Astrid Proll
Encyclopedia
Astrid Huberta Isolde Marie Luise Hildegard Proll (born 29 May 1947, in Kassel
, Hesse
) was an early member of the Baader-Meinhof Gang.
and met Andreas Baader
and Gudrun Ensslin
through him; he left the group relatively early in its history, after being involved in firebombings
in Frankfurt
in 1968. Astrid Proll was involved in bank robbery
. She was the getaway driver for Andreas Baader when he escaped from police custody with the help of Gudrun Ensslin, Ulrike Meinhof
, Ingrid Schubert, Irene Goergens in 1970.
Proll, along with Manfred Grashof, was stopped by police on 10 February 1971 but managed to get away. However in Hamburg
on 6 May of the same year, Proll was finally arrested after a pump-attendant at a petrol station recognized her from a wanted poster and alerted the police. She attempted to flee but was surrounded by armed officers and arrested. Once she was detained, her run in with the police in February was turned into an attempted murder
charge even though she never even fired a shot. She was imprisoned but released on health grounds (being kept in complete acoustic isolation in prison caused her health to deteriorate) and transferred to a sanitorium.
and a marriage there to Robin Puttick allowed her to obtain new identity documents as Anna Puttick. With these she obtained a variety of jobs; she worked as a youth worker, a gardener, in Lesney's toy factory as maintenance mechanic, and finally, after taking welding classes, as a teacher of car mechanics. During this time, she tried to maintain a low profile in spite of working as a female mechanic, an unusual female occupation then and now.
On 15 September 1978 Proll was discovered and arrested by the Special Branch
of the police. She was detained and fought extradition; the case attracted both supporters and opposition. Supporters suggested that the fact that she was teaching under-privileged children mechanics in a workshop in West Hampstead
was a token of her political repentance and good faith. Critics suggested that as Proll was a lesbian the marriage to Puttick could only be a marriage of convenience. She herself decided to return to West Germany
in 1979 to fight her case there.
; however, she had already spent at least two-thirds of that time in German and English prisons and therefore was released immediately
. She did not rejoin the Baader-Meinhof Gang.
Proll went on to study film and photography at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg and later became a picture editor for magazine and newspaper. She was the first to assign Martin Parr and Wolfgang Tilmans with magazine work for the German market.
Proll participated in interviews about her time in the Baader-Meinhof Gang and has published a photography
-based book about the gang entitled Pictures on the Run. She has worked, as recently as 1999, as a picture editor in the UK.
During a radio chat show, when asked if she was "terribly ashamed" of being associated with the RAF, Proll said she was not, but went on to say that she did disapprove of their increasingly violent acts.
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
) was an early member of the Baader-Meinhof Gang.
As a Baader-Meinhof member
Astrid Proll was the younger sister of Thorwald ProllThorwald Proll
Thorwald Proll is a writer and was active in the German student movement in the 1960s.On 2 April 1968, along with Andreas Baader, Horst Söhnlein and Gudrun Ensslin, he set fire to two department stores in Frankfurt as a protest against the Vietnam War...
and met Andreas Baader
Andreas Baader
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.- Life :...
and 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...
through him; he left the group relatively early in its history, after being involved in firebombings
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
in 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...
in 1968. Astrid Proll was involved in bank robbery
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
. She was the getaway driver for Andreas Baader when he escaped from police custody with the help of Gudrun Ensslin, 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...
, Ingrid Schubert, Irene Goergens in 1970.
Proll, along with Manfred Grashof, was stopped by police on 10 February 1971 but managed to get away. However in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
on 6 May of the same year, Proll was finally arrested after a pump-attendant at a petrol station recognized her from a wanted poster and alerted the police. She attempted to flee but was surrounded by armed officers and arrested. Once she was detained, her run in with the police in February was turned into an attempted murder
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
charge even though she never even fired a shot. She was imprisoned but released on health grounds (being kept in complete acoustic isolation in prison caused her health to deteriorate) and transferred to a sanitorium.
On the run
While at the sanatorium, Proll was required to report to the police, but she soon escaped and went underground. She fled to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and a marriage there to Robin Puttick allowed her to obtain new identity documents as Anna Puttick. With these she obtained a variety of jobs; she worked as a youth worker, a gardener, in Lesney's toy factory as maintenance mechanic, and finally, after taking welding classes, as a teacher of car mechanics. During this time, she tried to maintain a low profile in spite of working as a female mechanic, an unusual female occupation then and now.
On 15 September 1978 Proll was discovered and arrested by the Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
of the police. She was detained and fought extradition; the case attracted both supporters and opposition. Supporters suggested that the fact that she was teaching under-privileged children mechanics in a workshop in West Hampstead
West Hampstead
West Hampstead is an area in northwest London, England, situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage to the east, and South Hampstead to the south. Until the late 19th century, the locale was a small village called West End...
was a token of her political repentance and good faith. Critics suggested that as Proll was a lesbian the marriage to Puttick could only be a marriage of convenience. She herself decided to return to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in 1979 to fight her case there.
Return to Germany
Back in Germany, Proll's attempted murder charge was dropped when it was gathered that the state had withheld information that could have cleared her but she was still sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment on account of bank robbery and falsifying documentsForgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
; however, she had already spent at least two-thirds of that time in German and English prisons and therefore was released immediately
Time served
In criminal law, "time served" describes a sentence where the defendant is credited immediately after the guilty verdict with the time spent in remand awaiting trial. The time is usually subtracted from the sentence, with only the balance being served after the verdict...
. She did not rejoin the Baader-Meinhof Gang.
Proll went on to study film and photography at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg and later became a picture editor for magazine and newspaper. She was the first to assign Martin Parr and Wolfgang Tilmans with magazine work for the German market.
Proll participated in interviews about her time in the Baader-Meinhof Gang and has published a photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
-based book about the gang entitled Pictures on the Run. She has worked, as recently as 1999, as a picture editor in the UK.
During a radio chat show, when asked if she was "terribly ashamed" of being associated with the RAF, Proll said she was not, but went on to say that she did disapprove of their increasingly violent acts.
See also
- The Baader-Meinhof Gang
- Members of the RAF
- chapter ' The Blue Fence' (featuring interview transcripts, pp. 562–70) in 'Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire' (2009) Iain SinclairIain SinclairIain Sinclair FRSL is a British writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, most recently within the influences of psychogeography.-Life and work:...