Origins – Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin
The origins of what was to become nicknamed the Baader-Meinhof Gang sprung up from the late-sixties in West Germany, the sixties had been marked by left wing protests against things such as the atom bomb, Vietnam War, and capitalism. On 2nd June 1967 there was a protest in West Berlin against the visit of the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, and during the event a student called Benno Ohnesorg was shot dead by policeman Detective Sergeant Kurras. This event led to the souring of political tone in the state, as up until that point the political tensions had mostly remained peaceful.
A day after the shooting, a woman called Gudrun Ensslin, a radical leftist, made an emotionally fired address at a meeting of the Socialist German Students Union in Berlin.
Ensslin was born in 1940 and was daughter of an Evangelical pastor who was a communist. Ensslin studied philosophy and later moved to Berlin to live with a left-wing writer called Bernward Vesper, who she had a son with.
Seven months after the death off Ohnesorg, Sergent Detective Kurras was tried on manslaughter charges, but was acquitted on a plea that the heat of the protests at the time had affected his judgement that led to the tragic killing. This verdict incensed elements of the radical left and to many of them it confirmed their views that Germany was still a fascist state.
During Ensslin’s speech, she had spoken of the fascist state being out to kill them, and that it was stupid to keep heading for a peaceful conclusion. She went on saying that they would have to fight violence with violence and slammed their opponents as the generation of Auschwitz and that as such they could not be reasoned with through argument.
It was not too long after that address that she met Andreas Baader at a demonstration. During this time Baader had little to no political convictions and was mostly just interested in fast cars and women, he was living with a female action painter called Elly Michell who also paid for his living, and they had a daughter together. Despite this Baader and Ensslin would spend a night together.
Baader’s lack of money and success very likely played into his easiness to be converted to the belief that society was rotten and could only be fixed by violent revolution. Both Baader and Ensslin would go on to desert their partners and moved to Frankfurt together. The leftist student movement in Frankfurt was more sophisticated than such counterparts in Berlin. At such leftist student meetings Ensslin was mostly the speaker while Baader was silent but evident in his attendance, Ensslin was the intellectually dominant one of the relationship.
First Violent Actions – 2nd April 1968
Eventually it was inevitably decided to take violent action. The two targets decided upon were department stores. Baader and Ensslin entered the Schneider department store soon before closing time and later exited shortly after having left shopping bags behind. A fire broke out at the store at midnight on three floors, which was soon put out by the fire brigade.
Two other accomplices, Thorwold Proll and Horst Sohnlein, had planted a bomb at the other targeted department store but it had failed to detonate.
The following evening Baader and Ensslin were discovered and arrested at the apartment of a friend and were subsequently identified by department store employees. Proll and Sohnlein had also been arrested elsewhere.
All were sentenced to three years in prison for arson but were all released 14-months pending an appeal. It was soon after this that they began to realize that they were seen as heroes among radical left circles. Sohnlein was the only one to turn up for the appeal verdict while Baader, Ensslin and Proll escaped to Switzerland.
The group would return secretly in 1970, and in April of that year, two years after the department store incidents, Baader was arrested while he was on his way to dig up an arms cache that had been hidden in a cemetery. He was later sent to Tegal prison in West Berlin, it was here that he’d be visited by well-known left-wing journalist Ulrike Meinhof. The two had already met previously during the department store arson trial, where she interviewed him and Ensslin.
Ulrike Meinhof
.jpg){kind=link}
Meinhof was 36-years-old at the time. She had previously stated within one of her articles that it was better to burn a department store than to own one. Meinhof was something of a celebrity to left-wing circles, although it wasn’t just that, as she had also written plays for radio and television and was also a popular talk show guest. She was also the mother of twin daughters.
In recent years while she lectured part-time at Berlin’s Free University, she became increasingly involved in extreme Left student groups. Her apartment also became a frequent meeting spot for these groups and were also often attended by associates of Baader and Ensslin. One of these associates was Horst Mahler, Baader’s defense lawyer and who would be another founder of the Red Army Faction alongside Baader, Ensslin, and Meinhof.
The Break-Out – 14th May 1970
Mahler, and Ensslin (who was still a fugitive) had convinced Meinhof to help break out Baader from prison. Authorities had given permission for Baader to write a book on maladjusted juveniles and for this was allowed to conduct research at the German Institute for Social Questions in the West Berlin suburb of Dahlem.
On 14th May 1970, Meinhof arrived to the institute where Baader would soon be ‘conducting research’ and she was told by a worker that the place was closed, but Meinhof replied saying that she had received permission to work with Baader on his book. Due to Meinhof being a well-known journalist the librarian on duty foolishly took her at word.
Not long after Meinhof entered, Baader was brought in and his handcuffs were removed. Not long after this the bell of the door rang, and two young women were allowed to enter under the explanation that they needed to do research, moments after this a masked man rushes in waving a gun and then the two woman who were permitted entry produced guns from their bags. Gunfire followed which was mostly aimed at the floor.
During the ensuing chaos Baader and Meinhof took the opportunity to leap from a window and enter into an Alfa Romeo driven by Thorwald Proll’s sister, Astrid. They then made their escape. During the whole incident a librarian was seriously wounded by gunfire, but there had been no deaths or further injuries.
Horst Mahler then arranged for the escapees, including himself, Baader, Ensslin, and Meinhof to escape to the Middle East.
Peter Homann, another member of the breakout plan, later claimed that at the time there was no political motive behind the plan to breakout Baader, and that Ensslin simply wanted her ‘baby’ (Baader) back, and others wanted to help her with that goal. It was only later while they were on the run that they conceived the idea to become full-time revolutionary terrorists.
Birth of the Red Army Faction and the First Attacks
While in the Middle East the group were trained in terrorist tactics by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The group also gained its name while there, the Red Army Faction, named after the Japanese Red Army militant communist and terrorist group. Horst Mahler meanwhile organised bank raids back in Germany to finance their movement and group. Mahler was eventually arrested in October 1970 and later imprisoned.
After their training and formation of the Red Army Faction, the group begun its series of terrorist attacks within West Germany during 1972. In May 1972 the group planted several bombs at the HQ of the US Fifth Army Corps in Frankfurt which killed a Colonel and injured thirteen others and did more than a million dollars in damages. An anonymous phone call stated that the attack was revenge for Vietnam.
The next day a number of time-bombs disguised as suitcases exploded in Augsburg, Bavaria at a police station which injured five police officers. Three days after that a judge’s wife was injured by a car bomb in Karlsruhe.
On 19th May two-time bombs exploded in the offices of the right-wing publishing house of Springer in Hamburg. And then on 25th May several bombs exploded at an American army base in Heidelberg which killed three and injured five.
The Downfall of Baader-Meinhof
The 25th May Heidelberg bombing would lead to the Baader-Meinhof downfall. Not long after the attack authorities receive a tip-off that led them to a garage of an apartment building in the north of Heidelberg. From here bomb making equipment were seized and a number of bombs which were ready to be used in future attacks were defused.
After this they eventually caught Baader going into the garage in the early hours of 1st June, within a lilac Porsche. Jan-Carl Raspe and Holger Meins, two terrorists apart of the gang was accompanying him. They were very soon met by armed police forces. Raspe opened fire on them and tried to escape but was quickly overpowered, Baader and Meins on the other hand shut themselves into the garage but were eventually overcome by tear gas grenades, forcing them out.
Baader was shot in the thigh and Meins emerged with his hands in the air while only in his underpants. They were both taken into custody.
Six days after the takedown of Baader, Ensslin was found at a boutique in Hamburg after a staff member of the business noticed a gun in her pocket and called the police. A week after that Meinhof was arrested in Hanover thanks to a tip-off from a left-wing teacher who felt the terrorists were doing more harm to the left-wing cause than good.
Imprisonment & Continuing Attacks
The four top members of what became known as the Baader-Meinhof gang were placed in the Stuttgart top security Stammheim prison. The trial was delayed for three whole years so that an escape-proof top security court room could be constructed to hold the trial.
During this time a number of attacks involving the demanded release of the Baader-Meinhof gang, among other related attacks, some by remaining Red Army Faction members themselves, would start taking place.
One of the first was the tragic Munich Olympics hostage crisis. Arab terrorists from the Black September movement took nine Israeli athletes’ hostage during the Olympics. The terrorists and all nine hostages were killed after a failed rescue operation. The terrorist’s demands had included the release of the Baader-Meinhof gang.
In June 1974 the extremist Ulrich Schmucker was executed by fellow gang members after he was accused of betraying their plot to blow up the Turkish Embassy in Bonn, which would have been in retaliation for the execution of three Turkish terrorists.
Holger Meins, one of those arrested alongside Baader, would die on a hunger strike while he was locked up, following this in revenge for his death a judge named Gunter von Drenckmann was gunned down by flower bearing terrorists on his own doorstep on his birthday.
It would reach another new level on 27th February 1975 when the then leader of the Christian Democratic Party, Peter Lorenz, was seized by terrorists who then demanded the release of six other terrorists in exchange for his life, one of those demanded for release was Horst Mahler, but Baader nor Meinhof was included. In this the West German government gave in to the terrorist demands and released five of the prisoners who were flown out of the country. Mahler though refused to accompany them. The terrorists released Lorenz unharmed.
Then on 24th April 1975 six terrorists who named themselves the Holger Meins commandos seized the West German embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. They threatened to kill the hostages they had taken unless the Baader-Meinhof gang were released and that half a million dollars would be paid in ransom to them. To show that they were series a military attache Baron von Mirbach was shot dead.
This time the Bonn government refused to cave to the demands and instead offered the terrorists holding the embassy safe passage out of the country if they released the hostages unharmed. But it would turn out such negotiations were not needed as one of the bombs on the top floor embassy refrigerator was set off by accident which killed one of the terrorists and allowed hostages to escape during the confusion.
The five other terrorists were arrested as they attempted to escape, one of whom later died from explosion injuries, the others were imprisoned in West Germany.
These series of attacks continued to show the massive liability of the Baader-Meinhof gang as they remained locked up in prison. Many officials during this time became very frightened for their lives.
The Trial and First Death
The Baader-Meinhof trial finally started on 21st May 1975. The four defendants, Baader, Meinhof, Ensslin, and Raspe were originally very disruptive during proceedings, via objections and haranguing. But after a year on 4th May 1976 Ensslin claimed responsibility for three of the four bombing attacks, basically opening up an ending for the trial.
Only five days after this Meinhof would be found hanged from the bars of her cell window via sheets. An official autopsy concluded that it was suicide, but a second autopsy conducted at the behest of her family would bring up questions and possible doubts on the official verdict.
Traces of semen were apparently found on her underwear and bruising of the inside of her thighs also suggested rape. A saliva track from her breast to navel also suggested that she was unclothed at the time of her death and that she was dressed afterwards. A group of medical experts also were unable to rule out death by throttling during rape.
1976 Air France Hijacking
During the trial another tragic incident that involved demands for release of two Baader gang members took place. An Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was seized by five Arab and two German terrorists and flown to Entebbe Airport in Uganda.
The terrorists negotiated with then Ugandan President and brutal dictator Idi Amin who supported the hijackers, the demands were for 53 pro-Palestine terrorists held in Israel and around the world, which included two Baader members and four from an affiliate group called the Second June Movement, who were imprisoned in West Germany. All of the non-israeli passangers of the plane were released, leaving 105 passangers and crew.
Within two days three army transport planes landed without announcement at the Entebbe Airport, the transports carried 100 Israeli Commandos that stormed the hijacked aircraft.
An hour-long firefight ensued that killed twenty Ugandan soldiers, one Israeli Commando (Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, older brother of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) and three hostages as well as all seven terrorists. 102 hostages were rescued.
In retaliation the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin ordered the slaughter of Kenyan’s living in Uganda due to Kenya’s support of the Israeli operation, 245 Kenyan’s were slaughtered and at least 3,000 fled the country.
Trial Conclusion and 1977 Hijacking
The Baader trial itself continued meanwhile until April 1977 where the three remaining defendants were each given life plus fifteen years imprisonment.
After this there would be another major terrorist incident that related to the Baader gang not long before their deaths. It started on the afternoon of Thursday 13th October 1977 where four Palestinian terrorists, two men and two females, seize Lufthansa flight LH181 that was flying from Majorca to Frankfurt.
Passengers and crew were held as hostages at gunpoint and the pilot was forced to change course for Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport. The terrorists wired the aircraft with explosive charges. Demands were issued by the terrorists in the name of Struggle Against World Imperialism Organisation, with the main demands including the release of all German political prisoners, which was not unexpected due to an open secret that Palestinian Paramilitary organisations had close links with left wing revolutionary terrorists in West Germany.
The demands were later downgraded to the release of 11 high-ranking members of the Red Army Faction, or as others knew it, the Baader-Meinhof Gang, and the ransom deadline was set for Friday 16th October. Over the following three days the plane flew to Cyprus, then Dubai as a way to evade possible storming from security forces.
Hours before the ransom deadline was due to end the plane landed in Aden, Yemen. Soon afterwards Juergen Schumann, the pilot of the plane, asked permission to inspect the landing gear as he believed it may have been damaged on the previous landing. The terrorists allowed him to go and check.
The pilot found that the gear was still serviceable and then walked back to the plane, but while on the way back he made the major mistake of talking to airport security. On his return to the plane the terrorists executed him on his knees via shooting him through the back of the head in-front of terrified passengers and crew, and then they dumped his body on to the runway.
The terrorists then forced the co-pilot to fly to Mogadishu Airport in Somalia. As the deadline approached the West German government played for time, the terrorists were offered 11 prisoners, which included also flying them to Mogadishu Airport to meet the terrorists there, and on top of that they were offered a substantial sum of money and a jet to fly them anywhere.
The leading terrorist of the hijacking, who called himself Martyr Mahmoud, agreed to extend the deadline and work on the arrangement, but he also insisted that no tricks would make the hijacking into another Entebbe, referencing the previous 1976 Air France hijacking.
But despite saying this, Tuesday 18th October, 2am would mark the beginning of the end. The GSG-9, which was West Germany’s newly formed terror squad, stormed the hijacked airliner. Initially an oil drum was lit under the front of the aircraft to distract the terrorists, rear emergency exits were then breached and stun grenades were thrown in. A firefight would then ensue that killed three of the terrorists and badly wounded another – Mollen – who was taken into custody and later imprisoned in West Germany.
Only one hostage was injured and no authorities or forces suffered any casualties during the rescue operation. It was certainly a resounding success for the newly formed GSG-9.
Baader Gang Deaths
Five days after the culmination of the Mogadishu hijacking, guards at the Stammheim Prison in Stuttgart, West Germany, made several grim discoveries of deceased high-ranking Baader-Meinhof members.
The first was that of Jan-Carl Raspe, serving life for the murder of four American soldiers in a bombing attack, was discovered propped up in his bed with a bullet wound to his head, most shockingly he was somehow still alive when he was discovered but would die from the wound hours later.
After his discovery, three cells away found was Andreas Baader, dead with a gun beside him and Gudrun Ensslin was also then found hanging from the barred window of her cell.
Also, at the same time, the fourth and only surviving Mogadishu hijacker, Irmgard Moller, was found lying in bed with four stab wounds in her chest, she would ironically also survive this after emergency surgery.
After these discoveries the West German Minister of Justice, Traugott Bender, announced what had happened and that it was suspected to be a suicide pact after the failed hijacking due to them having no hope of release and it was insisted there was no foul play.
But many would begin to accuse and suspect that in actuality the members had been executed to prevent any further attacks, hijackings or hostage incidents that included an aim to free them.
Interestingly on 5th November 1977 Ingrid Schubert, the woman who had helped free Baader in the 1970 breakout plan, who had since been jailed for partaking in bank robberies, was found hanging in her cell, three weeks after the Baader gang deaths.
The Aftermath of the Deaths
The Left in Germany quickly accused the government of murder and a number on the Right even conceded that there was a strong possibility that they were murdered as a solution to prevent further problematic attempts at freeing them via terrorist acts.
Irmgard Moller, the only surviving terrorist of the Mogadishu 1977 hijacking as well as the only survivor of the officially-declared suicides, had her own wounds declared self-inflicted and an attempted suicide as well. Much interest surrounded anything she may reveal in her testimony. During her testimony she brought charges of murder against an unknown individual and she also denied that she had attempted suicide and also denied the Baader members were unable to communicate during the Mogadishu hijacking. She also said she did not know how she became unconscious in her cell, but claims to recall two soft popping noises and a voice that said Baader and Ensslin were already dead. Not long after this Moller was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1979.
The Government of the time though continued to insist it was a suicide pact which aimed to fuel revolution. Portable transistor radio that was discovered in the cell of Raspe, and wires left in walls of Baader gang members cells could have possibly been used as primitive signaling devices, it also became clear eventually that they did have ways to communicate to each other. The guns that killed Raspe and Baader were also apparently smuggled in with explosives.
The official take was that the aim of the suicide pact was to make the suicides look like murders as a way to embarrass authorities with evidence of a plot, and that Baader writing a letter to a Stuttgart court insisting he would never commit suicide, Ensslin telling two clergymen that she thought she might be murdered and Moller’s testimony could have all been a part of the suicide pact.
To the present day the allegations that the deaths of the Baader-Meinhof gang members were anything other than suicides are officially denied.
Horst Mahler is the only original founder of the Red Army Faction that is still alive today, although he has since turned to Far-Right neo-Nazi politics, he most recently was in prison due to such extremist views and fled Germany in 2017 to escape imprisonment and tried to apply for asylum in Hungary but was deported back to Germany and imprisoned. He has since served his time.
Thank you for reading this post, if you have any queries please Email me, you can find my Email in the Contacts & Community section. Please also follow The Weekly Rambler on Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest and Facebook which you can access through the buttons at the bottom of this website. You can also use the social media buttons under each blogpost to share with your family, friends and associates. You can also subscribe to Email notifications at the right-side of this website to know whenever a new post goes up (you can easily unsubscribe from this at any time through a button in each Email notification), or alternatively you can use an RSS Feed Reader. Please also join my FB Group The Weekly Ramblers Readers Group where readers can more easily talk with each other and also with me whenever I am on, you can also find it in Community.