In a comparative project, I analysed the events of 1968 in Sweden and West Germany. The aim was to show that "1968" was not a "rift" in West German history, separating the "dull" period of "restoration" from a liberal, democratic age. Rather, the events of 1968 are part of a comprehensive structural change in post-war history that affected the entire Western world. These revolutionary changes (emergence of the modern consumer society, "teenage revolution", "silent revolution") required interpretation, and the early New Left and the 68ers who followed them developed a language of criticism in actions and theoretical discussions that made the deficits of this structural change negotiable. The fact that this process was similar in Sweden and West Germany (but also in the USA and Denmark) from the 1950s to the 1970s, despite different conditions, relativises the myth of "1968" as a unique stroke of liberation.

The project was funded by the DFG.

Most important publications:

• Etzemüller, Thomas: 1968 - A Rift in History? Social upheaval and the 1968 movements in West Germany and Sweden, Konstanz 2005
  
• Etzemüller, Thomas: Imaginary field shafts? "1968" in Sweden and West Germany, in: Zeithistorische Forschungen 2, 2005, pp. 202-223 (also online)
  
• Etzemüller, Thomas: A Struggle for Radical Change? Swedish Students in the 1960s, in: Schildt, Axel/Siegfried, Detlef (eds.): Between Marx and Coca-Cola. Youth Cultures in Changing European Societies, 1960-1980, New York, Oxford 2006, pp. 239-257