Synopsis
On 13 October 1977, Lufthansa Flight 181, a Boeing 737-230 Adv named Landshut, is on its way from the vacation island of Mallorca to Frankfurt when it is hijacked by a team of four terrorists representing the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They demand the release of several leaders of the Red Army Faction (RAF) who are imprisoned in Germany. German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt refuses to negotiate with terrorists, aware that he is endangering not only the lives aboard the Landshut, but also that of German business leader Hanns Martin Schleyer, who is being held hostage by the RAF.
The plane makes its way through several stops to Aden in South Yemen, where the captain, Jürgen Schumann, is murdered by the hijackers. The plane continues on its way, eventually landing in Mogadishu, Somalia. As flight attendant Gabriele Dillmann and the surviving crew try their best to keep their passengers safe and calm, Colonel Ulrich Wegener leads the German federal police's newly formed counter-terrorism unit, GSG 9, in preparations to storm the Landshut.
In the night between 17 and 18 October, Schmidt gives Wegener the order to storm the plane and free the hostages. Somali ranger units create a fire as a distraction, allowing members of GSG 9 to approach the Landshut from behind. Operation "Feuerzauber" is successful, with all hostages rescued. Three hijackers are gunned down and killed, the fourth is seriously injured. One GSG 9 member and a flight attendant are injured. Schmidt is informed by phone that "the job is done."
GSG 9 der Bundespolizei, formerly Grenzschutzgruppe 9, is the police tactical unit of the German Federal Police (Bundespolizei). The unit is responsible for combatting terrorism and violent crime, including organized crime. In addition to its headquarters location in Sankt Augustin-Hangelar near Bonn, it also has a base 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).
Ulrich Klaus Wegener was a German police officer of the Federal Border Protection. He was also the commander and founding member of the federal counter-terrorism force GSG 9.
The German Autumn refers to the period and political atmosphere in the Federal Republic of Germany during September and October 1977. This period was marked by a series of attacks by the Red Army Faction (RAF), a militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the West German government. The German Autumn included the kidnapping and murder of German industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer, the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181, and the suicides of the imprisoned leading members of the first generation of the RAF. These events represented the final act of the RAF's so-called "Offensive 77". The German Autumn is considered one of the most serious crises in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.
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.
Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski was a West German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was a member of the German Bundestag from 1957 to 1990, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation from 1966 to 1968, Minister of State in the Federal Foreign Office from 1974 to 1976, and then Minister of State in the Federal Chancellery until 1979 and again in 1982.
Lufthansa Flight 181, a Boeing 737-230C jet airliner named Landshut, was hijacked on 13 October 1977 by four militants of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine while en route from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to Frankfurt am Main, West Germany. The hijacking aimed to secure the release of eleven notorious Red Army Faction leaders held in West German prisons and two Palestinians held in Turkey. This event was part of the so-called German Autumn, intended to increase pressure on the West German government. The hijackers diverted the flight to several locations before ending in Mogadishu, Somalia, where the crisis concluded in the early morning hours of 18 October 1977 under the cover of darkness. The West German counter-terrorism unit GSG 9, with ground support from the Somali Armed Forces, stormed the aircraft, rescuing all 87 passengers and four crew members. The captain of the flight was killed by the hijackers earlier in the ordeal.
Souhaila Sami Andrawes Sayeh is a former militant and Lebanese member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Landshut is a city in Bavaria, Germany.
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.
Nadja Uhl is a German actress.
Gabriele von Lutzau is a German heroine and sculptor. She is remembered as the "Angel of Mogadishu" for her courageous actions as a stewardess during a notorious aircraft hijacking. She is also noted for her abstract beechwood sculptures. Through marriage, she became a member of the Russian-German Lutzau family, who were ennobled in Imperial Russia.
The Hanns Martin Schleyer Foundation is a German foundation that promotes research in economics, law and cultural sciences. It was established in 1977 by the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) and the Federation of German Industries (BDI).
Jürgen Schumann was a German commercial airline pilot and former German Air Force officer. He served as the flight captain of the Lufthansa plane Landshut during its hijacking on 13 October 1977. The hijacking was led by Zohair Yousif Akache, also known as Captain Mahmoud, a militant from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Schumann was murdered by Akache at Aden International Airport on the fourth day of the hijacking.
The hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 615 occurred on 29 October 1972 and was aimed at the liberation of the three surviving perpetrators of the Munich massacre from a West German prison.
The hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 649 was an aircraft hijacking that took place between 22 and 23 February 1972. Eventually, all hostages on board the seized Boeing 747-230B were released when the West German government paid a ransom of US$5 million.
Events in the year 1977 in Germany.
The kidnapping and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer marked the end of the left-wing terrorist attacks called German Autumn in 1977.
Horst-Gregorio Canellas was a Spanish-German entrepreneur and football official. Canellas is best known for his role in breaking the 1971 Bundesliga scandal. He was also a hostage on the hijacked German Lufthansa Flight 181 in 1977.
Germany–Somalia relations have intensified since 2012 after the political and security situation in Somalia improved, according to information from the German Foreign Office. Germany has not had an ambassador to Somalia since 1989, and the German Ambassador in Nairobi is responsible for relations with Somalia instead.
Palestine–Somalia relations refer to foreign relations between Somalia and Palestine. Somalia was the second country to recognise the Palestinian declaration of independence after Algeria on the same day, 15 November 1988.
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