The Baader Meinhof Gang

The Baader Meinhof large total, to a fault k with turn up delayn as the Red Army Faction, was angiotensin-converting enzyme of the around ready private-enterprise(a) left hand companys of postwarfare westward Germany that gained prominence in the seventies and 80s. Like may other natural communist groups of its time, it was traffic patterned with the object glass of overthrowing affable and political order to give ride to a totalitarian favorableist state. Although the group described itself as a commie Urban Guerilla Group engaged in gird resistance its routine of arms and weaponry quickly gained it the account of being iodine of the most blistering terrorist groups in Eu circuit at that time.By the wind up of the 70s the group was responsible for over 30 cleansings and a series of bombings and kidnappings that aroused relent little social and political unrest in the democracy. The Backdrop of Social & Political fermentation The formation of the Baader Mein hof Group or Gang can be traced back to the social and political instability in due west Germany in the late 1960s. As in many industrialized nations, young students and workers disillusioned with the oppressive regimes of the capitalist government began to deliver massive protests.Their objective was to fight for exemption and human rights and they brought issues such as anti-imperialism, racial discrimination and the Vietnam War to the forefront of radical politics. The German student movement as it was by and by termed was fuel lead by a series of events that took fleck in the arena of German politics. In 1956, the Communist Party of Germany was banned. Government positions were garnish-aside(p) by ex-Nazis resulting in anger and frustration at the ineffectiveness of de-Nazification subsequently World War II.The media was considered biased as it was controlled by anti-radical conservatives. The mid 1960s maxim the merging of the countrys cardinal major political partie s- the Social representative Party of Germany (SDP) and the Christian Democratic married couple of Germany (CDU) to form a stark naked government. This was referred to as the grand coalition in Germany in 1966, with a former Nazi, Kurt Georg Kiesinger, as chancellor. This using was received with outrage from the radicals who viewed it as a collusion of capitalist power as a convenient way to resist out the left-wing opposition parties.Since 95% of the Bundestag (West German Parliament) was controlled by the coalition, a new opposition party was formed c eached the Ausserparlamentarische foeman (APO) or Extra Parliamentary Opposition, with the objective of carrying out political activity and protests independent of the government. The APO provided a platform for student radicals to prosecute resistance against the coalition and played a central role in the German student movement.What started out as pacifistic demonstrations turned into violent protests on June 2, 1967 when the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, phoneed West Berlin. During one such demonstration after-school(prenominal) the opera house where he was visiting, German student, Benno Ohnesorg was savour in the head and killed. The law of nature officer responsible for the shooting was ulterior acquitted. Outrage of the radicals led to the creation of a new militant group called trend 2 June, named after the date of Ohnesorgs death.Formation of The RAF It was against the backdrop of this social and political purlieu and the impact of Ohnesorgs death that led to the formation of an bail bond between Thorwald Proll, Horst Sohnlein, Gud point Ensslin and Andreas Baader. unneurotic they detonated home made bombs in approximately(prenominal) capital of Kentucky department stores to protest against the Vietnam War. all four were subsequently arrested on April 2, 1967 and by and by convicted of arson and sentenced to three years imprison housement. trinity of the members including B aader and Ensslin managed to flight during a special parole for political prisoners. Baader was soon recaptured, while the remaining members fled to France and Italy and hid lowground. During his brook in prison, Andreas Baader gained per charge to write a book on organizing young mickle on the fringes of society. For this he was allow the privilege of visiting a program library accompanied by uniformed armed guards. It was during one such library visit in 1970 that Baader managed to escape with the help of left-wing journalist Ulrike Meinhof.It was here that the Baader-Meinhof duo came to set downher, referring to their alliance as the Red Army Faction. curtly after, several(prenominal) members of the group went to Jordan where they received tuition in the use of arms by a military camp run by the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The insurrection of the RAF Hereafter the RAF slowly grew to become one of the most prominent left-wing militant groups in West Germany and w as engaged in numerous killings, bombings and robberies in attempt to get their message across through force.It attracted members and supporters from several other radical groups across the country such as the Revolutionary Cells, style 2 June, the Situationsists and the Socialist Patients Collective. Its rules and mission were partly modeled after a revolutionary group in Uruguay called the Tupamaros bm which succeeded in bringing guerilla war against imperialist oppression, beneath Che Guevaras government, from hoidenish areas to metropolitan cities. To avoid capture, most members operated under code names and carried out terrorist activities under a single contract.In June 1972, Baader was recaptured along with his partner Jan-Carl Raspe, followed by his girlfriend Ensslin and later Meinhof. Although unplowed in solitary confinement in a high security prison Stammheim Prison in Stuggart, the group members devised a means of communicating with one other through letters deli vered through their lawyers. With the onus members of the group in prison, the groups activities were taken over by a second generation of militants whose aim now was to secure the pardon of its leaders.This led to some of the worst terrorist advances in the groups history. The German Autumn On April 24, 1975, the RAF employed the German Embassy in Stockholm where it demanded the passing play of its leaders in return for the press release of hostages. When the German government refused, the RAF remove 2 of the hostages. Baader and his fellow accomplices were finally frame in on trial in May 1975 one of the most long drawn out and costly trials in West German history.Exactly a year later in May 1976, Ulrike Meinhof was found breathless in her prison cell after an obvious suicide in which she had hung herself with a rope of towels. As the trial progressed, a number of high profile blows took place. These involved the killing of federal official Prosecutor Siegfried Buback at a traffic signal, along with his driver and carcass guard, by two members of the RAF in April 1977. Three months later, in July 1977, Juergen Ponto, the chief operating officer of Dresdner Bank was sally and killed outside his home in the German town of Oberursel.The following September, Hans Martin Schleyer, head of the German Association of Employers and one of the most knock-down(a) industrialists in the country, was kidnapped after his driver and bodyguards were shot dead by RAF militants. After pickings Schleyer hostage, the RAF demanded the release of eleven prisoners including the leaders of the RAF at Stammheim Prison. Under the advice of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, the government trenchant not to accede and instead set up a crisis committee to study the whereabouts of Schleyer.Before the situation could be resolved, another attack took place which marked the culmination of terrorist activities associated with the RAF. This attack took place in October 1977 when Luft hansa flight 181 from Majorca to Frankfurt was hijacked by a group of Arabs who appeared to direct close links with the RAF as they also demanded the release of the corresponding prisoners as in the Schleyer case. The crisis committee again refused to give in to the hijackers demands, after which the flight captain was murdered and his body disposed of on a runway.A fork over operation was quickly put in motion led by under-secretary Hans Jurgen Wischenewski, during which the elite force of the German Federal Police were finally able to alleviate the aircraft by shooting down all four hijackers. Shortly after, success of the rescue operation, with not a single rider hurt, was made public by the media. The same darkness, three of the imprisoned RAF members Baader, Ensslin and Raspe were found dead in their cells in what appeared to be a planned and collective suicide.The same night Schleyer was shot dead and the location of his kill body was communicated to the French press th e following day. It was this string of bloody events that is frequently referred to as the German Autumn (Der Deutsche Herbst) The Down drib The political theory behind the 70s killings is still unclear and by the end of the 1970s the groups sole objective appeared to be the release of its imprisoned leaders. The second generation of RAF members remained active in the eighties gaining some due east German support in the form of shelter and funding.The group continued to cigaret prominent industrialists and executives and in 1985 murdered Ernst Zimmerman, CEO of a German engineering company. This was followed by a bombing at a US airforce base just about Frankfurt which killed three. Seimens executive, Karl-Heinz Beckurts was killed by a car bomb in 1986. In 1989, Duetsche Bank chairman, Alfred Herrhausen was also killed by a car bomb planted by the RAF. As attacks continued throughout the 1980s and early 90s, the RAF attracted increasingly fewer supporters and less sympathy from the left.Its popularity quickly waned after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and after a long silence the group proclaimed its dissolution in April 1998. References Alpert, Jane. (1987) The Baader-Meinhof Group The indoors Story of a Phenomenon. Translated by Anthea Bell. capital of the United Kingdom Bodley Head. Becker, Jillian. (1977) Hitlers Children The Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang. Philadelphia Lippincott. Katsiaficas, George. (1987) The Imagination of the New left over(p) A Global Analysis of 1968. capital of Massachusetts Beacon Press.