60 year anniversary* of the "basic law" , which passes for a constitution around here, without being called one (that would be "Verfassung" in German).
(*) and the presidential elections that the conservative CDU won in the first round with some 613 votes, a margin of exactly one vote. Hailed by the CDU as stepping stone to a successful election to the Bundestag in autumn this year.
Which is a bit much to ask from a mere coincidence.
Of course, the fourth estate of the country, and first in line of announcing governmental announcements, didn't pick up on that strange little coincidence and our dear Mr. Schäuble will never be required to call any influence on the presidential elections absurd speculation. Much less that the spy might just as well have been a double agent. (Which would be less than surprising as it was common practice, but would not be announced by the western government. As, of course, all the West German spies were the good guys, whereas the East German spies were the bad guys and the public will have no interest whatsoever in what the West German spies did. That's equality of east and west for you. Sucks to be the loser of the cold war.)
Right now, the government fears the combined fallout of the recession and a more than a decade long policy of erasing social security, actively lowering wages through threatening and weakening labor unions, indirectly lowering pensions (held constant at non-zero inflation), inventing their own unemployment figures, ignoring deteriorating working conditions as well as not making some tough anti-corporate decisions in healthcare and failure to pay an improvement of education any more than lip service. To name just some aspects. (Others include the omnipresent tax cuts for the rich and corporate entities ...)
This has already sparked protests in 2003-4 (I think) and led to the formation the left party "Die Linke", out of disaffected labor union members, dissident politicians of the center-not-really-left-anymore SPD and left PDS, which, to the chagrin of the established parties, managed to enter state governments in some of the western Bundesländer as well. (An absolute first.) This also forced the established CDU and SPD into a grand coalition in 2005, as neither could form another coaltion without including either the dissident left party or the green party (in the case of the CDU).
The government *will* do anything to spread FUD to ward off sympathy with the protests of 68 (precipitated by this event), as this it what it fears. (Most of todays politicians grew up during this time and remember very well what this could mean.)
I read this. This may have been a galvanizing event, but this was just one provocation of many. The shooting of Rudi Dutschke in 1969 (who survived, more or less, another 10 years), for example, was another important milestone.
No one should be surprised at a Cold War German cop, whether East or West, acting as a spy or, better yet, possibly a double agent with a clear conscience giving good intel to both sides. It's an understatement to say post-war Germany was a mess beyond comprehension and absolutely beyond moral analysis. These were people who had lost a war to both East and West, after all, and had to find ways to survive among the powers that had ravaged them. I saw some of this and am amazed, almost disbelieving, at Germany's eventual emergence and stability as a liberal democracy.
But I find nothing surprising about this man's story.