The bombing of the French consulate in West Berlin was a terrorist bomb attack targeting the Maison de France consulate on the

Kurfürstendamm The Kurfürstendamm (; colloquially ''Ku'damm'', ; en, Prince Elector Embankment) is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former ''Kurfürsten'' (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. The broad, long boulevar ...

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

on 25 August 1983. It killed one person and injured 23 others. The

Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was a militant organization active between 1975 and the 1990s whose stated goal was "to compel the Turkish Government to acknowledge publicly its responsibility for the Armenian genocide ...

(ASALA) claimed responsibility in a telephone call and also took credit for a bomb at a French base in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

the same day, coming a month after the group's Orly Airport attack. The group commented "We will continue our struggle until the liberation of innocent

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

from French jails." However the attack was actually orchestrated by Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as

Carlos the Jackal Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (; born 12 October 1949), also known as Carlos the Jackal ( es, link=no, Carlos el Chacal) or simply Carlos, is a Venezuelan convicted of terrorist crimes, and currently serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murder ...

, who had relations with the ASALA's leadership. Carlos claimed responsibility in a letter written to the German Embassy in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. The bomb, containing 20 to 30 kg of explosives, was planted in a storage room on the building's fourth floor by Ahmed Mustafa El-Sibai, a Lebanese man and associate of Carlos. The blast tore the building's roof, destroyed the fourth floor and caused part of it to collapse, causing a total of 2.5 million

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members * Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...

in damage. The explosives were brought into

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

Johannes Weinrich Johannes Weinrich (born 21 July 1947) is a German left-wing terrorist and a founder of the Revolutionary Cells (RZ). He later became a close aide to Carlos the Jackal. He is currently serving a life sentence for murder. Biography Early life ...

, another close aide to Carlos. Weinrich had brought the explosives in a year prior, they had been confiscated by the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

secret police, then returned just prior to the bombing by

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

major (later lieutenant colonel/oberstleutnant) Helmut Voigt who passed the explosives back to Weinrich at the Syrian Embassy, which was Carlos's base in East Germany. Weinrich successfully transported the explosives from East to West Berlin via the

Friedrichstraße The Friedrichstraße () (lit. ''Frederick Street'') is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood and giving the name to Berlin Friedrichstraße station. It runs from the northern pa ...

before giving them to El-Sibai who planted it. The fatal victim was 26-year-old Michael Haritz, a peace activist who was handing out leaflets at the consulate protesting France's nuclear weapons testing in the South Pacific, and died from

asphyxiation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

. Carlos previously bombed several targets in France, including the 1982 Capitole train bombing. He said the attacks in France and West Berlin were in revenge for French air strikes against a

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary soci ...

training camp in Lebanon.

Aftermath and convictions

The Maison de France is a French cultural centre featuring a French book shop, grocery store, cinema and restaurant. It was rebuilt after the attack and opened by

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...

and

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

in 1985. On 26 March, 1991, approximately six months after the two Germanies officially reunified, Voigt fled to Greece. Voigt had heard in news broadcasts of the planned arrests of Stasi employees who had supported terrorist actions in West Germany as part of their East-German Stasi work. Voigt lived in the Greek port city of Volos under a false identity, but was found and arrested in 1991, when his wife visited him, carrying a tracking device that had been planted in her luggage by West German investigators without her knowledge. Voigt was extradited, tried, and found guilty in April 1994 for his role in the bombing, and was sentenced to four years in prison. In 1995, after years of searching, Weinrich was detained in Yemen and flown back to Germany. In 2000, after a four year trial, Weinrich was found guilty and given a life sentence. Nabil Shritah, the

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

diplomat who stored the explosives at the embassy, was given a two year sentence.

References

{{Terrorism in Germany 1983 in international relations 1983 in West Germany 1980s in West Berlin 1983 murders in Germany Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia Attacks on buildings and structures in Berlin Attacks on diplomatic missions of France August 1983 crimes August 1983 events in Europe Explosions in Berlin Improvised explosive device bombings in 1983 Murder in Berlin Terrorist attacks attributed to Armenian militant groups Terrorist incidents in Berlin Terrorist incidents in Germany in 1983 French consulate in West Berlin 1980s murders in Berlin de:Maison de France

Aftermath and convictions

See also

References