People and Politics # The Student Movement - Changing the Way History is Debated in Germany # 29.05.2009

It was a shot that changed the Federal Republic of Germany. On June 2, 1967, West German police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras shot and killed student Benno Ohnesorg during a demonstration in Berlin. The incident served as a rallying cry for the German student movement. An extremist terror group went so far as to name themselves after the day Ohnesorg was killed. Now researchers at the documents archive for the former East German secret police, the Stasi, have made a startling discovery: Kurras was a member of both the Stasi and the SED, East Germany's ruling communist party. Kurras is disputing those allegations amidst a renewed effort to bring charges against him. The newest revelations are fueling new questions in Germany: How great was the Stasi's influence on German history - and just how effective is the work of the Stasi documents archive, where the explosive material was discovered by chance?