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The APO was the student-initiated opposition movement in West Germany during the late sixties and early seventies. In many ways it was a product of a unique German trait – a strong desire to associate with political parties. When German students grew disillusioned with the so-called »Grand Coalition« of the two major political parties – the left-wing SPD and the right-wing CDU – they didn't give up on politics altogether. Instead they formed an »anti« political party, the APO. Since the Grand Coalition comprised over 95% of the Bundestag, there was only a negligible opposition (5%) in parliament. The Extraparliamentary Opposition (APO) was intended to rectify this imbalance in the public arena. »A community of political opinion rather than an organization,« is how Baader-Meinhof biographer Jillian Becker described the APO. Firebrand student leader Rudi Dutschke was often called the leader of the APO movement.
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