Living Through Turbulent Times

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Arriving in West Berlin April 1968 to study for two semesters at the Otto-Suhr-Institut on the Free University campus, an American student was overwhelmed by a cascade of events: the shooting of Rudi Dutschke and the student revolt, the uprising in France, the assassinations of King and Kennedy, the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia and Nixon's election, with these shocks partially mollified by the rise of Willy Brandt, who initiated a new Ostpolitik aimed at achieving a détente in the Cold War. The young student's experiences, living in the Studentendorf, traveling in eastern Europe and beyond (Northern Ireland, Israel), the political quarrels within the student movement, led to an extension of his sojourn and a gradual adaptation to German culture. Through a series of misunderstandings he was directly involved in an attempt to smuggle someone across the Iron Curtain, a very harrowing tale. This chronology of events between 1968 1973 includes studies, work, friendships and a critical appraisal of the student movement in those years, all of which played an increasingly important role in his personal and political development.