The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History

by J. Smith

  Pohl: I won’t respond to such a question. It’s not an issue we address. The prisoners don’t comment on armed actions on the outside. That, of course, doesn’t mean that we’ll never comment.

  Frankfurter Rundschau: Recently, in various media, the BAW has portrayed you and others of the so-called hard core of the RAF as still active cadre of the armed struggle. Do you give orders to those on the outside?

  Pohl: There is no control from within the prison cells. We have nothing to do with the actions on the outside. [At this point the LKA agent present terminated the interview, but permitted it to resume at the Frankfurter Rundschau’s request.] So, they are trying to pin something on me, for example, that I had something to do with Herrhausen, and then I’m not allowed to comment on it. It’s an absurd idea that the prisoners can call for or actually order actions. We deny that assertion. In our texts we have always said that it is part of our basic politics that those who carry out the practice also determine the concrete policy.

  Frankfurter Rundschau: The published quotes from the pages seized from the prison cells—apparently seven thousand—make it sound otherwise.

  Pohl: They conducted three or four cell searches, and in this context extracted individual sentences to construct what they needed. Certainly, none of us had any knowledge of the preparations, nor did we guide any of those underground in their actions. All of this propaganda stands things on their head. That the prisoners took control of the initiative during the 1989 hunger strike was an exceptional situation. It was completely clear to those outside that no militant or military actions were to be undertaken. Everybody understood this. But it was equally clear that when the hunger strike was over, this role of the prisoners in relation to the outside would also come to an end.

  Frankfurter Rundschau: It was in this context that letters written by you were published.

  Pohl: Having seen what was published, I don’t know what the significance could be. There is nothing that could be called an Info system— unfortunately. We consider it legitimate to discuss things with each other. That has nothing to do with the people underground. That’s not our business. It should have been obvious to everyone that there would be actions if the hunger strike failed to yield anything. However, we had no idea what they would be. We would really like to get past all of this criminological bullshit, such as the “RAF-MfS connection” and control from within the prison cells, and finally get down to business: to political discussions, to association, and to a development that would lead to freedom for the political prisoners.

  _____________

  1. Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS); this is the official name of the Stasi.

  2. During the time of the GDR, Neue Deutschland was the newspaper of the ruling Socialist Unity Party.

  3. The Freie Deutsche Jugend, or Free German Youth, was the official youth movement of the ruling Socialist Unity Party in the GDR.

  4. With the exception of Inge Viett, all of the former guerillas who had defected to the GDR provided information about the RAF to investigators following their arrests in the early ’90s. Their testimony would be used in numerous new RAF trials. Susanne Albrecht was unique among these crown witnesses for her high public profile, given her family connection and role in the Ponto killing. She would implicate Sieglinde Hofmann, Brigitte Mohnhaupt, and Christian Klar in this attack, and based on her testimony Hofmann would be sentenced to an additional fifteen years.

  5. A reference to the RAF’s 1989 hunger strike, which will be detailed in volume 3.

  6. On April 1, 1991, the RAF’s Ulrich Wessel Commando assassinated Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, the chairman of the Treuhandanstalt, the organization responsible for privatizing the industries in the former GDR.

  Dramatis Personae

  Akache, Zohair Youssef: 1954-1977; PFLP (EO) member; killed during the Mogadishu action.

  Alameh, Hind: 1955-1977; PFLP (EO) member; killed during the Mogadishu action.

  Albrecht, Susanne: b. 1951; 1977, joined the RAF; 1980, left the RAF and received asylum in the GDR; 1990, arrested and cooperated with police and prosecutors; 1996, released from prison.

  Alexa, Peter: b. 1955; 1978, participated in the dpa occupation, arrested and sentenced to one year in prison; 1982, arrested in the wake of the arrests of RAF members Brigitte Mohnhaupt, Heidi Schulz, and Christian Klar when his fingerprints were found on items in RAF depots; 2007, publicly distanced himself from his past politics.

  Andrawes, Souhaila: b. 1953; PFLP (EO) member; 1977, injured and arrested during the Mogadishu action; 1978, sentenced to twenty years in prison in Somalia; 1980, pardoned; 1991, moved to Norway; 1994, arrested; 1995, extradited to the FRG and sentenced to twelve years in prison; 1997, transferred to Norway to complete her sentence; 1999, released from prison on grounds of ill health.

  Asdonk, Brigitte: b. 1947; 1970, founding member of the RAF, arrested the same year; 1982, released from prison.

  Augustin, Barbara: Alleged RZ member; 1981, arrested at the Swiss border attempting to smuggle explosives and munitions into the FRG.

  Augustin, Ronald: b. 1949; 1971, joined the RAF; 1973, arrested; 1980, released from prison.

  Baader, Andreas: 1943-1977; 1968, participated in the Frankfurt department store arsons; 1970, founding member of the RAF; 1972, arrested following the May Offensive; 1977, sentenced to life in prison, killed in prison during the events of the German Autumn.

  Bahr, Egon: b. 1922; SPD politician, crafted Ostpolitik to normalize relations with the Soviet Union in the early 1970s.

  Bakker Schut, Pieter: 1941-2007; Dutch lawyer, 1974, began representing Ronald Augustin and other RAF members; author and editor of several books related to the prisoners from the RAF and the Stammheim trial.

  Barabaß, Ingrid: b. 1952; alleged guerilla supporter; 1980, arrested in Paris; 1985, arrested in Frankfurt and charged with being a RAF member living aboveground.

  Baum, Gerhart: b. 1932; FDP politician; 1978, federal minister of the interior; 1982, stepped down, active at the UN thereafter.

  Baumann, Jürgen: 1922-2003; FDP politician; 1976, West Berlin minister of justice; 1978, stepped down following the prison liberation of 2JM member Till Meyer, withdrew from politics.

  Becker, Verena: b. 1952; 2JM member; 1974, sentenced to six years in prison; 1975, joined the RAF after release from prison as part of a prisoner exchange for CDU politician Peter Lorenz who had been kidnapped by the 2JM; 1977, arrested; 1982, cooperated with Verfassungsschutz; 1989, pardoned; 2009, arrested in connection with the 1977 assassination of Attorney General Siegfried Buback; 2012, sentenced to four years in prison.

  Beer, Henning: b. 1959; brother of Wolfgang Beer; 1979, joined the RAF; 1982, left the RAF and received asylum in the GDR; 1990, arrested and cooperated with police and prosecutors; 1995, released from prison.

  Beer, Wolfgang: 1953-1980; brother of Henning Beer; 1973, joined the RAF; 1974, arrested; 1978, released from prison, participated in the dpa occupation, arrested and sentenced to one year in prison; 1979, released from prison and went back underground with the RAF; 1980, died in a car accident while living underground.

  Berberich, Monika: b. 1942; 1970, founding member of the RAF, arrested the same year; 1976, escaped from prison, recaptured two weeks later; 1988, released from prison.

  Berger, Manfred: career criminal who cooperated with the Verfassungsschutz in what became known as the Celle Hole, a police action meant to free guerilla prisoner Sigurd Debus in the hope he would lead police to underground members of the RAF.

  Boge, Heinrich: b. 1929; 1981-1990, president of the BKA.

  Boock, Peter-Jürgen: b. 1951; 1974, went underground to form a guerilla group with Waltraud Liewald and Klaus Dorff; ex-husband of Waltraud Liewald; 1976, joined the RAF; 1980, broke with the RAF; 1981, arrested, cooperated with police and prosecutors; 1984, received three life sentences plus fifteen years; 1986, on appeal his sentence is reduced to a single life term;1991, new charges against Boock on the basis of information provided by
the defectors to the GDR; 1992, Boock publicly admits his part in the shooting deaths of the bodyguards during the Schleyer kidnapping; 1998, pardoned.

  Börner, Holger: 1931-2006; SPD politician; strong opponent of a 1985 coalition with the Green Party; 1986-1987, president of the Federal Council.

  Brandt, Willy: 1913-1992; SPD politician; 1964, federal chairman of the SPD; 1966-1969, minister of foreign affairs and vice chancellor; 1969-1974, chancellor, 1974, chairman of the Socialist International (Second International).

  Braun, Bernhard: 1946-2009; 1971, joined the RAF; 1972, arrested following the May Offensive; 1989, released from prison; 2009, died of cancer.

  Brzezinski, Zbigniew: b. 1928; born in Warsaw, Poland; educated in Canada and the U.S; 1960, advisor to John Kennedy during the elections; 1976, Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor; 1985, a member of Republican President Ronald Reagan’s Chemical Warfare Commission; 1987-1988; a member of U.S. National Security Council-Defense Department; 1987-1989, served on the president’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board; 1988, co-chair of Vice President George Bush Sr.’s National Security Advisory Task Force.

  Buback, Siegfried: 1920-1977; 1974-1977, attorney general; 1977, assassinated by the RAF.

  Carlos (Ilich Ramírez Sánchez): b. 1949; guerilla mercenary closely tied to the Palestinian movement; 1994, arrested in Sudan and extradited to France; 1997, sentenced to life in prison; 2003, aligned himself with fundamentalist Islam, stating his support for Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks; 2005, adopted the name Salim Muhammad.

  Croissant, Klaus: 1931-2002; lawyer for prisoners from the RAF; 1977, arrested and sentenced to two and a half years for supporting a terrorist organization; upon his release he began cooperating with the MfS; ran (unsuccessfully) for the Alternative Liste in the 1980s.

  Dahl, Harry: b. 1930; colonel in the GDR’s MfS; responsible for providing support to West German guerilla groups; arrested following the collapse of the GDR and tried in the FRG, released after serving a brief sentence.

  de Jong, Dionysius: 1959-1978; Dutch border guard; 1978, killed in shootout with RAF members at the Dutch border.

  Debus, Sigurd: 1942-1981; active in the KPD in the 1960s; 1969, joined the KPD/ML; 1971, joined the Hamburger Aktion Zentrum; 1973, went underground to form an independent Hamburg-based guerilla group; 1974, arrested during a bank robbery; 1975, sentenced to twelve years; 1981, died participating in the RAF’s eighth collective hunger strike.

  Dellwo, Hans-Joachim: b. 1955; brother of Karl-Heinz Dellwo; 1977, arrested on charges of supporting a criminal organization; cooperated with police and prosecutors; relocated to Canada upon his release from prison.

  Dellwo, Karl-Heinz: b. 1952; 1975, joined the RAF and participated in the Holger Meins Commando’s hostage taking at the West German embassy in Stockholm, where he was arrested; 1977, received two life sentences; 1995, released from prison.

  Dorff, Klaus: b. 1949; 1974, went underground to form a guerilla group with Peter-Jürgen Boock and Waltraud Liewald; 1976, arrested; 1978 sentenced to thirteen years in prison for an alleged bank robbery.

  Drenkmann, Günter von: 1910-1974; social democratic president of West Berlin Supreme Court; killed during an attempted kidnapping by the 2JM meant to avenge the death of Holger Meins.

  Dschihad, Chalid: PFLP (SC) member; 1979, began providing the BND with information about the West German guerilla; 1983, disappeared, presumed dead.

  Dümlein, Christine: b. 1949; 1978, joined the RAF; 1980, left the RAF and received asylum in the GDR, where she lived with her partner Werner Lotze; 1990, arrested and cooperated with police and prosecutors, released after one day as the only charge against her was supporting a terrorist organization, and the statute of limitations had expired.

  Dutschke, Rudi: 1940-1979; leading APO and SDS activist; 1968, victim of an assassination attempt, shot in the head and suffered serious brain damage; 1979, founding member of the Green Party, drowned the same year when he had a seizure while taking a bath, the result of injuries sustained in the 1968 assassination attempt.

  Dutzi, Gisela: b. 1952; 1981, joined the RAF; 1983, arrested; 1985, sentenced to eight and a half years for membership in a terrorist organization, weapons possession, and possession of false ID papers.

  Dyck, Elisabeth von: 1950-1979; SPK member, assistant to lawyer Klaus Croissant; 1977, joined the RAF; 1979, shot dead by police.

  Eckes, Christa: 1950-2012; 1973, joined the RAF; arrested February 4, 1974; 1977, sentenced to seven years in prison; 1981, released and returned to the underground; 1984, arrested; 1992, released from prison; 2011, refused when subpoenaed to testify at the trial of Verena Becker in connection with the 1977 assassination of Attorney General Siegfried Buback; 2012, died of cancer.

  Ensslin, Gudrun: 1940-1977; 1968, participated in the Frankfurt department store arsons; 1970, founding member of the RAF; 1972, arrested following the May Offensive; 1977, sentenced to life in prison, killed in prison during the events of the German Autumn.

  Filbinger, Hans: 1913-2007; 1933, member of the paramilitary Stormtroopers; 1937, joined the Nazi Party; served as a Navy judge during the Third Reich; 1966-1978, CDU president of Baden-Württemberg.

  Folkerts, Knut: b. 1952; 1976, joined the RAF; 1977, arrested in Utrecht, Holland, following a shootout with police, sentenced to twenty years in prison in Holland; 1978, extradited to the FRG; 1980, received a life sentence for two counts of murder; 1995, released from prison.

  Friedrich, Ralf Baptist: b. 1946; 1977, joined the RAF; 1980, left the RAF and received asylum in the GDR, where he married fellow RAF defector Sigrid Sternebeck; 1990, arrested and cooperated with police and prosecutors; 1992, sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

  Fritzsch, Ronald: b. 1951; 2JM member; 1975, arrested; 1989, released from prison.

  Genscher, Hans-Dietrich: b. 1927; FDP politician; 1969-1974, federal minister of the interior; 1974-1992, federal minister for foreign affairs.

  Gérard, Jean Paul: member of the Noyaux armés pour l’autonomie populaire, precursor organization to Action Directe; 1980, arrested for bombing the Paris offices of the Bundesbahn; 1981, received amnesty.

  Goder, Angelika: b. 1950; 2JM member; 1978, participated in the liberation of Till Meyer, arrested in Bulgaria and extradited to the FRG.

  Goemans, Johannes: 1954-1978; Dutch border guard; 1978, killed in shootout with RAF members at the Dutch border.

  Grams, Wolfgang: 1953-1993; 1978, RAF supporter, arrested in the aftermath of the shooting of RAF member Willy Peter Stoll, held for 153 days; 1980, received remuneration for the time he had been held in prison; 1984, joined RAF; 1993, set up by a movement infiltrator and killed in shootout with GSG-9 agents in Bad Kleinen.

  Grashof, Manfred: b. 1946; 1970, founding member of the RAF; 1972, arrested prior to the May Offensive; 1977, sentenced to life in prison; 1988, pardoned.

  Gratt, Thomas: 1956-2006; Austrian supporter of West German political prisoners; 1977, participated in the 2JM kidnapping of businessman Walter Palmers in Vienna, arrested in possession of weapons and ransom money at the Italian border; 1979, sentenced to fifteen years in prison in Austria, pardoned and released after thirteen years; 2006, committed suicide.

  Groenewold, Kurt: b. 1937; lawyer for prisoners from the RAF; 1975, subjected to the Berufsverbot; 1979, received two-year suspended sentence for having facilitated Info System, between 1973 and ‘76, Berufsverbot lifted except for criminal cases; 1981, Berufsverbot completely lifted.

  Grosser, Karl (Carlos): b. 1956; alleged RAF supporter; 1981, arrested and charged with being an aboveground RAF member; 1982, sentenced to three years for supporting a terrorist organization; 1985, arrested for an alleged RAF robbery of two money messengers; 1993, released from prison.

  Haag, Siegfried: b. 1944; lawyer for prisoners from the RAF; 1975, joined the RAF; 1976, arrested; 1979, sentenced to fifteen years in prison; broke with the RAF in prison; 1987, released from prison.

  Haag, Sybille: b. 19
42; ex-wife of lawyer Siegfried Haag, active in prisoner support work.

  Haddad, Waddi (Abu Hani): 1927-1978; 1967-1970, leading figure in the PFLP’s military wing; expelled from the PFLP at some point in the 1970s; established the PFLP (EO) in the early 1970s as a body separate from the PFLP; 1977, poisoned by the Mossad; 1978, died.

  Haig, Alexander: 1924-2010; 1974-1979, NATO supreme commander; 1979, survived RAF assassination attempt; 1981-1982, U.S. secretary of state.

  Hammerschmidt, Katharina: 1943-1975; 1970-1971, RAF supporter; 1972, turned herself in following the May Offensive; 1973, begins suffering symptoms from cancer, yet denied appropriate medical care; 1974, finally released from prison to receive medical treatment; 1975, died of cancer.

  Hansen, Hans-Wilhelm: b. 1952-1978; police officer killed in 1978 in a firefight with RAF members.

  Happe, Manuela: b. 1956; 1984, joined the RAF, arrested a few months later; 1986, sentenced to fifteen years in prison for membership in a terrorist organization and attempted murder of a police officer; 1995, released from prison.

  Harb, Nabil: 1954-1977; PFLP (EO) member; killed during the Mogadishu action.

  Härlin, Benny: b. 1957; 1977, suspected editor of radikal; 1983, arrested for promoting terrorism; 1984, sentenced to two and a half years in prison, elected to the European Parliament on the Green ticket, thereby providing him with immunity from imprisonment; 1990, the sentence was overturned by the BGH, returned to Germany.

  Hausner, Siegfried: 1952-1975; SPK member; 1971, arrested; 1972 sentenced to three years in youth custody; 1974, released from prison, joined the RAF; 1975, participated in the RAF Holger Meins Commando’s hostage taking at the West German embassy in Stockholm, died as a result of injuries sustained during the action.

  Heißler, Rolf: b. 1948; 1970-1971, member of the Tupamaros-Munich; 1975, joined the RAF after release from prison as part of a prisoner exchange for CDU politician Peter Lorenz who had been kidnapped by the 2JM; 1979, shot in the head and arrested; 1982, sentenced to life in prison; 2001, released from prison.