The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History, Volume 1
Page 82
3 Ditfurth, 440.
4 Commission internationale d’enquête sur la mort d’Ulrike Meinhof, 64-65.
5 Ibid., 50.
6 Ibid., 81.
7 Ibid., 81. For instance, immediately after Meinhof’s death, one UPI article was claiming that “Acquaintances said Mrs. Meinhof may have killed herself because she despaired of achieving her goal of overthrowing what she called the ‘repressive capitalist bourgeois system.’” (United Press International, “German Rebel Hangs Herself”). Bild was, of course, more crude, implying Meinhof was jealous of Ensslin’s relationship with Baader: after stating that the guerilla leader had “made herself look beautiful one more time,” it claimed that she killed herself because she “could see how it was not only their shared convictions that united Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin but also recollections of their shared pleasures in the bedroom.” (Quoted in Clare Bielby, “‘Bonnie und Kleid’: Female Terrorists and the Hysterical Feminine.”)
8 Komitees gegen Folter, 28, 30.
9 Commission internationale d’enquête sur la mort d’Ulrike Meinhof, 74-75.
10 Ibid., 80-81.
1 Interview with Le Monde Diplomatique, see page 408.
2 Deutsche Welle [online], “Journalists Unearth Rare Terrorism Trial Tapes from 1970s,” July 31, 2007.
3 United Press International,“Urban Guerilla Leader Hangs Herself in Cell,” Hayward Daily Review, May 10, 1976.
4 NEA/London Economist News Service, “Friends Mourn Meinhof’s Tragic Death,” Pharos Tribune, May 23, 1976.
5 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 17, 1976, quoted in Kramer, 195.
6 United Press International, “German Terrorist Dies Violent Death in Prison,” Coshocton Tribune, May 10, 1976.
7 NEA/London Economic News Service, “Tragic Death is Mourned,” Uniontown Morning Herald, May 27, 1976.
8 Corpus Christi Times, “Bombing seen as protest,” May 14, 1976.
9 Winnipeg Free Press, “Uneven contest,” May 19, 1976.
10 Roger Cohen, “Germany’s Foreign Minister is Pursued by his Firebrand Self,” New York Times [online], January 15, 2001.
11 Lincoln Star, “Anarchist’s Death Causes Bombings,” May 11, 1976.
12 Varon, 234.
1 Associated Press, “Anarchist Buried,” Waterloo Courier, May 16, 1976.
2 United Press International, “Funeral to demonstration,” Playground Daily News, May 16, 1976.
3 Associated Press, “Bombs damage building in Paris,” Oxnard Press Courier, May 19, 1976.
4 United Press International, “Army Headquarters Hit by Terrorist Bombs,” Valley Morning Star, June 2, 1976.
1 The state would claim that Meinhof had organized this bombing, which the others disagreed with because of the risk posed to innocent bystanders. This version of events was flatly contradicted by Brigitte Mohnhaupt’s testimony in Stammheim (see pages 357-58). Not to mention that since the Springer bombing, Meinhof and the others had continued to struggle together through isolation and three brutal hunger strikes.
2 Ditfurth, 444.
1 Hockenos, 119.
1 Ho Chi Minh was a founder and the leading figure in the Vietnamese Communist Party from 1941 until his death in 1969 at the age of seventy-nine.
2 l’HumanitÕ is the newspaper of the French Communist Party.
3 Georg Bücker was, at this time, the warden at Ossendorf penitentiary.
4 Lodt was, at this time, the Inspector for Security at Ossendorf penitentiary.
1 Herman-Josef Müller was the chief judge in the trial of the Holger Meins Commando.
2 Bernd Rössner, another member of the Holger Meins Commando.
1 Nicos Poulantzas was a Greek Marxist philosopher who was very influential in New Left intellectual circles in the sixties and the seventies.
2 George Jackson was a young Black social prisoner politicized in prison in the U.S. in the late 60s. He was the author of Blood in My Eye, a strategic manual for Black revolution, and Soledad Brother, a collection of writings consisting primarily of letters. He joined the Black Panther Party while in the prison. He was killed by guards during an alleged escape attempt on August 21, 1971.
3 Apparently an abbreviated pseudonym; translated as Ilse in the French version published by Maspero in 1977.
1 Astrid Proll, a founding member of the RAF.
2 According to the MedicineNet.com, scintigraphy is “A diagnostic test in which a two-dimensional picture of a body radiation source is obtained through the use of radioisotopes.”
3 According to the American Medical Heritage Dictionary, stereotactical pertains to stereotaxis, which is “A surgical technique that uses medical imaging to precisely locate in three dimensions an anatomical site to which a surgical instrument or a beam of radiation is directed.”
1 In early 1972, the BKA lost all trace of Meinhof (according to Stefan Aust, she was in Italy at the time). Rumours began to be spread, Bild publishing an article under the headline, “Has Ulrike Meinhof Committed Suicide?” and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoting unnamed government sources to the effect that she had been dead for months, either from a tumour or from suicide. See: Aust, 200.
1 Ludwig Rosenberg was, at this time, the Chairman of the Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB—German Union Association).
1 Letter from the RAF to the RAF prisoners, cf 338
2 According to §§231-231b, passed in June 1975, trials could proceed in the absence of defendants if this was due to self-inflicted health concerns.
1 A founding member of the Black Panther Party, Seale was tied to a chair and gagged during the Chicago 8 trial, at which he and seven white codefendants (none of whom were tied or gagged in spite of disruptive behaviour) were charged in connection with violent protests during the Chicago 1968 Democratic Convention.
2 Literally, “Courts of Honor,” or Ehrengericht in German.
3 Roughly $6.25 million at the time.
1 For more on this defense motion, see pages 455-56.
2 Alexander Kluge of Gruppe 47 was a lawyer, filmmaker, television producer, screenplay writer, and author, best known for pioneering the New German Film style of the sixties and seventies.
3 Earlier in 1976, Klaus Traube, one the highest placed men in the nuclear industry, had had his home and office bugged by the BND. See Aust, 387-388.
1 The explanation referred to here is not the communiqué which accompanied the Springer action and which is reprinted in this volume, but rather a court statement Gudrun Ensslin presented during in the Stammheim trial. Those who believe Meinhof committed suicide often point to this court statement as a motivating factor, as they claim Meinhof had been involved in organizing the Springer action and that Ensslin was rebuking her. These claims were vehemently denied by the prisoners themselves; see Brigitte Mohnhaupt’s Testimony at the Stammheim Trial, July 22, 1976, cf 357-8.
2 Reichsschrifttumkammer (Reich Writers Chamber): a legal body responsible for classifying literature during the Third Reich.
3 Volksgerichthof (People’s Court): the Nazi puppet court that hounded opponents, usually sentencing them to death on the basis of coerced and falsified testimony.
1 An antifascist military coup heralded an end to the Portuguese Salazar dictatorship in 1974, setting off a popular but limited upheaval during which people occupied factories and seized land, while demanding retribution for the crimes of the fascist regime. The Portuguese Socialist Party (later the Social Democrat Party) was instrumental in reining in this revolt, and within a few years, the PS’s Mario Soares was subjecting Portugal to IMF dictates and entering into a coalition with the ultra-right Democratic and Social Center Party.
2 Olaf Palme was the Social Democratic Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 until his assassination in 1986.
3 The Second International, the international organization of social democratic parties.
1 On June 2, 1976, the Revolutionary Cells bombed the U.S. Army Headquarters and U.S. Officers’ Club in Frankfurt, carry
ing out the attack under the banner of the “Ulrike Meinhof Commando.” That same day, two fully loaded military trucks at a U.S. airbase were blown up just outside of the city.
1 Hülsberg, 45.
1 For instance, Karl-Heinz Dellwo and Bernd Rössner of the RAF’s Holger Meins Commando had both been active in the Hamburg squatters’ scene, as had Susanne Albrecht, Silke Maier-Witt, and Siegrid Sternebeck who would carry out the illfated attack on Jürgen Ponto.
2 An acronym for “Info Berlin Undogmatic Groups.”
1 As author Paul Hockenos explains, “In German, auf den Putz hauen is slang for having a wild, rowdy time. Perhaps ‘to raise hell’ fits the meaning best.” (117).
2 Hans-Joachim Klein quoted in Hockenos, 124.
3 Ibid., 114-115.
4 Cf 264-5.
5 Geronimo, Feuer und Flamme: Zur Geschichte der Autonomen. (Berlin: ID-Archiv, 1990). An English translation of this book is due to be published by PM Press in 2009.
6 Associated Press, “W. German ITT Offices Bombed,” Des Moines Register, November 19, 1973; Associated Press, “Bomb rips ITT subsidiary office in Berlin,” European Stars and Stripes, November 18, 1973.
7 “Aktionen gegen ITT Berlin und Nürnberg (November 73),”http://www.freilassung.de/div/texte/rz/zorn/Zorn12.htm.
8 Autonome Forum, “A Herstory Of The Revolutionary Cells And Rote Zora—Armed Resistance in West Germany,” http://www.etext.org/Politics/Autonome. Forum/Guerrilla/Europe/Rote.Zora/mini-herstory.1988.
1 “Interview mit der Roten Zora Juni 1984” at http://www.freilassung.de/div/texte/rz/zorn/Zorn50.htm. The first Rote Zora action is often dated 1975, which, while understandable, is technically incorrect, as previous bombings were claimed simply by “Women of the Revolutionary Cells.”
2 For more on this see Appendix VI—The German Guerilla’s Palestinian Allies: Waddi Haddad’s PFLP (EO), pages 559-61.
3 Imre Karacs, “After 25 years Carlos the Jackal gets his revenge,” (London) Independent [online], October 18, 2000. Klein later recalled that with Meins’ death, “It became clear to me that we must do something more than support people in prison. In an emergency, we had to participate in armed actions ourselves.”
4 Time Magazine [online], “Kidnaping in Vienna, Murder in Athens,” Jan. 5, 1976.
5 Wilfried Böse and Brigitte Kuhlmann, both founding members from the Frankfurt scene.
1 Fran Yeoman, “Diplomats suspected Entebbe hijacking was an Israeli plot to discredit the PLO,” Times Online, June 1, 2007.
2 Spiegel, “Härte bedeutet Massaker,” July 5, 1976, quoted in Annette Vowinckel, “Der kurze Weg nach Entebbe oder die Verlängerung der deutschen Geschichte in den Nahen Osten,” http://www.zeithistorische-forschungen.de/site/40208212/default.aspx#pgfId-1033195a.
3 Jeffrey Herf, “The ‘Holocaust’ Reception in West Germany: Right, Center and Left,” New German Critique 19, special issue, Germans and Jews (Winter, 1980): 44.
4 “Gerd Albartus ist tot,” http://www.freilassung.de/div/texte/rz/zorn/Zorn04.htm
5 Cohen; see also: Hockenos, 120.
6 “Festnahmen nach Frankfurter Ausschreitungen,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. See also Hockenos, 120, though note that his assertion that the arrests occurred in June seems incorrect.
1 Hockenos, 121-122. Please note that a large excerpt of Fischer’s speech, or else a text closely based on it, is credited “anonymous” and reprinted in semiotext(e): The German Issue [Anonymous, “To Have Done with Armed Isolation,” translated by Wynn semiotext(e) 4, no. 2 (1982): 130-133].
2 Daniel Cohn-Bendit, interviewed by Stefan Aust, Gunther Latsch, Georg Mascolo and Gerhard Spörl, “Ein Segen für dieses Land,” Spiegel [online], May 2001.
3 Geronimo.
4 Herzog, 429-430.
5 Hockenos, 167, 169.
6 Ibid., 258, 267-268.
1 Edith Hoshino Altbach, “The New German Women’s Movement,” Signs 9, no. 3 (Spring, 1984): 462.
2 Hoshino Altbach, “The New German Women’s Movement,” 456, 462; Katsiaficas, 75.
3 K.C. Horton, “Abortion Law Reform in the German Federal Republic,” International and Comparative Law Quarterly 28, no. 2 (April 1979): 288-289.
4 Ibid., 290.
1 Katsiaficas, 69. It should be noted that this tactic had been inspired by a similar action in France, where 343 women had “confessed” in like manner in the pages of le nouvel Observateur in 1971, at a time when Schwarzer was living in Paris. (Hoshino Altbach (ed.), “German Feminism,” 103.)
2 Gunhild Feigenwinter quoted in Hoshino Altbach, “The New German Women’s Movement,” 456.
3 Associated Press, “German TV cancels film showing abortion,” European Stars and Stripes, March 13, 1974.
4 Katsiaficas, 72.
5 Horton, 291.
6 In 1976, abortion was decriminalized for women who agreed to undergo counseling beforehand. (Katsiaficas, 72)
7 “Aktion gegen das Bundesverfassungsgericht (März 75),” http://www.freilassung.de/div/texte/rz/zorn/Zorn12i.htm
1 Michal Y. Bodemann, “The Green Party and the New Nationalism in the Federal Republic of Germany,” Socialist Register (1985-86): 142.
2 Katsiaficas, 63.
3 Hockenos, 134.
4 Bodemann, 142.
5 Katsiaficas, 81-82.
6 The Atomic State and the People Who Have to Live In It, (D-Bochum: Campaign against the Model West Germany, 1979). Reprinted in “German war machine targets anti-nukers,” Open Road 11 (Summer 1980).
1 Dellwo, 95.
1 The legends that surround Mauss are more fantastic than most spy thrillers. A “plausibly deniable” agent for the German state, newspapers were forbidden to publish his photograph in the 1970s for fear that this would compromise his operations. According to Olivier Schmidt, Mauss was deeply involved in coordinating counterinsurgency operations against the RAF in this period and allegedly arranged for certain leading businessmen to pay the secret services for additional protection. (“Free Agent ‘Werner Mauss’ Gets Caught,” Intelligence 50, December 16, 1996).
2 Karl-Ludwig Günsche and Hans Werner Loose, “Werner Mauss 40 years of fighting against criminality,” Die Welt July 31, 1998.
1 Associated Press, “Terrorist kidnapper jailed for extortion,” European Stars and Stripes, March 12, 1978. Pohle was finally released in 1982, at which point he did not rejoin the guerilla, but returned to Greece. He eventually found a job at the Athens daily Eleftherotypia, where he worked until his death from cancer in 2004. (Associated Press, “Deaths: Rolf Pohle,” The Daily Globe, February 10, 2004).
2 Craig R. Whitney, “Treaty Seen to Block Asylum for Terrorists,” Salt Lake Tribune, September 3, 1976.
3 Corpus Christi Times, “Police building hit by bomb,” December 17, 1976.
1 Andreas Baader on the Geneva Convention, cf 467-8.
1 On July 22, 1976, Brigitte Mohnhaupt used her trial testimony to rebut claims about the RAF’s allegedly hierarchical structure. Short excerpts from this statement are reprinted in this volume on pages 173 and 355-8. A less refined translation of the entire statement is available online at http://www.germanguerilla.com/red-armyfaction/documents/76_0708_mohnhaupt_pohl.html.
2 The French playwright and existentialist philosopher had visited Baader in Stammheim during the third hunger strike, decrying the isolation conditions as torture which “provokes deficits in the prisoner; it leads him to stupefaction or to death.” See “The Slow Death of Andreas Baader by Jean-Paul Sartre” http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/1974/baader.htm.
3 Karl Scharf was at this time the Lutheran Bishop of West Berlin.
4 This paragraph is very much directed at the arguments made in the Letter from the RAF to the RAF prisoners, cf 338.
1 The RZ and Rote Zora regularly distributed forged public transit passes.
2 Klaus Wagenbach is a prominent left-wing publisher with his roots in the APO. He read the eulogy at Ulrike Meinhof’s funeral.
3 Pete
r Brückner was a left-wing psychologist loosely connected to the Frankfurt School. In 1972, he was suspended from his position at the Technical University in Hannover for allegedly lending the RAF material support (most likely shelter), a charge based on Karl-Heinz Ruhland’s questionable testimony (Varon, 239-240). In 1978, he was once again suspended for taking a public stand against the repressive atmosphere the state was attempting to engender through its suppression of Buback: In Memoriam (see pages 534-35). He died in 1982 while still appealing the details of this suspension. (Braunthal, 98)
4 §88a, which criminalized literature which “glorifies violence,” passed into law on January 16, 1976.
1 Berberich is purposefully using the acronym for the Nazi SS to indicate state security, or Staatsicherheit.
2 Institute for the Study of Conflict, an “antiterrorist” thinktank based in London, England.
1 Reuters, “Envoy Gets Kidnap Threat,” Winnipeg Free Press, January 22, 1977.
2 United Press International, “Explosive device defused in Wiesbaden,” European Stars and Stripes, January 26, 1977.
1 United Press International, “4 W. German Terrorists Arrested,” Pacific Stars and Stripes, May 31, 1978.
2 Aust, 401.
3 Roughly $88,000.
4 Associated Press, “3 Sought In Slaying Of Official,” Press Courier, April 8, 1977.
5 Arm the Spirit, “A Brief History of the Red Army Faction.”
6 “Déclaration de Knut Folkerts dans le procèes contre Brigitte Schulz et Christian Klar (5-6-84) à Stuttgart-Stammheim, concernant l’action contre Buback,” Ligne Rouge 11, (December 1984).
1 Reuters, “Suspects shot in gun battle,” Winnipeg Free Press, May 4, 1977.
2 United Press International, “Captured Gun confirmed as Buback Murder Weapon,” European Stars and Stripes, May 5, 1977.
3 Letter from Günter Sonnenberg in Angehörigen Info 87, January 18, 1992.
4 United Press International, “Germans seize brother of Buback case suspect,” European Stars and Stripes, May 6, 1977. In late 1978, Uwe Folkerts was found guilty of lending his car to RAF members Adelheid Shultz and Sabine Schmitz, and was sentenced to sixteen months in prison; as he had already served eighteen months by that point, he was immediately released. Thimme eventually received a similar sentence; upon release, he remained active within the guerilla’s semi-clandestine support scene until he blew himself up trying to plant a bomb in 1985. (Associated Press, “New Blast in Germany,” Syracuse Herald-Journal, January 21, 1985)