Birgit Hogefeld

Last updated
Birgit Hogefeld
Born (1956-07-27) 27 July 1956 (age 67)
Nationality German
Organization Red Army Faction

Birgit Hogefeld (born 27 July 1956) is a former member of the West German Red Army Faction (RAF).

Contents

Early life

Born in 1956 in Wiesbaden, Hogefeld joined the RAF in 1984, once she turned clandestine, long after its founding members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Ulrike Meinhof were dead. [1] She became the girlfriend of fellow RAF member Wolfgang Grams and moved in with him. [2]

Arrest

On 27 June 1993, Hogefeld and Grams arrived at a train station in Bad Kleinen where a group of GSG 9 officers were waiting to arrest them (the officers had received a tip-off from a fellow GSG 9 officer who had infiltrated the RAF). According to the GSG 9 men, Hogefeld and Grams started firing at them on sight; Grams fatally shot an officer named Michael Newrzella. [2] According to the police Grams committed suicide and fell on the train tracks. However, it was suspected that Grams did not commit suicide but was shot by GSG 9 officers. [2] The Staatsanwaltschaft Schwerin investigated these allegations and concluded in January 1994 that they were incorrect. Grams' parents challenged this conclusion in court, but it was upheld by five different courts, including the European Court of Human Rights in 1999. Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters took responsibility for the poor conducting and postprocessing of the operation and resigned in July of the year, as well as Chief Federal Prosecutor, Alexander von Stahl.

Sentencing

Several terrorist activities that Hogefeld was later found guilty of by a Higher Court in Germany were;

In November 1996, she was given a life imprisonment sentence. [4] [5]

In 2008, federal president Horst Köhler denied her clemency request. [6]

Hogefeld was released on parole in June 2011. [7] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Army Faction</span> Far-left wing militant organization from West Germany

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 and anti-imperialist urban guerrilla group. It 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.

GSG 9 der Bundespolizei, formerly Grenzschutzgruppe 9, is an elite special forces unit of the German Federal Police (Bundespolizei) to combat terrorism and violent and organized crime. In addition to its headquarters location in Sankt Augustin-Hangelar near Bonn, it has a second location in Berlin. Since 1 August 2017, it has been subordinate to the Federal Police Directorate 11. The state police (Landespolizei) maintain their own regional tactical units known as the Spezialeinsatzkommando (SEK). The GSG 9 unit is made up of approximately 400 highly trained police officers and the identities of GSG 9 members are classified. The specialised unit operates not only within Germany on a federal level, but also safeguards German interests located worldwide, such as embassy property and personnel. Alongside the KSK military special forces of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr), the GSG 9 can also be authorized to rescue citizens abroad in hostage situations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andreas Baader</span> German far left-wing militant Leader (1943–1977)

Berndt Andreas Baader, was a West German communist and leader of the left-wing militant organization Red Army Faction (RAF) also commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Group.

Jan-Carl Raspe was a member of the German militant group, the Red Army Faction (RAF).

The German Autumn was a series of events in Germany in 1977 associated with the kidnapping and murder of industrialist, businessman, and former Schutzstaffel member Hanns Martin Schleyer, president of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) and the Federation of German Industries (BDI), by the Red Army Faction (RAF), a far-left militant organisation, and the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The hijackers demanded the release of ten RAF members detained at the Stammheim Prison plus two Palestinian compatriots held in Turkey and US$15 million in exchange for the hostages. The assassination on 7 April 1977 of Siegfried Buback, the attorney-general of West Germany, and the failed kidnapping and then murder of the banker Jürgen Ponto on 30 July 1977, marked the beginning of the German Autumn. It ended on 18 October, with the liberation of the Landshut, the deaths of the leading figures of the first generation of the RAF in their prison cells, and Schleyer's death.

Wolfgang Grams was a member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a German far-left terrorist organisation. Grams' death, officially while resisting arrest, caused a major political scandal and the circumstances continue to be debated.

Brigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt is a German convicted former terrorist associated with the second generation of the Red Army Faction (RAF) members. She was also part of the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK). From 1971 until 1982 she was active within the RAF.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Herrhausen</span> German banker (1930–1989)

Alfred Herrhausen was a German banker and the Chairman of Deutsche Bank, who was assassinated in 1989. He was a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group and from 1971 onwards a member of Deutsche Bank's management board. An advisor to Helmut Kohl and a proponent of a unified European economy, he was also an influential figure in shaping the policies towards developing countries. He was assassinated, probably by the West German far-left terrorist group Red Army Faction, when an explosively formed projectile penetrated his armoured convoy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lufthansa Flight 181</span> 1977 aircraft hijacking

Lufthansa Flight 181 was a Boeing 737-230C jetliner named Landshut that was hijacked on 13 October 1977 by four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who called themselves Commando Martyr Halima. The objective of the hijacking was to secure the release of imprisoned Red Army Faction leaders in German prisons. In the early hours of 18 October, just after midnight, the West German counter-terrorism group GSG 9, backed by the Somali Armed Forces, stormed the aircraft in Mogadishu, Somalia, with 86 passengers and four of the total five crew rescued. The rescue operation was codenamed Feuerzauber. The hijacking is considered to be part of the German Autumn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Members of the Red Army Faction</span> Members of Red Army Faction

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Newrzella</span> German police officer

Michael Newrzella was a German police officer and member of GSG 9, the counter-terrorism and special operations unit of the German Federal Police, who was killed by the Red Army Faction.

Susanne Albrecht is a former member of the Red Army Faction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stammheim Prison</span> Maximum-security prison in Stuttgart, Baden Württemberg, Germany

Stammheim Prison is a prison in Stuttgart, Baden Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the northern boundaries of Stuttgart in the city district of Stuttgart-Stammheim, right between fields and apartment blocks on the fringes of Stammheim. The prison was built as a supermax prison between 1959 and 1963 and taken into operation in 1964.

Eva Sybille Haule-Frimpong is a former German terrorist associated with the third generation Red Army Faction (RAF). She took her abitur in Stuttgart before going underground in 1984.

Verena Becker is a former West German member of the Movement 2 June and later the Red Army Faction.

Edward F. Pimental was an American soldier of the United States Army who was murdered by the Red Army Faction in West Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kidnapping and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer</span> Kidnapping and murder by Read Army Faction (RAF) in 1977

The kidnapping and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer marked the end of the German Autumn in 1977.

<i>Mogadischu</i> (film) 2008 film

Mogadischu is a 2008 German made-for-TV thriller film chronicling the events surrounding the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1977. Directed by Roland Suso Richter, it was first shown on public broadcasting channel Das Erste on 30 November 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhein-Main Air Base bombing</span>

The Rhein-Main Air Base bombing was a terrorist car bomb attack against the American Rhein-Main Air Base near Frankfurt am Main in West Germany on 8 August 1985. Two Americans were killed and more than 20 people were injured. The blast was powerful and caused debris and damage to the base including to 30 vehicles, trees and windows.

References

  1. Hogefeld, Brigit, RAFinfo.de, Accessed on 2021-07-15 (in German)
  2. 1 2 3 Death On track 4, Time, 1993-08-23, Accessed on 2021-07-15.
  3. de:Sprengstoffanschlag gegen die JVA Weiterstadt
  4. German News - English Edition Tu, 05.11.1996 Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Last Red Army Faction prisoner freed". 21 June 2011.
  6. No Early Release for German Terrorist Who Killed US Soldiers. Deutsche Welle, 2008-07-29. Accessed on 2010-09-26.
  7. Associated Press, "German court frees woman who bombed Rhein-Main", Military Times , 10 June 2011.
  8. Clemency denied for Red Army Faction terrorist. Deutsche Welle, 2010-05-17. Accessed on 2010-09-26.