The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History, Volume 1

by J. Smith

  Finally, on July 7, Klaus Jünschke and Irmgard Möller were arrested in Offenbach, set up by a nineteen- year-old who had been recruited by the guerilla earlier that year, and who had since been identified and turned by the police. Jünschke was a former SPK member sought in relation to the December 22, 1971, bank robbery in which police officer Herbert Schoner had been killed.2 Irmgard Möller was sought in connection to the 1971 killing of police officer Schmid in Hamburg, and was suspected of participating in the May bombings.3 (With typical hype, Stars and Stripes described her as “the gang’s new chief, replacing jailed Ulrike Meinhof and Andreas Baader.”)4

  The RAF was decimated, and what few members remained at large could do little more than concentrate on their own survival.

  Following the successes of this counterinsurgency campaign, the West German government felt confident it had snuffed out its fledgling armed opposition. Even sympathetic observers felt that the RAF might have met its end.

  They were all wrong.

  “The objective of these actions was clear…”

  The RAF was at the time organized in the following way: there were eight groups established in six cities, and of these there were two strong groups in two cities. There was one group in Munich. The groups, the different units, were integrated into a logistical system. There was contact between the different groups for discussions, but they were autonomous in their decisions regarding how to carry out operations. That was left to the individual groups—and it couldn’t have been otherwise. We didn’t know anything in advance about these actions. However, even if we had known, we wouldn’t have prevented them, because, yeah, it’s not a simple thing to stop a group from doing what it has decided to do. In fact, we couldn’t have prevented it, both because of the underlying perspective and for practical reasons; it would have been impossible given the circumstances. The objective of these actions was clear: they were a response to the fact that fighters were shot in the street, for example, Petra and Tommy. It would never have been our intention to prevent them.

  Brigitte Mohnhaupt

  Stammheim Trial

  July 22, 1976

  For the Victory of the People of Vietnam

  On Thursday May 11, 1972—the day the U.S. imperialist mine blockade of North Vietnam began—the Petra Schelm Commando detonated three bombs containing 80kg of tnt at the Frankfurt Headquarters of the V Army Corps of the U.S. Forces in West Germany and West Berlin. West Germany and West Berlin shall no longer be a safe hinterland for the strategy of extermination against Vietnam. They must understand that their crimes against the Vietnamese people have created new and bitter enemies for them, and there is nowhere left in this world where they will be safe from the attacks of revolutionary guerilla units.

  We demand an immediate stop to the bomb blockade against North Vietnam.

  We demand an immediate end to the bombing of North Vietnam.

  We demand the withdrawal of all American troops from Indochina.

  VICTORY TO THE VIET CONG!

  BUILD THE REVOLUTIONARY GUERILLA.

  DARE TO STRUGGLE—DARE TO WIN!

  BUILD TWO, THREE, MANY VIETNAMS!

  Petra Schelm Commando

  May 14, 1972

  Attacks in Augsburg and Munich

  On Friday, May 12, 1972, the Thomas Weissbecker Commando detonated three bombs at the police headquarters in Augsburg and in the LKA office in Munich.

  On March 2, Thomas Weissbecker was murdered in a well-planned surprise attack by a death squad of the Munich Kripo and the Augsburg police; he had absolutely no chance to defend himself. The police had no intention of taking Thomas Weissbecker prisoner; they intended to shoot him.

  The authorities responsible for the manhunt must understand that they can’t liquidate any of us without having to anticipate that we will strike back. The security services, the special squads, the Kripo, the BGS and their organizational and political employers must be made aware that their attempts to “solve” the problems of this fascist country by arming the police, by militarizing the class struggle, and by the ruthless and vicious use of guns will provoke resistance. This is also true of the police operations in response to the Munich bank robbery, in response to the Cologne bank robbery, against the Tübingen apprentice Epple, and against foreign workers.

  The tactics and tools that we use are the tactics and tools of guerilla warfare. The Minister of the Interior and the BAW assess the situation incorrectly if they think that they can rule with their death squads. It is in the nature of the guerilla—because they struggle in the interests of the people—that they cannot be wiped out by military actions, because their freedom of action can be developed anew whenever it suffers temporary setbacks. Faced with the brutal arrogance of the authorities responsible for the manhunt and the “short cuts” of the fascists, our response is the steady development of the revolutionary guerilla and the long, protracted process of the struggle for liberation from fascism, from capitalist exploitation, and from the oppression of the people.

  RESIST THE POLICE DEATH SQUADS!

  RESIST THE SS PRACTICES OF THE POLICE!

  STRUGGLE AGAINST ALL EXPLOITERS AND ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE!

  Thomas Weissbecker Commando

  May 16, 1972

  Attack on Judge Buddenberg

  On Monday, May 16, 1972, the Manfred Grashof Commando carried out a bomb attack against Judge Buddenberg of the Karlsruhe Federal Supreme Court. Buddenberg is the judge at the Federal Supreme Court responsible for the arrests and investigations in the current political proceedings under §129.

  Buddenberg, the pig, allowed Grashof to be moved from the hospital to a cell; the transfer and the risk of infection in the prison put his life at risk. He attempted to murder Grashof. The police having failed, he tried again to kill the defenseless Grashof.

  Buddenberg, the pig, is responsible for Carmen Roll being drugged in order to get her to talk. The foreseeable effect of the drug indicates that this was attempted murder.

  Buddenberg, the pig, doesn’t give a shit about existing laws and conventions. The strict isolation in which prisoners are held to destroy them psychologically: solitary confinement, isolated yard time, the ban on speaking to other prisoners, constant transfers, punitive confinement, observation cells, the censoring of mail and the confiscation of mail, books, and magazines. The means used to destroy them physically—the glaring cell lights at night, frequent interruption of sleep for searches, chaining during yard time, and physical abuse—are not the bullying of insignificant, frustrated prison wardens; these are Buddenberg’s decrees, meant to force the prisoners to make statements. It is institutionalized fascism in the justice system. It is the beginning of torture.

  We demand the immediate application of laws governing remand prisoners, the Geneva Human Rights Convention, and the United Nations Charter regarding the use of remand custody for political prisoners. We demand the justice system call off the systematic destructive attacks upon the lives and health of the prisoners.

  We will carry out bomb attacks against judges and federal prosecutors until they stop violating the rights of political prisoners. We are, in fact, demanding nothing that is impossible for this justice system. We have no other means to compel them to do so.

  FREEDOM FOR THE POLITICAL PRISONERS!

  RESIST CLASS JUSTICE! RESIST FASCISM!

  Manfred Grashof Commando

  May 20, 1972

  Attack on the Springer Building

  Yesterday, Friday May 19, at 3:55 PM, two bombs exploded in the Springer Building in Hamburg. Despite prompt and early warnings, the building wasn’t evacuated and 17 people were injured. At 3:29 PM, the first warning was given to number 3471, who was told to evacuate the building within 15 minutes because a bomb would detonate shortly. The answer was, “Stop this nonsense.” The call was cut off. With a second call at 3:31 PM, we said, “If you don’t evacuate immediately, something horrible will happen.” But the telephone operators obviously had instructions not to pay atte
ntion to such calls. The third call, at 3:36 PM, was to the cops saying, “Goddamn it, see to it that the building is immediately evacuated.” Because the Springer Corporation can’t cover up the fact that they were warned, they distort it, stating, “There was only one call and it came too late.” Two telephone operators and the police can confirm that the Springer Press is lying once again.

  Springer would rather risk his workers and staff being injured by a bomb than risk losing a couple of hours of work time, and therefore profit, as a result of a false alarm. For capitalists, profit is everything, and the people who make it for them are dirt. We regret that workers and staff were injured.

  Our demands of Springer: that his newspapers stop the anticommunist hysteria against the New Left, against working class solidarity actions such as strikes, and against communist parties here and in other countries; that the Springer Corporation stop the hysteria against liberation movements in the Third World, especially against the Arab people who struggle for the freedom of Palestine; that he stop his propagandistic support for Zionism—the imperialist politics of the Israeli ruling class; that the Springer Press stop spreading lies about foreign workers here.

  We demand that the Springer Press print this communiqué.

  We demand nothing impossible. We will stop our attacks on the enemies of the people if our demands are met.

  EXPROPRIATE SPRINGER!

  EXPROPRIATE THE ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE!

  2nd of June Commando

  May 20, 1972

  Attack on the Heidelberg Headquarters of the U.S. Army in Europe

  Every form of monstrosity will be abolished

  Mao

  Yesterday evening, May 24, 1972, two bombs with an explosive capacity of 200 kg of TNT, were detonated in the Heidelberg Headquarters of the American Armed Forces in Europe. The attack was carried out after General Daniel James, Department Head at the Pentagon, said, on Wednesday in Washington, “For the U.S. Air Force, no target north or south of the 17th parallel in Vietnam will be exempt from bombing attacks.” On Monday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi again accused the United States of bombing densely populated areas of North Vietnam. In the last 7 weeks, the American Air Force has dropped more bombs on Vietnam than were dropped on Germany and Japan during World War II. Many millions of additional bombs is the response the Pentagon intends to use to stop the North Vietnamese offensive. This is genocide, the slaughter of a people; this is “the final solution”; this is Auschwitz.

  The people of the Federal Republic don’t support the security service in its search for the bombers, because they want nothing to do with the crimes of American imperialism and the support it receives from the ruling class here, because they haven’t forgotten Auschwitz, Dresden, and Hamburg, because they know that the bomb attacks against those who commit mass murder in Vietnam are just, and because they know from experience that demonstrations and words are of no use against the crimes of imperialism.

  WE DEMAND AN END TO BOMB ATTACKS ON VIETNAM!

  WE DEMAND A HALT TO THE MINE BLOCKADE AGAINST NORTH VIETNAM!

  WE DEMAND THE WITHDRAWAL OF AMERICAN TROOPS FROM INDOCHINA!

  July 15th Commando

  May 25, 1972

  To the News Editors of the West German Press

  On May 26, Willy Brandt said in his television broadcast that the bombings of recent weeks have no logical political basis, and that they have endangered innocent lives.

  The Federal Chancellor can deceive the people with these assertions because the West German press has almost completely suppressed the communiqués of the urban guerilla commandos.

  Instead the Frankfurter Rundschau published a letter created out of cut out letters—which, when compared to authentic RAF communiqués, can clearly be seen to be a fake—to create the impression that the bombers are brainless twits who act chaotically in an effort to create fear amongst the people.

  The Chancellor’s statement does not differ from similar statements by General Franco, General Patakos, von Howeida, the followers of Salazar, or the Turkish military dictator: the reasons for the actions are ignored, and only the condemnation of the Chancellor and the pundits is presented. The reasons for this conduct are obvious:

  • The communiqué of the Thomas Weissbecker Commando was intended to bring every individual police officer to the point where he must think about whether or not he wants to be an active part of the hunt for the RAF;

  • An investigation would have proven that the 2nd of June Commando warned the Springer Corporation on time and that Springer, as always, has lied;

  • The people, who know from their own experience all about genocide and the terrorist bombing of civilian populations, can draw their own conclusions about the bomb attacks against those who commit mass murder in Vietnam and against the fascism of the Springer Corporation;

  • And because of this, there can be no doubt that the bomb attacks were directed solely against the enemies of the people, the enemies of the working class, the enemies of the Vietnamese people, the imperialists.

  “We’re all in the same boat” has always been the motto of the exploiters and fascists.

  Springer has, under threat of further bomb attacks, published the demands made of him, albeit in a mutilated form.

  The rest of the press must understand that they themselves will be provoking actions against Springer if they, as a result of economic pressure coming from Springer, submit voluntarily and opportunistically to this practice of censorship. We therefore demand that they no longer deceive the people about the political reasons behind the bomb attacks, that is to say, that they not aggravate the situation unnecessarily. We demand that they print in full the following communiqués: the communiqué of the Thomas Weissbecker Commando, the communiqué of the 2nd of June Commando and the communiqué of the July 15th Commando.

  SERVE THE PEOPLE!

  EXPROPRIATE SPRINGER!

  RAF

  May 28, 1972

  Regarding the Fascist Bomb Threats Against Stuttgart

  The two bomb threats pasted together out of letters cut from newspapers for next Friday, June 2, in Stuttgart don’t come from the Red Army Faction. Genuine communiqués of the urban guerilla commandos can easily be authenticated by comparing their contents with other RAF communiqués. And they are typewritten, as the cops well know.

  The fake communiqués, given their contents, their purpose, their essence, and their style, more likely come from the cops themselves.

  The cops know this. The Springer journalists, who have published the false communiqués without reservation, know this. Filbinger,1 Krause,2 and Klett3 know this. They are taking precautions only as a pretext to prepare new police actions and to drive the war of nerves to the extreme.

  Because the authorities leading the manhunt are receiving no help from the people, they are seizing upon fascist provocation. It is possible that if by Friday they haven’t had any success in their hunt—if they haven’t met their kill quota—they will carry through on the crimes they have threatened. Just as Springer didn’t allow his building to be evacuated, although he himself said he could foresee the attacks coming. Just as the Nazis set the Reichstag on fire and attacked the Gleiwitz transmitter. One must assume that they intend similar communiqués and attacks in the future.

  Fake communiqué threatening random bombings in Stuttgart.

  We are not responsible for the crimes of fascists.

  The actions of the urban guerilla are directed against the institutions of the class state, imperialism, and capital. They are never directed against working people or against people who have nothing to do with the crimes of imperialism. They are directed against those who plan vicious attacks against the people, such as those announced in the false communiqués, and those carried out daily by U.S. imperialism against the Vietnamese people.

  FIGHT FASCISM!

  DESTROY AND OBLITERATE THE POWER OF IMPERIALISM!

  EXPROPRIATE SPRINGER!

  RAF

  M
ay 29, 1972

  Statement to the Red Aid Teach-In

  Comrades, some of you still believe that you don’t have any reason to dialogue with the Red Army Faction.

  Some of you still believe that the cops will soon have a handle on the armed struggle in the metropole. Some of you still believe what you read in the newspapers: that the RAF is on the run, that there are splits in the RAF, that the RAF has a hierarchical structure, that the RAF is isolated. You aren’t seeing reality.

  The KB in Hamburg believed that the attack against the Springer Corporation was the work of right-wing extremists. Instead of engaging us in debate, they assure the police that they themselves are not guilty. And the Frankfurt KSV Frankfurt asserts, in agreement with the Rundshau, that the recent bomb attacks have nothing to do with the class struggle in West Germany and Berlin. These comrades no longer understand what’s going on.

  Although they now understand that Genscher didn’t call out the police for show, that the murders of Petra, Georg, and Thomas were not mistakes on the part of the system, that the Kripo was responsible for the destruction of strike centrals during the strikes last year, that the Emergency Laws weren’t adopted just for the fun of it, that the banning of foreigners’ organizations isn’t just for show and that over sixty prisoners are being abused in prison—although they know all of this full well, they still believe it is too early to begin to resist.

  They protest the death penalty in Persia and in Turkey; they wish the Palestinian resistance success; they protest the terror in Greece and Spain; they protest the complicity of the system with fascist regimes— but they are afraid to intervene or to act. They are clearly afraid to arrive at the obvious conclusion. They hide behind the masses and present their problem as one located outside of themselves.