PCGUIA 10/PC Guia 10.iso/database/shared.dir/01283_Field_120.cap.txt

Text File | 1996-03-14 | 4KB | 243 lines

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Ulrike Meinhof was
intelligent, middle
class, and well-
educated. She had
access to all the
benefits of a free
affluent society,
and she could have
built on her early
success in journ-
alism. Instead she
chose to try and
destroy her society
with violent action
#
The mid-Seventies
were the heyday
for bourgeois terr-
orism. In Italy left
wing ideological
bandits wreaked
havoc with bomb
blasts, murders
and kidnaps. The
activities of the
notorious 'Red
Brigade' group
reached a climax
in 1978 when they
abducted and killed
the former prime
minister of Italy,
Aldo Moro
#
Terrorists from Meinhof to the IRA have taken their inspiration from Carlos
Marighella, the Brazilian guerrilla. His tactics, described in a textbook for
terrorists, have proved to be less effective in practice than they seemed on paper
#
Historical parallels
were often drawn
between Meinhof
and Rosa Luxemburg,
who was murdered
in 1919. In fact
they were poles
apart: the revolu-
tionary ideals of
Luxemberg were
founded on a desire
for social justice,
those of Meinhof
on a vague but
deeply felt sense
of embitterment
#
The Red Army
Faction emerged
out of the late
Sixties student
movement. Its key
members were
eager to take up
arms against
"imperialism",
believing that
only the example
of revolutionary
struggle would
break down the
indifference of
the working class
#
Urban terrorism
was not confined
to Europe. Angela
Davis was an
American activist,
who, like Meinhof,
had a brilliant
intellect and who
believed political
violence was a
legitimate tool.
Davis was put on
trial for an armed
attempt to free
jailed comrades,
but was acquitted
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Meinhof became a
household name
when she led an
armed raid to free
her lover and fellow
terrorist Andreas
Baader from a high-
security Berlin jail
in May 1970. This
daring act, together
with the bank raids
which funded their
activities, made
the 'Baader-Meinhof
Gang' folk heroes
to Germany's dis-
affected youth
#
In January 1971,
Meinhof was pulled
over by a routine
traffic patrol.
Worried that the
officer had seen
through her new,
blonde disguise she
sped off. And the
police officer was
left holding her
driver's licence
with its new and
up-to-date photo
#
Meinhof's mythical
status grew with
every day that she
avoided capture.
After the notorious
1970 prison raid ,
Meinhof eluded the
police for another
two years, during
which time she
commited a series
of bank robberies,
bomb attacks and
shootings
#
Meinhof was in
the end captured
in a Hanover flat
in June 1972. The
hunt for her had
involved 150,000
policemen. Four
other members of
the Baader-Meinhof
Gang, including
Andreas Baader,
had been arrested
two weeks earlier
after a gun battle
in Frankfurt
#
The impact of Red
Army Faction
terrorism had been
so destabilising
that, even while on
hunger strike in
prison, Meinhof
was still seen as
a threat to society.
Since the reunifi-
cation of Germany
it has emerged
that West German
terrorists were
receiving support
from the Stasi,
East Germany's
secret service
@
Meinhof remained
unrepentant. She
was not present
in court when her
sentence was read
out. She had been
barred from the
proceedings for
her unruly habit
of screaming "pig"
and "fascist"at
the judge
#
In 1975, Meinhof
(with Baader and
two other members
of the gang) faced
another trial. Among
the charges were
six bombings which
left five dead and
54 injured, the
killing of a police
officer, six armed
robberies, three
attempted murders.
A fifth defendant
died on hunger
strike before the
trial could begin
#
In May 1976,
Meinhof hanged
herself in prison.
She was 44 years
old. After her
suicide the trial
continued in an
atmosphere of
disarray. In March
1977 an 'Ulrike
Meinhof Commando'
assassinated West
Germany's chief
prosecutor, Herr
Seigfried Buback,
who had led the
campaign against
the terrorists
#
In April 1977
Andreas Baader,
Gudrun Ensslin
and Jan Carl Raspe,
the three other
members of the
original gang, were
sentenced to life
imprisonment.
When an attempt
to free them by
hijacking a Luft-
hansa plane in
Mogadishu failed,
all three killed
themselves in
their prison cells
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