The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History, Volume 1
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Schubert, Ingrid: 1944-1977; founding member of the RAF; 1970, arrested; 1977, killed in prison.
Schulz, Adelheid: b. 1955; 1977, joined the RAF; 1982, arrested; 1998, released from prison on health grounds; 2002, pardoned.
Schumann, Jürgen: 1940-1977; pilot; 1977, killed during the Mogadishu action.
Siepmann, Ingrid: b. 1944; member of the 2JM; 1974, arrested; 1975, released from prison as part of a prisoner exchange for CDU politician Peter Lorenz who had been kidnapped by the 2JM; 1982, believed killed by Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.
Söhnlein, Horst: b. 1943; 1968, participated in the Frankfurt department store arsons, released while awaiting an appeal; 1969, turned himself in when the appeal was denied.
Sonnenberg, Günter: b. 1954; member of the RAF; 1977, arrested; 1992, released from prison.
Speitel, Angelika: b. 1952; RAF member; 1978, arrested; 1989, pardoned.
Speitel, Volker: b. 1950; RAF supporter, 1977, arrested, cooperated with police and prosecutors; 1979, released from prison.
Springer, Axel: 1912-1985; media magnate, owner of the Springer Press.
Stachowiak, Ilse “Tinny”: b. 1954; 1970, joined the RAF; 1971, arrested, released the same year and went back underground; 1974, arrested.
Sternebeck, Sigrid: b. 1949; 1977, joined the RAF; 1980, left the RAF and received asylum in the GDR; 1990, arrested and cooperated with police and prosecutors.
Stoll, Willi-Peter: 1950-1978; member of the RAF; 1978, shot dead by police.
Strauß, Franz Josef: 1915-1988; CSU politician; 1953-1955, Federal Minister for Special Affairs; 1955-1956, Federal Minister for Atomic Issues; 1956-1962, Federal Minister of Defense; 1966-1969, Federal Minister of Finance; 1978-1988, President of Bavaria.
Ströbele, Hans-Christian: b. 1939; lawyer for RAF prisoners; 1969, cofounder of the Socialist Lawyers Collective; 1979, co-founder of the taz; 1978, founding member of the Alternative List; 1985, joined the Green Party.
Sturm, Beate: b. 1950; 1970, joined the RAF; 1971, left the RAF, subsequently gave a number of interviews about the organization.
Taufer, Lutz: b. 1944; member of the SPK; 1971, joined the RAF; part of the Holger Meins Commando that carried out the failed Stockholm embassy hostage taking in 1975; received two life sentences in 1977; 1996, released from prison; 1999, moved to Brazil.
Teufel, Fritz: b. 1943; founding member of Kommune 1; founding member of the 2JM, 1975, arrested, sentenced to five years in prison.
Thimme, Johannes: 1956-1985; 1976, affiliated himself with the RAF support scene, served several prison sentences; 1985, killed when a bomb he was helping to plant exploded prematurely.
Ulmer, Helmut: 1953-1977; Schleyer’s bodyguard; 1977, killed by the RAF.
Urbach, Peter: b. 1941; police infiltrator working in the milieu of the SDS and the APO in the late sixties, particularly close to members of Kommune 1, the 2JM, and the RAF; 1970, facilitated the arrest of Andreas Baader, after which he was provided with a new identity and relocated outside of West Germany.
Viett, Inge: b. 1944; founding member of the 2JM; 1972, arrested; 1973, broke out of prison; 1975, arrested; 1976, broke out of prison; 1980, joined the RAF; 1982, left the RAF and received asylum in the GDR; 1990, arrested, the only refugee in the GDR who would not provide evidence against other guerillas; 1997, released from prison.
Vogel, Andreas: 2JM member; 1976, arrested, sentenced to ten years in prison.
Wackernagel, Christof: b. 1951; 1977, joined the RAF, arrested the same year; 1983, broke with the RAF; 1987, released from prison.
Wagenbach, Klaus: b. 1930; founder of influential left press Wagenbach Publishers; 1976, read the eulogy at Ulrike Meinhof’s funeral.
Wagner, Rolf Clemens: b. 1944; member of the RAF; 1979, arrested in Zurich, Switzerland and extradited to Germany; 2003, pardoned on health grounds; 2007, subject to investigation after stating in a interview that the Schleyer kidnapping was a legitimate action.
Weinrich, Johannes: b. 1947; founding member of the RZ; by the late seventies part of the Carlos group; 1995, arrested in Aden, Yemen and extradited to Germany, sentenced to life in prison.
Weissbecker, Thomas: 1949-1972; associated with Kommune 1, the Roaming Hash Rebels, the Tupamaros West Berlin, the 2JM, and the RAF; 1971, arrested and acquitted; 1972, shot dead by police during a manhunt for the RAF.
Wessel, Ulrich: 1946-1975; member of the SPK; member of the RAF; 1975, killed during the Stockholm action he was participating in as a member of the Holger Meins Commando.
Wischnewski, Hans-Jürgen: 1922-2005; member of the SPD; 1959-1961, Chairman of the Jusos; 1966, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation; 1970, member of the SPD’s Executive Committee; 1974, Secretary of State; 1974-1976; Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs; 1976-1979, Minister of State at the Federal Chancellery; 1977, government envoy to Third World countries during the German Autumn; 1979-1982, Deputy Chairman of the SPD; 1982, Minister of State at the Federal Chancellery.
Wisniewski, Stefan: b. 1953; 1975, joined the RAF; 1978, arrested at Orly Airport in Paris; 1999, released from prison.
Witter, Hermann: b. 1916; Director of the Institute for Forensic Medicine and Psychiatry at University of Homburg/Saar.
Wurster, Georg: 1944-1977; Buback’s bodyguard; 1977, killed by the RAF.
Zeis, Peter: Federal Prosecutor involved in the Stammheim trial against Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Ulrike Meinhof, Holger Meins, and Jan-Carl Raspe.
Zitzlaff, Inge Wienke: b. 1931; Ulrike Meinhof’s sister.
Armed Struggle in West Germany: A Chronology
1958
Leadership of the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (Socialist German Students Federation, or SDS) won by activists significantly to the left of the SPD.
1961
The SDS and left-wing Society for the Promotion of Socialism are purged from the SPD.
1964
December 18, 1964
400 demonstrators greet Congolese President Moise Tschombe at the West Berlin airport. 150 protestors clash with the police in the streets of West Berlin. Rudi Dutschke will later claim this demonstration marked the beginning of the APO.
1966
April 9–11, 1966
(Easter Weekend)
Demonstrations against the Vietnam War occur throughout West Germany.
May 22, 1966
The SDS organizes a conference against the Vietnam War.
Participants include Conrad Ahlers, Oskar Negt, Herbert Marcuse, and Jürgen Habermas. As a result of this conference, the SDS emerges as the key organization in the antiwar movement.
May 30, 1966
Student organizations hold a conference in Bonn against the Notstandsgesetze (Emergency Laws) being proposed by the government.
October 8, 1966
8,000-9,000 participate in a national congress to oppose the proposed Emergency Laws. 24,000 people participate in the closing demonstration.
December 1, 1966
The CDU/SPD Grand Coalition is formed.
December 10, 1966
In a closing speech at the Vietnam Weeks, SDS leader Rudi Dutschke proposes the formation of an extra-parliamentary opposition, which will become known as the APO. A demonstration at the close of the conference is brutally attacked by police.
1967
January 1, 1967
Kommune 1 founded in West Berlin. The first commune to come out of the student movement, it represents the anarchist tendency.
March 25–27, 1967
(Easter Weekend)
Demostrations occur throughout West Germany against the government’s antidemocratic measures and against the Vietnam War.
April 5, 1967
Kommune 1 carries out a pudding attack on U.S. Vice President, Hubert Humphrey, in West Berlin, which is followed by arrests and an intense media smear campaign.
April 19, 1967
2,000 students participate in a sit-in at the Free University in West Berlin to protest the uni
versity’s disciplinary measures against FU students arrested with Kommune 1 members in connection with the pudding attack against Hubert Humphrey on April 5.
April 21, 1967
With support from NATO, a coup establishes a far-right military junta in Greece.
May 12, 1967
Kommune 1 is expelled from the SDS.
May 20, 1967
The Republican Club, a meeting place for leftists, opens in West Berlin. Horst Mahler is a founding member.
May 24, 1967
Two days after a fire levels a Brussels department store, Kommune 1 members pass out a leaflet suggesting that burning department stores might not be such a bad way to advance the revolution. Fritz Teufel and Rainer Langhans are arrested and charged with inciting arson.
June 2, 1967
Student Benno Ohnesorg is shot and killed by undercover police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras during a demonstration against a visit by the Shah of Iran to West Berlin. Initially acquitted, Kurras is retried, convicted and spends four months in jail. He is allowed to retain his job.
June 3–4, 1967
Protests of the killing of Benno Ohnesorg on June 2 are held at almost every university in West Germany. Violent clashes with the police occur in Hamburg.
June 5–11, 1967
Israel attacks Egyptian forces in Sinai and the Gaza Strip—Syria and Jordan soon enter the conflict in support of Egypt. Nevertheless, due to its greater military capacity, Israel routes all three Arab armies, in what is known as the Six Day War. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee the newly Occupied Territories, finding their way to neighboring Jordan. The Six Day War establishes anti-Zionism as a key element of the West German left.
September 5, 1967
At an SDS congress Rudi Dutschke and Hans-Jürgen Krahl raise the idea of the urban guerilla. This is the first time the idea has been openly discussed in the SDS or the APO.
October 21, 1967
10,000 people demonstrate in West Berlin against the Vietnam War on the same day as similar protests take place around the world. There are clashes with police in West Berlin. Following the demonstration, Andreas Baader and Astrid Proll lay a bomb at America House. It fails to detonate due to a technical failure.
1968
January 30, 1968
The Tet Offensive begins in Vietnam. The offensive, which lasts two months, is a turning point in the war, forcing the U.S. into a defensive position from which it will never recover.
February 1–7, 1968
A week of violent student demonstrations against the Vietnam War sweeps West Germany.
February 2, 1968
At the Springer Tribunal at the Critical University, Holger Meins shows a film about how to make a molotov cocktail. The Springer Press refers to the Tribunal as an act of fascist terror, comparing students to Hitler’s SA.
February 17–18, 1968
The International Congress on Vietnam is held at the Technical University in West Berlin. 12,000 people attend the closing demonstration.
February 21, 1968
A demonstration organized by the West Berlin Senate, the Federation of Trade Unions, and the Springer Press against the student movement and in support of the U.S. war against Vietnam draws 80,000. Many participants carry placards reading “Rudi Dutschke: Public Enemy Number One” and “Berlin Must Not Become Saigon.”
April 1968
Georg von Rauch, Michael “Bommi” Baumann, and others form the Wieland Kommune in West Berlin.
April 3, 1968
Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Thorwald Proll, and Horst Söhnlein firebomb 2 Frankfurt department stores to protest the escalation of the Vietnam War.
April 4, 1968
Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Thorwald Proll, and Horst Söhnlein are arrested for the arsons of the previous day.
Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
April 11, 1968
Student leader Rudi Dutschke is shot three times, including once in the head, and seriously injured in West Berlin. The shooter, Josef Bachmann, is a young right-wing worker from Munich, who claims to have been inspired by the Bild Zeitung. The shooting sparks weeks of violent unrest, primarily directed against the Springer Press. In Munich, two demonstrators are killed in clashes with the police. Demonstrations and clashes occur for the rest of the month in cities throughout West Germany.
May 1968
Student mass demonstrations happen around the world: West Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, England, Turkey, Brazil, Japan, the USA…
May 3–June 30, 1968
A student strike in Paris, France sets in motion events that will last until August, including widespread workers strikes, mass demonstrations, street confrontations, and factory occupations, almost bringing down the Charles De Gaulle government.
May 5, 1968
Ulrike Meinhof argues in her weekly column in the influential left magazine konkret that the time has come to escalate from protest to resistance.
May 15–30, 1968
A wave of demonstrations against the proposed Emergency Laws sweeps West Germany.
May 30, 1968
In West Germany, the Emergency Laws become law. Student protests erupt all over the country. Police forcibly clear Frankfurt University.
May 31, 1968
80,000 people in more than 50 cities demonstrate to protest the adoption of the Emergency Laws.
June 28, 1968
The Emergency Powers Act is passed. A riot occurs at the Free University in West Berlin.
September 12–16, 1968
At the 23rd Delegates Conference of the SDS in Frankfurt, Heike Sanders of the Steering Committee for Women’s Liberation intervenes to denounce the male authoritarian nature of the SDS and is booed down. When SDS leader Hans-Jürgen Krahl refuses to address the issue, women attack him with tomatoes, marking a fundamental first step in the development of the women’s movement in West Germany and West Berlin.
October 14, 1968
The trial of Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Thorwald Proll, and Horst Söhnlein for the April 3 department store arsons in Frankfurt begins.
October 30, 1968
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who had been expelled from France for his leading role in the protests there earlier in the year, is arrested for disrupting the arson trial of Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Söhnlein, and Thorwald Proll.
October 31, 1968
The Frankfurt LG sentences Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Thorwald Proll, and Horst Söhnlein to three years in prison for the April department store arsons in Frankfurt.
November 4, 1968
Following threats to disbar left-wing attorney Horst Mahler because of his participation in anti-Springer protests, students and police clash violently in an incident that will, after the name of the street it occurs on, become known as the Battle of Tegeler Weg.
1969
February 27, 1969
Richard Nixon visits West Berlin and is met with massive demonstrations and an unsuccessful bombing attempt against his motorcade. Kommune 1 members Dieter Kunzelmann and Rainer Langhans are arrested for the attempted bombing. The bomb was supplied by Verfassungsschutz infiltrator Peter Urbach.
April 1, 1969
The Sozialistisches Büro is founded in Offenbach.
May 7, 1969
Because of political differences with her husband, konkret publisher Klaus Rainer Röhl, Ulrike Meinhof, at that time a konkret columnist, leads a group of thirty people who demolish the inside of his suburban Hamburg villa.
June 7, 1969
Young workers and apprentices demonstrate in Cologne. Their slogan is “Self-determination and class struggle instead of comanagement and union crap.”
June 13, 1969
Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Thorwald Proll, and Horst Söhnlein, who had been sentenced for the April, 1968, department store arson, are released while their case is appealed.
Fall 1969
The urban guerilla gro
ups Tupamaros-West Berlin and Tupamaros-Munich are formed. Dieter Kunzelmann and other members of the Tupamaros-West Berlin receive training in an Al Fatah (PLO) training camp in Jordan. There are six bombings in West Berlin.
September 2–19, 1969
Wildcat strikes occur in the mining, metal, energy, and car industries.
October 21, 1969
A new Social-Liberal coalition government of the SPD and the FDP is formed. Willy Brandt (SPD) is Chancellor, Gustav Heinemann (SPD) is President, and Walter Scheel (FDP) is Foreign Minister.
1970
February 12, 1970
Fifty-two psychiatric patients form the Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv (SPK—Socialist Patients’ Collective) in Heidelberg. The group’s motto is “Turn Illness Into a Weapon.”
March 21, 1970
At a meeting in Frankfurt the SDS Federal Association is dissolved by acclamation. A few local groups carry on for a short period.
April 4, 1970
Andreas Baader is arrested in West Berlin. While it first appears this was a “routine traffic stop”, it is later revealed that he was in fact set up by police spy Peter Urbach.
May 14, 1970
An armed group breaks Andreas Baader out of the library of the Institute for Social Research, where he had obtained permission to work with Ulrike Meinhof on a book about juvenile detention centres. An Institute employee, Georg Linke, is shot and seriously injured. This marks the beginning of the Red Army Faction (RAF).
May 20, 1970
In an amnesty, the new Social-Liberal Coalition pardons thousands of students who had been sentenced to up to nine months in prison for various offences committed at demonstrations.
June–August 1970
Twenty members of the RAF receive training in an Al Fatah (PLO) training camp in Jordan.
June 2, 1970
The West German press receives a communiqué claiming credit for breaking Baader out of prison on May 14.
June 5, 1970
In a statement entitled Die Rote Armee aufbauen (Build the Red Army), sent to the radical left magazine 883, the RAF effectively announces its existence.