Victim of violence. On June 2, 1967, Benno Ohnesorg, a student of Romance languages and literatures and German studies at Freie Universität, was shot down in a demonstration protesting the visit of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, in Berlin. His death radicalized the student movement.

Sources and additional information

Benno Ohnesorg was twenty-six years old when he was shot in the head by police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras. On June 2, 1967, Ohnesorg was demonstrating in front of the Deutsche Oper against the visit to Germany by the Shah of Persia, when he was shot. Kurras, who was using his service weapon, claimed to have acted in self-defense. To this day, there is no evidence for his claim.

• Article in campus.leben “Als die Gewalt begann,” posted June 4, 2017 (in German)
• Article in campus.leben, “Gedenken an Benno Ohnesorg,” posted June 8, 2017 (in German)
• Interview in campus.leben with Knut Nevermann, a former AStA chair and later Secretary of State for Science and Research in Berlin, about the student movement in 1966: “Plötzlich hatten wir den Mut, Autoritäten infrage zu stellen,” posted April 11, 2017 (in German)