posters and photos Richter Cycle: Arrest 1 & 2

title: Arrest 1 and Arrest  (Festnahme 1 und 2)

1988. Oil on Canvas
92 cm X 126.5 cm

"Festnahme 1" - click for larger image

Festnahme 2 - click for larger image

These two paintings are derived from images seared into the minds of most Germans who came of age in the 1970s and before. They are from the capture of Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe, and Holger Meins in a Frankfurt neighborhood on June 1, 1972. All of Germany was riveted to their television sets that day as the terrorists were holed up for the better part of a day in a garage. Raspe was captured early, but Baader and Meins managed to escape into the garage. A sniper shot Baader in the leg, convincing Meins to surrender. He is told to strip naked, ensuring that he held no grenades or guns under his clothes. Later the police storm the garage, pulling a wounded Baader out. Most Germans alive at the time can still picture a wounded Baader being pulled in a gurney, still wearing his fashionable Ray-Ban sunglasses.

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