March 8, 2011, 6-7:45 pm.
Parsons The New School for Design. 68 5th Avenue, room 101, NY

Sponsors: Historical Studies, The New School for Social Research/Eugene Lang College; The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture

Presenters:
Maria Höhn, Vassar College.  Co-author, with Martin Klimke, of “A Breath of Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany“ (Palgrave Macmillan)

Martin Klimke, Research Fellow at the German Historical Institute and the Heidelberg Center for American Studies at the University of Heidelberg.  Author of “The Other Alliance: Student Protest in the United States and West Germany in the Global Sixties“ (Princeton); co-author, with Maria Höhn, of “A Breath of Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany“ (Palgrave Macmillan)

Jeremy Varon, The New School for Social Research/Eugene Lang College. Author of “Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies”

Moderator:
Norbert Frei, The New School, Theodor Heuss Professor, 2010-11 and the Chair for Modern History at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität in Jena. Author of “1968: Youth Revolt and Global Protest, 1945“ and “Us: The Third Reich in the Consciousness of the Germans,“ among others.

Series “Zeitgeschichte im Gespräch #28. Transatlantische Verbindungen. Ein etwas anderes Erbe der 68er.”
Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, Berlin

Der Deutungskrieg über die 68er ist zu einem vorläufigen Ende gekommen. Die Helden sind müde und haben sich in ihre jeweiligen Stellungen zurückgezogen. Das Jubiläum des annus mirabilis 1968 hat zumindest auch in Deutschland zur Erkenntnis beigetragen, dass es sich um eine internationale Bewegung gehandelt hat. Dies ist auch der Ausgangspunkt von Martin Klimkes Buch über die deutsch-amerikanischen Verbindungen während der Jugendrevolte der 60er Jahre. In seiner detailreichen Studie untersucht der Autor die Kontaktnetzwerke, die gemeinsamen Ideen und die daraus entwickelten sozialen Praktiken ebenso wie die Reaktion der US-Regierung auf diese transatlantische Gegenallianz.

Martin Klimke, Historiker am German Historical Institute in Washington,  führt in seiner Darstellung aus, dass nicht nur die amerikanische Studentenbewegung Vorbild für die Revolte der Schüler_innen und Student_innen in Berlin, Hamburg oder Frankfurt war, sondern dass auch die Amerikaner Kontakte nach Deutschland pflegten und Anregungen mit nach Hause nahmen.

Wer waren die gemeinsamen Vorbilder? Welches Verständnis von Gesellschaftsveränderung hatte man? Und wie beeinflusste die amerikanische Bürgerrechts- und Black Power Bewegung sowie der Protest gegen den Vietnamkrieg die deutschen Revolutionäre? Welche Auswirkungen hatten diese Verbindungen auf die transatlantischen Beziehungen? Was sagt die Tatsache, dass dieses Erbe in Deutschland  (fast) in Vergessenheit geraten ist, über die heutigen Deutungsmuster der 68er aus?

With:
Martin Klimke, GHI Washington
Gretchen Dutschke-Klotz
Ingrid Gilcher-Holtey, University of Bielefeld

Moderation:
Marianne Zepp, Heinrich-Böll-Foundation

7:30 p.m.
Heinrich-Böll-Foundation
Schumannstr. 8
10117 Berlin

For further information, please see here.

Panel Discussion with Muriel Rouyer (University of Nantes, France),
Todd Gitlin (Columbia University) and Jeremy Varon (New School for Social Research)

The Graduate Center, City University of New York
365 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10016

“America in the World” Series Launch and Book Presentation during Princeton University Press’ Reception at the 2010 Annual Conference of the American Historical Association

04:00 pm
Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego
1 Market Place
San Diego, CA 92101

7:30 pm
America House, Munich
Karolinenplatz 3
80333 München

A book discussion at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars with the author Martin Klimke (GHI)

Commentators: Michael Kazin (Professor of History, Georgetown University) and Jeremy Varon (Associate Professor of History, The New School for Social Research, New York University).

3:00 – 5:00 pm
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20004-3027

The Book Discussion

Martin Klimke, Research Fellow, German Historical Institute, Author; Michael Kazin, Professor of History, Georgetown University; Jeremy Varon, Associate Professor of History, The New School for Social Research

Martin Klimke began working on The Other Alliance more than ten years ago. He describes the book as a story about a transnational alliance of activists that challenged the hegemony of the Cold War partnership between the American and German governments. Pointing to common characteristics of the youth movements in Germany and the United States, he argued that both New Left groups maintained Marxist leanings and dissatisfaction with the Cold War and Vietnam, along with an overarching condemnation of apathy, materialism, and capitalism.

In exploring the connections between the activist populations in both countries, Klimke realized that “the most effective explanation might be the simplest”: namely, that the two groups had actual face-to-face contact. Interviews that he conducted, along with previously classified documents, confirmed that this was facilitated by the institutional infrastructure of the Inter-Agency Youth Committee and extensive monitoring of demonstrations on opposite sides of the by both the German and American governments. Although the “other alliance” ultimately fell short of its objective, namely to construct networks against global imperialism, Klimke speculates that the social movements did lead to adjustments in U.S. foreign policy.

Michael Kazin began his comment by noting two highlights of the book: the chapter linking the Black Panthers to the German New Left, and Klimke’s comprehensive analysis of the transatlantic partnership between the German and American governments. In acknowledging the international threads, however, he also questioned whether the global movement had much influence on national sentiments and events.

Kazin drew attention to important differences between the German and American movements, notably the distinctive historical contexts and sheer size of the New Left populations (the American movement was much larger than the German one). Kazin also distinguished between American romance with the third world and German romance with theory. Finally, acknowledging his own autobiographical biases, he discussed his participation in the American New Left movement and described his sense that Americans were rather apathetic towards what was happening in Europe.

Jeremy Varon prefaced his presentation by praising Klimke for his continued efforts to facilitate international dialogue and promote transational understanding. He then outlined how The Other Alliance contributes to the scholarship about the global 60s. On a broad level, he said, Klimke’s work underscores the notion that anti-authoritarian movements were happening everywhere, particularly in response to global events. The book suggests that “dissidents developed systematic analyses of global power” and that foreign radicals maintained a sense of common identity. Klimke, Varon noted, also explained how Vietnam became a source of inspiration for the New Left by demonstrating that a relatively weak population could ward off the greatest super power in the world. Finally, according to Varon, The Other Alliance illuminated the common moral undertone of the activist movements in Germany and the United States.

Source: Wilson Center for International Scholars, see here.

Klimke illustrates that the cold war partnership of the American and German governments was mirrored by a growing coalition of rebelling counterelites, whose common political origins and opposition to the Vietnam War played a vital role in generating dissent in the United States and Europe. American protest techniques such as the “sit-in” or “teach-in” became crucial components of the main organization driving student activism in West Germany—the German Socialist Student League—and motivated American and German student activists to construct networks against global imperialism.

Klimke traces the crucial impact that Black Power and Germany’s unresolved National Socialist past had on the German student movement; he investigates how U.S. government agencies, such as the State Department’s Interagency Youth Committee, advised American foreign policymakers on confrontations with student unrest abroad; and he highlights the challenges student protesters posed to cold war alliances.

Exploring the conditions that catalyzed the cross-pollination of student protest movements between two continents, The Other Alliance is a pioneering work of transnational history that will speak to scholars and students on both sides of the Atlantic.

Published by Princeton University Press:

Cloth | 2009 | $39.50 / £27.95 | ISBN: 9780691131276
Paper | 2011 | $24.95 / £16.95 | ISBN: 9780691152462
368 pp. | 6 x 9 | 30 halftones. 3 line illus.

e-Book | 2009 | $24.95 | ISBN: 9781400832156

NEW: Kindle Edition
> more

More information or excerpts, see here.