As of: February 28, 2024 5:25 p.m
The RAF’s origins lie in the ’68 movement. Then the Red Army Faction developed into the most brutal terrorist group in the Federal Republic. After almost 30 years, it disbanded in 1998. Ex-members are still being sought. Daniela Klette has now been arrested.
The Red Army Faction (RAF) was founded in the spring of 1970 around Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin. Some media therefore initially refer to the group as the Baader-Meinhof gang. The roots of the RAF go back to the student movement of the late 1960s, but their exact connection is controversial among historians. The name Red Army Faction is probably intended as a provocation. How much the group sees itself as an offshoot of the Soviet army remains unclear. It is clear that the name stands for strength and revolutionary potential.
The RAF uses “urban guerrilla” as the central concept of its self-image. This brings it closer to revolutionary associations in Latin America. Their common goal: change the political system through a small group – even with violence.
AUDIO: How did violence come to the RAF? (2012) (3 mins)
The RAF’s first bank robberies and bombings
It quickly becomes clear that the RAF also accepts deaths in order to achieve its goals. The first victim was the Hamburg civil investigator Norbert Schmid in 1971, followed by a police officer from Kaiserslautern and in March 1972 the head of a special commission of the Hamburg police, Hans Eckhardt. After a series of bank robberies, the RAF carried out its first bomb attack in May 1972: on the US Army headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. Shortly afterwards there were further attacks, including on the Axel Springer publishing house building in Hamburg and the European headquarters of the US Army in Heidelberg. The police launch a major manhunt and, within a few months, arrest numerous leading RAF terrorists, including founding members Baader, Meinhof and Ensslin.
Videos
26 Min
The program deals, among other things, with the Stammheim eavesdropping affair.
26 Min
The Stammheim trial: The RAF terrorists on trial
Her trial began in 1975 in a specially built, highly secured courthouse in Stuttgart-Stammheim. The later Federal Minister of the Interior Otto Schily, among others, took part as the defendant’s defense attorney. In the courtroom he explains: “What is taking place here in these proceedings cannot be described as anything other than the systematic destruction of all guarantees of the rule of law.” He is alluding to the fact that the proceedings are accompanied by numerous irregularities: threatened witnesses, wiretapped conversations between the defendant and the defense and the defendant’s hunger strike, which massively disrupted the trial from the start.
AUDIO: How fair was the Stammheim trial? (2012) (4 mins)
RAF kidnappings in the “German Autumn”
Kidnapped by the RAF and later killed: employer president Hanns Martin Schleyer.
The procedure does not bring an end to the violence. Instead, the “second generation” of the RAF carries out increasingly brutal attacks and kills, among others, Federal Prosecutor General Siegfried Buback and banker Jürgen Ponto. The terror reached its peak in 1977 during the so-called German autumn, which begins with the kidnapping of employer president Hanns Martin Schleyer on September 5th. The terrorists have kept the country in suspense for weeks. On October 13, the situation escalated further when a terrorist squad hijacked the Lufthansa jet “Landshut” to Mogadishu. With the campaign they want to free their like-minded people in Stammheim from prison. But the federal government under Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD) did not give in and had the special unit GSG 9 storm the jet on October 18th – all 82 passengers survived. Just one day later, the kidnapped Hanns Martin Schleyer was found murdered. He is one of 34 deaths attributed to the RAF.
Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe learn in the Stammheim high-security prison that their planned liberation has failed. Just hours after the end of the “Landhut” drama, they are found dead in their cells – while the trial against them is still ongoing. The circumstances of her suicide are still controversial today and are also linked to the harsh prison conditions.
The killing never ends
A “third generation” changed the strategy in the early 1980s and wanted to internationalize the RAF. The killing continues. The most prominent victims are Deutsche Bank board spokesman Alfred Herrhausen (1989) and Karsten Rohwedder, chairman of the Treuhand (1991). He is considered the RAF’s last murder victim. In 1992, Justice Minister Klaus Kinkel (FDP) set an example and declared that the state must reconcile with the RAF where appropriate. The terrorist group responded in one of its ideological statements with the words: “We, the revolutionary metropolitan front, have the power to keep the imperialists’ aggression that is starting from here in check.”
The end of the RAF: Many questions remain unanswered
The Federal Criminal Police Office shows mugshots of suspected RAF terrorists on its website.
On April 20, 1998, the Reuters news agency received an eight-page letter in which the RAF explained: “Almost 28 years ago, on May 14, 1970, the RAF was formed in a liberation operation. Today we are finishing this project. The urban guerrilla in form The RAF is now history.” The authors of the letter remain unknown, but investigators believe the paper is authentic.
The RAF was responsible for 34 deaths and at least 230 people, some seriously injured. The self-dissolution is a sensation. However, the RAF file is still a concern for state security officers. Many crimes have not yet been solved. The Federal Criminal Police Office is still searching for members of the group.
Arrested in 2024
Ernst-Volker Staub, Daniela Marie Luise Klette and Burkhard Garweg, among others, have been sought for years. The Verden public prosecutor’s office accuses the members of the “third generation” of attempted murder and several serious robberies. The investigators assume that the former RAF trio did not commit the crimes out of political motivation, but rather to secure their livelihood. On February 27, 2024, Klette is arrested in Berlin. After a search call on television, numerous tips were received.
Another person is also arrested. But it’s not a matter of cooking or dust. The man is at large again. A day later, according to a media report, another person was arrested.
Further information
According to police, additional weapons were found. The suspected accomplices could also be in Berlin. more
4 Min
The more information becomes public, the more incomprehensible it becomes that Klette was able to live unmolested in Berlin for 30 years. 4 mins
On November 16, 1982, the RAF terrorist Christian Klar was caught near Hamburg. A new type of infrared detector helps with this. more
On June 27, 1993, RAF terrorist Wolfgang Grams and a GSG9 officer died in a botched operation at Bad Kleinen train station. more
She is considered the voice of the first RAF generation. There is speculation about her death in a prison cell 45 years ago. more
A pistol in her pocket gives it away: On June 7, 1972, RAF terrorist Gudrun Ensslin was arrested in a boutique. more
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Hello Lower Saxony | 02/28/2024 | 19:30 o’clock