Today is day 168 of my exile.
Exile 168.
Nineteen sixty-eight.
This year stands worldwide for both awakening and upheaval. In the United States, the Vietnam War continues to escalate, while protests against the war and social inequality increase. In Paris, students and workers take to the streets together; in Prague, a reform-oriented leadership attempts its own socialist path, which is ultimately halted by Soviet tanks. The bloc confrontation remains the organizing framework, yet tensions grow within that order.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, the student movement and the emergency laws shape the political climate. A young generation raises questions about responsibility, authority, and the unresolved past. The Grand Coalition governs with a stable majority, yet extraparliamentary protest takes shape in the streets. The confrontations are intense, fueled by international influences and internal German lines of conflict.
The year does not pass without consequences in the GDR either. The invasion of Czechoslovakia reveals the limits of reform efforts in the Eastern Bloc. Germany’s division once again appears as part of a larger system of mutual power consolidation. Security interests, ideological commitments, and the fear of losing control outweigh reform ideas.
Wars and crises have many fathers. Global rivalry, national interests, and social upheavals intertwine. Nineteen sixty-eight is not an isolated German year, but part of a worldwide movement whose consequences continue to resonate for a long time.
Exile 168.
1968 is a year of protest and power blocs. Germany stands in the tension between a will to reform and systemic limits. Global politics and generational conflict intertwine.
Exile Chronicle
All previous (from 130 – earlier entries are on X/Twitter) and ongoing entries of my Exile Chronicle are collected and documented here:
👉 https://marlas.army/exil-chronik/
Leave a Reply