Podcast 37: Frankfurt Bombing Victim Charles Morris
I speak with Charles Morris and his wife Ursula Morris about his experience as a victim of the 1972 bomb that killed Lt. Col Paul Bloomquist, and how that bomb came to impact his life right up to today.
10-2-1972 Alleged German Gang Member Goes On Trial (Stars and Stripes)
A brief Associated Press article, appearing in Stars and Stripes, about the upcoming trial of Marianne Herzog. PDF: 10-2-1972 Alleged German Gang Member Goes On Trial
6-22-1972 Five Bomb Pranksters Arrested in Frankfurt (Stars and Stripes)
A brief Associated Press article, appearing in Stars and Stripes, detailing the arrest of several pranksters who had launched a wave a false bomb Baader-Meinhof bomb threats. PDF: 6-22-1972 Five Bomb Pranksters Arrested in Frankfurt
5-13-1972 Multiple Articles About Frankfurt Bombing (Stars and Stripes)
Several Stars and Stripes articles about the Frankfurt am Main bombings that killed Lt. Col. Paul Bloomquist. PDF: 5-13-1972MultipleArticlesAboutFrankfurtBombingPart1 PDF: 5-13-1972MultipleArticlesAboutFrankfurtBombingPart2
12-1-1974 Terrorist Group Claims Assassination Attempt (UPI)
Piece on the attempted assasination of CDU offficial Walter Leisler Kiep. PDF: 12-1-1974 Terrorist Group Claims Assassination Attempt (UPI)
6-2-1972 Bonn Seizes Suspected Guerrillas (NY Times)
Article on the arrests of Baader and Meins as well as an outline of possible international links. PDF: 6-2-1972 Bonn Seizes Suspected Guerrillas (NY Times)
5-25-1972 Terrorist Bombs Kill Three at US Army German Post (AP)
Article on Heidelberg bombings and possible links to attacks in Paris on two US airline company offices. Interestingly refers to The Red Army Faction as “believed to be part of” The Baader Meinhof Gang. PDF: 5-25-1972 Terrorist Bombs Kill Three at US Army German Post (AP)
5-25-1972 German Bomb Acts Claimed by Guerrillas (AP)
Short article on The RAF claiming responsibility for the Frankfurt attacks. PDF: 5-25-1972 German Bomb Acts Claimed by Guerrillas (AP)
5-21-1975 German Bonnie, Clyde on Trial (AP)
Article on the eve of the Stammheim trial, still casting Baader and Meinhof as the “Bonnie and Clyde” of the RAF. PDF: 5-21-1975 German Bonnie, Clyde on Trial (AP)
4-27-1975 Bonn Radical Group has Violent Past (UPI)
Short resume of events following The Federal Governments pledge to stamp out the RAF. PDF: 4-27-1975 Bonn Radical Group has Violent Past (UPI)
4-24-1975 Five Terrorists Seize Embassy (AP)
An updated version of the previous article which names two suspected members of the group that seized the embassy. PDF: 4-24-1975 Five Terrorists Seize Embassy
6-28-1972 West Germany has its Bonnie, Clyde (AP)
Another background article on Meinhof. This one finds “no evidence of any romantic link” between her and Baader! PDF: 6-28-1972 West Germany has its Bonnie, Clyde
6-18-1972 The wife who became Public Enemy No 1 (Guardian UK)
Great article by Neal Ascherton on Ulrike Meinhof’s journey toward terror, including memories of conversations with the subject. PDF: 6-18-1972 The wife who became Public Enemy No 1
6-8-1972 A Fourth Anarchist Seized By Germans (NY Times)
Piece on the arrest of Gudrun Ensslin, and one of the first mentions of her in English language press. PDF: 6-8-1972 A Fourth Anarchist Seized By Germans
6-2-1972 Anarchist Leaders Seized in Frankfurt (NY Times)
“Come out, your means are limited, but ours are unlimited.” Great quote attributed to Federal Police in this article on Baader and Meins arrest. PDF: 6-2-1972 Anarchist Leaders Seized in Frankfurt
5-29-1972 German Terrorists Threaten to Set Off Bombs in Stuttgart (AP)
Detailing threats to detonate 66 pounds of TNT in Stuttgart on June 2nd 1972 as well as other actions detailed in a telex message to Associated Press in Berlin. The RAF is described as “virtually identical” to the Baader Meinhof Gang. PDF: 5-29-1972 German Terrorists Threaten to Set Off Bombs in Stuttgart
5-28-1972 Bonn gets warning of more bombings (Guardian UK)
A great and concise summary of events up to and including the Heidelberg bombing, including short biographies of Badder and Meinhoff. It also mentions both the Petra Schelm and Thomas Welsbecker Commando as well as Bonn’s plans to deal with the “inner enemy”. PDF: 5-28-1972 Bonn gets warning of more bombings
5-25-1972 Bombs Explode in US Army European Post (AP)
Another report on the Heidelberg Bombing PDF: 5-25-1972 Bombs Explode in US Army European Post
5-25-1972 Three Soldiers Killed (AP)
Report on Heidelberg attacks. PDF: 5-25-1972 Three Soldiers Killed
5-17-1972 US Troops Placed on Alert after Bombing (AP)
A brief Associated Press article detailing the steps being taken by the US Army to deter future bombings. The article notes that “an anarchist group called the Red Army Faction” had taken credit for the V Corps HQ bombing in Frankfurt. PDF: 5-17-1972 US Troops Placed on Alert after Bombing
5-13-1972 Two More German Buildings Bombed (AP)
An Associated Press article detailing bombings at police stations in Augsburg and Munich, a day after three bombs went off in Frankfurt. PDF: 5-13-1972 Two More German Buildings Bombed
5-12-1972 Frankfurt Bombing Mystery (AP)
An Associated Press article detailing the initial, sketchy details about the bombing of the US V Corps HQ in Frankfurt am Main. PDF: 5-12-1972 Frankfurt Bombing Mystery Rome-News Tribune
5-12-1972 Bombs Rock a US Army Base at Frankfurt (AP / NY Times)
An Associated Press article, printed in the New York Times, offering the sketchy initial details of the bombing of the V Corps HQ in Frankfurt am Main. PDF: 5-12-1972 Bombs Rock a US Army Base at Frankfurt
5-12-1972 Army Says It Has No Indication Who Bombed HQ (AP)
An Associated Press article detailing the initial, sketchy details about the Frankfurt bombing of the US V Corps Headquarters. PDF: 5-12-1972 Army Says It Has No Indication Who Bombed HQ Lewiston Evening Journal
5-13-1972 Blasts Rip West German Police Offices (AP)
An Associated Press article detailing bombings at police stations in Augsburg and Munich, a day after three bombs went off in Frankfurt at the US Army V Corps HQ. PDF: 5-13-1972 Blasts Rip West German Police Offices
3-3-1975 Four Released in Bid to Save Lorenz (AP)
Report on the deal to release four prisoners by the Federal Government to enable the freeing of mayoral candidate Peter Lorenz. PDF 3-3-1975 Four Released in Bid to Save Lorenz
4-24-1975 Five Terrorists Seize Embassy (UPI)
A United Press International article detailing the initial takeover of the West Germany Embassy in Stockholm by the Red Army Faction. PDF 4-24-1975 Five Terrorists Seize Embassy
Frankfurt V Corps HQ Bombing Damage #2
A photo of the front entrance to the main lobby of the IG Farben building in Frankfurt am Main, where members of the Baader-Meinhof Group left a bomb, injuring dozens. Moments later a second bomb exploded at the entrance to the nearby Officer’s Club, killing Lt. Col. Paul Bloomquist.
Frankfurt V Corps HQ Bombing Damage #1
This official US Army photo shows the destruction caused by a Baader-Meinhof bomb left on May 11, 1972 at the entrance to the Officer’s Club behind the V Corps HQ housed in the massive IG Farben building in Frankfurt am Main. The bomb killed Lt. Col. Paul Bloomquist and injured several others.
October 13, 1968 Frankfurt am Main
Andreas Baaader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Söhnlein, and Thorwald Proll are convicted of Arson. They each get three years.
2-6-1968 Germans Attack US Trade Center (Stars and Stripes)
A short article in Stars and Stripes detailing a student demonstration in Frankfurt am Main. Student demonstrators occupied the US Trade Center in Frankfurt, eventually hoisting the North Vietnamese flag on the roof in triumph.
March 4, 1975 Frankfurt am Main & Berlin
Heinrich Albertz and the rest of the Lufthansa crew fly back to Frankfurt from Aden, South Yemen, having released Pohle, Becker, Heissler, Siepmann, and Kröcher-Tiedemann (who had a second change of heart and elected to make the trip after all). A car screams through Berlin’s Wilmersdorf district shortly before midnight. Lorenz is pushed out of [read all]
Revolutionary Cells
Revolutionär Zelles or RZ The Revolutionary Cells were the third, and least prominent, of the three left-wing terror groups in Germany in the early seventies. Organized into independently functioning cells, the RZ was possibly the most successful of the groups in the sheer number of its terrorist attacks, but they seldom pushed their name to media outlets. [read all]
February 4, 1974 Hamburg and Frankfurt am Main
Police raids in Hamburg and Frankfurt result in the re-arrests of Ilse Stachowiak, Christa Eckes, and Margit Schiller, and the arrests of Helmut Pohl, Kay-Werner Allnach, and Wolfgang Beer.
Ilse “Tinny” Stachowiak
Ilse Stachowiak (born in May of 1954) joined the Baader-Meinhof Gang late in 1970. She has just turned 17 and the youngest ever member of the group. She was arrested not too long afterwards on 12 April 1971 at the Frankfurt train station after a policeman recognized her from her wanted poster. She was not [read all]
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 [read all]
Horst Söhnlein
Not really a member of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, Söhnlein participated with Andreas Baader, Thorwald Proll, and Gudrun Ensslin in the April 1968 Frankfurt department store arsons. Söhnlein was a founder of Munich’s Action Theater in the early sixties. His participation in the arsons was possibly a lark. Along with his three comrades he was sentenced [read all]
Jan-Carl Raspe
Young Jan-Carl Raspe, born on July 24, 1944 and 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 [read all]
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 [read all]
June 1, Frankfurt am Main
Acting on a tip, police begin staking out a garage near Frankfurt. Peering inside, the police notice it is empty of people, but full of explosives. They empty the garage of bombs (replacing the explosives with empty containers), and install a listening device. City workers place hundreds of bags of peat and grass outside, as [read all]
Chapter 4 — Praxis
May, 1967 – May 1970, 59 pages: The stories of the three major characters, Baader, Meinhof, and Ensslin, merge into one story in this chapter, and follow a straight narrative arc for the rest of the book. But first this chapter will look into the extremes of the student movement, exemplified by a West German [read all]
December 1971 Frankfurt
Former film student–and current member of the Red Army Faction inner circle–Holger Meins recruits metal sculptor Dierk Hoff. Meins tells him that he needs realistic props for a film about bank robberies. Soon Hoff realizes that he is in fact expected to make real weapons and bombs, but by that time he is in too [read all]
April 12, 1971 Frankfurt am Main
Ilse “Tinny” Stachowiak is arrested at the train station in Frankfurt. She is recognized from her photograph on one of the millions of ubiquitous wanted posters seen throughout the Federal Republic.
January 15, 1971 Kassel
Two Kassel banks are raided at the same time netting 115,000 DM. For one of the bank jobs, a BMW 2000 was stolen in Frankfurt. The BMW was one of the Baader-Meinhof Gang’s favorite cars to steal; because they were fast, easy to break into, and easy to hot-wire. In the coming year the group [read all]
June 13, 1969 Frankfurt am Main
The four convicted arsonists Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Söhnlein, and Thorwald Proll are released from prison pending review of their cases. Baader and Ensslin begin working at an “apprentices’ collective” — which is a youth home. Baader spends much of his time teaching the kids how to steal motorcycles.
April 4, 1968 Frankfurt am Main
Unable to keep their deeds a secret, Adnreas Baader and his proto-revolutionary comrades are arrested for the arsons.
April 2, 1968 Frankfurt am Main
Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin head to Frankfurt am Main with two friends, Horst Söhnlein and Thorwald Proll. Baader has acquired quite a reputation as a “dangerous” sort by his constant calls for violent action. Invariably no one would choose to act on his “suggestions.” Today is different. This time Baader’s fellow comrades elect to [read all]