Petra Schelm

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Petra Schelm
Petra Schelm.jpg
Born(1950-08-16)16 August 1950
Hamburg, West Germany
Died15 July 1971(1971-07-15) (aged 20)
Hamburg, West Germany
Cause of death Gunshot wounds
Organization Red Army Faction

Petra Schelm (died 1971) was a German founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF). She trained as an urban guerilla in an Jordan and was killed in a shootout with the police in Hamburg in July 1971.

Contents

Early life and RAF

Petra Schelm grew up in West Berlin and worked as a hairdresser. [1] She started a relationship with Manfred Grashof and the two lived together on Bleibtreustrasse in Charlottenburg. The apartment was used as a distribution hub for the anarchist newspaper Agit 883 . [1]

In 1970, Schelm was a founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a far-left militant group. [2] : 360  In June 1970, she travelled on false identification to Beirut with Brigitte Asdonk, Hans-Jurgen Backer, Monika Berberich, Grashof and Horst Mahler. From there, the group went to Jordan to attend urban guerilla training at a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) facility. They were joined by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Ulrike Meinhof. [3] : 179 

Roadblock and death

House in Reineckestrasse in Hamburg where the fatal shooting occurred Schelm Reineckestrasse.jpg
House in Reineckestraße in Hamburg where the fatal shooting occurred

On 15 July 1971, Schelm was driving through Hamburg with Werner Hoppe in a stolen BMW when she avoided a police roadblock. [4] : 194  The police gave chase and stopped the BMW. Hoppe stepped out of the car and shot at police officers, before escaping; Schelm fired at police and was shot dead. [upper-alpha 1] A police helicopter chased Hoppe and he was arrested. [4] : 194  [6] [7] [8]

Schelm was buried at Spandau cemetery in West Berlin. At her funeral, fifty supporters laid a red flag on her grave, which was removed by the police. [3] : 231 

Legacy

Grave of Petra Schelm Petra Schelm Grab.jpg
Grave of Petra Schelm

The Petra Schelm Commando of the RAF bombed the Frankfurt headquarters of the Unites States V Corps on 11 May 1972, in support of North Vietnam A Lieutenant colonel died and 13 other soldiers were injured. The cost of repairs to the building was calculated to be DM 1,000,000 (or $310,000 at the time). [2] : 368  [3] : 244 

Notes

  1. ↑ Jillian Becker states that Schelm was killed by a burst of gunfire from a submachine gun; Stefan Aust states that it was a single bullet wound to the head that killed Schelm. [5] [3] : 231 

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References

  1. 1 2 Sontheimer, Michael (15 July 2011). "Anfänge der RAF [Beginnings of the RAF]". Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  2. 1 2 Moncourt, André; Smith, J. (2013). The Red Army Faction Volume 2: Dancing with imperialism. Montreal, Quebec: Kersplebedeb. ISBN   978-1-60486-030-6.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Becker, Jillian (1978). Hitler's children: The story of the Baader- Meinhof terrorist gang (3 ed.). London: Joseph. ISBN   0-7181-1582-1.
  4. 1 2 Nash, Jay Robert (1998). Terrorism in the 20th Century : A Narrative Encyclopedia from the Anarchists, Through the Weathermen, to the Unabomber. New York: M. Evans and Co. ISBN   9780871318558.
  5. ↑ Aust, Stefan (2009). Baader-Meinhof: The inside story of the RAF. Anthea Bell. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 118. ISBN   978-0-19-537275-5.
  6. ↑ Sanguinetti, Gianfranco (2015). Red Army Faction. Red Brigades, Angry Brigade. The Spectacle of Terror in Post War Europe. John Barker, Charity Scribner. Bread and Circuses. ISBN   978-1-62517-888-6.
  7. ↑ Sargeant, Jack (2003). Guns, Death, Terror : 1960s & 1970s Revolutionaries, Urban Guerrillas and Terrorists. London: Creation. p. 172. ISBN   9781840680997.
  8. ↑ Graaf, Beatrice de (2011). Evaluating Counterterrorism Performance : A Comparative Study. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis. p. 161. ISBN   978-1-136-80655-1.


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