Tuesday June 10 2008 / Arts & Philosophy
'Unser Kampf 1968' - Debate on the legacy of a generation
According to the German historian and journalist Götz Aly, the history of the sixties needs to be rewritten. In his latest book, Unser Kampf 1968, Aly sets the democratic and purifying effects of the sixties within the perspective that the members of his generation like to give this period. He proposes the radical thesis that the generation of '68 did not at all settle accounts with its National Socialist parents. Both generations shared the same ideological and strategic tradition. Generation '68 was anti-liberal, anti-Semitic and anti-American, and challenged the ‘middle-class system' of parliamentary democracy.
Aly's book has stirred up a heated debate in Germany at the moment. The book raises questions regarding the history of Dutch student protests in the sixties. Must we doubt the positive self-image of generation '68 in the Netherlands? Aly will discuss the case with the Dutch journalist Bertus Hendriks.
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