The Movement 2 June was founded in 1972 and was allied with the RAF but was ideologically anarchist as opposed to the Marxist RAF. In the early 1980s, the movement disbanded and many members then joined the RAF.
Name | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|
Ingrid Barabass (or Barabaß) | 1952- | In 1979, she decided to renounce violence together with fellow RAF members Karin Kamp-Münichow, Karola Magg and Regina Nicolai. [12] : 386 |
Rolf Heißler | 1948- | Became acquainted with Brigitte Mohnhaupt in the late 1960s and first became a member of the Munich Tupamaros and later joined the RAF together with his ex-wife Mohnhaupt, but he was also closely acquainted with the Movement 2 June. On 13 April 1971 he was involved in a bank robbery in Munich but was arrested. In 1972 he was sentenced to a six-year imprisonment. On 3 March 1975, he was released as part of the Peter Lorenz kidnapping and exchange together with Rolf Pohle, Verena Becker, Ina Siepmann and Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann and ended up in South Yemen. In October 1976 he returned undetected to Germany. According to Peter-Jürgen Boock, Heißler and Stefan Wisniewski shot Hanns Martin Schleyer. On 1 November 1978 he and Adelheid Schulz shot two Dutch customs officers, Dionysius de Jong and Johannes Goemans, at a passport control in Kerkrade and seriously injured two more. de Jong died instantly, and Goemans died on 14 November 1978. When he was arrested on 9 June 1979 in Frankfurt, Heissler was seriously injured by a shot in the head but survived. On 10 November 1982, he was sentenced to two life terms plus 15 years for murders and membership in the RAF. On 25 October 2001, he was released on probation.[ citation needed ] |
Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann | 1951–1995 | Member of Movement 2 June, arrested then freed after the Lorenz kidnapping. Involved in the 1976 OPEC siege led by Carlos the Jackal. [13] : 299, 300 |
Juliane Plambeck | 1952–1980 | Member of Munich Red Aid and co-founded Movement 2 June. Arrested in 1975 for involvement in the Lorenz kidnapping, then escaped from detention the following year and went underground. After the dissolution of M2J, she and Inge Viett joined the RAF in 1980. The same year, Plambeck and Wolfgang Beer died in a car crash after stealing a BMW. [4] [5] : 132, 133 |
Rolf Pohle | 1942–2004 | First arrested on 17 December 1971 when he attempted to buy thirty-two firearms in a gun shop in Neu-Ulm which the police claimed were meant for the RAF. In 1974 he was sentenced to four years in prison because of membership in a criminal organisation, weapon possession and support activities for the RAF. On 3 March 1975, he was released as part of the Peter Lorenz kidnapping and exchange together with Rolf Heissler, Verena Becker, Ina Siepmann and Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann and ended up in South Yemen. On 21 July 1976, he was arrested again in Athens but first extradited to Germany on 1 October after a lengthy negotiation with Greece. On top of his original conviction, he was given a further three years and three months. He was released in 1982 and returned to Greece two years later. Until the outbreak of cancer, he worked as a teacher and translator. Pohle himself continued to deny any profound relations with the RAF. He died on 7 February 2004.[ citation needed ] |
Ina Siepmann | 1944-1982? | Arrested in 1974 then released the following year. She is thought to have lived in Lebanon and to have been killed during the Sabra and Shatila Massacre. [5] : 362 |
The Haag/Mayer Group was a minor group of members within the second generation of the RAF. They were recruited by Siegfried Haag, who organised the regrouping of the RAF in the mid 1970s together with Roland Mayer before Brigitte Mohnhaupt took over the leadership after their arrest in 1976. Knut Folkerts from SPK and Verena Becker from J2M were also part of this group.[ citation needed ]
Name | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|
Siegfried Haag | 1944- | Lawyer for the first generation of the RAF, then member by 1975. He was arrested in 1976 then went underground before being arrested again; he was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. In detention, he distanced himself from the RAF and he was released in 1987. [5] : 105, 350 |
Roland Mayer | Arrested in 1976 and sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment, then released in 1988. [5] : 355 | |
Günter Sonnenberg | 1954- | Joined the RAF in 1976 and was arrested the following year with Verena Becker in Singen, after he was recognised from a wanted poster. He had been shot in the body and head; hunger-striking prisoners demanded his release in both 1979 and 1981. He was sentenced to two life terms and was mainly held in solitary confinement until his release in 1992. [5] : 35, 363, 373, 377, 380, 384 |
Knut Folkerts | 1952- | Convicted of robbing a gun shop with Willi-Peter Stoll and involvement with the assassination of Siegfried Buback in 1977. Denied the charges and was released in 1995. Also convicted for shooting dead a Dutch policeman during his arrest in Utrecht. [4] |
Uwe Folkerts | 1948- | Arrested on 5 May 1977 together with Johannes Thimme in connection with the Siegfried Buback assassination. In late 1978 he was found guilty of lending his car to Adelheid Schulz and Sabine Schmitz and sentenced to sixteen months imprisonment.[ citation needed ] Brother of Knut. [4] |
Name | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|
Peter-Jürgen Boock | 1951- | Husband of Waltraud Boock. Joined the RAF in 1976, left in 1980, arrested in 1981. In 1992, Boock admitted participating in the kidnap of Schleyer, pardoned 1998. [5] : 347 |
Waltraud Boock | 1951- | Wife of Peter-Jürgen Boock, was arrested on 13 December 1976 following an unsuccessful bank raid in Vienna together with Sabine Schmitz. On 4 February 1977 she was sentenced to 15 years.[ citation needed ] |
Karl-Heinz Dellwo | 1952- | Took part in the 1975 West German embassy siege in Stockholm. Imprisoned for life in 1977, released 1995. [5] : 348 |
Monika Helbing | 1953- | Joined the RAF in 1974 and was involved in the occupation of the Amnesty International offices in Hamburg. In 1976 she went underground and with Christian Klar and other members form the "Southern German cell" of the RAF. She was involved in the preparation and follow-up of the kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer in fall 1977. In 1980 she left the RAF and received asylum and a new identity in East Germany. She was arrested on 14 June 1990 in Frankfurt an der Oder and later on 24 February 1992 she was sentenced to seven years in prison. After her arrest, she cooperated with the police and prosecutors and testified extensively. She was released in 1995 and today lives under a different name.[ citation needed ] |
Hans-Peter Konieczny | Recruited by lawyer Jörg Lang and had just joined the RAF in February 1972, when he on 7 July the same year was cornered by the police in Offenbach. He was persuaded to cooperate and set up Klaus Jünschke and Irmgard Möller, who was easily captured by the police. Konieczny was released from custody two months later.[ citation needed ] | |
Silke Maier-Witt | 1950- | Minor involvement in the kidnap of Hanns-Martin Schleyer and broke away from the RAF in 1979. She escaped into East Germany to avoid arrest and lived there until her capture in 1990. She served five years in jail before going on to work as a peace activist in Kosovo. [14] |
Adelheid Schulz | 1955- | Wwas arrested with Brigitte Mohnhaupt in 1982 and imprisoned on three life sentences in 1985. Pardoned in 2002. [5] : 228, 361 |
Angelika Speitel | 1952- | Joined the RAF in 1977, the following year was shot in the leg and arrested. She was sentenced to life imprisonment and pardoned in 1998. [5] : 55, 362 |
Volker Speitel | 1950- | Worked in Klaus Croissant's office and was arrested in 1977 together with Rosemarie Preiss on a train in Puttgarden. He cooperated with the police and prosecutors, receiving the status of a crown witness. [5] : 55, 253, 374 |
Sigrid Sternebeck | 1949- | Moved to Hamburg in 1971 and met Susanne Albrecht, Silke Maier-Witt, Karl-Heinz Dellwo, Monika Helbing and Bernhard Rössner. In 1977 she joined the RAF and went underground. In 1980 she left the RAF and received asylum and a new identity in East Germany. She was arrested on 15 June 1990 in Schwedt together with her husband, Ralf Baptist Friedrich. After her arrest, she cooperated with the police and prosecutors and on 22 June 1992 sentenced to eight and a half years in prison due to her participation in a murder attempt on Alexander Haig and the assassination of Hanns Martin Schleyer. Today she lives under a different name in Northern Germany.[ citation needed ] |
Willi-Peter Stoll | 1950-1978 | A RAF member directly involved with the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer. He was said to have changed mentally after the event, and he became depressed and withdrew from the RAF. On 6 September 1978, Stoll was having dinner in a Chinese restaurant in the Red Light District in Düsseldorf when he was approached by police. He drew his gun and a shoot-out followed that resulted in Stoll's death. [15] |
Johannes Thimme | 1956-1985 | Served two prison sentences before dying in 1985, when the bomb that he was leaving at the Association for the Development of Air and Space Industries in Stuttgart went off. [4] [5] : 364 |
Christof Wackernagel | 1951- | Joined RAF in 1977 and arrested same year in Amsterdam together with Gert Schneider. Released from prison in 1987, moved to Mali. [5] : 364 |
Rolf Clemens Wagner | 1944- | Joined RAF 1976, arrested after bank heist in Switzerland, imprisoned for life then pardoned in 2003. [5] : 364365 |
Claudia Wannersdorfer | Wounded by the explosion of a bomb she and Johannes Thimme were leaving outside the Association for the Development of Air and Space Industries in Stuttgart in 1985. She was sentenced to eight years in prison. [4] | |
Stefan Wisniewski | 1953- | Arrested in 1978, in Paris, on his way to Yugoslavia. [5] : 51, 365 |
This generation was active mostly throughout the 1980s and early 1990s until the group disbanded in 1998.[ citation needed ]
Name | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|
Wolfgang Grams | 1953-1993 | Considered a leader of the third generation. Arrested and shot dead in Bad Kleinen in 1993, during a botched policing operation. [16] [17] |
Eva Haule | 1954- | Went underground in 1984, was arrested in 1986, and after being sentenced remained in prison until 2007. [18] |
Birgit Hogefeld | 1956- | Considered a leader of the third generation. Arrested in Bad Kleinen in 1993, during a botched operation in which Grams died. [19] [20] After being sentenced for her involvement in the assassination of Detlef Rohwedder, Hogefeld remained in prison until 2011. [21] |
Daniela Klette | 1958- | Suspected perpetrator of a bungled attempt to rob an armoured security van near Bremen in June 2015, [22] Arrested in Berlin in February 2024. [23] |
Burkhard Garweg | Suspected perpetrator of a bungled attempt to rob an armoured security van near Bremen in June 2015, [24] | |
Ernst-Volker Staub | Suspected perpetrator of a bungled attempt to rob an armoured security van near Bremen in June 2015, [25] |
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 and active until 1998. 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.
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 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).
Irmgard Maria Elisabeth Möller is a German former militant. She joined the Red Army Faction (RAF) in 1971. After participating in two bombings she was arrested the following year. During the German Autumn of 1977, she was one of the prisoners demanded by the RAF to be freed and was part of an alleged suicide pact in Stammheim Prison with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe. The other three died and she survived, claiming it was an assassination attempt. She was released from prison in 1994.
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.
Sieglinde Hofmann was a German militant and member of both the Socialist Patients' Collective and the Red Army Faction.
Ingrid Schubert was a West German militant and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF). She participated in the freeing of Andreas Baader from prison in May 1970 as well as several bank robberies before her arrest in October 1970. She was found dead in her cell in 1977.
Ingeborg Barz (1948–1972?) was a German militant who co-founded the Red Army Faction (RAF). She carried out bank robberies in Kaiserslautern and Ludwigshafen, then disappeared. It is alleged that she was shot by Andreas Baader because she wanted to leave the RAF, but conclusive evidence of her death has not been found.
Petra Schelm was a German founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF). She trained as an urban guerilla in Jordan and was killed in a shootout with the police in Hamburg in July 1971.
Margrit Schiller is a German far-left activist formerly associated with the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK) and then the Red Army Faction (RAF). She was released from prison in 1979 and has written two autobiographical books.
Susanne Albrecht is a former member of the Red Army Faction.
Christian Klar is a former leading member of the second generation Red Army Faction (RAF), active between the 1970s and 1980s. Imprisoned in 1982 in Bruchsal Prison, he was released on 19 December 2008, after serving over 26 years of his life sentence.
Hitler's Children: The Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang is a 1977 book about the West German militant left-wing group, the Red Army Faction, by the British author Jillian Becker.
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.
Siegfried Haag was a member of the West German Red Army Faction (RAF). He became a leading figure of the second generation of the group.
The Tupamaros West-Berlin (TW) were a small German Marxist organization which carried out a series of bombings and arsons at the end of the 1960s. In 1969 Dieter Kunzelmann, Georg von Rauch, and a few others traveled to Jordan to train at a Fatah camp, forming the Tupamaros on their return to Germany. The group took their name from the Uruguayan Tupamaros. The TW had a core membership of about 15 people.
The kidnapping and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer marked the end of the left-wing terrorist attacks called German Autumn in 1977.
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