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 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 ...

. She was the wife of the J2M

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

Norbert Kröcher Norbert Erich Kröcher (14 July 1950 – 16 September 2016) was a German terrorist and member of J2M. He was also strongly associated with the second generation of the Red Army Faction. He was the husband of Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann. As a ...

. Her '' nom de guerre'' was "Nada".

Biography

Early life

Kröcher-Tiedemann was born in Ziegendorf in

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

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 ...

on 18 May 1951. She studied at a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

before moving to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

to study

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

. At that time she was associated with communist

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

in Berlin.

Crimes

It is not clear at what point Kröcher-Tiedemann went

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

, but in 1973 she shot a policeman in a

Buchen Buchen (South Franconian: ''Buche'') is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is situated in the Odenwald low mountain range, 23 km northeast of the regional center Mosbach. Geography Buchen is situated on the seam between the ...

carpark after he tried to arrest her for stealing

number plates A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate (Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or Trailer (vehicle), trailer for offi ...

. She was subsequently arrested and was sentenced to eight years in prison. However, as a result 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 prisoner exchange, she was freed two years later in 1975 and flown to South Yemen. OPEC siege
On 21 December 1975 she participated with the international terrorist " Carlos the Jackal" in a raid on the OPEC headquarters 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 ...

. There she murdered two people: one was a 76 year old

policeman A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

interpreter named Anton Tichler and the other was a plainclothes

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

i bodyguard who had grabbed hold of Kröcher-Tiedemann. While he was attempting to control her weapon, Kröcher-Tiedemann produced a second gun and shot the man through the head. The raid was successful and, on 22 December, 42 hostages as well as the hostage takers were flown to Algiers, then

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

and then Algiers again. All the hostages were freed and the terrorists were all given asylum. Walter Palmers
In November 1977, Kröcher-Tiedemann working again with J2M, kidnapped an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...

named Walter Palmers, and successfully managed to obtain a $2 million ransom in exchange for his freedom.

Capture, imprisonment and death

Kröcher-Tiedemann resurfaced in December 1977 when she shot two Swiss customs men after they attempted to arrest her at

Porrentruy Porrentruy (, fc, Poérreintru , german: Pruntrut) is a Swiss municipality and seat of the district of the same name located in the canton of Jura. Porrentruy is home to National League team, HC Ajoie. History The first trace of human pre ...

, near the Swiss border. Both survived, although one would remain paralysed for life. She was subsequently arrested and in her baggage weapons,

forged Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which it ...

I.D. papers,

blueprints A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. Introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842, the process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited numb ...

of the

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 ...

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

and $20,000 (of Palmer's ransom money) were found. Kröcher-Tiedemann spent the next 10 years in a Swiss prison, and in 1987 she was

extradite Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

d back to

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 ...

, where she was charged with her part in the OPEC raid. However, due to lack of evidence she was acquitted in May 1990. Suffering from ill health, Kröcher-Tiedemann was released from prison in 1991. She was operated on five times in 1992 and on 7 October 1995 she finally succumbed to

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

at the age of 44.

In popular culture

Kröcher-Tiedemann was portrayed by

Julia Hummer Julia Hummer (born 24 April 1980) is a German actress and singer. She appeared in more than twenty films since 1999. Selected filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hummer, Julia 1980 births Living people People from Ha ...

in the 2010 French television miniseries '' Carlos''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krocher-Tiedemann 1951 births 1995 deaths People from Ludwigslust-Parchim Members of the 2 June Movement Members of the Red Army Faction German people imprisoned abroad People extradited to Germany People extradited from Switzerland Deaths from cancer in Germany