6-3-1972 Terrorists Odd Solidarity (Stars and Stripes)
A Stars and Stripes exclusive article detailing the public support that helped the Baader-Meinhof group, as well as background descriptions of various members of the group. PDF: 6-3-1972 Terrorists Odd Solidarity
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]
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]
May 15, 1972 Karlsruhe
Baader, Raspe, and Meins put a car bomb in the Volkswagen of Judge Wolfgang Buddenberg, who had signed most of the Baader-Meinhof arrest warrants. Buddenberg’s wife, Gerta, is in the car when it explodes, severely injuring her. A communiqué is released claiming responsibility for the the bomb. It is signed, “The Manfred Grashof Commando.”
March 2, 1972 Hamburg and Augsberg
Hamburg police raid an apartment used by the Baader-Meinhof Gang for producing forged documents. In the evening, Manfred Grashof and Wolfgang Grundmann enter the apartment and are surprised by the police. Grundmann gives up immediately, but Grashof fires at the cops from behind Grundmann. Police Chief Superintendent Hans Eckhardt, who is in charge of Hamburg’s [read all]
February 10, Frankfurt am Main
Baader-Meinhof Gang members Manfred Grashof and Astrid Proll are stopped by two undercover police agents. Grashof pulls out a pistol (Proll is unarmed) and they both run. One of the cops fires his pistol, missing both Grashof and Proll. Partially with the aid of a sympathetic passer-by, Grashof and Proll escape.
Early March 1970, West Berlin
Baader and Ensslin meet up with Dieter Kunzelmann, whose West Berlin Tupamaros had been mildly terrorizing Berlin the previous year with humorous pranks, and potentially deadly bombs. Kunzelmann wants Baader and Ensslin to join his gang, but the talks break down when Baader suggests that he be the leader rather than Kunzelmann. Horst Mahler, the [read all]