A little piece of history on Terrorism (Red Army Faction)

Terrorism: Conference in Germersheim over the RAF

What is the difference between right and wrong?

Hello again bloggers. Today we had a conference with themes about Terrorism and the R.A.F. while interpreting in our multilingual conference session today. Let's start you off with some background knowledge about the RAF or Red Army Faction (Rote Armee Fraktion, auf Deutsch). 

The RAF was a left wing militant group that was founded in 1970 by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler, and Ulrike Meinhof. It was formerly called the Baader-Meinhof Gang because Baader and Meinhof were the key figures in this group. They conform around communist and anti-imperialist ideals. This is basically the generation after the Nazi era rebelling against the system. Although when you think terrorist group, you might automatically think evil or terrible. These people were the pioneers to a shift in the tide. Every "terrorist" group has radical ideas and radical ideas are always going against the tide. The RAF was fighting back the Nazi-influenced hierarchical system with less than standard means. This is of course just one perspective on this topic and you may think otherwise. The RAF did act in terrorist ways and killed some innocent people, so you yourself will have to judge what you feel over this topic. 

I find this to be such a complex and interesting movement that I had to share it with you all. 

I was lucky enough to also watch the Baader-Meinhof Complex in German this evening as well, and let me tell you, it was good. The story from the perspective of the "liberalists" has always fascinated me. There is so much to cover that I don't believe I could effectively make a whole post about it. But hey, while I'm here I'll give you the swing on it from my perspective. 

So basically this whole movement started with a student protest in West Berlin when the Shah (Emperor) of Iran came to visit. Back then in 1968 West and East Berlin were still separated because of the cold war.The students were protesting against the Shah and the dictator like rule he seemed to have. It was also a protest of the German government hypocrisy that had befallen its system. Even after World War II there were still some Nazi figures in political positions. This influenced how the system ran. Anyways, this student movement turned violent after a group of "fake protesters" took off their signs and started beating the real protesters with the wooden planks that remained. This started a huge wave of police brutality. Many of the protesters were bloodied up and lots were arrested. In this movement, one student was at the forefront, and his name was Rudi Dutschke. 

Rudi Dutschke giving a politically fueled speech.

After this student movement broke out, there was an assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke. During a normal trip to the market Josef Bachmann (a right-wing extremist) shot Dutschke in the head right in broad daylight. With the grace of God, Dutschke survived this atrocious attack against the left wing party. He luckily was able to stay active in the German Green Party for another 10 years until he passed away in a bathtub. 

After this assassination attempt, this movement blew up. There were many more political movements that turned violent right away because of this extreme and violent action against the liberal ideals. This is where Ulrike Meinhof comes into play. Meinhof always had communist ideas running through her head. I believe this is why she became a journalist. She was first interested in this movement when she saw the backlash of this assassination attempt. She was at the forefront of this movement, writing journal articles for this movement.

Ulrike Meinhof

A popular quote from her was:

 "If one throws a stone, it is a criminal offense. 

If 100 stones are thrown, it is a political movement. 

If one sets a car on fire, it is a criminal offense. 

If 100 cars are set on fire, it is a political movement."

This quote really moves me. It has an overtone of fighting the system with civil upheaval. If the people of the system believe that the system no longer functions in a way that benefits the whole, then people of the system have a right to rebel and fight for what they feel is right. These people fight fire with fire. The German system brutally stifles these movement, so the rebels resort to terrorist actions to make their statement. 

Andreas Baader

This is where Andreas Baader comes into play. He really started making the statements with firstly making homemade Molotov cocktails and setting a huge shopping center in Frankfurt on fire. His motivation was the to protest the public's indifference opinion on the genocide in Vietnam. That was when the US had invaded Vietnam during the Vietnam War obviously. He was also just an all around bad ass in my mind. He loved to steal cars and could get into a Mercedes, BMW, or Porsche in less than a minute. After he would steal them he would take them to the limits. He would not follow the rules and he loved it. He was eventually caught for the bombing of this shopping center, so before he was tried he fled with his girlfriend to camps in France, Switzerland, and Italy, before coming back to Germany undercover. 

Baader would later be picked up for speeding in a stolen car while being illegally in the country. What a surprise eh? After he was taken into custody, his girlfriend planned an ingenious escape where they portrayed a fake book deal with Baader's lawyers and Meinhof there as the journalist. They then killed all the guards and escaped with Baader and Meinhof. They were now all on the run. This is where the name "The Baader-Meinhof Gang" comes from. 

After they formed this "gang" they all fled to the country of Jordan. Here they undertook small arms training to fuel their guerrilla warfare style. This training helped them rob banks when they got back to Germany to help fund their campaign of "terror." Even despite killing around 30 or so innocent people, the Baader-Meinhof gang gained a bit of support in West Germany. Once the German Government figured out that this gang was back and staying illegally in the country, they began a massive Manhunt for these "terrorists." They were eventually caught and arrested after a long shoot-off in June 1972. 

After their arrests, they were all held in solitary confinement in the maximum security Stammheim Prison. Here is where they began using aliases and writing long codes to their fellow group members on the inside and outside. This is another interest of mine. How can people in solitary confinement communicate effectively with one another without being caught? The answer is codes. They would read books, texts, anything they could get their hands on. Then they would write down a series of numbers that would conform to random words in the books and pass these numbers off in small secretive notes. Each one had a lot of time of their hands so it would be easier to come up with new codes if one was compromised.  

The German Autumn

Hanns Schleyer holding a sign saying "Prisoner for 31 days"

Anyways in 1977, the actions of previous member had lead to a next generation of RAF members to become active. A head of the German Bank, Juergon Ponto, was shot and killed in front of his house in a failed kidnapping attempt. Following this murder, this group then stopped and ambushed a pair of cars that was transporting Hanns Martin Schleyer, a former officer for the SS (a major military branch in Hilter's army). At the scene of the ambushing 3 police officers and the driver was killed. They successfully kidnapped Schleyer in the aftermath. Mind you these ambushers had fully automatic weapons and handguns. 

After this kidnapping the RAF members demanded that the others that were in the Stammheim prison be let go. But the German government would not give in. So they had to take a more radical approach, they contacted someone from a middle eastern country to hijack a plane for their cause. So then in October of 1977, a Lufthansa plane was hijacked and redirected towards the middle east. This series of events was heard from the cells in Stammheim from all of the "leaders"of the RAF. The very next day all 4 "leaders" were found seemingly dead in their cells. 2 from gunshots to the head, 1 from hanging herself, and the other was actually still breathing faintly after 4 punctures in the chest. The last member recovered after a long hospital visit and was eventually released from prison in 1994. These killings were ruled to be a collective suicide to make a final statement for their cause. After these suicides had gone public. Schleyer was executed by his captors en route to France. Although there is always going to be theories as to that not being the case. Questions arise as to how did they get guns? How did they shoot themselves in the back of the head? The RAF never formally announced any of these conspiracy theories.

This series of events was known as The German Autumn. 

This is where I will stop by collection of historical background and start perhaps a subjective discussion over this left wing militant party and their actions. There is more than just this mind you, the RAF never formally dissolved until 1998, but here is where I will stop. 

The RAF was determined to be a "terrorist group" by the German government. They did in fact terrorize the German institution but for what cause? They were a radical group that saw the injustice in the world. Whether it be with the Vietnam War or the harsh authoritarian ways of the German government, they wanted reform and they weren't waiting for a political figure to step up. They wanted to change the world that we didn't previously experience. Fascism could never be the answer and they would never give in to these ideals. Radical actions demand radical change. And that is exactly what they wanted. People may call them terrorists for their actions, but some may call them freedom fighters. They wanted a system where unfitting members did not have to be purged from society. They were for equal rights for everyone, a communist fashion if you will. The fight for equality is always an uphill battle. So who is really to blame here? The RAF? The German Government? The Americans? I invite you to discuss and share your opinions if you have any. I would really like to see some more input from another point of view. Research this topic a little more, because this is just the surface.

I know that I have a certain perspective on this issue and am always open to new and perhaps contradicting perspectives. If we did not have theses perspectives, we would just be going along with the crowd, never really thinking for ourselves.  So I leave you with this final quote:

“Protest is when I say I don't like this. Resistance is when I put an end to what I don't like. Protest is when I say I refuse to go along with this anymore. Resistance is when I make sure everybody else stops going along too.”  -Ulrike Meinhof

Once again I do not own any of these photos and do not take credit for any of them.