West Germany: Legislation & Protest

Unlike their counterparts in France, who boast a staunch ally in labor, West German students must usually go it alone in their stormy protests. But they keep at it just the same, and last week was no exception. At Frankfurt University, 200 members of the Socialist German Students' League barricaded university entrances, surrounded buildings with a tough, red-helmeted picket line and battled anyone who tried to enter classrooms. At Bonn University, 1,000 students boycotted lectures. At more than a dozen other West German universities and colleges, thousands more staged teach-ins and protest marches.

The issue that set off the demonstrations was a government bill under discussion in the Bundestag that provided for the curtailment of constitutional guarantees during a national emergency. Under the law, the Bundestag would be able to declare a "state of emergency," permitting the government to: 1) draft men over 18 who are eligible for military service into civilian defense units, 2) draft women up to age 55 into "hospital" units, 3) order persons to remain at their jobs, 4) requisition private vehicles, and 5) engage in wiretapping and interception of mail when there is a "justified" suspicion of treason.

Up to now, such powers have been reserved to the three Western allies under the terms of a 1955 treaty. Supporters of the bill claim that the new law would only make Germans the masters of their own house in times of national emergency. But students and other opponents insist that, despite many safeguards in the bill, the new law could lead to a repetition of 1933, when Hitler, invoking broad executive powers long since done away with, suspended the Weimar Constitution and made him self a dictator.

As the bill went through its second reading at week's end, the demonstrations lost some of their steam. The third and final reading, at which time the bill would become law, is scheduled for next week, and passage seems almost certain. On the same day, however, the Socialist German Students' League has called for a general strike, hoping that labor will—at last—come around to its side.