Andreas Baader
Encyclopedia
Andreas Bernd Baader was one of the first leaders of the German
left-wing militant organization Red Army Faction
, also commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang.
Baader was a high school dropout
and criminal before his Red Army Faction
(RAF) involvement. He was one of the few members of the RAF movement who did not attend a university.
were convicted of the arson bombing of a department store in Frankfurt am Main to protest the public's "indifference" to the "genocide" in Vietnam. DM675,000 in damage was caused; no-one was injured or killed.
After being sentenced, Baader and Ensslin fled in November 1969. They were smuggled out of West Germany by sympathizers and made the tour of the left-wing communities of France, Switzerland, and Italy before re-entering West Germany covertly.
Baader was later caught at a traffic stop for speeding on 4 April 1970. He produced a fake driver's license in the name of famous writer Peter Chotjewitz, but was placed under arrest when he failed to answer personal questions like the names and ages of Chotjewitz's children.
Ensslin masterminded an escape plan. Journalist Ulrike Meinhof
and Baader's lawyers concocted a false "book deal" in which Meinhof would interview Baader. A few weeks later, in May 1970, he was allowed to meet her at the library of the Berlin Zentralinstitut outside the prison, without handcuffs but escorted by two armed guards. Meinhof was allowed to join him. Confederates Irene Goergens and Ingrid Schubert entered the library carrying suitcases, then opened a door to admit a masked gunman armed with a pistol and then drew pistols out of suitcases. They then fired shots that wounded a 64-year-old librarian, hitting him in his liver. Baader, the masked gunman, and the three women then fled through a window.
The group became known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Baader and others then spent some time in a Fatah
military training camp in Jordan
before being expelled due to "differences in attitudes". For example, when their trainers insisted their German guests attend training with the rest of the students, they protested by going nude sunbathing on the roof of their barracks. They seemed only interested in firing off weapons and detonating explosive devices and repeatedly ignored safety instructions. In one example, Ulrike Meinhof almost blew herself up with an anti-tank grenade during one field exercise .
Back in Germany, Baader robbed banks and bombed buildings from 1970 to 1972. Although he never obtained a driving licence, Baader was obsessed with driving
. He regularly stole expensive sports cars for use by the gang, and was arrested driving an Iso Rivolta
IR300.
On 1 June 1972, Baader and fellow RAF members Jan-Carl Raspe
and Holger Meins
were apprehended after a lengthy shootout in Frankfurt.
's Stammheim prison. According to reports from his jailers (including Horst Bubeck), the defendants, especially Baader, kept their cells as dirty and disgusting as possible in order to discourage searches for items that might be smuggled in; at this time lawyers and defendants were not separated by panes of glass during unsupervised meetings, as evidenced by photos taken by inmates. However, as a precaution against items being smuggled in, all prisoners were strip-searched and inspected and given new clothes before and after meeting lawyers.
During a collective hunger strike in 1974, which led to the death of Meins, philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre
visited Baader in Stammheim Prison
where he was being held. He allegedly described Baader after the meeting as being an "idiot" ("Quel con !"). But, although he did not like Baader's behavior, he criticized the harsh conditions of imprisonment Baader endured.
Meinhof was found dead in her cell at Stuttgart-Stammheim on 9 May 1976, hanging from the grating covering her cell window. Members of the Red Army Faction and others claimed that she was killed by the German authorities. The second generation of the RAF committed several kidnappings and killings in a campaign in support of their comrades.
The three remaining defendants were convicted in April 1977 of several murders, attempted murders, and of forming a terrorist organization, and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Militants tried to force the release of Baader and ten other imprisoned RAF members by kidnapping Hanns Martin Schleyer
on 5 September 1977, as part of the sequence of events known as the "German Autumn
", which began on 30 July 1977 with the murder of the banker Jürgen Ponto
.
However, on 6 September 1977 an official statement was released in which the state declared that the prisoners would not be released under any circumstances, and on the same day a Kontaktsperre ("communication ban") was enacted against all RAF prisoners. This order deprived prisoners of all contact with each other as well as with the outside; all visits, including those of lawyers and family members, were forbidden. In addition, the prisoners were deprived of their access to post, newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. The official justification for this was a claim by the state that the prisoners had supervised Schleyer's kidnapping from their cells with the assistance of their lawyers. It was claimed that a hand-drawn map had been found which had been used in the kidnapping in Newerla’s car on 5 September. On 10 September the prisoners' lawyers lost their appeal against the Kontaktsperre order and on 2 October it became effective.
On 13 October 1977 four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181
on a flight from Palma de Mallorca
to Frankfurt
, their leader demanding the release of the eleven RAF prisoners detained at Stammheim. The aircraft was eventually flown to Mogadishu
, Somalia
, where it arrived in the early hours of 17 October. The passengers of the Boeing 737 were freed in an assault carried out by German GSG 9
special forces in the early hours of 18 October 1977 which saw the death of three of the militants.
was found with four stab wounds to her chest, but survived.
All official inquiries on the matter concluded that Baader and his two accomplices committed collective suicide, and Baader-Meinhof biographer Stefan Aust
argued in the original edition of his book, The Baader-Meinhof Group (1985), that they almost assuredly did kill themselves.
There are many debatable aspects to the deaths: Baader was supposed to have shot himself in the base of the neck so that the bullet exited through his forehead; repeated tests indicated that it was virtually impossible for a person to hold and fire a gun in such a way. In addition, three bullet holes were found in his cell: one lodged in the wall, one in the mattress, and the fatal bullet itself lodged in the floor, suggesting that Baader had fired twice before killing himself. Finally, Baader had powder burns on his right hand, but he was left-handed. Raspe, however, showed no signs of powder burns.
The theory itself that guns had somehow been smuggled into Stammheim prison depended on the testimony of Hans Joachim Dellwo (brother of prisoner Karl-Heinz Dellwo) and Volker Speitel (husband of Angelika Speitel
). Both had been arrested on 2 October 1977, and charged with belonging to a criminal association; under pressure from the police they subsequently admitted to acting as couriers and testified that they were aware of lawyers smuggling items to the prisoners during the trial. Their testimony was, however, tainted because they provided it in order to avoid lengthy prison sentences and received reduced sentences and new identities. In 1979 two defence attorneys were tried and convicted for smuggling weapons. However, as noted above, the lawyers had been unable to meet with their clients after 6 September 1977 due to the Kontaktsperre order.
In the revised version of his comprehensive book on the RAF, which incorporates much new evidence and was published in English in 2009, Stefan Aust is categorical that the group members committed suicide.
, Gudrun Ensslin
, and Jan-Carl Raspe
removed for study at the Neurological Research Institute at the University of Tübingen. The results of Meinhof's brain study showed damage from an operation for a brain tumor in 1962. The results of the study of the others' brains are not known.
Aside from the removal of his brain, a death mask was made of Baader. The brains of all but Meinhof have apparently been lost and cannot be accounted for by German authorities.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
left-wing militant organization Red Army Faction
Red Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
, also commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang.
Life
Andreas Baader was born in Munich on 6 May 1943. He was the only child of historian and archivist Dr. Berndt Phillipp Baader. Berndt Baader served in the German Wehrmacht, was captured on the Russian Front in 1945, and never returned. Andreas was raised by his doting mother, aunt, and grandmother.Baader was a high school dropout
Dropping out
Dropping out means leaving a group for either practical reasons, necessities or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves....
and criminal before his Red Army Faction
Red Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
(RAF) involvement. He was one of the few members of the RAF movement who did not attend a university.
RAF involvement
In 1968 Baader and his girlfriend Gudrun EnsslinGudrun Ensslin
Gudrun Ensslin was a founder of the German militant group Red Army Faction . After becoming involved with co-founder Andreas Baader, Ensslin was influential in the politicization of Baader's voluntaristic anarchistic beliefs. Ensslin was perhaps the intellectual head of the RAF...
were convicted of the arson bombing of a department store in Frankfurt am Main to protest the public's "indifference" to the "genocide" in Vietnam. DM675,000 in damage was caused; no-one was injured or killed.
After being sentenced, Baader and Ensslin fled in November 1969. They were smuggled out of West Germany by sympathizers and made the tour of the left-wing communities of France, Switzerland, and Italy before re-entering West Germany covertly.
Baader was later caught at a traffic stop for speeding on 4 April 1970. He produced a fake driver's license in the name of famous writer Peter Chotjewitz, but was placed under arrest when he failed to answer personal questions like the names and ages of Chotjewitz's children.
Ensslin masterminded an escape plan. Journalist Ulrike Meinhof
Ulrike Meinhof
Ulrike Marie Meinhof was a German left-wing militant. She co-founded the Red Army Faction in 1970 after having previously worked as a journalist for the monthly left-wing magazine Konkret. She was arrested in 1972, and eventually charged with numerous murders and the formation of a criminal...
and Baader's lawyers concocted a false "book deal" in which Meinhof would interview Baader. A few weeks later, in May 1970, he was allowed to meet her at the library of the Berlin Zentralinstitut outside the prison, without handcuffs but escorted by two armed guards. Meinhof was allowed to join him. Confederates Irene Goergens and Ingrid Schubert entered the library carrying suitcases, then opened a door to admit a masked gunman armed with a pistol and then drew pistols out of suitcases. They then fired shots that wounded a 64-year-old librarian, hitting him in his liver. Baader, the masked gunman, and the three women then fled through a window.
The group became known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Baader and others then spent some time in a Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
military training camp in Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
before being expelled due to "differences in attitudes". For example, when their trainers insisted their German guests attend training with the rest of the students, they protested by going nude sunbathing on the roof of their barracks. They seemed only interested in firing off weapons and detonating explosive devices and repeatedly ignored safety instructions. In one example, Ulrike Meinhof almost blew herself up with an anti-tank grenade during one field exercise .
Back in Germany, Baader robbed banks and bombed buildings from 1970 to 1972. Although he never obtained a driving licence, Baader was obsessed with driving
Driving
Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a land vehicle, such as a car, truck or bus.Although direct operation of a bicycle and a mounted animal are commonly referred to as riding, such operators are legally considered drivers and are required to obey the rules of the road...
. He regularly stole expensive sports cars for use by the gang, and was arrested driving an Iso Rivolta
Iso Rivolta
Iso Rivolta was an automobile and motorbike manufacturer in Italy, predominantly active from the late 1940s through the early 1970s. They are known for the iconic Isetta 'bubble car' of the 1950s, and for a number of powerful performance cars in the 60s and early 70s.-History:Iso Rivolta was...
IR300.
On 1 June 1972, Baader and fellow RAF members Jan-Carl Raspe
Jan-Carl Raspe
Jan-Carl Raspe was a member of the German militant group, the Red Army Faction.- Young life :Raspe was born in Seefeld in Tirol. He was described as gentle but had difficulty communicating with other people. His father had said that he couldn't stand violence...
and Holger Meins
Holger Meins
Holger Klaus Meins was a German cinematography student who joined the Red Army Faction in the early 1970s and died on hunger strike in prison.-As a Revolutionary:...
were apprehended after a lengthy shootout in Frankfurt.
Stammheim
From 1975 to 1977, a long and expensive trial took place in a fortified building on the grounds of StuttgartStuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
's Stammheim prison. According to reports from his jailers (including Horst Bubeck), the defendants, especially Baader, kept their cells as dirty and disgusting as possible in order to discourage searches for items that might be smuggled in; at this time lawyers and defendants were not separated by panes of glass during unsupervised meetings, as evidenced by photos taken by inmates. However, as a precaution against items being smuggled in, all prisoners were strip-searched and inspected and given new clothes before and after meeting lawyers.
During a collective hunger strike in 1974, which led to the death of Meins, philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
visited Baader in Stammheim Prison
Stammheim Prison
Stammheim Prison is a prison in Stuttgart, Baden Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the northern boundaries of Stuttgart in the city district of Stuttgart-Stammheim — right between fields and apartment blocks on the fringes of Stammheim...
where he was being held. He allegedly described Baader after the meeting as being an "idiot" ("Quel con !"). But, although he did not like Baader's behavior, he criticized the harsh conditions of imprisonment Baader endured.
Meinhof was found dead in her cell at Stuttgart-Stammheim on 9 May 1976, hanging from the grating covering her cell window. Members of the Red Army Faction and others claimed that she was killed by the German authorities. The second generation of the RAF committed several kidnappings and killings in a campaign in support of their comrades.
The three remaining defendants were convicted in April 1977 of several murders, attempted murders, and of forming a terrorist organization, and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Militants tried to force the release of Baader and ten other imprisoned RAF members by kidnapping Hanns Martin Schleyer
Hanns Martin Schleyer
Hanns-Martin Schleyer was an SS officer, a German business executive and employer and industry representative, serving as President of the two influential organizations Confederation of German Employers' Associations and Federation of German Industries...
on 5 September 1977, as part of the sequence of events known as the "German Autumn
German Autumn
The German Autumn was a set of events in late 1977, associated with the kidnapping and murder of industrialist Hanns-Martin Schleyer, President of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations and the Federation of German Industries , by the Red Army Faction , and the hijacking of the...
", which began on 30 July 1977 with the murder of the banker Jürgen Ponto
Jürgen Ponto
Jürgen Ponto, was a German banker and chairman of the Dresdner Bank board of directors. Previously, he had worked as a lawyer...
.
However, on 6 September 1977 an official statement was released in which the state declared that the prisoners would not be released under any circumstances, and on the same day a Kontaktsperre ("communication ban") was enacted against all RAF prisoners. This order deprived prisoners of all contact with each other as well as with the outside; all visits, including those of lawyers and family members, were forbidden. In addition, the prisoners were deprived of their access to post, newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. The official justification for this was a claim by the state that the prisoners had supervised Schleyer's kidnapping from their cells with the assistance of their lawyers. It was claimed that a hand-drawn map had been found which had been used in the kidnapping in Newerla’s car on 5 September. On 10 September the prisoners' lawyers lost their appeal against the Kontaktsperre order and on 2 October it became effective.
On 13 October 1977 four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181
Lufthansa Flight 181
Lufthansa Flight 181 was a Lufthansa Boeing 737-230 Adv aircraft named Landshut that was hijacked on October 13, 1977 by four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine...
on a flight from Palma de Mallorca
Palma de Mallorca
Palma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name...
to Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, their leader demanding the release of the eleven RAF prisoners detained at Stammheim. The aircraft was eventually flown to Mogadishu
Mogadishu
Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....
, Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, where it arrived in the early hours of 17 October. The passengers of the Boeing 737 were freed in an assault carried out by German GSG 9
GSG 9
The GSG 9 der Bundespolizei , is the elite counter-terrorism and special operations unit of the German Federal Police.-History and name:...
special forces in the early hours of 18 October 1977 which saw the death of three of the militants.
Death
According to official accounts of his death, Raspe learned of GSG 9's success on a smuggled transistor radio, and spent the next few hours talking to Baader, Ensslin, and Möller, who agreed to a suicide pact. In the morning, Andreas Baader and Jan-Carl Raspe were found dead in their cells, having died from gunshot wounds, while Gudrun Ensslin was found hanging from a noose made from speaker wire. RAF member Irmgard MöllerIrmgard Möller
Irmgard Möller is a German militant and a former member of the Red Army Faction...
was found with four stab wounds to her chest, but survived.
All official inquiries on the matter concluded that Baader and his two accomplices committed collective suicide, and Baader-Meinhof biographer Stefan Aust
Stefan Aust
Stefan Aust is a German journalist and was the editor-in-chief of the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel from 1994 to February 2008...
argued in the original edition of his book, The Baader-Meinhof Group (1985), that they almost assuredly did kill themselves.
There are many debatable aspects to the deaths: Baader was supposed to have shot himself in the base of the neck so that the bullet exited through his forehead; repeated tests indicated that it was virtually impossible for a person to hold and fire a gun in such a way. In addition, three bullet holes were found in his cell: one lodged in the wall, one in the mattress, and the fatal bullet itself lodged in the floor, suggesting that Baader had fired twice before killing himself. Finally, Baader had powder burns on his right hand, but he was left-handed. Raspe, however, showed no signs of powder burns.
The theory itself that guns had somehow been smuggled into Stammheim prison depended on the testimony of Hans Joachim Dellwo (brother of prisoner Karl-Heinz Dellwo) and Volker Speitel (husband of Angelika Speitel
Angelika Speitel
Angelika Speitel is a former member of the West German terrorist Red Army Faction.-Life:Speitel worked as a clerk in the office of lawyer Klaus Croissant, alongside her husband Volker Speitel . During this time she helped form an information system of communication between many imprisoned...
). Both had been arrested on 2 October 1977, and charged with belonging to a criminal association; under pressure from the police they subsequently admitted to acting as couriers and testified that they were aware of lawyers smuggling items to the prisoners during the trial. Their testimony was, however, tainted because they provided it in order to avoid lengthy prison sentences and received reduced sentences and new identities. In 1979 two defence attorneys were tried and convicted for smuggling weapons. However, as noted above, the lawyers had been unable to meet with their clients after 6 September 1977 due to the Kontaktsperre order.
In the revised version of his comprehensive book on the RAF, which incorporates much new evidence and was published in English in 2009, Stefan Aust is categorical that the group members committed suicide.
Removal and loss of brain
Following their apparent suicides, the German government had the brains of Andreas Baader, Ulrike MeinhofUlrike Meinhof
Ulrike Marie Meinhof was a German left-wing militant. She co-founded the Red Army Faction in 1970 after having previously worked as a journalist for the monthly left-wing magazine Konkret. She was arrested in 1972, and eventually charged with numerous murders and the formation of a criminal...
, Gudrun Ensslin
Gudrun Ensslin
Gudrun Ensslin was a founder of the German militant group Red Army Faction . After becoming involved with co-founder Andreas Baader, Ensslin was influential in the politicization of Baader's voluntaristic anarchistic beliefs. Ensslin was perhaps the intellectual head of the RAF...
, and Jan-Carl Raspe
Jan-Carl Raspe
Jan-Carl Raspe was a member of the German militant group, the Red Army Faction.- Young life :Raspe was born in Seefeld in Tirol. He was described as gentle but had difficulty communicating with other people. His father had said that he couldn't stand violence...
removed for study at the Neurological Research Institute at the University of Tübingen. The results of Meinhof's brain study showed damage from an operation for a brain tumor in 1962. The results of the study of the others' brains are not known.
Aside from the removal of his brain, a death mask was made of Baader. The brains of all but Meinhof have apparently been lost and cannot be accounted for by German authorities.
In fiction
- Stammheim - Die Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe vor GerichtStammheim (film)Stammheim - Die Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe vor Gericht is a 1986 West German film directed by Reinhard Hauff...
("Stammheim - The Baader-Meinhof Gang On Trial") (1986) a film directed by Reinhard Hauff; with Ulrich Tukur in the role of Andreas Baader; after the book by Stefan Aust. It won the Golden Bear at the 1986 Berlin Film Festival. - A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - the manic narcissist assassin Otto (played by Kevin KlineKevin KlineKevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
) was a parody roughly based on Andreas Baader. - Todesspiel ("Death Play") (1997) is a TV docudramaDocudramaIn film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
by Heinrich Breloer; with Sebastian Koch as Andreas Baader. It is about the kidnapping and later cold-blooded murder of Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbändeunion (BDA)Confederation of German Employers' AssociationsThe Confederation of German Employers' Associations or BDA is the umbrella organization for German employers' associations...
president Hanns Martin SchleyerHanns Martin SchleyerHanns-Martin Schleyer was an SS officer, a German business executive and employer and industry representative, serving as President of the two influential organizations Confederation of German Employers' Associations and Federation of German Industries...
. - In 2002, director Christopher Roth released the film BaaderBaader (film)Baader is a 2002 German film directed by Christopher Roth. It is a biopic about terrorist Andreas Baader of the notorious Red Army Faction which operated mainly in West Germany during the 1970s....
, with Frank GieringFrank Giering-Biography:Giering studied at the HFF Potsdam. He starred in a production of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole and was cast by Austrian filmmaker, Michael Haneke for the TV movie, The Traitor and the 1997 filmsThe Castle and Funny Games....
in the title role. It covers the period between 1967 and 1972. - In the 2008 movie Der Baader Meinhof KomplexDer Baader Meinhof KomplexThe Baader Meinhof Complex is a 2008 German film by Uli Edel. Written and produced by Bernd Eichinger, it stars Moritz Bleibtreu, Martina Gedeck and Johanna Wokalek. The film is based on the 1985 German best selling non-fiction book of the same name by Stefan Aust...
it was decided that the actor Moritz BleibtreuMoritz BleibtreuMoritz Bleibtreu is a German actor.Bleibtreu was born in Munich, the son of actors Monica Bleibtreu and Hans Brenner, and the great-grand-nephew of the actress Hedwig Bleibtreu.Bleibtreu grew up in Hamburg...
who played Baader should not lisp as Baader did.
External links
- http://www.baader-meinhof.com/
- Breaking Comrade Baader Out
- Terrorist chic or debunking of a myth? Baader Meinhof film splits Germany