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June 1, 1967

Lecture about the Situation in Persia by Dr. Bahman Nirumand, followed by a Discussion, on the Eve of the Shah’s Visit to West Berlin (Excerpts)

In West Germany as in other capitalist democratic countries in what now is called the Global North, an increasing number of students were more and more radicalized in the 1960s. They were not exceptional: in some countries—think for instance of Italy—some workers underwent a similar evolution. Moreover, some students and workers met and communicated in various forms and place like cafés, dorms, or factories, where some students had to work. And both students’ and workers’ radicalization led them in various ways away from established social democrat, socialist, and communist parties.

But there were differences, too. In West Germany, so-called “new leftist” German students like Rudi Dutschke (1940-1979) were from the early 1960s most distinctly influenced by texts by decolonizing actors-intellectuals like Ernesto “Che” Guevara (1928-1967) and Frantz Fanon (1925-1961). Their worldview was shaped by fellow students from recently decolonized and postcolonial countries, as Quinn Slobodian’s Foreign Front: Third World Politics in Sixties West Germany (2012) shows. Among these students were Iranians, for many Iranians wishing to study abroad opted for West Germany following World War II. This pattern built on sturdy modern political, economic and cultural Iranian-German relations from the nineteenth century to the early Second World War. Hence, in the 1960s, West Germany became a key arena for Iranian exile politics. In the university town of Heidelberg, Iranian students with France- and Britain-based colleagues in 1960 founded a body that would be known as the Confederation of Iranian Students, National Union (CISNU) from 1962, when US-based Iranian student bodies joined and Tehran students were associated. CISNU was in the 1960s-70s a leading force outside Iran opposing Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919-1980; r. 1941-1979)—a story told by Afshin Matin-Asgari’s The Iranian Student Opposition to the Shah (2002). In parallel, in the 1960s the shah was able to become the autocratic ruler he had wanted to be from the 1940s.

In West Germany, one analysis of the shah’s state was the ironically titled Persien, Modell eines Entwicklungslandes [Persia: Model Development Country], publishedin spring 1967 by Bahman Nirumand. Born in 1936, Nirumand was a high school and then university student in Germany from 1950 to 1960, then moved back to Iran to work as an academic and journalist, and in 1965 escaped back to Germany fearing arrest for co-leading the underground Marxist-Leninist group Goruh-e Kaderha. In his book Persien, he argued that changes like the land reform of 1963 are a reformist façade hiding an anti-democratic repressive capitalist regime, which is backed by equally repressive capitalist Western states led by imperialist Washington. In fact, to him, Iran illustrated how Third-World and First-World elites together repress their people—a truly global pattern.

To be sure, Vietnam constituted the key anti-imperialist cause for organizations like the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (SDS), which in 1961 had been evicted by the mainstream Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) and by 1966 was part of West Germany’s ausser- (i.e. extra-) parlamentarische Opposition. Even so, when the German government announced a visit by the shah for early June 1967, the SDS soon decided to support Iranian student protests. These were legally “problematic” because West Germany’s 1965 Aliens Act drastically limited foreigners’ right to political activism. What began as a teach-in about Iran in West Berlin on June 1 and as a protest against the shah on June 2 became aturning point in postwar German history. On June 2, the police did not only condone pro-shah loyalists’ violence against the demonstrators. It also shot dead a demonstrator, Benno Ohnesorg, intensifying students’ fears about a fascist rebirth and causing the student movement to grow swiftly and become more radical.

The text printed here is a translated excerpt from the German-language audio file of the teach-in on Iran of June 1 at the Freie Universität (FU) Berlin. Opened by Gabriele Kuby (born 1944), a member of the FU’s General Students Committee, the teach-in featured Nirumand, who spoke for about an hour and a half on the world’s current economic-political condition for which Iran was a case in point, and Hans-Heinz Heldmann (1929-1995), a German lawyer representing Iranian and other foreign students politically active in Germany. Followed by a few notes on other political matters, these two lectures were then discussed by the students; Dutschke, since 1965 a leading SDS member, drew a parallel between Vietnam and Iran. Attended by about 2,000 students, the teach-in had a strongly mobilizing effect on the protests the next day, June 2.

January 1972

Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the GDR, Far East Department, 'The International Activities of the Chinese Leadership and Conclusions for the Structuring of Relations between the GDR and the PR China'

A discussion of Chinese foreign policy towards the Soviet Union, countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the United States, Japan, and Western Europe.

August 29, 1984

Mielke, 'Political Operative Security of the Leadership of Illegally Fighting Communist and Workers’ Parties Staying in the GDR, as well as their Covert Activities'

Head of the Stasi (MfS), Erich Mielke, orders the Main Department II of the MfS to support and monitor political operatives of Communist and Workers' parties forbidden in their home countries and staying in the GDR.

April 28, 1969

Embassy of the GDR in the PRC, 'Note about a “Club Talk” of the Ambassadors and Acting Ambassadors of the fraternal countries on 25 April 1969 in the Embassy of the GDR'

Ambassadors to China from Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and Mongolia discuss Chinese border provocations, the ninth Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, and other aspects of Chinese domestic and foreign policy.

August 22, 1979

Order, Minister for State Security, Iraqi Citizens in the GDR

Minster for State Security Mielke orders the protection of Iraqi citizens in the GDR following reports that the Baath Party "has supposedly decided to persecute and physically liquidate members of the Communist Party of Iraq who live in foreign countries."

January 11, 1956

Information on Khrushchev and Bulganin’s November-December 1955 trip to India, Burma, and Afghanistan, from the Central Committee of the CPSU to the Central Committee of the SED

Report on Khrushchev and Bulganin's trip to India, Burma, and Afghanistan, summarizing issues discussed in each country. In India, Nehru tells Khrushchev and Bulganin that India shares USSR attitude on a number of questions on foreign policy, including German re-unification and the question of military blocs. Nehru also criticizes influence of Cominform on Communist Party of India, and calls 1951 ICP visit to Moscow "illegal." In Burma, the delegation primarily touches on trade questions. In Afghanistan, Khrushchev and Bulganin discuss foreign policy issues, along with economic support from the Soviet Union for Afghanistan. Afghanistan commits to remaining neutral, and not joining the Baghdad Pact.

October 9, 1952

Record of S. Radhakrishnan’s Meeting with the FRG President

Radhakrishnan discusses German unification with the President of West Germany, touches on India's independent stances on foreign policy issues in China, Japan, and Korea, and speaks at length about Russia's internal policies. Radhakrishnan summarizes a previous discussion with Stalin, in detail, discussing Soviet approaches to religion (compared with Indian approaches), and Stalin's strong denial of accusations of aggression: Radhakrishnan says that he is "convinced that Stalin and Russia are gripped by sincere fears of a Western attack." Radhakrisnan concludes by expressing his hope that Germany can unify.

June 18, 1980

East German Record of a Meeting of Delegation Leaders at the Eleventh Interkit Meeting in Poland

This record of a meeting of the delegation leaders attending the 11th Interkit meeting addresses China's strategy in the area of international relations. The document expresses concern regarding Beijing's policies and calls for unity among the Communist countries. International issues discussed include Soviet-Korean relations, i.e., the Belgrade meeting between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and his Korean counterpart Kim Il Sung. Conditions in Albania, Romania, and Yugoslavia, and the positions of these countries within the Communist bloc, are critically assessed. Another topic is the improvement of anti-Maoist propaganda.

December 1978

East German Report on the Tenth Interkit Meeting in Havana, December 1978

This report, issued after the tenth Interkit meeting in Havana, addresses China's domestic and foreign policies. China is said to be obstructing the process of international détente by developing relations with NATO and West Germany. The report condemns the Chinese interference in Romanian, Yugoslavian and Korean politics. The authors believe that China is trying to divide the Socialist countries into two opposing groups. The newly intensified Chinese-US relations are criticized, as is China's policy of allowing more Western influence to shape its domestic policies and economic strategies.

June 1977

East German Report on the Ninth Interkit Meeting in Berlin, June 1977

This report was issued after the ninth Interkit meeting in East Berlin, which featured an official Cuban delegation. The document addresses the Chinese question after the death of Mao Zedong. According to this report, the internal disputes inside the Chinese Communist Party persist under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. The economic problems that China faces are still unresolved. In its foreign relations, China is staying the course by maintaining relations with Western countries, especially with the US. These relations are considered to be detrimental to international détente and directed against the interests of the Soviet Union and the Socialist countries.

Pagination