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Fritz Teufel (17 June 1943 – 6 July 2010) was a prominent figure in the West German

political left Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

of the 1960s. One of the founders of

Kommune 1 Kommune 1 or K1 was a politically motivated commune in Germany. It was created on 12 January 1967, in West Berlin and finally dissolved in November 1969. Kommune 1 developed from the extraparliamentary opposition of the German student movement o ...

, Teufel cultivated a theatrical, humorous public image—encapsulated in his idea of the "

Spaßguerilla The Spaßguerilla (fun guerrilla) was a grouping within the student protest movement of the 1960s in Germany that agitated for social change, in particular for a more libertarian, less authoritarian, and less materialistic society, using tactics c ...

" ("fun guerrilla").Grimes, William
"Fritz Teufel, a German Protester in the ’60s, Dies at 67"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 7 August 2010. Accessed 8 August 2010. In the 1970s he rejected this image and became involved with the violent Movement 2 June. He was jailed several times in the 1960s and 1970s. Teufel was born on 17 June 1943, in

Ingelheim Ingelheim (), officially Ingelheim am Rhein ( en, Ingelheim upon Rhine), is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. The town sprawls along the Rhine's west bank. It has been Mainz-Bingen's district seat ...

and was raised in Ludwigsburg. He attended the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

, studying

German literature German literature () comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a less ...

and theater, which also allowed him to avoid conscription. In January 1967 Teufel, together with

Dieter Kunzelmann Dieter Kunzelmann (14 July 1939 – 14 May 2018) was a German left-wing terrorist. In the early 1960s he was a member of the Situationist-inspired artists' group Gruppe SPUR. He was one of the founders of Kommune 1 in 1967. At the end of th ...

and other radicals, founded

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 ...

on Stuttgarter Platz, the nation's first politically motivated commune. Teufel was one of the instigators of what became known as the "Pudding Assassination", in which protesters planned to throw plastic bags filled with flour, pudding and yogurt at

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice p ...

Hubert H. Humphrey, during an April 1967 state visit. 11 participants in the "plot" were arrested, but were quickly released, and Teufel was on his way to becoming a celebrity. Following a demonstration on 2 June 1967 against the

Shah of Iran This is a list of monarchs of Persia (or monarchs of the Iranic peoples, in present-day Iran), which are known by the royal title Shah or Shahanshah. This list starts from the establishment of the Medes around 671 BCE until the deposition of th ...

that resulted in the death of protester

Benno Ohnesorg Benno Ohnesorg (; 15 October 1940 – 2 June 1967)Böttcher, Dirk (2002). "Ohnesorg, Benno" (in German), in: Hannoversches biographisches Lexikon: von den Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart'. Hannover: Schlütersche. p. 275. was a West German ...

, Teufel was arrested and charged with serious breach of peace. It was not until December that he was released, after he and many students with him had begun a hunger strike. His sympathizers held demonstrations, chanting "Freedom for Fritz Teufel" and "Drive the devil out of Moabit!" (Teufel was held in

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2016, around 77,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial and working-class neighbourhood ...

prison and the word "teufel" is German for "devil"). Teufel was eventually acquitted of the charges, but spent six months in custody before his release. Like Kunzelmann and other German leftists, Teufel drifted toward the embrace of

armed struggle War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

at the end of the 1960s; in 1970 he told a journalist that "the clown Teufel is dead." After being tossed out of Kommune 1, Teufel moved to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

, where he lived in a commune with future

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970. The ...

member

Irmgard Möller Irmgard Möller (born 13 May 1947) is a former member of the German group the Red Army Faction (RAF). Her father was a high school teacher, and before joining the RAF, she was a student of German studies. RAF activity *On 12 May 1972, Möller ...

. Teufel founded the Tupamaros Munich militant group and later became involved with the 2 June Movement. Teufel was arrested in the early 1970s for his involvement in the firebombing of a Munich courthouse, for which he was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail. GrabFritzTeufel

In 1975 he was arrested and accused of taking part in the 2 June Movement's kidnapping of

Peter Lorenz Peter Lorenz (22 December 1922 – 6 December 1987) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In 1975 Lorenz was a candidate for mayor of West Berlin. He was kidnapped by the 2 June Movement group three days befor ...

, a politician from the Christian Democratic Union. Teufel was imprisoned for five years before presenting an airtight alibi at his trial, proving that he had been working under an assumed name at a factory in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

on the date in question. He would later say that he had remained silent until then to expose flaws in the German justice system.Staff
"Fritz Teufel
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 5 August 2010. Accessed 8 August 2010. He was convicted of lesser crimes, including firearm possession and robbery, and sentenced to time served. By the time of his release from prison Teufel had broken with the radical left. He briefly lived in London but in the late 1980s moved back to Berlin, where he contributed articles to ''

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-own ...

'' and worked as a bicycle courier. He was willing to grant interviews with reporters only under the condition that they agreed to play an hour of

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

before he would be willing to answer any questions. Teufel suffered from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

and died on 6 July 2010, at the age of 67. He was survived by his partner, Helene Lollo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teufel, Fitz 1943 births 2010 deaths People from Ingelheim am Rhein People from Rhenish Hesse Außerparlamentarische Opposition Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund members Free University of Berlin alumni German activists Neurological disease deaths in Germany Deaths from Parkinson's disease German prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Germany