Opening German Minds: Drug Users, Social Tolerance, and the Making of West Germany, 1967--1983

"This dissertation examines relations between sub-cultures and mainstream West German society, tracking the shift from confrontational to therapeutic modes of engagement. In the early seventies, West German drug users, alongside student activists and terrorists, appeared as profound threats to social order in postwar Germany. Less than two decades later, however, West Germans had come to terms with all three groups. In the process, West Germany transitioned into a far more open society, one that created space for alternative lifestyles rather than enforced conformity upon them. This dissertation tells the story of this striking 'opening' from the perspective of drug-using subcultures as well as the broader leftist counter-culture in Frankfurt am Main---a hub of both student activism and drug consumption. In the process, this work de-centers traditional histories of 1970s West Germany, with their primary focus on students and terrorists, and helps build a history of that essential postwar decade ""from the margins.""."

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Morris, William Franklin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Peter Fritzsche

• History, Modern

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3363043

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/84700