The West German Embassy siege 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 ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, was a hostage standoff initiated by 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) on 24 April 1975. Collectively, the attackers referred to themselves as Kommando Holger Meins, after

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 t ...

, an RAF member who had died of starvation during a (collective)

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 ...

Wittlich The town of Wittlich (; Moselle Franconian: ''Wittlech'') is the seat of the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Its historic town centre and the beauty of the surrounding countryside make the town a centre for tourism in ...

Prison on 9 November 1974. The RAF group carried out the attack with the goal of forcing the release of RAF members and others from prison in West Germany. During the siege they stated: "The Holger Meins Commando is holding members of the embassy staff in order to free prisoners 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 ...

. If the police move in, we shall blow the building up with 15 kilos of TNT."

The siege

The group consisted of six members:

Karl-Heinz Dellwo 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 ...

, Siegfried Hausner,

Hanna-Elise Krabbe 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 ...

, Bernhard Rössner, Lutz Taufer and

Ulrich Wessel 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 ...

. They entered the embassy, took thirteen embassy officials hostage (or twelve officials, according to some sources), including

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Heinz Dietrich Stoecker, and then proceeded to occupy the upper floors of the building. They warned Swedish police to back off or some hostages would be killed, but the police did not comply. Consequently, one of the hostages, Baron Andreas von Mirbach, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

, was marched out onto the landing and shot dead. Coincidentally, in 1918, his late relative

Wilhelm von Mirbach Wilhelm Maria Theodor Ernst Richard Graf von Mirbach-Harff (2 July 1871 – 6 July 1918) was a German diplomat, and was assassinated while ambassador to Moscow. Biography Born in Bad Ischl in Upper Austria into a Catholic Rhenan aristocratic ...

had been assassinated at the German embassy in Moscow by

Left Socialist-Revolutionaries The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (russian: Партия левых социалистов-революционеров-интернационалистов) was a revolutionary socialist political party formed during the Russian Revol ...

while serving as German Ambassador to Russia.

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Before becoming Cha ...

, having experienced another hostage crisis just weeks before, was not prepared to negotiate with them. In response, economic

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...

Hillegaart was made to stand at a window, and was then shot three times. With the murder of Hillegaart, the attackers announced they would execute one hostage every hour until their demands were met. Swedish police prepared to storm the building, but before they had the chance to do so, the embassy was rocked by a series of violent explosions; the TNT had somehow been detonated. It turned out that one of the terrorists, Ulrich Wessel, had dropped a grenade, which killed him and detonated the TNT cache. The remaining hostages, as well as the other RAF members, all suffered severe burns. The extradition of the captured and surviving RAF militants was ordered by the Swedish then- Minister of Employment,

Anna-Greta Leijon Anna-Greta Leijon (born Anna Margareta Maria Lejon, 30 June 1939) is a Swedish former social democratic politician. She held various ministerial posts one of which was the minister for justice although she does not have any degree in law. Early ...

. Siegfried Hausner was flown back to

, where he soon died of his wounds in

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 ...

. The explosion of the embassy was caught on tape. Swedish news reporter Bo Holmström was standing outside the embassy ready to broadcast when the explosions took place. After taking cover Holmström started yelling "''Lägg ut, lägg ut!''" ("Put it on, put it on!"), i.e. "Put me

on the air On the Air may refer to: *On the Air (album), ''On the Air'' (album), 1984, by Billy Preston *On the Air (TV series), ''On the Air'' (TV series), an American sitcom *On the Air (film), ''On the Air'' (film), a 1934 British musical comedy *On the A ...

!". Once he knew he was live he began reporting on the events.

Aftermath

Following the siege, Anna-Greta Leijon received multiple threats, including from a so-called "Kommando Sigfried Hausner". Soon after the embassy plot, the

Swedish Security Service The Swedish Security Service ( sv, Säkerhetspolisen , abbreviated SÄPO ; until 1989 ''Rikspolisstyrelsens säkerhetsavdelning'', abbreviated RPS/Säk) is a Swedish government agency organised under the Ministry of Justice. It operates as a se ...

(Säpo) became involved in the protection of Leijon. In May 1977, an RAF team led by

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 ...

attempted to kidnap Leijon, but her security detail managed to prevent this. Following the failed kidnapping attempt, over 20 people were arrested in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

and

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

in Sweden, and

Gladsaxe Gladsaxe Kommune is a municipality (Danish, ''Commune (subnational entity), kommune'') near Copenhagen in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Following the

assassination of Olof Palme On 28 February 1986, at 23:21 CET (22:21 UTC), Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, was fatally wounded by a single gunshot while walking home from a cinema with his wife Lisbeth Palme on the central Stockholm street Sveavägen. Lisbeth Pa ...

, it was also speculated that the RAF were the perpetrators. However, in June 2020, it was announced by the Swedish government that Stig Engström, who died in 2000, was the likely murderer.

References

Literature

* Blumenau, Bernhard. ''The United Nations and Terrorism. Germany, Multilateralism, and Antiterrorism Efforts in the 1970s.'' Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, pp. 22, 32, 37, 117.

External links

A Brief History of the Red Army FactionVideo Bo Holmström "Lägg ut, lägg ut!"Video of the embassy burning after the explosion
{{Authority control 1975 murders in Sweden 1975 in West Germany Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1975

Improvised explosive device bombings in Europe Red Army Faction Sieges involving Sweden Hostage taking in Sweden Filmed improvised explosive device bombings Germany–Sweden relations 1970s in Stockholm

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Cold War April 1975 events in Europe Terrorist incidents in Sweden Terrorist incidents in Sweden in the 1970s

The siege

Aftermath

See also

References

Literature

External links