11-10-1977 Schmidt Hopeful on Terrorist Hunt (NY Times)
PDF: 11-10-1977 Schmidt Hopeful on Terrorist Hunt (NY Times)
11-7-1977 West Germany Tightens Security Near Its Airports (NY Times)
PDF: 11-7-1977 West Germany Tightens Security Near Its Airports (NY Times)
11-3-1977 Three Guerrillas Hinted of Suicide (Reuters)
PDF: 11-3-1977 Three Guerrillas Hinted of Suicide (Reuters)
10-28-1977 Defender of German Terrorists (NY Times)
PDF: 10-28-1977 Defender of German Terrorists (NY Times)
10-24-1977 Violence Provokes Wide Debate in West German Society (NY Times)
PDF: 10-24-1977 Violence Provokes Wide Debate in West German Society (NY Times)
10-23-1977 Baader-Meinhof Hits at Europe (UPI)
PDF: 10-23-197 Baader-Meinhof Hits at Europe (UPI)
10-20-1977 Kidnapped German Business Leader is Found Slain (AP)
PDF: 10-20-1977 Kidnapped German Business Leader is Found Slain (AP)
10-19-1977 Revenge Killing Reported (AP)
PDF: 10-19-1977 Revenge Killing Reported (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)
June 5, 1975 Stuttgart
Baader begins the second day of hearings by reminding the court that is still without representation. He also makes the bold claim that the cells are bugged. His suspicions are dismissed out of hand by the skeptical German press; Baader is getting paranoid, they say. Two years later the existence of the bugs will be [read all]
May 21, 1975 Stuttgart
The pretrial hearings of the Baader-Meinhof leaders begins in the newly constructed Stammheim prison courtroom. Utilitarian in nature, the courtroom was constructed on the grounds of Stammheim prison at a cost of DM 15,000,000. The roof is covered with jagged razor wire to prevent helicopter landings and steel nets to prevent any potential airborne bombs [read all]
Mid-May 1975, Stuttgart
Technicians from the Federal Intelligence Service install two more bugs in two unoccupied Stammheim cells; now seven Baader-Meinhof prison ward cells are bugged.
March 1-3, 1975 Stammheim Prison
Bugs are secretly installed in five of the Baader-Meinhof cells at Stammheim prison, by the Counter-Espionage unit of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
October 2, 1974 Stuttgart
The five primary members of the gang, Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, Jan-Carl Raspe, and Holger Meins, are indicted officially of dozens of crimes, including murder. Baader is transferred to join Ensslin in Stammheim (Meinhof is still on trial in Berlin). Holger Meins, whose physical health has been severely weakened by the hunger strike, [read all]
April, 1974 Stuttgart
Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin are transferred to Stuttgart’s Stammheim prison. They are the first residents of Stammheim’s newly refitted high-security wing. The plan is for all of the major Baader-Meinhof defendants to ultimately live in Stammheim. Plans are set in motion to build a large, self-contained courthouse in the potato field beside Stammheim prison. [read all]
Richter Cycle: Dead 1, 2, 3
title: Tote, 1, 2, und 3 1988. Oil on Canvas 62 cm X 73 cm These three paintings are alternately-sized versions of the same source photo. The original image is of the dead body of Ulrike Meinhof, who hung herself in her Stammheim prison cell on Mother’s Day in 1976. The original image is shocking, [read all]
Richter Cycle: Man Shot Down 1 & 2
title: Erschossener 1 und 2 1988. Oil on Canvas 100.5 cm X 140.5 cm These two paintings feature alternate versions of an image of a dead Andreas Baader in his Stammheim prison cell. The official version of Baader’s death claims that sometime in the night of October 17 and early in the morning of October [read all]
Richter Cycle: Record Player
title: Plattenspieler 1988. Oil on Canvas 62 cm X 83 cm This painting is based on a photograph of Andreas Baader’s phonograph taken after his death. Left on the phonograph is side two of Eric Clapton’s “There’s One in Every Crowd,” on RSO Records (if you look closely you can make barely make out the [read all]
Richter Cycle: Cell
title: Zelle 1988. Oil on Canvas 201 cm X 140 cm This painting depicts Andreas Baader’s cell in Stammheim prison as it was found after Death Night. Among many, the popular image of Baader was of a poorly educated poseur, more interested in violence than theory. Though Baader may have come to his revolutionary career [read all]
Richter Cycle: Hanged
title: Erhängte 1988. Oil on Canvas 201 cm X 140 cm This haunting image is of the dead body of Gudrun Ensslin, hanging from her Stammheim prison cell. It is the first image of the cycle to directly depict events from October 19, 1977, also known as Death Night. According to the official version of events, [read all]
Stammheim
Stammheim was the name of the Stuttgart prison that housed the major Baader-Meinhof defendants during their trials, as well as the courthouse in which they were tried. The section in which the prisoners were kept was billed as the most secure prison block in the world, but this didn’t prevent Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and their co-defendants [read all]
Lex Baader-Meinhof
Baader-Meinhof Laws Lex Baader-Meinhof, or the Baader-Meinhof Laws, went into effect on January 1, 1975. They were a series of laws that were designed specifically at the Baader-Meinhof defendants that were on trial in Stammheim. Among the new laws were provisions allowing for trials to continue in the absence of defendants, allowing for lawyers to be barred [read all]
Death Night
According to German authorities Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe all committed suicide in their Stammheim prison cells early on the morning of 18 October 1977. It is perhaps understandable that many Germans had trouble believing them. The Red Army Faction cell block had been described over the previous five years as the most [read all]
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 [read all]
Chapter 20 — The German Autumn
September 1977 – November 1977, 60 pages: The final chapter will provide a fitting climax to the story. It will primarily focus on the 44 days in the fall of 1997 that have become known as “The German Autumn.” In April of 1977 the longest and most expensive trial in German history is over. Andreas [read all]
Podcast 8: Musician Chris Cooley Interview
Chris Cooley of the Tulsa band tHE pORTRAYL, talks about his interest in the Baader-Meinhof era and his song “Stammheim.” [display_podcast]