Baader-Meinhof Gang
Depending on how one looks at it, the Baader-Meinhof Gang came into existence on 2 April 1968, when Andreas Baader and his girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin, firebombed Frankfurt's Kaufhaus Schneider department store, or it came into being two years later when the famed left-wing journalist Ulrike Meinhof helped to break Baader out of prison custody in Berlin, on 14 May 1970. The name Baader-Meinhof Gang certainly didn't come into usage until, of course, after Meinhof helped Baader escape from custody and the German press was looking for a suitable moniker to attach to the group. The group never used the term to describe themselves (they called themselves the Red Army Faction). Liberals and moderates would never call them a "Gang" (bande), but were instead careful to refer to them as a "Group" (gruppe). Conservative Germans were equally careful to do the exact opposite. Neither group, however, was referring to the group as they themselves preferred to be named.
The second irony of the term "Baader-Meinhof" is that it implied a reality within the group that did not exist. Baader was unquestioningly the leader of the group, but his girlfriend Ensslin was more of a co-leader than Meinhof ever was. And Baader and Meinhof were certainly never lovers.
Depending on how one looks at it, The Baader-Meinhof Gang ceased to exist in May and June of 1972, when Baader, Meinhof, Ensslin, Jan-Carl Raspe, and Holger Meins (the five core members of the group) were captured, or it ceased to exist early in the morning of November 18, 1977, when Baader, Ensslin, and Raspe committed suicide in prison (Meinhof had committed suicide the previous year and Meins had died from a hunger strike in 1974). Their own name for their urban terrorist organization, the Red Army Faction, continued to be used by the successive generations of terrorists that continued the cause after the original leaders were captured.
Andreas Baader
Andreas Baader was one of the two namesakes of the Baader-Meinhof Gang. A juvenile delinquent, Baader was drawn towards the leftist student movement because of the excitement, and the potential for violence. He was convicted of the 1968 arson bombing of a Frankfurt department store, along with his girlfriend Gudrun Ensslin. He escaped from police custody in May 1970 with the help of famous journalist Ulrike Meinhof, giving birth to the so-called "Baader-Meinhof Gang."
Baader spent the next two years on the run, robbing banks, and bombing buildings. He was captured, along with fellow gang members Jan-Carl Raspe and Holger Meins in a spectacular Frankfurt shootout on 1 June, 1972.
Baader spent the next four years in prison, being tried and convicted of many counts, including murder, in the longest and most expensive trial in German history.
Depending on whom you believe, Baader was either murdered or committed suicide in his prison cell early in the morning of 18 October, 1977, on "Death Night."
Ulrike Meinhof
Ulrike Meinhof's parents both died early, leaving Ulrike and her sister Weinke in the care of Renate Riemack, a friend of their mother's. Riemack was a devoted socialist, and a profound influence on Meinhof.
Meinhof married Klaus Rainer Röhl, publisher of the left-wing student newspaper, konkret. After a few years Meinhof became konkret's editor. Röhl and Meinhof have twin girls, Bettina and Regine, on 21 September, 1962.
Meinhof drifted away from Röhl, and towards the radical fringe of the student movement. She left her husband in the late sixties. On 14 May, 1970, she participated in the freeing of Andreas Baader, giving birth to the so-called "Baader-Meinhof Gang." Though partially named after her, Meinhof was not, as is often assumed, the co-leader of the gang (Baader, along with his girlfriend Gudrun Ensslin, led the group, with Meinhof, Jan-Carl Raspe, and others comprising a second tier of leadership). She spent the next two years on the run, robbing banks and bombing buildings, before being captured on 15 June, 1972.
While in prison over the next four years, Meinhof grew increasingly depressed as the other gang members ostracize her. She hung herself in her cell on 9 May, 1976 (though some have questioned this official explanation and instead suspect that she was murdered by the state)
Gudrun Ensslin
Contrary to what many people think, Gudrun Ensslin, not Ulrike Meinhof, was the real female leader of the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Gudrun was a politically active student in the 1960s. She participated in the seminal 2 June 1967 Berlin protest where a young pacifist named Benno Ohnesorg was killed. After the protest she went to the local SDS office and screamed hysterically: "This fascist state means to kill us all! Violence is the only way to answer violence!"
The next year Ensslin and her new boyfriend Andreas Baader attempted to burn down two Frankfurt am Main department stores. After serving a year in jail, Ensslin and Baader, and their two co-defendants Horst Söhnlein and Thorwald Proll were released temporarily pending an appeal. When the appeal failed, Ensslin, Baader and Proll escaped to France as fugitives. Later they agreed to become part of the lawyer Horst Mahler's new urban guerrilla group. Baader was arrested soon thereafter and Ensslin convinces her friend Ulrike Meinhof to be part of a plan to break him out of jail in May of 1970.
Ensslin was captured on 7 June 1972 in Hamburg. She was tried and convicted in the longest and most expensive trial in German history. Depending on whom you believe, she either hung herself or was murdered early in the morning of 18 October 1977 in her prison cell in Stammheim Prison (Death Night).
Jan-Carl Raspe
Young Jan-Carl Raspe, living in East Berlin, found himself on the west side of the Berlin Wall when the East Germans raised on the night of 12 August 1961. He decided to stay in the west, living with relatives. In 1967 he helped found Kommune II, an experimental Berlin commune that actually pre-dated the wild and raucous Kommune I, but was named later.
Raspe was with the Baader-Meinhof Gang from the day's of Andreas Baader's escape from police custody in 1970. He was captured along with Baader and Holger Meins by police in a bloody Frankfurt shootout 1 July 1972.Raspe was tried with Ulrike Meinhof, Baader, and Gudrun Ensslin in a trial held on the grounds of Stuttgart's Stammheim prison. After the longest trial in German history, Raspe was convicted along with Baader and Ensslin (Meinhof committed suicide in 1976) of murder and other counts, and sentenced to life. Depending on whom you believe, Raspe either committed suicide or was murdered in prison early in the morning of 18 October 1977, on "Death Night."
Astrid Proll
Astrid Proll was the younger sister of Thorwald Proll, who participated in the April 1968 bombing of two Frankfurt department stores with Gudrun Ensslin, Andreas Baader, and Horst Söhnlein. Astrid Proll joined Ensslin and Baader soon after they became fugitives from the law in 1970 (her brother Thorwald was soon dumped from the burgeoning gang soon thereafter).
Proll was arrested in May of 1971 but escaped and fled to England. She was found in England in 1977 and extradited. Once back in Germany, charges against her stemming from her original arrest were dropped when it was learned that the state had withheld evidence that would have cleared her.
Hans-Jürgen Bäcker
Undercover name: "Harp." Hans-Jürgen Bäcker was with the Baader-Meinhof Gang from its first days before Andreas Baader was rescued from police custody in May 1970. He trained in Jordan with the other original core members of the group shortly after Baader's escape.
After a tipster led to the arrest of Horst Mahler, Brigitte Asdonk, Irene Goergens, and Ingrid Schubert on 8 October 1970, members of the gang began to suspect Bäcker of being a traitor. He left the gang soon thereafter.
Bäcker was arrested on 2 February 1971. In 1974 he was tried and acquitted of participating in the raid that rescued Baader.
Holger Meins
Holger Meins joined the Baader-Meinhof Gang early in 1971. A leftist Berlin film student, he was tired of being hassled by the police for his political views and wanted to take some direct action. He was to become one of the primary members of the group. Meins was arrested on 1 June 1972 along with Jan-Carl Raspe and Andreas Baader in a bloody Frankfurt shootout.
In prison the gang would call periodic hunger strikes. There was evidence that some of the leaders, such as Baader, faked their hunger strikes. But Meins clearly did not fake his. He died on 11 November 1974 from a hungerstrike. Over six feet tall, Meins weighed less than 100 pounds at death.
Horst Mahler
In many ways Horst Mahler can be considered the founder of the Baader-Meinhof Gang. A brilliant socialist lawyer and architect, Mahler began to look for ways to turn his Marxist theory into praxis. His idea was to create a band of Urban Guerillas who would help foment a Marxist revolution. Among his first recruits in the spring of 1970: a couple of fugitive arsonists, Gudrun Ensslin and her boyfriend Andreas Baader.As brilliant as Mahler was, he was prone to fouling things up occasionally. Once, when Baader was in custody but the police did not know his identity yet, Mahler called up the police station as asked for information about a "Herr Baader" that they had arrested the previous night. Needless to say there was little question as to Baader's identity after that.
Mahler participated, and possibly organized, the Baader-Meinhof trip to the Jordan training camp. Mahler was arrested along with Ingrid Schubert, Brigitte Asdonk, and Irene Goergens in October of 1970. In prison Mahler set to work on a manifesto for the group. When it is released, the other members of the group disavow it, and essentially kicked Mahler out of the group that he founded. Mahler was ultimately convicted of several charges.
In 1975 the Berlin mayoral candidate Peter Lorenz was kidnappers. The terrorists demanded the releases of several of their imprisoned comrades, including Mahler. Their demands were accepted but Mahler refused to go.
Mahler was released from prison early in the 1980's. His politics have completely reversed since the 1960s and 1970s, and now Mahler practices extremely conservative politics. He currently operates his own web site: http:www.horst-mahler.de/
Thorwald Proll
A friend of Andreas Baader's from the Berlin club scene, Proll joined Baader, his girlfriend Gudrun Ensslin, and another friend, Horst Söhnlein, in attempting to burn down two Frankfurt department stores in early May 1968. Technically therefore, Proll was not a member of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, but a fellow conspirator in two arson attempts that pre-date the main activities of the group.
After the for defendants were captured, tried, convicted of arson, and served 14 months of a three year sentence, they were released pending an appeal for amnesty. After the appeal fails, Proll joined Ensslin and Baader in escaping to Paris. Proll's younger sister, Astrid, joined up the the fugitives. Baader and the others quickly decided that Thorwald is not sufficiently dedicated to their life on the run, and dump him in Switzerland. He would later turn himself in to police and end his career as an arsonist.
Ingrid Schubert
A young Berlin doctor, Ingrid Schubert participated in the freeing of Andreas Baader from the Dahlem Institute for Social Research in May of 1970. Schubert was arrested in October of that year with Horst Mahler, Irene Goergens, and Brigitte Asdonk. She was later given 13 years in prison for her participation the Baader breakout.
In 1976 she was transferred to Stammheim prison, supposedly to comfort Gudrun Ensslin after the suicide of Ulrike Meinhof. After the Stammheim suicides of Ensslin, Baader, and Jan-Carl Raspe, Schubert was transferred to Munich's Stadelheim prison. Two weeks later, on 13 November 1977, Schubert committed suicide in prison.
Irene Goergens
Underground name: "Peggy." Irene Goergens was the illegitimate daughter of an American GI. She was a follower of Ulrike Meinhof, having met her while Meinhof was researching youth homes for her telefilm "Bambule."
Goergens was arrested in October of 1970 along with Horst Mahler, Brigitte Asdonk, and Ingrid Schubert. She was tried and found guilty in the fall of 1972 for her participation in the triple Berlin bank robbery a month before her arrest.
Monika Berberich
Berberich was a junior lawyer in Horst Mahler's Socialist Lawyers Collective. She joined up with the burgeoning Baader-Meinhof Gang when Andreas Baader was rescued from police custody in May 1970.
Berberich was arrested soon after the group returned from training in the Jordan desert. A 1995 interview for a BBC documentary called "States of Terror" revealed that Berberich has not changed her passion against the "fascism" of the German state.
Heinrich "Ali" Jansen
Ali Jansen joined the Baader-Meinhof Gang shortly after its return from training in the Jordan desert. He helped out in the "triple coup" Berlin bank raids in the fall of 1970.
Jansen was arrested on 23 December, 1970, along with Uli Scholze. During the arrest Jansen reaches for his concealed handgun and fires wildly. No one is hurt, but three years later Jansen is sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder.
Katharina Hammerschmidt
Hammerschmidt was associated with the gang early. By late-1971 she grew tired of her illegal life and fled Germany, leaving the gang. In mid-1972 she returned to Germany and gave herself up to authorities. While in custody, she developed a brain tumor, and later died. Many accused the authorities of failing to give her proper medical care.
Petra Schelm
Petra Schelm, a Berlin hairdresser, traveled to the Jordan desert for guerrilla training after the freeing of Andreas Baader from police custody in May of 1970. Schelm had joined the group with her boyfriend Manfred Grashof.
Schelm was killed in a shoot-out with Hamburg police. Her death caused shockwaves throughout Germany as many Germans found themselves horrified at the death of the young "innocent" hairdresser. A national poll taken shortly after the death of Schelm revealed that as much as 20% of Germans felt some sympathy for their cause.
