West German plans to arm forces with atomic weapons triggered mass protests

Evidence

The scale of the frustration felt at the time, even with extra-parliamentary actions that had the support of mass organizations, was becoming clear once again during the period in which Students and Politics was being written. The first large-scale wave of protest began when the German government publicly declared its willingness to provide the West German armed forces with atomic weapons. Responding to a statement by the Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, that `tactical atomic weapons are basically nothing more than the further development of artillery’, eighteen of the most distinguished German atomic scientists, in the Göttingen Manifesto of April 1957, gave a public warning about the dangers of nuclear weapons. After the decision of the NATO conference in Paris in December 1957 to equip European member states with atomic weapons installations, town councillors and professors protested, and mass meetings of workers, shop stewards and trade union organizations passed resolutions demanding strikes, and even a general strike. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2345

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Adenauer elected by a single vote (ch66) and West German political attitudes measured at 16 percent positive (ch66). — connects to: West German rearmament with atomic weapons spurred the first large-scale protest wave — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2345; A narrow majority of West Germans favored strikes against atomic arming — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2345; Ohnesorg’s shooting triggered nationwide student protest in West Germany — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2611 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• West German rearmament with atomic weapons spurred the first large-scale protest wave #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2345
• A narrow majority of West Germans favored strikes against atomic arming #expands (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2345
• Ohnesorg’s shooting triggered nationwide student protest in West Germany #responds-to (0.70) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2611
• The end of the Cold War triggered massive Western military disarmament #contradicts (0.70) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 244