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Benno Ohnesorg’s Body is Transported from West Berlin to Hanover (June 8, 1967)
On June 8, 1967, the body of Benno Ohnesorg was transported from West Berlin to Hanover in a motorcade. Approximately 15,000 people accompanied the coffin as it proceeded from the Free University of Berlin to the GDR border crossing at Dreilinden. After Ohnesorg’s funeral on June 9, 1967, a conference on “Higher Education and Democracy” took place in Hanover. It drew approximately 5,000 participants. Speakers Rudi Dutschke and Jürgen Habermas faced off in a heated debate on the role of the student protest movement. Most West German college towns responded to Ohnesorg’s death with memorial services and protest demonstrations in which thousands participated. These events contributed substantially to the mobilization of the public. This photograph shows the motorcade in Berlin-Dreilinden as it approaches the transit Autobahn in the direction of Helmstedt. Photo by Klaus Lehnartz.