The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History, Volume 1

by J. Smith

  Clergyman Heinrich Fink reads a message from RAF prisoner Christian Klar to the Rosa Luxemburg Conference in Berlin. In his message, Klar calls for the continuing struggle against capitalism and for a more humane society.

  February 26, 2007

  The television news magazine Report Mainz (The Mainz Report) reports on RAF prisoner Christian Klar’s application for a presidential pardon, setting off a media debate.

  March 25, 2007

  RAF prisoner Brigitte Mohnhaupt is released from prison. She remains subject to parole conditions.

  April 25, 2007

  Attorney General Monika Harms launches an investigation into the allegations of former RAF members Peter-Jürgen Boock and Verena Becker that Stefan Wisniewski was the shooter in the Buback assassination.

  May 7, 2007

  Following a personal conversation with RAF prisoner Christian Klar, President Horst Köhler turns down Klar’s clemency request. He will also turn down a similar request from Birgit Hogefeld.

  August 27, 2007

  RAF prisoner Eva Haule is released from prison. She remains subject to parole conditions.

  September 9–10, 2007

  Special programming on ARD commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Schleyer kidnapping. Former RAF member Peter-Jürgen Boock claims in an interview that Stefan Wisniewski and Rolf Heissler executed Schleyer in a wooded area in Alsace. He also claims that there were plans to kidnap then Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

  October 18, 2007

  In an interview with junge Welt, Rolf Clemens Wagner expresses the opinion that even in retrospect, many RAF actions still seemed correct. Bild Zeitung and former Federal Minister of Defense (CDU) Rupert Scholz call for charges to be laid for “speech encouraging criminality” and “disparaging the memory of the dead,” but nothing comes of it.

  2008

  January 3, 2008

  The Federal Supreme Court orders coercive detention for former RAF members Brigitte Mohnhaupt, Knut Folkerts, and Christian Klar to apply pressure to have them provide information regarding the assassination of Attorney General Siegfried Buback in 1977. The order is subsequently reversed. The case has been reopened on the basis of claims by former RAF members Peter-Jürgen Boock and Verena Becker that Stefan Wisniewski and not Knut Folkerts, who was convicted for the crime, was the shooter.

  September 25, 2008

  The German release of Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex, a film based on Stefan Aust’s book of the same name, and directed by Uli Eidel. Ronald Augustin criticizes the film for portraying Baader as a madman and all of the female guerillas as cold blooded killers.

  December 19, 2008

  Christian Klar is released from prison after 26 years. Birgit Hogefeld, who will reach her mandatory release date in 2011, remains the only RAF member in prison. A newspaper article reporting on a welcome home party held for Klar in Berlin a week after his release, quoted Inge Viett asserting that the guerrilla was “a reasonable expression of our resistance to capitalism” and that, in retrospect, she wishes they had carried out the guerilla struggle with more know-how, intelligence, patience, and support.

  Note on Sources and Methodology

  Obviously, many of the challenges in working on this book have stemmed from the nature of the organization we have chosen to study.

  The Red Army Faction was not just a clandestine organization, but also a revolutionary communist one. As such, it faced not just state repression, but also actual historical suppression, not merely through “regular” police and paramilitary action, but also more subtly, through ideological attrition. The latter has sometimes taken the form of outright lies with their origin in psychological warfare, but just as insidious has been the unanimous, unexamined rejection of the group’s core beliefs on the part of all those who have studied it. As to those authors writing from an explicitly anti-left perspective, they have often been skeptical about the group’s political beliefs even being germane to its activities or history; for them the political verbiage simply provided cover for deranged crimes.

  All works must at times rely on unverifiable assumptions or guesses. This is especially so when studying a clandestine organization, and some authors have clearly felt entitled to make a virtue of necessity, crafting the RAF’s narrative to suit their own political bias, which is more often than not the bias of those who pretend to have no bias at all.

  Of course, we too have been forced to make guesses where there is no way of knowing for sure. We have tried, however, to always indicate where we are unsure, and our somewhat excessive use of footnotes is intended to give the reader an opportunity to see on what we are basing our assertions.

  A further, at times bewildering, challenge in recovering the RAF’s history has been the fact that many authors seem to feel entitled to play very loose with facts both critical and incidental to this story. This kind of shoddy scholarship is a defining feature of the “real crime” and espionage genres, and in the case of a revolutionary organization, it is often compounded by fabrications planted by the state, which liberal scholars often seem unwilling to subject to the same hermeneutic of suspicion as claims made by the movement. We have found almost all of the state’s psychological warfare stories repeated in some place or another as if they were fact. In some cases, “plans” the state accused the RAF of having actually get promoted to actual events, i.e. we found one mention of a RAF commando attacking a nuclear power plant in 1977—despite the fact that no such attack ever took place, as should be easy to verify from available public sources.

  This basic intellectual corruption seems to come with a free pass to be less than rigorous regarding other facts as well; on several occasions, we found that authors would get people’s names wrong, dates wrong, and the basic facts about various actions wrong. Siegfried Hausner becomes “Wolfgang Hausner”, Andreas Baader dies on a hunger strike, supporters become members, the RZ and 2JM become the RAF … these are just some of the “facts” we have found in various “reputable” works.

  In fairness, some authors seem to have sincerely tried to do their best. Others have done very well in general, only to falter when certain subjects are broached. And while almost all works we consulted start from assumptions that we eventually rejected, we nevertheless continued to consult, and to rely on, these works. That is to say, one or many errors, or an open right-wing bias, have not been enough to rule out our consulting a book or article, providing we could not find any other source contradicting it.

  The internet is widely considered an unreliable source of information, and yet we have found it to be an excellent tool with which to cross-reference the various “facts” found in most accounts of the RAF story. Even such inherently problematic sources as Wikipedia have served as a crucial warning system to indicate where the extant narrative is missing information, or is in error. In many such cases, we would later find authoritative material indicating that the “unreliable” internet had in fact been correct where some “reputable” work had erred.

  Finally, while we have been open about our bias, we should also admit that there are most likely errors and omissions in our work. We have tried our hardest to weed them out, but both as a result of the murky and often contradictory existing record, and as a result of our own inevitable mistakes, chances are, some have snuck in.

  We hope, however, to have succeeded in providing a fair and accurate representation of the first part of the RAF saga.

  Any note on sources would be remiss without pointing all readers to the incredible Rote Armee Fraktion Collection of the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, maintained as an online archive by former RAF member Ronald Augustin. The collection includes tens of thousands of pages related to the RAF, including several books; while most of the documents are in German, some are in other languages, including English:

  http://www.labourhistory.net/raf/index.php

  A far more modest collection of RAF-related documents in English is available on the German Guerilla website:

>   http://www.germanguerilla.com

  Bibliography

  BOOKS

  Abendroth, Wolfgang, Helmut Ridder and Otto Schonfeldt, eds. KPD Verbot oder mit Kommunisten leben. Hamburg: Rororo Taschenbuch Verlag, 1968.

  Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee of the German Democratic Republic. The Neo-colonialism of the West German Federal Republic. Berlin: Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee of the German Democratic Republic, 1965.

  Alexander, Robert J. International Maoism in the developed world. Westport, Conn.: Praeger,1999.

  Ali, Tariq. Street fighting Years: An Autobiography of the Sixties. New York, NY: Verso, 2005.

  Aly, Götz. Hitler’s Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State. Translated by Jefferson Chase. New York: Metropolitan, 2007.

  Aust, Stefan. The Baader-Meinhof Group: The Inside Story of a Phenomenon. Translated by Anthea Bell. London: The Bodley Head Ltd., 1987.

  Bakker Schut, Pieter, ed. Das Info: brief von gefangen aus der raf aus der discussion 1973-1977. Kiel: Neuer Malik Verlag, 1987.

  ---------- Stammheim. Kiel: Neuer Malik Verlag, 1986.

  Baumann, Bommi. Terror or Love? The Personal Account of a West German Urban Guerilla. Translated by Helene Ellenbogen and Wayne Parker. London: John Calder Publications, 1979.

  Becker, Jillian. Hitler’s Children: The Story of the Baader Meinhof Gang. London: Panther Granada Publishing, 1978.

  Berman, Paul. Power and the Idealists: Or, The Passion of Joschka Fischer, and Its Aftermath. Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press, 2005.

  Bewegung 2. Juni (2nd of June Movement). Der Blues: Gesammelte Texte der Bewgung 2. Juni, Vol. 1. self-published illegally in West Germany, no date (1982?).

  ---------- Der Blues: Gesammelte Texte der Bewgung 2. Juni, Vol. 2. self-published illegally in West Germany, no date (1982?).

  Böll, Heinrich. Interview by Gert Heidenreich (Bavarian Radio), September 28, 1977. “This Type of Cheap Propaganda Is Extremely Danegrous.” Translated by Martin Black, in Martin Black, ed. Stories, Political Writings and Autobiographical Works. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006.

  Braunthal, Gerard. Political Loyalty and Public Service in West Germany: the 1972 Decree Against Radicals and Its Consequences. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1990.

  Butz, Peters. RAF Terrorismus in Deutschland. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags Anstalt, 1991.

  Cattan, Henry. The Palestine Question. London: Croom Helm, 1987.

  Childs, David. From Schumacher to Brandt: The Story of German Socialism 1945-1965. New York: Pergamon Press, 1966.

  Christie, Stuart. Stefano Della Chaie: Portrait of a Black Terrorist. (Black Papers, No 1). London: Anarchy Magazine/Refract, 1984.

  Cobler, Sebastien. Law, Order and Politics in West Germany. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin Books, 1978.

  Cobran, Helena. The Palestinian Liberation Organization: People, Power and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

  Croissant, Klaus, ed. à propos du procès Baader-Meinhof, Fraction Armée Rouge: de la torture dans les prisons de la RFA. Paris: Christian Bourgeois Éditeur, 1975.

  Dellwo, Karl-Heinz. Das Projektil sind wir. Hamburg: Nautilus, 2007.

  Deutsche-Arabische Gesellschaft der DDR. Friend and Enemy of the Arabs: Facts on the Attitude of the GDR and of West Germany on the Imperialist Aggression of Israel against the Arab States. Dresden, German Democratic Republic: German-Arab Society of the GDR, 1967.

  Ditfurth, Jutta. Ulrike Meinhof: Die Biografie. Berlin: Ullstein, 2007.

  Dobson, Christopher. Black September: Its Short, Violent History. New York: Macmillan, 1974.

  Dosse, François. History of Structuralism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998.

  Dutschke, Gretchen. Wir hatten ein barbarisches, schones Leben. Rudi Dutschke. Ein Biographie. Köln: Koln, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1996.

  European Commission of Human Rights. Decisions and Reports. 14. Strasbourg: ECHR, 1979.

  Follain, John. Jackal: The Complete Story of the Legendary Terrorist, Carlos The Jackal. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1998.

  Friends of Astid Proll. Astrid Proll: The case against her extradition. London: Friends of Astrid Proll 1978.

  Ganser, Daniel. NATO’s Secret Army: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe. London: Frank Cass, 2005.

  Geronimo, Feuer und Flamme: Zur Geschichte der Autonomen. Berlin: ID-Archiv, 1990.

  Hadawi, Sami. Crime and No Punishment: Zionist-Israeli Terrorism 1939-1972. Beirut: Palestine Research Centre, 1972.

  Halliday, Fred. Revolution and Foreign Policy: The Case of South Yemen 1967-1987. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

  Hanshew, Karrin. “Militant Democracy, Civil Disobedience, and Terror: Political Violence and the West German Left during the ‘German Autumn,’ 1977” in War and Terror in Contemporary Historical Perspective, Harry and Helen Gray Humanities and Program Series 14, Washington DC: American Institute for Contemporary German Studies Humanities, Johns Hopkins University, 2003.

  Herminghouse, Patricia A. and Magda Mueller, eds. German Feminist Writing. New York: Continuum, 2001.

  Higham, Charles. Trading with the Enemy: An Exposé of the Nazi-American Money Plot, 1933-1949. New York: Delacorte Press, 1983.

  HKS 13. vorwärts bis zum nieder mit: 30 Jahre Plakate unkontrollierter Bewegungen. Berlin: Verlag Assoziation A, 2001.

  Hockenos, Paul, Joschka Fischer and the Making of the Berlin Republic: an Alternative History of Postwar Germany. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

  Holderberg, Angelika ed., Nach dem bewaffneten Kampf. Gießen: Psychsozial-Verlag, 2007.

  Hoshino Altbach, Edith, ed. German Feminism: Readings in Politics and Literature. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1984.

  Hülsberg, Werner. The German Greens: A Social and Political Profile. Translated by Gus Fagan. London: Verso, 1988.

  Kalb, Madeleine G. The Congo Cables: The Cold War in Africa from Eisenhower to Kennedy. New York: Macmillan, 1982.

  Kallam, Mahmud Abdallah. Sabra wa Shatila: dhakirat ad-Damm. Beirut: Beisan Publishing.

  Katsiaficas, Georgy. The Subversion of Politics: European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday Life. Oakland: AK Press, 2006.

  Klein, Aaron J. Striking Back: the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel’s Deadly Response. New York: Random House, 2005.

  Komitees gegen Folter. Der Kampf Gegen die Vernichtungshaft. (n.p., n.d.)

  Kramer, David. “Ulrike Meinhof: An Emancipated Terrorist?” in European Women on the Left: Socialism, Feminism, and the Problems Faced by Political Women, 1880 to the Present. Jane Slaughter and Robert Kern, eds. Contributions in Women’s Studies. Westport Conn.: Greenwood Press 1981.

  Krippendorf, Ekkert and Volker Rittberger, eds. The Foreign Policy of West Germany: Formation and Contents. London: SAGE Publications, 1980.

  Commission internationale d’enquête sur la mort d’Ulrike Meinhof. La Mort d’Ulrike Meinhof: Rapport de la Commission international d’enquête. Paris: Librairie François Maspero, 1979.

  Langer, Bernd. Art as Resistance. Translated by Anti-Fascist Forum. Göttingen: Aktiv-Dr. und Verl., 1998.

  Lavy, George. Germany and Israel: Moral Debt and National Interest. London: Frank Cass, 1996.

  Lee, Butch. Jailbreak Out Of History: The Re-Biography of Harriet Tubman. Montreal: Kersplebedeb Publishing, 2000.

  Lee, Martin. The Beast Reawakens. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1997.

  Metz, Helen Chapin. Library of Congress Federal Research Division. Israel, A Country Study. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger publishing, 2004.

  MacDonald, Eileen. Shoot the Women First. London: Arrow Books Ltd., 1991.

  Major, Patrick. The Death of the KPD: Communism and Anti-Communism in West Germany, 1945-1956. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997.

  Marcuse, Herbert. Counterrevolution and Revolt. Boston: Beacon Press, 1989.

  Meyer, Matt, ed. Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Docume
nts from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners. Montreal/Oakland: Kersplebedeb Publishing/PM Press, 2008.

  Murphy, Anthony, ed. and trans. The Urban Guerilla Concept. Montreal: Kersplebedeb Publishing, 2003.

  O’Balance, Edgar. Arab Guerilla Power. London: Faber and Faber, 1974.

  O’Neill, Brad E. Armed Struggle in Palestine: A Political-Military Analysis. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1978.

  Pittman, Avril. From Ostpolitik to Reunification: West German-Soviet Political Relations Since 1974. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

  Prairie Fire Organizing Committee. War on the War Makers: Documents and Communiqués from the West German Left. San Francisco: John Brown Book Club, n.d.

  Proll, Astrid. Baader Meinhof: Pictures on the Run 67-77. Zurich: Scalo, 1998.

  Reeve, Simon. One Day in September: The Full Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2000.

  Rose, Paul Lawrence. Revolutionary Antisemitism in Germany from Kant to Wagner. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.

  Rote Armee Fraktion. Texte und Materialien zur Geschichte der RAF. Berlin: ID-Verlag, 1997.

  Roth, Karl Heinz. L’autre movement ouvrier en Allemagne 1945-78. Translated by Serge Cosseron. Paris: Christian Bourgois Editeur, 1979.

  Sayigh, Yazid. Armed struggle and the Search for State: the Palestinian national movement, 1949-1993. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997.

  Scalzo, Salvator, Steffi de Jong, and Joost van den Akker. Terror, Myth and Victims: The Historical Interpretation of the Brigate Rosse and the Rote Armee Fraktion. October 26, 2007. http://www.brigaterosse.org/brigaterosse/documenti/archivio/DocApprBRandRAF.pdf.

  Socialist Patients’ Collective. SPK - Turn Illness into a Weapon. Preface by Jean-Paul Sartre. Translation by Huber. KRRIM, 1993.

  Texte des prisonniers de la “fraction armée rouge” et dernières lettres d’Ulrike Meinhof. Draft Version, Cahiers Libres 337 / François Maspero.

  Texte des prisonniers de la “fraction armée rouge” et dernières lettres d’Ulrike Meinhof. Cahiers Libres 337 / François Maspero, 1977.