Frithjof Bergmann (U of M Professor of Philosophy)

Frithjof Bergmann was a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan from 1959 until 1999. He specialized in existentialism and had intellectual influence on the members and events of the anti-Vietnam War movement. Professor Bergmann was a part of the original small group of professors who created the idea of the teach-in. He then was a speaker and leader of the University of Michigan Teach-in in March 1965. During the rest of the Vietnam War, Professor Bergmann was a member of protests on campus in the form of teach-ins, take overs of the ROTC building, the Radical College, and the hunger fast against classified research at the University of Michigan. Today, he is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan as well as a leader of the organization, New Work, which focuses on innovative forms of employment for our current job system.

Interview of Frithjof Bergmann by Obadiah Brown and Maria Buczkowski on March 27th, 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Part 1: Professor Bergmann discusses when he began teaching at the University of Michigan, what he taught, when he first became politically active, and the history of the March 1965 Teach-in.

Part 2: Professor Bergmann continues to discuss the history of the March 1965 Teach-in, as well as how the organizers publicized the Teach-in and the general reaction to the Teach-in.

Part 3: Professor Bergmann discusses the shift in the anti-war mindset after the March 1965 Teach-in, the change in backlash by the University administration towards the anti-war movement, and how his teachings and the interests of others were the foundations of the New Left and anti-Vietnam War movement.

Part 4: Professor Bergmann discusses the legacy of the March 1965 Teach-in, which includes the problems of communism and capitalism as well as the failure of the activists to establish a new system of society.

Frithjof Bergmann (U of M Professor of Philosophy)

Interviews