The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang, was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970. The RAF described itself as a communist, anti-imperialist, and urban guerrilla group which was engaged in armed resistance against what it considered a fascist state. Members of the RAF generally used the Marxist–Leninist term faction when they wrote in English. Early leadership included Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, and Horst Mahler. The West German government considered the RAF a terrorist organization.
Ulrike Marie Meinhof was a German left-wing journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the reputed author of The Urban Guerilla Concept (1971). The manifesto acknowledges the RAF's "roots in the history of the student movement"; condemns "reformism" as "a brake on the anti-capitalist struggle"; and invokes Mao Zedong to define "armed struggle" as "the highest form of Marxism-Leninism".
Gudrun Ensslin was a German far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction.
Berndt Andreas Baader was one of the first leaders of the West German left-wing militant organization Red Army Faction (RAF), also commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Group.
Ulrich "Uli" Edel is a German film and television director, best known for his work on films such as Last Exit to Brooklyn and Body of Evidence.
Klaus Rainer Röhl was a German journalist and author, best known as founder, owner, publisher and editor-in-chief of konkret, the most influential magazine on the German political left from the 1960s to the early 1970s. He later became critical of communism and leftist tendencies.
Crypto-fascism is the secret support for, or admiration of, fascism or trends very closely to the ideology. The term is used to imply that an individual or group keeps this support or admiration hidden to avoid political persecution or political suicide. A person, organisation or idea possessing this tendency would be described by the adjective "crypto-fascist".
Stefan Aust is a German journalist. He was the editor-in-chief of the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel from 1994 to February 2008 and has been the publisher of the conservative leading Die Welt newspaper since 2014 and the paper's editor until December 2016.
The Raspberry Reich is a 2004 film by director Bruce LaBruce which explores what LaBruce calls "terrorist chic", cult dynamics, and the "innate radical potential of homosexual expression". It is about a contemporary terrorist group who set out to continue the work of the Red Army Faction (RAF), also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang. The group consists of several young men and a female leader named Gudrun. All of the characters are named after either original members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang or revolutionaries such as Che Guevara.
Martina Gedeck is a German actress. She achieved wider international acclaim due to her roles in films such as Mostly Martha (2001), The Lives of Others (2006), and The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008). She has won numerous awards, including the Deutscher Filmpreis in 1997 for Supporting Actress in Life is All You Get, and in 2002 for Actress in Mostly Martha.
Jasmin Tabatabai (Persian: یاسمین طباطبائی ; born 8 June 1967 in Tehran, Iran, is a German actress and singer.
The Red Army Faction (RAF) existed in West Germany from 1970 to 1998, committing numerous crimes, especially in the autumn of 1977, which led to a national crisis that became known as the "German Autumn". The RAF was founded in 1970 by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Ulrike Meinhof, Horst Mahler, and others. The first generation of the organization was commonly referred to by the press and the government as the "Baader-Meinhof Gang", a name the group did not use to refer to itself.
Astrid Huberta Isolde Marie Luise Hildegard Proll was an early member of the Red Army Faction. She is a photo editor and published a book.
Stammheim – Die Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe vor Gericht is a 1986 West German film directed by Reinhard Hauff. It tells the story of the trial in the court of Stammheim Prison of the left-wing Baader-Meinhof Group.
The Baader Meinhof Complex is a 2008 German drama film directed by Uli Edel. Written and produced by Bernd Eichinger, it stars Moritz Bleibtreu, Martina Gedeck, and Johanna Wokalek. The film is based on the 1985 German best selling non-fiction book of the same name by Stefan Aust. It retells the story of the early years of the West German far-left terrorist organisation the Rote Armee Fraktion from 1967 to 1977.
Johanna Wokalek is a German stage and film actress. A student of Klaus Maria Brandauer, she received critical recognition and three newcomer awards for her performance in the play Rose Bernd. Wokalek is best known for her award-winning appearances in the German films Hierankl, Barfuss, and The Baader Meinhof Complex. She received the Bambi award for her portrayal of the Red Army Faction member Gudrun Ensslin in 2008. She played the lead role in the film Pope Joan in 2009.
Volker Bruch is a German television and film actor. He is best known internationally for his leading roles as Wilhelm Winter in the television drama Generation War (2013) and as Inspector Gereon Rath in the neo-noir series Babylon Berlin (2017–present); for the latter, he was awarded the 2018 Grimme-Preis, Germany's most prestigious television award. In film, he was part of the ensemble cast of two films nominated for Academy Awards in 2009: The Reader and The Baader Meinhof Complex ; more recently, he appeared in the thriller The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018).
Sebastian Blomberg is a German actor. He has appeared in more than forty films since 1997.
Irene Goergens is a former member of the West German terrorist group, the Red Army Faction (RAF).
Christopher Roth is a German film director, artist and TV producer.
