Cheering Persian

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As Jubelperser (in the media and beatings Persians called) a group of about 150 was Iranian citizens referred to the state visit of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his wife, Farah Pahlavi on June 2, 1967 in West Berlin attended. The group consisted of employees of the Iranian secret service SAVAK and compatriots hired by the latter who appeared as pro-Shah demonstrators and, with the tolerance of the Berlin police , used force against peaceful counter-demonstrators. The term has entered the German language as a derogatory term for (usually non-violent) claqueurs , i.e. paid applauders.

Events on June 2, 1967

The group, later referred to in the press as Jubelperser because of their actions , was supposed to shield demonstrators who wanted to demonstrate against the dictatorial rule of the Shah and against the torture and killing of political opponents in Iran, as well as cheering the Shah as alleged counter-demonstrators and finally using violence against the demonstrators . When the Jubelperser before the Deutsche Oper Berlin with battens, clubs and blackjacks to German students went off, the German police looked initially only to himself and did not intervene, later they went also with violence against encircled students before and let the provocateurs pull unmolested. In the course of the evening, the student Benno Ohnesorg was killed by the plainly dressed West Berlin police officer and - as it was only revealed in 2009 - by unofficial Stasi employee Karl-Heinz Kurras with a targeted shot in the head. Kurras was never convicted and remained a police officer until he retired.

Press coverage

The majority of the Berlin press reported on the events of June 2, 1967 exclusively as outbreaks of violence on the part of the students and portrayed the police merely as correctly acting victims. All newspapers in West Berlin rejected the publication of the photo of a beating jubilation Persian with a manslaughter in his hand. A photo of an eyewitness injured by police truncheons, on the other hand, was falsified on the front pages of Springer publications as a “victim of student terror”. The Springer press was accused by the students of "instead of fulfilling their duty to inform and reporting truthfully about the unrest of the students, they systematically incited the population against the students." This also had concrete effects, for example as an administrative employee who was only Rudi Dutschke looked similar, was followed by a citizen mob, who shouted after him "Beat Dutschke to death" and "Hang him up".

Historical classification

In their opinion, the systematic smear campaign by the Springer media, the behavior of the German authorities during the Shah's visit and the death of student Benno Ohnesorg - together with the assassination attempt on student leader Rudi Dutschke in April 1968 - are important triggers for radicalization the then student movement and the later founding of the left-wing extremist terrorist organizations Movement June 2nd and the Red Army Faction (RAF).

Web links

Wiktionary: Jubelperser  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ June 2, 1967 and Ohnesorg's death: "It couldn't be more cynical" in the Süddeutsche Zeitung of June 2, 2007
  2. ↑ Death of Benno Ohnesorg: A Shot in Many Heads in Spiegel Online on May 31, 2007
  3. ↑ Duden: Jubelperser. Retrieved on May 27, 2015 (meaning: Claqueur ).
  4. ↑ “From close range: A shot that changed the republic” in Der Spiegel , issue 4/2012, p. 36 ff.
    Brief summary: Shots at students: Berlin police covered up the background of the Ohnesorg death in Spiegel Online on January 22nd 2012
  5. ↑ a b The situation is escalating: Berlin, June 2, 1967 , dossier of the Federal Agency for Civic Education
  6. ^ Danger for us all - students against Springer in Der Spiegel , edition 19/1968
  7. ^ Death of Benno Ohnesorg in 1967: Berlin police covered up the targeted shot in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on January 22, 2012