Heicon '70

The 1970 Worldcon (it also called itself "Heicon '70 International") held August 20-24 at the Heidelberg Stadthalle, Heidelberg, Germany. The GoHs were E. C. Tubb (UK), Robert Silverberg (US), and Herbert W. Franke (Germany). The FGoH was Elliot K. Shorter. Heicon had decided prior to the convention to select the TAFF winner as its Fan Guest. The subsequent winner of the 1970 TAFF election was Elliot Shorter. John Brunner was Toastmaster and it was chaired by Manfred Kage.

Bidders: See 1970 Worldcon Site Selection.

Battle of the Balcony

"At Heicon was fought the 'Battle of the Balcony' when fandom routed the bad guys."

The Battle of the Balcony was an unusual interference from the general public into the activities at a science fiction convention. This occurred at the 1970 Worldcon, Heicon.

As they were in the United States at the time, anti-government student protests had been going across parts of Europe. According to one report, the protesters had been driven out of Paris and had been protesting in other towns across Europe. They appeared in Heidelberg just as the Worldcon was going on. The protesters entered the balcony of the main room and were disrupting the proceedings.

When they tried to go farther, Elliot Shorter blocked their way. He called on fellow fans who were members of the SCA to help. Several of them came forward with the swords they were wearing. The protesters, facing armed antagonists, decided to withdraw.

More reading

• Heicon '70 publications and photos on fanac.org
• 1970 Hugos. 1972 Site Selection.
• Tony Lewis' Heicon '70 Reminiscence.
• I Drank the Water and Lived (A trip report by Robert Vardeman)
• Convention report in Munich Roundup
• Con report in Locus #63

See also European Continental Worldcons.

---

St. Louiscon	Worldcon - Bidding - Hugos	Noreascon I
	1970

This is a convention page. Please extend it by adding information about the convention, including dates, GoHs, convention chairman, locale, sponsoring organization, external links to convention pages, awards given, the program, notable events, anecdotes, pictures, scans of publications, pictures of T-shirts, con reports, etc.