Birgit Hogefeld (born 27 July 1956) is a former member of the

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (, ; RAF ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang ( ), was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active until 1998, considered a terrorist organisat ...

(RAF).

Early life

Born in 1956 in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

, Hogefeld joined the RAF in 1984, once she turned clandestine, long after its founding members Andreas Baader,

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 ...

and Ulrike Meinhof were dead. She became the girlfriend of fellow RAF member Wolfgang Grams and moved in with him.Death On track 4
Time, 1993-08-23, Accessed on 2021-07-15.

Arrest

On 27 June 1993, Hogefeld and Grams arrived at a

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

in Bad Kleinen where a group of

GSG 9 , formerly , is the police tactical unit of the German Federal Police (Bundespolizei). The unit is responsible for combatting terrorism and violent crime, including organized crime. In addition to its headquarters location in Sankt Augustin-H ...

officers were waiting to arrest them (the officers had received a tip-off from a fellow GSG 9 officer who had infiltrated the RAF). According to the GSG 9 men, Hogefeld and Grams started firing at them on sight; Grams fatally shot an officer named Michael Newrzella. According to the police Grams committed suicide and fell on the train tracks. However, it was suspected that Grams did not commit suicide but was shot by GSG 9 officers. The Staatsanwaltschaft Schwerin investigated these allegations and concluded in January 1994 that they were incorrect. Grams' parents challenged this conclusion in court, but it was upheld by five different courts, including the European Court of Human Rights in 1999. Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters took responsibility for the poor conducting and postprocessing of the operation and resigned in July of the year, as well as Chief Federal Prosecutor,

Alexander von Stahl Alexander von Stahl (born 10 June 1938 in Berlin) is a German lawyer, liberal politician and civil servant. He served as Attorney General of Germany from June 1990 until July 1993. Before he was appointed Attorney General, he served as an Under ...

Sentencing

Several terrorist activities that Hogefeld was later found guilty of by a Higher Court in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

were; *The murder of a young GI, Edward Pimental, in 1985 to obtain his I.D. to access the grounds of the U.S. Rhein-Main Air Base near

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. Supposedly Hogefeld lured him to her home after meeting him in a bar, where he was then shot through the neck and killed. Eva Haule was also involved with Pimental's murder. *A bombing attack on the aforementioned U.S. airbase, which killed A1C Frank Scarton and Becky Jo Bristol and left twenty others injured. *A failed assassination attempt on

Hans Tietmeyer Hans Tietmeyer (18 August 1931 – 27 December 2016) was a German economist and regarded as one of the foremost experts on international financial matters. He was president of Deutsche Bundesbank from 1993 until 1999 and remained afterwards one o ...

, former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Deutsche Bundesbank The Deutsche Bundesbank (, , colloquially Buba, sometimes alternatively abbreviated as BBk or DBB) is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Germany within the Eurosystem. It was the German central bank from 1957 to 19 ...

. *The destruction of a jail. *Involvement in a terrorist organisation. In November 1996, she was given a

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

sentence. In 2008, federal president

Horst Köhler Horst Köhler (; 22 February 1943 – 1 February 2025) was a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, CDU ...

denied her clemency request. Hogefeld was released on parole in June 2011.Clemency denied for Red Army Faction terrorist.
Deutsche Welle, 2010-05-17. Accessed on 2010-09-26.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogefeld, Birgit 1956 births Living people 20th-century criminals German female murderers German people convicted of murder German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Members of the Red Army Faction People convicted on terrorism charges People from Wiesbaden People convicted of murder by Germany Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Germany People paroled from life sentence