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Following the start of the "Unser Land" series with the 50s, WDR and BROADVIEW TV take a look at NRW in the 60s in the second part.
Wealth, prosperity and leisure time characterize the spirit of this decade.
It is the "Swinging Sixties", the decade of unlimited possibilities.
Construction was taking place everywhere, the economy was booming and people were enjoying their luxury.
They believe in the progress that is changing the entire country.
Not only structurally, but also mentally: young people are rebelling against their elders and want to break up encrusted structures.
But the all-encompassing change also comes at a price: the economic pillars of coal and steel are slipping into crisis and require new measures.
At the beginning of the 1960s, the Dreischeibenhaus in Düsseldorf was considered the most modern high-rise building in Europe.
A synonym for the new power and wealth of the state.
After all, the steel giant Thyssen has its headquarters here, which has formed the economic backbone of NRW since the 1950s.
But in the course of the 1960s, steel weakens - so much so that the Minister President Heinz Kühn, who has become known as a reformer, has to stand up for the steel industry.
His predecessor Franz Meyers had even more emotional worries: he felt that people lacked identification with their state.
Not only did he want to compose his own anthem for NRW, he almost renamed the state Sachsofrankonien.
The youth of the 60s yearned for renewal, albeit in a completely different way.
In 1968, they were drawn to the Essen Song Days, where pop greats such as Frank Zappa created a Woodstock atmosphere in the middle of NRW.
This is where German rock music is born.
Inspired by new sounds and a previously unimaginable sense of freedom, 18-year-old Marius Müller-Westernhagen begins his pop career at the end of the 60s.
But it's not just the USA that is importing to NRW, there is also a pop-cultural exchange the other way round: Cologne model Nico turns Andy Warhol's head and becomes a style icon for young people, in whom completely new potential is discovered.
While the crisis in the old industries worsens, more and more young students are drawn to universities.
For example, to the new Ruhr University in Bochum, the first newly founded university after the war.
Knowledge is the capital of the future and is regarded as the country's new gold.
And it is the students who will change "our country" forever at the end of the 1960s.
Between steel construction and youth revolts, great stories and small anecdotes unfold - an exciting journey through time, which is only a small part of the diverse history of North Rhine-Westphalia that the "Our State" series brings to life.
First broadcast: Friday, August 26, 2016, 8:15 p.m. on WDR
