![RAF-Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/RAF-Logo.svg)
The
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 ...
(RAF) existed in West Germany from 1970 to 1998, committing numerous crimes, especially in the autumn of 1977, which led to a national crisis that became known as the "
German Autumn
The German Autumn (german: Deutscher Herbst) was a series of events in Germany in 1977, mostly late in the year, associated with the kidnapping and murder of industrialist, businessman, and former SS member Hanns Martin Schleyer, president of ...
". The RAF was founded in 1970 by
Andreas Baader
Berndt Andreas Baader (6 May 1943 – 18 October 1977) was one of the first leaders of the West German left-wing militant organization Red Army Faction (RAF), also commonly known as ''the Baader-Meinhof Group''.
Life
Andreas Baader was born in ...
,
Gudrun Ensslin
Gudrun Ensslin (; 15 August 1940 – 18 October 1977) was a German far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction (, or RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang).
After becoming involved with co-fou ...
,
Ulrike Meinhof
Ulrike Marie Meinhof (7 October 1934 – 9 May 1976) was a German left-wing journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the reputed author ...
,
Horst Mahler
Horst Mahler (born 23 January 1936) is a German former lawyer and political activist. He once was a far-left militant and a founding member of the Red Army Faction who later became a Maoist, before switching to neo-Nazism. Between 2000 and 2003, ...
, and others. The first generation of the organization was commonly referred to by the press and the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
as the "Baader-Meinhof Gang", a name the group did not use to refer to itself.
The RAF was responsible for 34 deaths, including many secondary targets such as chauffeurs and bodyguards, and many injuries in its almost 30 years of activity.
Eileen MacDonald stated in ''Shoot the Women First'' (1991) that women made up about fifty percent of the membership of the Red Army Faction and about eighty percent of the RAF's supporters. This was higher than other similar groups in
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 ...
, in which women made up about thirty percent of the membership.
First generation Red Army Faction (1970–75)
Founding first generation members
Andreas Baader
Berndt Andreas Baader (6 May 1943 – 18 October 1977) was one of the first leaders of the West German left-wing militant organization Red Army Faction (RAF), also commonly known as ''the Baader-Meinhof Group''.
Life
Andreas Baader was born in ...
(6 May 1943 – 18 October 1977) was a co-founding member of the RAF. Baader was involved in
bank raids and
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
. He was arrested and tried at
Stammheim Prison
Stammheim Prison (german: Justizvollzugsanstalt Stuttgart-Stammheim) is a prison in Stuttgart, Baden Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the northern boundaries of Stuttgart in the city district of Stuttgart-Stammheim, right between fields a ...
alongside
Gudrun Ensslin
Gudrun Ensslin (; 15 August 1940 – 18 October 1977) was a German far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction (, or RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang).
After becoming involved with co-fou ...
,
Ulrike Meinhof
Ulrike Marie Meinhof (7 October 1934 – 9 May 1976) was a German left-wing journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the reputed author ...
and
Jan-Carl Raspe
Jan-Carl Raspe (24 July 1944 – 18 October 1977) was a member of the German militant group, the Red Army Faction (RAF).
Early life
Raspe was born in Seefeld in Tirol (then Germany, now Austria). He was described as gentle but had difficulty co ...
, and given three sentences of
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
. He died in Stammheim prison on 18 October 1977. Accounts of his death vary. Some state he committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
in prison using a
handgun
A handgun is a short- barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also braced ...
. Others claim he was murdered in an
extrajudicial killing
An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution or extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, whether ...
. He and Ensslin were lovers.
Gudrun Ensslin
Gudrun Ensslin (; 15 August 1940 – 18 October 1977) was a German far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction (, or RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang).
After becoming involved with co-fou ...
(15 August 1940 – 18 October 1977) was a co-founding member of the RAF. She was involved in bank robbery, bank raids and arson. She helped free Baader from
police custody
An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...
on 30 April 1970. Ensslin was given three times life imprisonment when charged at Stammheim. She died in Stammheim prison on 18 October 1977. Accounts of her death vary. Some state she committed suicide in prison by hanging. Others claim she was murdered in an extrajudicial killing. She and Baader were lovers.
Ulrike Meinhof
Ulrike Marie Meinhof (7 October 1934 – 9 May 1976) was a German left-wing journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the reputed author ...
(7 October 1934 – 9 May 1976) was a co-founding member of the RAF. She was a well-known
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
who wrote for and was editor of ''
konkret
''konkret'' has been the name of two German magazines.
''konkret'' was originally the name of a magazine established by Klaus Rainer Röhl in 1957, that was an influential magazine on the German political left in the 1960s. The magazine was di ...
''. She was married to
Klaus Rainer Röhl
Klaus Rainer Röhl (1 December 1928 – 30 November 2021) was a German journalist and author, best known as founder, owner, publisher and editor-in-chief of ''konkret'', the most influential magazine on the German political left from the 1960s to ...
. She helped free Andreas Baader from police custody on 30 April 1970. She was involved in
car theft
Motor vehicle theft (also known as a car theft and, in the United States, grand theft auto) is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle. Nationwide in the United States in 2020, there were 810,400 vehicles reported ...
, arson and
bank robbery
Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank- ...
. She was arrested. Meinhof was given an eight-year prison sentence for freeing Baader. She was found hanged in her prison cell on 9 May 1976. The formal claim was "suicide by hanging", though the autopsy report was controversial.
Other first generation members
Jan-Carl Raspe
Jan-Carl Raspe (24 July 1944 – 18 October 1977) was a member of the German militant group, the Red Army Faction (RAF).
Early life
Raspe was born in Seefeld in Tirol (then Germany, now Austria). He was described as gentle but had difficulty co ...
(24 July 1944 – 18 October 1977) was an early member of the Baader-Meinhof gang and was captured a short while before both
Holger Meins
Holger Klaus Meins (26 October 1941 – 9 November 1974) was a German cinematography student who joined the Red Army Faction (RAF) in the early 1970s and died on hunger strike in prison.
As a revolutionary
Meins became an important member of th ...
and Andreas Baader were arrested in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
in 1972 (he had been the driver of their
Porsche Targa). Alongside Baader, Ensslin and Meinhof he was sentenced to life imprisonment at Stammheim. Raspe supposedly committed suicide in his cell using a
9 mm
9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding .
Evolution of the Arabic digit
In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...
Heckler & Koch
Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK; ) is a German defense manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also ...
handgun on 18 October 1977, however, it is also claimed that he was murdered in an extrajudicial killing.
Holger Meins
Holger Klaus Meins (26 October 1941 – 9 November 1974) was a German cinematography student who joined the Red Army Faction (RAF) in the early 1970s and died on hunger strike in prison.
As a revolutionary
Meins became an important member of th ...
(26 October 1941 – 9 November 1974) was a
leftist
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 ...
cinematography
Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography.
Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...
student in
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 ...
and was tired of being harassed by police over his political views. He joined the Baader-Meinhof gang quite early on along with
Beate Sturm
The Red Army Faction (RAF) existed in West Germany from 1970 to 1998, committing numerous crimes, especially in the autumn of 1977, which led to a national crisis that became known as the "German Autumn". The RAF was founded in 1970 by Andreas ...
and was seen somewhat as a leading member. In 1971 he was arrested alongside Raspe and Baader during a shoot-out with the police in Frankfurt. In prison the Baader-Meinhof gang called for a
hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
, as they felt they were being treated unfairly by the government. Meins died on 11 November 1974 as a result of the hunger strike. He weighed less than 100
pounds at the time of his death; he was over six feet (1.8 m) tall. His death sparked rage amongst RAF members everywhere.
Astrid Proll
Astrid Huberta Isolde Marie Luise Hildegard Proll (born 29 May 1947) was an early member of the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang). She is a photo editor and published a book.
As a Baader-Meinhof member
Proll was the younger sister of Thorwal ...
(born 29 May 1947) is the younger sister of
Thorwald Proll
Thorwald Proll (born 22 July 1941 in Kassel, Hesse-Nassau) is a writer and was active in the German student movement in the 1960s.
On 2 April 1968, along with Andreas Baader, Horst Söhnlein and Gudrun Ensslin, he set fire to two department stores ...
and met Baader and Ensslin through him. Proll was involved in a bank robbery and also was an expert car thief. She was the
getaway driver
A crime scene getaway is the act of :wikt:flee, fleeing the location where one has broken the law. It is an act that the offender(s) may or may not have planned in detail, resulting in a variety of outcomes. A :crime scene is the "location of ...
for Baader after he was freed from police custody by Ensslin, Meinhof, Ingrid Schubert and
Irene Goergens
Irene Goergens (born 29 April 1951) is a former member of the West German terrorist group, the Red Army Faction (RAF).
In March 1971 she was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for her role in the prison escape of Andreas Baader in May 19 ...
in 1970. She was arrested in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
on 6 May and was imprisoned but released for health reasons. However, she quickly absconded to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
where she worked in various jobs. Proll was discovered and arrested by the
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
in 1978 and returned to West Germany in 1979 to fight her case there. She was given five-and-a-half years imprisonment on account of bank robbery and
falsifying documents. However, she had already spent at least two-thirds of that time in German and English prisons, and therefore was
released immediately. She did not rejoin the Red Army Faction.
Ingrid Schubert
Ingrid Schubert (7 November 1944 – 12 November 1977) was a West German terrorist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF). She participated in the freeing of Andreas Baader from prison in May 1970 as well as multiple bank robberies bef ...
(27 November 1944 – 13 November 1977) was involved in freeing Baader from police custody in 1970 (along with Ensslin, Meinhof, Irene Goergens and Peter Homann) and also took part in a few bank raids. Later that year, police discovered an RAF hideout in Berlin and entered the hideout to find Schubert there. She produced
fake ID
Identity document forgery is the process by which identity documents issued by governing bodies are copied and/or modified by persons not authorized to create such documents or engage in such modifications, for the purpose of deceiving those w ...
but when searched a gun was found on her person. She was subsequently arrested and sentenced to thirteen years in prison for freeing Baader. After Meinhof's death in 1976 Schubert was transferred to Stammheim to soothe and console Ensslin; she was then transferred to
Stadelheim Prison
Stadelheim Prison (german: Justizvollzugsanstalt München), in Munich's Giesing district, is one of the largest Prisons in Germany, prisons in Germany.
Founded in 1894, it was the site of many executions, particularly by guillotine during the Nazi ...
in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
after Ensslin, Raspe and Baader committed suicide on 18 October 1977. Two weeks later on 13 November 1977 Schubert too was found dead, hanging in her prison cell.
Thomas "Tommy" Weissbecker (February 1944 – 2 March 1972) was an associate of
Horst Mahler
Horst Mahler (born 23 January 1936) is a German former lawyer and political activist. He once was a far-left militant and a founding member of the Red Army Faction who later became a Maoist, before switching to neo-Nazism. Between 2000 and 2003, ...
and a minor member of the Baader-Meinhof gang. He was first involved with the
Blues-Scene and
West Berlin Tupamaros
The Tupamaros West-Berlin (TW) were a small German Marxist organization which carried out a series of bombings and arsons at the end of the 1960s. In 1969 Dieter Kunzelmann, Georg von Rauch, and a few others traveled to Jordan to train at a Fata ...
but in July 1971 he met with some RAF members and together with Angela Luther he expressed interest and started working with the RAF. In 1971 he was charged and acquitted with assaulting a
Springer
Springer or springers may refer to:
Publishers
* Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag.
** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...
journalist. Later, on 2 March 1972, Weissbecker, along with Carmen Roll, was stopped by police outside a hotel in
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...
. Weissbecker was shot dead by the police when he reached into his pocket, supposedly to grab his gun. However
Stefan Aust
Stefan Aust (; born 1 July 1946) is a German journalist. He was the editor-in-chief of the weekly news magazine ''Der Spiegel'' from 1994 to February 2008 and has been the publisher of the conservative leading ''Die Welt'' newspaper since 2014 ...
claims that he was simply reaching into his pocket to produce ID. On 12 May 1972, over two months after Weissbecker's death, RAF members bombed a police station in Augsburg and a Criminal Investigations Agency in Munich. They claimed responsibility for the bombings in the name of the 'Tommy Weissbecker Kommando'.
Petra Schelm (16 August 1950 – 15 July 1971) joined the Baader-Meinhof group along with her boyfriend Manfred Grashof. She travelled to
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
alongside the rest of the Faction and trained in
urban guerrilla warfare
An urban guerrilla is someone who fights a government using unconventional warfare or domestic terrorism in an urban environment.
Theory and history
The urban guerrilla phenomenon is essentially one of industrialised society, resting both ...
with the
PLO
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...
in May 1970. On 15 July 1971 Schelm was driving through Hamburg with Werner Hoppe when she sped her
BMW through a police roadblock. The police gave chase and forced her BMW off the road. Schelm and Hoppe ran off in different directions. Hoppe was followed by a
police helicopter
Police aviation is the use of aircraft in police operations. Police services commonly use aircraft for traffic control, ground support, search and rescue, high-speed car pursuits, observation, air patrol and control of large-scale public events ...
and was caught and arrested, but Schelm did not surrender. She threw away a jacket she was holding to reveal a handgun and fired at the police, but the police returned fire.
Jillian Becker
Jillian Becker (born 2 June 1932) is a South African-born British author, journalist, and lecturer. She specialises in research about terrorism, having written '' Hitler's Children: The Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang'' (1977), amo ...
states that Schelm was killed by a burst of gunfire from a
submachine gun
A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...
, but
Stefan Aust
Stefan Aust (; born 1 July 1946) is a German journalist. He was the editor-in-chief of the weekly news magazine ''Der Spiegel'' from 1994 to February 2008 and has been the publisher of the conservative leading ''Die Welt'' newspaper since 2014 ...
states that it was a single bullet wound to the head that killed Schelm. Additionally, a closeup photograph of Schelm taken at the scene immediately after her death (probably by a police photographer) clearly shows a single gunshot wound through the eye. Some RAF members called for retribution for Schelm's death. She was buried at a cemetery in
Spandau
Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...
. At her funeral, fifty or so youths laid a
red flag on her grave, though policemen later came and removed it.
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 ...
(13 May 1947) bombed the
Campbell Barracks
Campbell Barracks, in Heidelberg, Germany, was home to Headquarters, United States Army Europe (USAREUR) from 1948 to 2013. It was also home to Headquarters, V Corps and Headquarters, Allied Force Command Heidelberg.
History
As part of the Ge ...
in
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
on 24 May 1972. She claimed responsibility in the name of the Commando 15 July (the date of Petra Schelm's death) in honour of Schelm.
Christa Eckes was arrested on 4 February 1974 when the police raided RAF
safehouse
A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is, in a generic sense, a secret place for sanctuary or suitable to hide people from the law, hostile actors or actions, or from retribution, threats or perceived danger. It may also be a metaphor.
Histori ...
s simultaneously in Hamburg and Frankfurt together with Helmut Pohl, Ilse Stachowiak, Eberhard Becker,
Margrit Schiller, Kay-Werner Allnach and Wolfgang Beer. On 28 September 1977, she was sentenced to seven years in prison. After her release she was arrested again on 2 July 1984 in Frankfurt, after several RAF members accidentally discharged a gun into the apartment below their safe house. The others arrested were Helmut Pohl, Stefan Frey, Ingrid Jakobsmeier, Barbara Ernst and Ernst-Volker Staub.
Angela Luther (born 1940) was first involved with the Blues-Scene and West Berlin Tupamaros, but in July 1971, she met with some RAF members, and together with Thomas Weissbecker she expressed interest and started working with the RAF. On 12 May 1972 she participated in the bombing of a police station in Augsburg together with Irmgard Möller, and on 24 May 1972 she was involved in the bombing of the officers club and the Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg.
Second generation Red Army Faction (1975–1982)
By 1972 a large number of the core members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang had been captured and imprisoned. However, new members swelled the dwindling ranks of the Gang. These revolutionaries mostly had similar backgrounds to the first generation, e.g. they were
middle class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...
and frequently students. Most of them joined the Gang after their own groups dissolved e.g. the
Socialist Patients' Collective
The Socialist Patients' Collective (German: ''Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv'', and known as the SPK) is a patients' collective founded in Heidelberg, West Germany, in February 1970, by Wolfgang Huber (born 1935). The kernel of the SPK's ideol ...
(SPK) and
Movement 2 June
The 2 June Movement (german: link=no, Bewegung 2. Juni) was a West German anarchist militant group based in West Berlin. Active from January 1972 to 1980, the anarchist group was one of the few militant groups at the time in Germany. Although ...
(J2M).
Former SPK members
The SPK, the leftist, 'therapy-through-violence' group, dissolved in 1971, and those members who had turned militant forged links and joined with the Baader-Meinhof Gang.
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
Brigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt (born 24 June 1949) is a German convicted former terrorist associated with the second generation of the Red Army Faction (RAF) members. She was also part of the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK). From 1971 until 1 ...
, Klaus Jünschke Carmen Roll, and Gerhard Müller had already joined as part of the first generation of the RAF but originally started in SPK.
Siegfried Hausner
Siegfried Hausner (24 January 1952 – 5 May 1975) was a student member of the German Socialist Patients' Collective who was sentenced to three years imprisonment in 1972 for terrorist related crimes. When he was released in 1974, like many other ...
(24 January 1952 – 5 May 1975) was a leading member of the SPK especially involved with
explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
s. He took part in a bombing of the
Axel Springer Verlag
Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as ''Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and ''Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated tot ...
in 1971 and was the leader of the
West German embassy siege
The West German Embassy siege in Stockholm, Sweden, was a hostage standoff initiated by the Red Army Faction (RAF) on 24 April 1975. Collectively, the attackers referred to themselves as Kommando Holger Meins, after Holger Meins, an RAF member w ...
in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in 1975, when he was fatally injured after
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
wiring the embassy was accidentally detonated.
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
Brigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt (born 24 June 1949) is a German convicted former terrorist associated with the second generation of the Red Army Faction (RAF) members. She was also part of the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK). From 1971 until 1 ...
(born 24 June 1949) became a leader amongst the second generation RAF and was involved in some of their most serious crimes (such as the murder of
Jürgen Ponto
Jürgen Ponto (17 December 1923 Bad Nauheim, Hesse - 30 July 1977 Frankfurt am Main) was a German banker and since 1969 chairman of the Dresdner Bank board of directors. Previously, he had worked as a lawyer. He was murdered by members of the Red ...
) and was a key perpetrator during the
German Autumn
The German Autumn (german: Deutscher Herbst) was a series of events in Germany in 1977, mostly late in the year, associated with the kidnapping and murder of industrialist, businessman, and former SS member Hanns Martin Schleyer, president of ...
.
Sieglinde Hofmann
Sieglinde Hofmann (born 14 March 1945) was a German militant and member of both the Socialist Patients' CollectiveWolfgang Kraushaar"Die RAF und der linke Terrorismus" Hamburger Edition, 2006, Volume 1, p. 473 and the Red Army Faction.
Biography
...
(born 14 March 1945) became an important figure of the second generation RAF and was personally involved in the
kidnap
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...
and murder of
Hanns-Martin Schleyer
Hans "Hanns" Martin Schleyer (; 1 May 1915 – 18 October 1977) was a German business executive, and employer and industry representative, who served as President of two powerful commercial organizations, the Confederation of German Employers' A ...
, his driver and three accompanying policemen.
Klaus Jünschke (born September 1947) was a student member of the SPK, who managed to escape arrest when police came after certain members of the SPK in 1971. He joined the RAF with his militant girlfriend Elisabeth von Dyck and was involved in at least one bank robbery (in December 1971 in
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...
– alongside Ingeborg Barz and Wolfgang Grundmann).
Hanna-Elise Krabbe (born October 1945) was born in
Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim (; nds-nl, Beantem) is a town in the southwestern part of Lower Saxony, Germany, in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim on the borders of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands roughly 15 km south of Nordhorn and 20 km ...
. She was a member of the
IZRU
The Socialist Patients' Collective (German: ''Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv'', and known as the SPK) is a patients' collective founded in Heidelberg, West Germany, in February 1970, by Wolfgang Huber (born 1935). The kernel of the SPK's ideol ...
(the group which succeeded the SPK) and was the elder sister of Friederike Krabbe, another member. Hanna-Elise Krabbe took part in the West German embassy siege in Stockholm. She was the only female member involved in the siege. Her role during the siege was to guard the hostages. She was arrested when the siege failed and was sentenced on 20 July 1977, to twice life imprisonment. She was released from prison in 1996, after serving 21 years.
Friederike Krabbe (born 31 May 1950) was born in Bad Bentheim. She is the younger sister of Hanna-Elise Krabbe, another member. Friederike Krabbe studied
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
,
pedagogy
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
and
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
from 1970 to 1973 and then went on to study
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
for a while in Heidelberg. She was involved with the SPK and after its dissolution, the RAF. She is believed to have been one of the RAF members who kidnapped Hanns Martin Schleyer. According to Monika Helbing, after Schleyer was executed in 1977, Krabbe fled to
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
along with Elisabeth von Dyck. Around this time Krabbe disappeared, and her whereabouts are still unknown today.
Carmen Roll was a member of the SPK and the RAF. She was especially involved in 'working circle explosives' in which she achieved limited success with
Siegfried Hausner
Siegfried Hausner (24 January 1952 – 5 May 1975) was a student member of the German Socialist Patients' Collective who was sentenced to three years imprisonment in 1972 for terrorist related crimes. When he was released in 1974, like many other ...
when they managed to manufacture a small amount of TNT in December 1970 in the University Institute of Physiology. In February 1971 Roll, along with Hausner, planned to bomb the
President of the Federal Republic's special train in Heidelberg station, but she arrived too late with the explosives, and the plot failed. On 2 March 1972, Roll was spotted with Tommy Weissbecker outside a hotel in Augsburg. Weissbecker was shot dead and Roll was eventually arrested. Two weeks later to sedate her when she resisted fingerprinting she was given a near-fatal dose of
ether
In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be c ...
by prison doctors. In 1976 Roll was freed from prison. She moved to
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
and became a
nurse
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...
.
Lutz Taufer (born March 1944) had links with the SPK, and he protested against the supposed torture of political prisoners in West Germany in 1974.
In 1975 he took part in the West German embassy siege in Stockholm and was arrested after the siege failed. He was subsequently imprisoned. In July 1977 he was sentenced to twice life imprisonment for his participation in the siege, by a
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
Court. He was released in 1996. Taufer has been living in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
with his sister since 1999.
Elisabeth von Dyck (October 1951 – 4 May 1979) was a member of the SPK and of the RAF.
She was born in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
. She was the girlfriend of Klaus Jünschke and later of lawyer
Klaus Croissant
Klaus Croissant (24 May 1931 – 28 March 2002) was a lawyer of the Red Army Faction, later an East German spy and a political activist for Berlin's Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz and, after 1990, the PDS.
Croissant was shown ...
. She was involved with the 'committees against torture' in 1974. In 1975 von Dyck, along with
Siegfried Haag, was arrested on suspicion of
smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
weapons out of
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and served six months in a detention centre in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
before being released. However, a warrant went out for her arrest in 1977. von Dyck went underground, and Monika Helbing stated that around this time she fled to Baghdad for a while with Friederike Krabbe. von Dyck returned to West Germany sometime between 1977 and 1979, and on 4 May 1979, von Dyck entered a Nuremberg house, thought to have been an RAF hideout, which was under police surveillance. The police shot von Dyck through the back, killing her. A gun was found on her body. von Dyck was shot even though she was only suspected of being involved with the RAF, and was not a high-priority on the wanted list. However, it was alleged that the police shot her after she first drew a pistol and aimed it at them.
Ulrich Wessel (9 January 1946 – 24 April 1975) was the son of a rich Hamburg businessman. Wessel was described as a dandy, and he was a millionaire by
inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, Title (property), titles, debts, entitlements, Privilege (law), privileges, rights, and Law of obligations, obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ ...
. He was involved with the SPK and took part in the West German embassy siege in Stockholm. He died during the siege when the TNT was accidentally exploded; the force of the explosion startled him so much that he dropped a grenade he was holding and it exploded on him. He died soon afterwards.
Bernhard Braun had early on come into contact with the RAF via the West Berlin Tupamaros but was also close to the
Movement 2 June
The 2 June Movement (german: link=no, Bewegung 2. Juni) was a West German anarchist militant group based in West Berlin. Active from January 1972 to 1980, the anarchist group was one of the few militant groups at the time in Germany. Although ...
. On 9 June 1972, Bernhard Braun and
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
Brigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt (born 24 June 1949) is a German convicted former terrorist associated with the second generation of the Red Army Faction (RAF) members. She was also part of the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK). From 1971 until 1 ...
were arrested in
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 ...
. He was one of the 26 members who were supposed to be released as a result of the West German embassy siege in Stockholm.
Former J2M members
Movement 2 June
The 2 June Movement (german: link=no, Bewegung 2. Juni) was a West German anarchist militant group based in West Berlin. Active from January 1972 to 1980, the anarchist group was one of the few militant groups at the time in Germany. Although ...
was founded in 1972 and was allied with the RAF but was ideologically anarchist as opposed to the Marxist RAF. In the early 1980s, the movement disbanded and many members then joined the RAF.
Ingrid Barabass was first arrested alongside
Sieglinde Hofmann
Sieglinde Hofmann (born 14 March 1945) was a German militant and member of both the Socialist Patients' CollectiveWolfgang Kraushaar"Die RAF und der linke Terrorismus" Hamburger Edition, 2006, Volume 1, p. 473 and the Red Army Faction.
Biography
...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
in 1980 following a raid on a RAF safehouse. She was then again arrested in Frankfurt on 4 July 1985. She had been spotted in Paris shortly before
René Audran René Audran (1929 – Jan 25, 1985) was a senior official of the French Ministry of Defence who was responsible for managing the country's foreign arms sales. He is known for being assassinated on 25 January 1985 by the armed group Action directe ...
's assassination by the
Action directe, a French ally to the RAF.
Ingrid Siepmann (born 12 June 1944) was in 1974 sentenced to 13 years in prison for robbing a bank in Hamburg on 6 August 1973 together with Ilse Stachowiak. On 3 March 1975, she was released as part of the
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 ...
kidnapping and exchange together with
Rolf Pohle,
Verena Becker
Verena Becker (born 31 July 1952) is a former West German member of the Movement 2 June and later the Red Army Faction.
Terrorist career
While a student, Becker initially joined Movement 2 June (J2M) and was involved in bank robberies and the bo ...
, Rolf Heissler and Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann and ended up in
South Yemen
South Yemen ( ar, اليمن الجنوبي, al-Yaman al-Janubiyy), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (, ), also referred to as Democratic Yemen (, ) or Yemen (Aden) (, ), was a communist state that existed from 1967 to 19 ...
. She then lived in a training camp for the
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 ...
(PLFP) and should have been part of the abduction of the
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n textile industrial
Walter Palmers
Walter may refer to:
People
* Walter (name), both a surname and a given name
* Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968)
* Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...
in November 1977 but was not involved when it was put into action. She is believed to have been killed by an
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i airstrike in 1982 in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
.
Juliane Plambeck (16 July 1952 – 25 July 1980) was arrested together with members of Movement 2 June
Inge Viett
Inge Viett (12 January 1944 – 9 May 2022) was a member of the West Germany, West German left-wing militant organisations "2 June Movement" and the "Red Army Faction, Red Army Faction (RAF)", which she joined in 1980. In 1982 she became the last ...
and
Ralf Reinders
Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf").
The most common forms ...
on 9 September 1975. They are all suspects in the
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 ...
kidnapping. On 7 July 1976, she along with RAF member
Monika Berberich Monika Berberich is a convicted West Germany, West German terrorist and a founding member of the Red Army Faction, Red Army Faction (RAF). She was involved in the violent :de:Baader-Befreiung, freeing of Andreas Baader in 1970, and served a prison ...
and J2M members
Gabriele Rollnick Gabriele is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name
Surname
*Al Gabriele, American comic book artist
*Angel Gabriele (1956–2016), American comic book artist
*Corrado Gabriele (born 1966), Italian politi ...
and Inge Viett overpowered a guard and scaled the wall, escaping from the
Lehrter Women's Prison in West Berlin. On 25 July 1980, Plambeck, then a RAF member, and Wolfgang Beer were killed in a traffic accident outside of
Bietigheim-Bissingen
Bietigheim-Bissingen (locally: ''Biedge-Bissenge'') is the second-largest town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with 42,515 inhabitants in 2007. It is situated on the river Enz and the river Metter, close to its conflu ...
. In the car several weapons, one of which had been used in the abduction of Hanns Martin Schleyer, were found, next to fake identification documents and vehicle registration.
Rolf Heißler (born 3 June 1948) became acquainted with
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
Brigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt (born 24 June 1949) is a German convicted former terrorist associated with the second generation of the Red Army Faction (RAF) members. She was also part of the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK). From 1971 until 1 ...
in the late 1960s and first became a member of the
Munich Tupamaros and later joined the RAF together with his ex-wife Mohnhaupt, but he was also closely acquainted with the Movement 2 June. On 13 April 1971 he was involved in a bank robbery in Munich but was arrested. In 1972 he was sentenced to a six-year imprisonment. On 3 March 1975, he was released as part of the Peter Lorenz kidnapping and exchange together with Rolf Pohle, Verena Becker, Ingrid Siepmann and
Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann
Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann (18 May 1951 – 7 October 1995) was a German far-left militant, associated with Movement 2 June (J2M) and the Second Generation Red Army Faction. She was the wife of the J2M terrorist Norbert Kröcher. Her '' nom d ...
and ended up in
South Yemen
South Yemen ( ar, اليمن الجنوبي, al-Yaman al-Janubiyy), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (, ), also referred to as Democratic Yemen (, ) or Yemen (Aden) (, ), was a communist state that existed from 1967 to 19 ...
. In October 1976 he returned undetected to Germany. According to Peter-Jürgen Boock Heißler and Stefan Wisniewski shot Hanns Martin Schleyer. On 1 November 1978 he and
Adelheid Schulz
Adelheid Schulz (born 31 March 1955) is a former member of the West German terrorist Red Army Faction.
Early life
Having trained as a nurse, Schulz moved to Karlsruhe in the early 1970s and took up residence in a flat with Günter Sonnenberg, Knu ...
shot two Dutch customs officers,
Dionysius de Jong
The name Dionysius (; el, Διονύσιος ''Dionysios'', "of Dionysus"; la, Dionysius) was common in classical and post-classical times. Etymologically it is a nominalized adjective formed with a -ios suffix from the stem Dionys- of the name ...
and
Johannes Goemans, at a passport control in
Kerkrade
Kerkrade ( Ripuarian: ; li, Kirkraoj; german: Kerkrade or ''Kirchrath'') is a town and a municipality in the southeast of Limburg; the southernmost province of the Netherlands. It forms part of the Parkstad Limburg agglomeration.
Kerkrade is the ...
and seriously injured two more. de Jong died instantly, and Goemans died on 14 November 1978. When he was arrested on 9 June 1979 in Frankfurt, Heissler was seriously injured by a shot in the head but survived. On 10 November 1982, he was sentenced to two life terms plus 15 years for murders and membership in the RAF. On 25 October 2001, he was released on probation.
Rolf Pohle (4 January 1942 – 7 February 2004) was first arrested on 17 December 1971 when he attempted to buy thirty-two firearms in a gun shop in
Neu-Ulm
Neu-Ulm ( Swabian: ''Nej-Ulm'') is the capital of the Neu-Ulm district and a town in Swabia, Bavaria. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 58,978 (31 December 2019 ...
which the police claimed were meant for the RAF. In 1974 he was sentenced to four years in prison because of membership in a criminal organisation, weapon possession and support activities for the RAF. On 3 March 1975, he was released as part of the Peter Lorenz kidnapping and exchange together with Rolf Heissler, Verena Becker, Ingrid Siepmann and Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann and ended up in South Yemen. On 21 July 1976, he was arrested again in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
but first extradited to Germany on 1 October after a lengthy negotiation with Greece. On top of his original conviction, he was given a further three years and three months. He was released in 1982 and returned to
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
two years later. Until the outbreak of cancer, he worked as a teacher and translator. Pohle himself continued to deny any profound relations with the RAF. He died on 7 February 2004.
Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann
Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann (18 May 1951 – 7 October 1995) was a German far-left militant, associated with Movement 2 June (J2M) and the Second Generation Red Army Faction. She was the wife of the J2M terrorist Norbert Kröcher. Her '' nom d ...
(18 May 1951 – 7 October 1995)
The Haag/Mayer Group
The Haag/Mayer Group was a minor group of members within the second generation of the RAF. They were recruited by
Siegfried Haag, who organised the regrouping of the RAF in the mid 1970s together with
Roland Mayer before Brigitte Mohnhaupt took over the leadership after their arrest in 1976. Knut Folkerts from SPK and
Verena Becker
Verena Becker (born 31 July 1952) is a former West German member of the Movement 2 June and later the Red Army Faction.
Terrorist career
While a student, Becker initially joined Movement 2 June (J2M) and was involved in bank robberies and the bo ...
from J2M were also part of this group.
Siegfried Haag (born March 1945) was a sympathetic lawyer for the first generation of the RAF, turned member by 1974. Haag became something of a leader amongst the second generation RAF until he was arrested together with Roland Mayer on 30 November 1976 on the Frankfurt-
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
highway. On 19 December 1979 he was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. In detention, he distanced himself from the RAF. In February 1987 the rest of his punishment to the probation was suspended because he was seriously ill.
Roland Mayer helped
Siegfried Haag regroup the RAF when most of the first generation had been arrested and imprisoned. He was arrested with Haag on 30 November 1976 on the Frankfurt-Kassel highway. He was later sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment.
Günter Sonnenberg (born 21 July 1954) participated in the murder of
Siegfried Buback
Siegfried Buback (3 January 1920, Wilsdruff, Saxony – 7 April 1977, Karlsruhe) was the Attorney General of West Germany from 1974 until his murder in 1977.
Life and career
Buback studied at the University of Leipzig. From 1940 to 1945, he w ...
and his two companions on 7 April 1977. On 3 May 1977, he and
Verena Becker
Verena Becker (born 31 July 1952) is a former West German member of the Movement 2 June and later the Red Army Faction.
Terrorist career
While a student, Becker initially joined Movement 2 June (J2M) and was involved in bank robberies and the bo ...
were captured in
Singen
Singen (Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border.
Location
Singen is an industrial city situated in the very south ...
. The arrest ended in a shoot out with the police and Sonnenberg was seriously injured and suffered brain damage. On 26 April 1978 he was sentenced to twice life imprisonment. In May 1992 he was released on probation.
Uwe Folkerts (born 1948) was arrested on 5 May 1977 together with Johannes Thimme in connection with the
Siegfried Buback
Siegfried Buback (3 January 1920, Wilsdruff, Saxony – 7 April 1977, Karlsruhe) was the Attorney General of West Germany from 1974 until his murder in 1977.
Life and career
Buback studied at the University of Leipzig. From 1940 to 1945, he w ...
assassination. In late 1978 he was found guilty of lending his car to
Adelheid Schulz
Adelheid Schulz (born 31 March 1955) is a former member of the West German terrorist Red Army Faction.
Early life
Having trained as a nurse, Schulz moved to Karlsruhe in the early 1970s and took up residence in a flat with Günter Sonnenberg, Knu ...
and Sabine Schmitz and sentenced to sixteen months imprisonment.
Waltraud Boock (born 1951), wife of
Peter-Jürgen Boock
Peter-Jürgen Boock (born 3 September 1951) is a former terrorist of the Red Army Faction.
Earlier life
After completing secondary school, Boock began training as a mechanic but soon quit. Claiming that his father was a staunch Nazi, Boock then ...
, was arrested on 13 December 1976 following an unsuccessful bank raid in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
together with Sabine Schmitz. On 4 February 1977 she was sentenced to 15 years.
Other second generation members
Sigrid Sternebeck
Sigrid Sternebeck (born 19 June 1949) is a German convicted murderer. She was a member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), and participated in the kidnapping and murder of Hanns-Martin Schleyer, including the murder of his driver and three policemen, a ...
(born 19 June 1949) moved to Hamburg in 1971 and met
Susanne Albrecht
Susanne Albrecht (born 1 March 1951) is a former member of the Red Army Faction.
Early life
Albrecht was the daughter of a successful maritime lawyer, and spent her childhood living in a wealthy suburb of Hamburg. She did not fit in well in pub ...
,
Silke Maier-Witt Silke Maier-Witt is a West Germany, German former German member of the Red Army Faction who later became a trauma psychologist and welfare organiser. During 2000 she was recruited to work in Kosovo by :de:Ziviler Friedensdienst, Germany's Civil Pe ...
, Karl-Heinz Dellwo, Monika Helbing and Bernhard Rössner. In 1977 she joined the RAF and went underground. In 1980 she left the RAF and received asylum and a new identity in
East Germany
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 ...
. She was arrested on 15 June 1990 in
Schwedt
Schwedt (or Schwedt/Oder; ) is a town in Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany. With the official status of a '' Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (major district town), it is the largest town of the Uckermark district, located near the river Oder, ...
together with her husband, Ralf Baptist Friedrich. After her arrest, she cooperated with the police and prosecutors and on 22 June 1992 sentenced to eight and a half years in prison due to her participation in a murder attempt on
Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; December 2, 1924February 20, 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these c ...
and the assassination of Hanns Martin Schleyer. Today she lives under a different name in Northern Germany.
Silke Maier-Witt Silke Maier-Witt is a West Germany, German former German member of the Red Army Faction who later became a trauma psychologist and welfare organiser. During 2000 she was recruited to work in Kosovo by :de:Ziviler Friedensdienst, Germany's Civil Pe ...
(born 21 January 1950) only had a minor involvement in the kidnap of Hanns-Martin Schleyer and broke away from the RAF in 1979. She escaped into East Germany to avoid arrest and lived there until her capture in 1990. She served five years in jail before going on to work as a peace activist in
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
.
Volker Speitel (born 1950) and his wife
Angelika both joined the RAF in the 1970s. He worked in
Klaus Croissant
Klaus Croissant (24 May 1931 – 28 March 2002) was a lawyer of the Red Army Faction, later an East German spy and a political activist for Berlin's Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz and, after 1990, the PDS.
Croissant was shown ...
's office. Where his wife was an active member, he was more of a supporter of the RAF. He was arrested in 1977 together with
Rosemarie Preiss on a train in
Puttgarden
is a ferry harbour and a village on the German island of Fehmarn. It lies on an important route between Germany and Denmark known as the Vogelfluglinie which crosses the strait, the Fehmarnbelt, to Rødby on the island of Lolland.
Overview
...
and cooperated with the police and prosecutors and received the status of a
crown witness
A criminal turns state's evidence by admitting guilt and testifying as a witness for the state against their associate(s) or accomplice(s), often in exchange for leniency in sentencing or immunity from prosecution.Howard Abadinsky, ''Organized C ...
. He was sentenced to three years and two months for supporting the RAF, and he was released from prison in 1979.
Willi-Peter Stoll (12 June 1950 – 6 September 1978) was an RAF member who was one of the men directly involved with the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer. He was said to have changed mentally after the event, and he became depressed and withdrew from the RAF. On 6 September 1978, Stoll was having dinner in a Chinese restaurant in the Red Light District in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
when he was approached by police. He drew his gun and a shoot-out followed that resulted in Stoll's death.
Monika Helbing (born 16 November 1953) joined the RAF in 1974 and was involved in the occupation of the
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
offices in Hamburg. In 1976 she went underground and with
Christian Klar
Christian Klar (born 20 May 1952) is a former leading member of the second generation Red Army Faction (RAF), active between the 1970s and 1980s. Imprisoned in 1982 in Bruchsal Prison, he was released on 19 December 2008, after serving over 26 ...
and other members form the "Southern German cell" of the RAF. She was involved in the preparation and follow-up of the kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer in fall 1977. In 1980 she left the RAF and received asylum and a new identity in East Germany. She was arrested on 14 June 1990 in
Frankfurt an der Oder
Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
and later on 24 February 1992 she was sentenced to seven years in prison. After her arrest, she cooperated with the police and prosecutors and testified extensively. She was released in 1995 and today lives under a different name.
Christof Wackernagel (born 27 August 1951) joined the RAF in 1977, and on 11 November 1977 he was arrested together with
Gert Schneider
Gert is a mainly masculine given name ( short form of Gerrit, Gerard, etc.) with some female bearers (short for Gertrude).
Since 1993 no one in Sweden has been baptised as Gert according to the Swedish Bureau of Census, so the name is becoming ...
in Amsterdam. A year later they were extradited to West Germany and Wackernagel charged with participation in the
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.
Name
The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...
courthouse bombing amongst other things. On 5 September 1980 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison but released in 1987.
Hans-Peter Konieczny was recruited by lawyer Jörg Lang and had just joined the RAF in February 1972, when he on 7 July the same year was cornered by the police in
Offenbach. He was persuaded to cooperate and set up Klaus Jünschke and
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 ...
, who was easily captured by the police. Konieczny was released from custody two months later.
Johannes Thimme (1956–1985) became affiliated with support scene of the RAF in 1977 and served several prison sentences. In 1985 he was killed and
Claudia Wannersdorfer Claudia may refer to:
People Ancient Romans
*Any woman from the Roman Claudia gens
*Claudia (vestal), a Vestal Virgin who protected her father Appius Claudius Pulcher in 143 BC
*Claudia Augusta (63–63 AD), infant daughter of Nero by his second ...
seriously injured when a bomb he was helping to plant at the
Association for the Development of Air and Space Industries
Association may refer to:
*Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
*Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry
*Voluntary associatio ...
in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
exploded prematurely.
Third generation Red Army Faction (1982–1993)
This generation was active mostly throughout the 1980s and early 1990s until the group disbanded in 1998.
Eva Haule (born 1954) went underground in 1984, was arrested in 1986, and after being sentenced remained in prison until 2007.
Wolfgang Grams (born 1953) and Birgit Hogefeld (born 1956) were considered the leaders of the third generation. Both were arrested in
Bad Kleinen
Bad Kleinen (until 1915 Kleinen) is a municipality in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the north bank of the Schweriner See. Bad Kleinen is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region.
Geography ...
in 1993, during a botched operation. But Grams died in controversial circumstances. After being sentenced for her involved in the assassination of Detlef Rohwedder, Hogefeld remained in prison until 2011.
Ernst-Volker Staub (born 1954), Daniela Klette (born 1958), and Burkhard Garweg (born 1 September 1968) are the three former members of RAF still on Germany's most-wanted list. In January 2016 the trio were identified as the suspected perpetrators of a bungled attempt to rob an armoured security van near Bremen in June 2015,
and they are suspects in further robberies. These crimes are not considered to have a terrorist background.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Members of the Red Army Faction
Members
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...