10-19-1972 Meinhof Al Fatah Ties Described (Stars and Stripes)
A United Press International article, appearing in Stars and Stripes, describing the testimony of former Baader-Meinhof group member Peter Homann. Homann testified about the training that group received in the Jordanian desert. PDF: 10-19-1972 Meinhof Al Fatah Ties Described
6-17-1970 Tiny West German Group Vows to Overthrow State (NY Times)
This tiny little notice in the NY Times almost comically drips with condescension; right down to the headline. One could argue level the humorous skepticism was entirely warranted. The Red Army Faction really did have essentially zero chance of overthrowing the state. But the NY Times almost certainly would not have been quite as condescending if [read all]
Kalashnikov
Members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang got their first taste of the Kalashnikov assault rifle in June of 1970 when they went to train at a Palestinian freedom fighter camp near Amman, Jordan. The durable weapon quickly became their weapon of choice. The original logo of the Red Army Faction (the Baader-Meinhof Gang) featured a Kalashnikov [read all]
Petra Schelm
Born in August 1950, 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 [read all]
Peter Homann
Peter Homann was a journalist and friend of Ulrike Meinhof in the late 1960s. After Meinhof helped free Andreas Baader from police custody in May of 1970, Homann traveled with the new terror group to Jordan for guerrilla training. While in Jordan, Homann learned that other in the group suspect him of being a traitor, [read all]
Manfred Grashof
Born in October of 1946, Manfred Grashof was in the Baader-Meinhof Gang from the time of the freeing of Andreas Baader from police custody in May of 1970. Prior to that he had been a member of Berlin’s wild Kommune I. After Baader’s escape he traveled with the gang to Jordan for guerrilla training. On [read all]
Eric Grusdat
Eric Grusdat was a an auto shop owner recruited into the Baader-Meinhof Gang soon after the founding members returned from training in Jordan. His employee Karl-Heinz Ruhland joined as well. Grusdat participated in the infamous “triple coup,” bank raid in 1970, where three banks where three Berlin banks were raided at the same time. He [read all]
Monika Berberich
Born in October 1942, Monika 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 [read all]
Hans-Jürgen Bäcker
Undercover name: “Harp.” Hans-Jürgen Bäcker (born in April of 1939) 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 [read all]
September 1970, Italy
Stefan Aust, former editor of konkret, former friend of Ulrike Meinhof, and future biographer of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, meets up with group member Peter Homann, who had been kicked out of the group in Jordan. Homann tells Aust of Meinhof’s two daughters, Bettina and Regine, who are secretly being cared for by two hippies at [read all]
June 8 1970, East Berlin
Half of the group sneaks into East Berlin, and then heads to the Jordan desert to a Palestinian training camp, to be followed by the rest of the group a week later. In Jordan the fledgling guerrillas learn how to shoot guns, throw grenades, and thoroughly annoy their Palestinian hosts. After two months the Palestinians [read all]