The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History

by J. Smith

  As for Gebhard, police claimed she had lived with Gisela Dutzi, an anti-imp who had gone underground in March and was believed to have joined the RAF. She was also accused of having rented a safehouse in Heidelberg used by the RAF in 1980.121 By the end of 1981, these charges had been dropped, there being insufficient evidence to mount a case.

  Things were more serious for Roos. She had already served one year in prison for participating in the 1978 dpa occupation, and the police had observed her attending the trial of RAF member Sieglinde Hofmann. Earlier in 1981, her friend Barbara Augustin had been arrested at the Swiss border with a carload of guns and explosives—according to police, Augustin was a member of the RZ.122 Roos was charged with “membership” under §129a and was held in strict isolation in Stammheim, Bühl, and Zweibrücken prisons. In July 1982, while still awaiting trial, she hunger and thirst struck for a week—this was both in solidarity with Sieglinde Hofmann and Ingrid Barabaß who were hunger striking for association,123 and also for her own sake, as she herself demanded association with other prisoners from the resistance.124 Eerily echoing the treatment Ulrike Meinhof had been subjected to, the BAW even went so far as to attempt (unsuccessfully) to have her declared insane and committed to a mental institution without trial.125 (Two hundred and fifty women went to Stammheim to support Roos; as they noted in their call-out, “The attack on one of us is meant to destroy our hope for change where we’re carrying out resistance, against NATO and in our daily lives.”)126

  Unsafe Waters

  Besides appealing to the public in its hunt for the guerilla, the Verfassungsschutz continued to infiltrate the movement. In 1981, the RAF identified two likely agents in the Hamburg scene and arranged for a letter to be circulated outlining their concerns. Egon and Paula Giordano were significantly older than most other activists, and Paula would in fact claim to have been active in the anti-Nazi resistance decades before. She was a regular at meetings of Women Against Imperialist War. For his part, Egon had worked with anti-NATO groups and for a movement newspaper, and both were involved in the Hamburg Friedenskoordination, which coordinated radical antimilitary actions.1

  Women Against Imperialist War echoed the RAF’s accusations, and uncovered evidence that Egon had in fact been expelled from the KPD in the 1950s because he had been informing on people to the Verfassungsschutz. All of which would be confirmed one year later, when Hamburg Verfassungsschutz chief Christian Lochte admitted to Spiegel that he had planted the two former KPD members in Hamburg.2

  _____________

  1 Frauen gegen imperialistischen Krieg, Stellungnohme zu Egon u. Paula Giordano. September 15, 1981.

  2 Spiegel, “Die alte RAF ist zu Ende gegangen,” November 22, 1982.

  The state’s strategy of criminalizing activists as members of the “aboveground RAF” would pay handsome dividends. In the years to come, many were those who would spend time in prison as a result of such charges. This not only lent §129a its bite, it also isolated the militant left, as many people feared what might happen if they worked on the “wrong” political issue.

  These “aboveground RAF” arrests prompted the real RAF to issue a public statement, refuting the state’s allegations. The RAF accused police of planting Roos’s fingerprints, and denied that any of the individuals arrested had had any involvement in the summer’s attacks. It was pointed out that there was a new resistance taking shape, and that this was the state’s real target—by acting as if anti-imps were in fact aboveground RAF members, the state was laying the groundwork to clamp down on the entire radical left.

  This was an important observation, shared by many, and in harmony with the RAF’s line that guerillas must go underground, that any “aboveground organization” would simply amount to setting people up for arrest. As they had argued in Serve the People in 1972,

  We do not believe that the guerilla can be formed as the “illegal wing” of a legal organization. Such an illegal wing would lead to the illegalization of the organization, i.e., its liquidation, and nothing else.127

  The arrests of aboveground supporters and the criminalization of otherwise legal activities by §129a bore out the truth of this early observation. However, the RAF could only be renewed by support from the radical left. In the 1970s, this may have occurred organically, but by 1981 most militants on the street were a generation younger than most RAF members. What’s more, by 1981, the Revolutionary Cells were offering a more attractive, and seemingly more effective, alternative that consisted of blurring the line between aboveground and clandestine activists.

  The RAF grappled with the tensions that arose from these contradictory realities, trying to chart a way forward in this unfamiliar territory.

  Nevertheless, despite these questions, and the arrests of supporters, it was clear that the RAF had finally overcome the trauma of ‘77. There was a new movement afoot, with potential beyond that of the APO from which the guerilla had first emerged.

  The guerilla had reached out, and some people had reached back.

  It finally seemed like things just might be back on track.

  _____________

  1. Hamburger Abendblatt, “Amerika-Haus war besetzt,” March 3, 1980; “Erklärung zur Besetzung des Amerikahauses in Hamburg,” in Marat, 43.

  2. dpa, “Stürmischer Stammheim-Prozeß,” Hamburger Abendblatt, May 21, 1980.

  3. dpa, “Geschossen oder nicht? Lebenslang für Folkerts,” Hamburger Abendblatt, August 1, 1980.

  4. dpa, “Vogel: Gewalt von rechts nimmt zu,” Hamburger Abendblatt, September 6, 1980.

  5. Wisniewski, 5.

  6. “Summary of a Brochure by Autonomist and Anti-imperialist Groups,” in 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.), 8.

  7. Geronimo, 101.

  8. Wienke Zitzlaff, interviewed by Libertad, “Interview with the West German Resistance!” Libertad, May 1986: 988. Hamburger Abendblatt, “Besetzer in der ‘Spiegel’-Kantine: Protest gegen ‘Isolationshaft’,” March 5, 1981.

  9. Michel, 79-80. Discussed in further detail below, for many radical women, WAIW would come to provide a route out of the impasse of the late 1970s.

  10. hungerstrekabbrucherklärung (sic) March 11, 1981—readers should note that this document has been translated and is available at http://www.germanguerilla.com/red-army-faction/documents/81_03_11.php.

  11. Ibid.

  12. Resistance, “Anti-Imperialist Prisoners: The Struggle Against Isolation,” no. 5 (Winter 1983): 38.

  13. Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 1981 (London: Amnesty International Publications, 1981), 290.

  14. Guerilla Notes, “Statement from Women Against Imperialist War, April 3rd 1981,” 1981: 20.

  15. Michel, 78.

  16. Hans Schueler, “Knast für Schmierer?” Die Zeit, May 22, 1981. The banner read, “The RAF prisoners have been hunger striking for 9 weeks against isolation— Immediate association for RAF prisoners.”

  17. Spiegel, “Spatzen und Sternchen,” July 13, 1981.

  18. See page 202.

  19. Bunte Hilfe Nürnberg, “Wunderwaffe oder Papiertiger?” in Wüster Haufen, Aufruhr: widerstand gegen repression und §129a Widerstand Gegen Repression und §129a (Berlin: ID Archiv, 1991), 227-228.

  20. This was of course the same Judge Horst Kuhn who had seen fit to interrogate Günter Sonnenberg in 1977 while he was still in intensive care. See page 35.

  21. Amnesty International (1981), 291-292.

  22. “Kommunique: Die Solidarität der Menschen gründet in der Revolte!!!,” “Kommunique: Die Solidarität der Menschen gründet in der Bewegung der Revolte!!!” and “Kommunique,” in Marat, 56-58; United Press International, “Bomb Damages U.S. Air Base in Germany,” Logansport Pharos-Tribune, August 31, 1981; dpa, “Vor neun Jahren gab es Tote in Heidelberg,” Hamburger Abendblatt, September 16, 1981.

  23. Die Zeit, “Hungerstreik: Mobilisierung der Anhänger,” April 17
, 1981. In 1968, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Thorwald Proll, and Horst Söhnlein had set fire to two Frankfurt department stores to protest the carnage in Vietnam. This is widely viewed as the precursor action to the formation of the RAF. See Moncourt and Smith Vol. 1, 47-48.

  24. dpa, “Vor neun Jahren gab es Tote in Heidelberg.”

  25. See page 196.

  26. Hans Schueler and Gerhard Spörl, “Krieg aus dem Knast,” Die Zeit, June 5, 1981. As has been noted elsewhere, women prisoners were doubly attacked, subjected to sexism, forced gynecological examinations, attempts at psychiatrization, etc., as well as the “normal” attacks on political prisoners. (Michel, 98)

  27. Schueler and Spörl, “Krieg aus dem Knast.”

  28. Die Zeit, “Hungerstreik: Mobilisierung der Anhänger.”

  29. Amnesty International (1981), 290.

  30. These statements had been made at a 1975 conference of prison doctors. See: Andreas Juhnke, “Tod durch Ernährung,” konkret 4/86.

  31. Hamburger Abendblatt, “Seine Mutter nicht erkannt,” April 9, 1981.

  32. Juhnke “Tod durch Ernährung.”

  33. Die Zeit, “Hungerstreik: Einlenken nach dem ersten Opfer,” April 24, 1981.

  34. Guerilla Notes, “Statement from Women Against Imperialism,” 1981: 29.

  35. Frank Jackson, Squatting in West Berlin (London: Hooligan Press, 1987), 8.

  36. Spiegel, “Schnell aufschaukeln,” April 27, 1981.

  37. “Kommunique: Die Solidarität der Menschen Gründet in der Bewegung der Revolte!!!” in Marat, 59.

  38. “Summary of a Brochure by Autonomist and Anti-imperialist Groups,” in Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, 8.

  39. jok, “Friedlicher Protest gegen Zwangsernährung,” Hamburger Abendblatt, April 27, 1981.

  40. rob, “Radler nach Brandanschlag von der Polizei gestellt,” Hamburger Abendblatt, April 30, 1981.

  41. Spiegel, “Schnell aufschaukeln.”

  42. Irmgard Möller, interviewed by Dagmar Brunow and Luka Skywalker, “Zur Mythenbildung nicht geeignet.”

  43. Katsiaficas, 89.

  44. Serhat Karakayali, “Lotta Continua in Frankfurt, Türken-Terror in Köln: Migrantische Kämpfe in der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik.”

  45. Katsiaficas, 92.

  46. William Guess quoted in John Vinocur, “A Cry of ‘No Future’ Rallies West Germany’s Young,” New York Times, March 18, 1981.

  47. Alexander, 214.

  48. Ibid., 194-195.

  49. Katsiaficas, 98.

  50. Tuwat means “do something.” This was a deliberate reference to the countercultural festival of three years prior, which as we have seen, had been known as Tunix, or “do nothing.”

  51. A.G. Grauwacke, Autonome in Bewegung (Assoziation A: Berlin, 2008), 50-56.

  52. Andrej Holm and Armin Kuhn, “Squatting and Urban Renewal: The Interaction of Squatter Movements and Strategies of Urban Restructuring in Berlin,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2010.

  53. Geronimo, 131-134.

  54. Freia Anders, Violent Action and Political Communication: The ‘Autonomen’ at the Startbahn West 1981-1988, conference paper presented at This Town’s Gonna Blow… (Bremen, May 2010), 2.

  55. Ibid.

  56. Geronimo, 109; Katsiaficas, 87.

  57. Spiegel, “Da packt dich irgendwann ‘ne Wut,” December 22, 1980.

  58. Spiegel, “Wir sind unregierbar und unkalkulierbar,” March 26, 1979.

  59. Spiegel, “Deutschland ist krank,” March 23, 1981.

  60. Associated Press, “Youths Defy Consumer Values of W. German Establishment,” The Lethbridge Herald, April 16, 1981.

  61. Michel, 74-76.

  62. Ibid., 74.

  63. Untitled document about the West German women’s movement, in the editors’ possession, 1980s.

  64. Revolutionary Feminist Cells, Women at War (np, nd). Document in the editors’ possession.

  65. Michel, 77.

  66. Women Against Imperialist War (Hamburg), “War on Imperialist War,” in Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, 25.

  67. Untitled document about the West German women’s movement, 1980s.

  68. “Redebeitrag auf der Demo gegen die Räumung der Startbahn West und die Häuser- räumungen in Berlin vom 15.10.81 am Platz der Luftbrücke,” in Marat, 80-81.

  69. Jackson, 16-17.

  70. Women Against Imperialist War (Hamburg), in Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, 22.

  71. Associated Press, “Haig Takes Hard Line in Diplomatic Debut,” Gettysburg Times, January 39, 1981.

  72. “Redebeitrag auf der Demo gegen die Räumung der Startbahn West und die Häuserräumungen in Berlin vom 15.10.81 am Platz der Luftbrücke,” in Marat, 81.

  73. Daniel J. Nelson, “The Problem of Terrorism Against American Forces in Germany,” The Atlantic Community Quarterly, Fall 1985.

  74. In this regard, the Hamburg chapter of Women Against Imperialist War was clear: “According to the operation plan 101-1, which has been forced upon the members of NATO by Washington, the American Commander-in-Chief in Europe is entitled to undertake his own actions of repression when there is ‘internal unrest’ in the FRG. According to this plan, black lists have been established in all the countries of NATO. These lists contain the names of all the people that are to be arrested by the U.S. military police in time of civil unrest.” (Women Against Imperialist War [Hamburg], in Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, 22.)

  75. Patsy O’Hara, “Brief von Patsy O’Hara,” Zusammen Kämpfen no. 2 (April 1985): 10-11.

  76. Westdeutsches Solidaritätskomitee, Pressemitteilung (Oberursel, April 9, 1981).

  77. Michel, 78, 80.

  78. Paul Johnson, “The Seven Deadly Sins of Terrorism,” NATO Review no. 5 (October 1980): 33.

  79. See page 193. Also, “Kommunique,” in Marat, 58.

  80. Libération, “La RFA, le BKA, et 5 Allemandes,” June 3, 1980.

  81. Zusammen Kämpfen, “Erklärung vom 10.4.84 aus Stammheim zu den Aktionen

  81,” no. 1, 3.

  82. Spiegel, “Schnell aufschaukeln,” April 27, 1981.

  83. The Freie Deutsche Jugend, or Free German Youth, was the official youth movement of the ruling Socialist Unity Party in the GDR.

  84. See Appendix III: For Us It Was a Question of Learning Explosives and Shooting Techniques, page 340.

  85. MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base. “Red Army Faction Attacked Military Target (Aug. 31, 1981, Federal Republic of Germany).”

  86. Peters, 521.

  87. Associated Press, “New Violence Is Reported in Germany,” Gettysburg Times, September 1, 1981.

  88. Associated Press, “Bomb Explodes at U.S.-NATO Base,” Wisconsin State Journal, September 1, 1981. This was not the first occasion that the RAF’s timing had reduced the overall carnage of its bombs—an almost identical observation had been made by a military police officer during the guerilla’s May Offensive in 1972. See Moncourt and Smith Vol. 1, 163.

  89. Associated Press, “New Violence Is Reported in Germany.”

  90. United Press International, “W. Germans Fear Friction with U.S.,” Roswell (N.M.) Daily Record, September 2, 1981.

  91. Pacific Stars and Stripes, “2nd Bomb Found at Ramstein AB,” September 4, 1981.

  92. Spiegel, “Brutaler Vollzug, Stich um Stich,” September 21, 1981.

  93. Grauwacke, 57.

  94. Jackson, 14.

  95. Mushaben, 205-206.

  96. Die Zeit, “Deutschland im Herbst: die neue Terrorwelle,” September 25, 1981.

  97. Herald News Services, “German Terrorist Ambush Injures Army Chief, Wife,” The Daily Herald: News for Chicago (Elk Grove edition), September 16, 1981; Peters, 524.

  98. Associated Press, “Terrorist Grenades Injure U.S. General in Germany,” The Orange County Register, September 15, 1981.

  99. Ibid.

  100. Schmeidel, 157.

  101. Ibid.

  102. See Appendix III: For Us It Was a Question of Lear
ning Explosives and Shooting Techniques, page 338.

  103. Christian Klar, “Zur Rosa-Luxemburg-Konferenz und Inge Viett,” Jan. 2011.

  104. Inge Viett, untitled document, February 9, 2011.

  105. “Summary of a Brochure by Autonomist and Anti-imperialist Groups,” in Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, 9.

  106. The explosives, placed within fire extinguishers and rigged with a cable and timer, had apparently been spotted by an airman who had recently attended a security class which included lessons on recognizing bombs. Charles Freadhoff, “Kroesen Plans No Security Hike after Attacks,” European Stars and Stripes, Sept. 17, 1981.

  107. United Press International, “German Office of Dow Is Target of Terrorists,” European Stars and Stripes, September 19, 1981.

  108. United Press International, “W. German Terrorists Slash GIs’ Tires, Renew Threats,” Pacific Stars and Stripes, November 21, 1981.

  109. Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 1984 (London: Amnesty International Publications, 1984), 280.

  110. Geronimo, 113.

  111. Karl-Heinz Janßen, “Es muß Unruhe herrschen im Lande,” Die Zeit, October 30, 1981.

  112. Clay Sherman, “Police seek data on vehicles,” European Stars and Stripes, September 19, 1981.

  113. Heinz Jürgen Schneider, “Der Terror-Paragraph,” junge Welt, August 18, 2006.

  114. Spiegel, “Gemalt Weihnachten,” November 14, 1988.

  115. Bunte Hilfe Nürnberg in Haufen, 226.

  116. Wüster Haufen, “Der Straftatbestand des §129a StGB,” in Haufen, 28-29. “Membership” was punishable by one to ten years, whereas “support and promotion” was punishable by six months to five years.

  117. Untitled flier, distributed in Hamburg in 1982 to support Grosser and Schneider during their trial.

  118. Bunte Hilfe Nürnberg in Haufen, 225-227.

  119. Untitled flier, distributed in Hamburg in 1982.

  120. Pressekonferenz am 18.8.1982 in Stuttgart, 9.