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🗓️ 2 June 2025
⏱️ 21 minutes
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June 2, 1967. Benno Ohnesorg, a West German student, is killed by a police officer while attending a protest in West Berlin.
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0:00.0 | There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad-free. |
0:04.1 | Listen with Wondry Plus in the Wondry app. |
0:06.0 | As a member of NoisorPlus at noisor.com or in Apple Podcasts, |
0:10.6 | or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com. It's dusk on June 2nd, 1967, outside the German Opera House in West Berlin. |
0:32.8 | Behind a police barrier, a young female student stands among a crowd of angry protesters. They're demonstrating |
0:39.1 | against the leader of Iran, Muhammad Rajas Shah, who's been invited to attend tonight's |
0:44.0 | performance of Mozart's The Magic Flute, despite his government's notorious record on human rights. |
0:50.3 | The young student spots of black Mercedes pull up in front of the entrance. |
1:00.1 | Shoulder to shoulder with other protesters, she joins the rising chant of murderer as security agents surround the car and usher the Shaw and his wife toward the opera house. |
1:04.5 | Roaring in anger, the protesters fling tomatoes and eggs at them, but the couple soon disappear inside, |
1:10.6 | and that seems to be a cue |
1:11.7 | for the police outside to advance. The officer's aggression is sudden and shocking. Swinging their |
1:18.5 | batons, they forced the demonstrators back from the opera house. Frightened, the young woman |
1:23.0 | looks around, but suddenly the friends she came with are nowhere to be seen. She tried to find a way out, but she realizes she's trapped like everyone else. |
1:32.0 | Her only escape is to an underground parking lot beneath a nearby building. |
1:36.2 | All around her is chaos. |
1:38.5 | The student has jostled by fleeing protesters. |
1:41.2 | She stumbles, hitting the side of a car and falls to the ground. People trip and vault |
1:45.8 | over her, and she struggles to get back to her feet. She manages to rise into a crouch and is frantically |
1:52.0 | searching for somewhere else to hide when the crack of a gunshot reverberates through the parking |
1:57.4 | line. Terrifying. The student looks around her |
2:00.8 | and then sees a young man |
... |
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