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Sieglinde Hofmann | |
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| Born | 14 March 1945 |
| Organization(s) | Socialist Patients' Collective, Red Army Faction |
Sieglinde Hofmann (born 14 March 1945) was a German militant and member of both the Socialist Patients' Collective [1] and the Red Army Faction.
As a child Hofmann attended a Catholic girls' school and went on to train to become a nurse and then a social worker. She was believed to have joined the Red Army Faction (as part of their second generation) in 1976 after having first joined the SPK and was suspected of involvement in the killing of banker Jürgen Ponto. It is now known that it was actually the terrorists Susanne Albrecht, Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Christian Klar who took part in the Ponto assassination. [2]
Hofmann was among the group of terrorists who took part in the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer. She walked along the road that Schleyer's convoy was passing pushing a pram laden with guns. She pushed the pram out into the middle of the street to stop the convoy from driving past, and as the cars slowed to a stop, she, along with a group of RAF terrorists, ambushed the cars, murdering Schleyer's driver, his bodyguard and two police officers. [2]
Hofmann, along with Brigitte Mohnhaupt, Peter-Jürgen Boock and Rolf Wagner was arrested on 11 May 1978 in Yugoslavia, but they were all freed and flown to an undisclosed country of their choice. A lot of them went immediately back underground, including Hofmann. Two years later, however, on 5 May 1980, Hofmann was rearrested in Paris (alongside Ingrid Barabass), following a raid on a RAF safehouse.
Although initially only charged with involvement in the murder of Ponto and condemned to serve fifteen years in prison, Hofmann was taken back into custody three days before the end of her sentence in August 1995 [3] to be tried for other offences. The second trial was only possible after a judicial clarification in France.
On 26 September of the same year, Hofmann, then 50 years old, was found guilty of involvement in five cases of murder, and three cases of attempted murder by the Higher Regional Court in Stuttgart, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. [4] Her crimes included her offences against Ponto, and other crimes such as a failed bomb attack on NATO Commander Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. [5] and the murder/kidnapping of the President of the German Employer's Association, Hanns Martin Schleyer. She was, however, released from prison on 5 May 1999. [6]
The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang, was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970.
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.
The German Autumn was a series of events in Germany in 1977, mostly late in the year, 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). They 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 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.
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.
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.
Ingrid Schubert was a West German terrorist 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 multiple bank robberies before her arrest in October 1970.
Susanne Albrecht is a former member of the Red Army Faction.
Jürgen Ponto was a German banker and since 1969 chairman of the Dresdner Bank board of directors. Previously, he had worked as a lawyer. He was murdered by members of the Red Army Faction in events leading up to the German Autumn. Actor Erich Ponto was his uncle.
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.
Rolf Clemens Wagner was a member of the left wing terrorist organisation Red Army Faction (RAF).
Stefan Wisniewski is a former member of the Red Army Faction (RAF).
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.
Adelheid Schulz is a former member of the West German terrorist Red Army Faction.
Peter-Jürgen Boock is a former terrorist of the Red Army Faction.
Angelika Speitel is a former member of the West German terrorist Red Army Faction (RAF).
Knut Detlef Folkerts is a former member of the terrorist group Red Army Faction (RAF).
The kidnapping and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer marked the end of the German Autumn in 1977.
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.
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