ABSTRACT
The existence of the student movement in itself changed the position of established writers and intellectuals; they were no longer the only radical grouping with a critical attitude towards society. Writers and students came to share a common concern about Vietnam, which extended beyond the young writers closest to the students themselves. One major question raised by the students and the APO was whether in the light of the Grand Coalition the political system of the Federal Republic was worthy of support or needed to be totally overthrown in favour of an order based on some aspect of Marxism. The period of student disturbances in the late 1960s produced a number of events and issues that provoked comments from writers. The hostile reaction of writers and intellectuals, whose fears had been expressed as early as 1961 in Die Alternative, was only to be expected.
